Telephone interviews

[scrwright]

Do people find they are better or worse than face to face ones?

Doing IT contracting myself and more interviews are on the phone these days. I get nervous before interviews so they seem to suit me better, but don't like the lack of instant feedback you get sat in front of someone.

[ewenm]

I hate them. I much prefer the face-to-face interviews as you get so much more non-verbal information to work with.

[rog007]

Acknowledging that interviews are one of the least effective means of selecting someone to role; interviewing by telephone alone and nothing else would be high risk, but that risk could be mitigated due to the role being filled.

[scrwright]

suppose if fits the bill for IT contracting, only a short term role, techy questions to weed out those who don't know stuff etc, plus 1 week on instance notice if you are a retard.

[Autopilot]

scrwright said:

Do people find they are better or worse than face to face ones?

Doing IT contracting myself and more interviews are on the phone these days. I get nervous before interviews so they seem to suit me better, but don't like the lack of instant feedback you get sat in front of someone.

Have you actually had a phone interview and been offered a position on this alone?

As an IT contractor myself, I found it's common to apply for a role and the first thing to happen is that the recruitment firm acting on behalf of the employer call you if you look suitable on paper and give you a grilling. Once they've established if you're as good as you say you are on your CV, you then get put forward to be interviewed by the employer themselves and in my experience, in a face to face capacity.

[Puggit]

My problem with telephone interviews is that the hiring company are far less likely to take the next step in the process. I've had many telephone interviews as I tend to work for North American start ups, and in many cases they'll interview me, tell me I'm through to the next stage, and the next stage never happens.

[scrwright]

Autopilot said:

Have you actually had a phone interview and been offered a position on this alone?

yep, quite a few times. My longest contract was a turn up on monday without speaking to anyone, nothing more than a chat with the agency, lasted nearly 3 years that one.

[ali_kat]

Autopilot said:

Have you actually had a phone interview and been offered a position on this alone?

As a contractor, frequently, but at the end of the interview, I always offer to go in and meet them SDometimes they do, often they don't.