Advice for Telephone Interviews

These days a lot of companies are using telephone interviews as first stage interviews to screen candidates before meeting them face to face. Yet people aren't taking them as a serious form of interview and fail the first hurdle immediately by making these simple mistakes.

1. Make Conversation
Chances are this person will be working with you in the future. They want to know that you can carry a conversation so as well as asking you questions, they are determining your personality and telephone manner.
It's not an interrogation, so ask them how they are or have they had a busy day. Nothing too serious like what was there childhood like but make sure you talk to them like they're a human and not a scary hiring robot question machine.


2. Do Your Research
So so many candidates don't bother to do any research before any interview. When the recruiter asks what they know about the company they say "nothing" or wrong information. This is just lazy, you are not only failing yourself but also the person interviewing you. Firstly this might be a company that you really don't want to work for. And this instantly speaks volumes about the kind of person you are and makes you seem disinterested in the role.
Companies hire people who want to work at that company. Make sure that comes across.


3. Know The Role
Where possible look at the job description, which is usually on the advert or most companies now will send over the job description to you. Read it. Make sure you check what key skills are required and then emphasise these where possible in questions. Use examples from your most recent roles. Make sure you know day to day if this is something you could wholeheartedly see yourself doing in the future.

4. Avoid Reading From A Piece Of Paper
If you have key points you want to get across, fine. Jot them down but it's so important for conversation to flow and this not to be you reading a script. It needs to sound natural not like your reading your CV to them.

5. Choose Your Environment Wisely
Go somewhere quiet with good phone signal. You don't want your conversation to be interrupted.
And sit up and smile as you are talking. You can genuinely hear someone smile when they are talking on the phone and if you're slouched in bed in your pjs, your tone is going to come over terrible.

6. Ask Questions
If they ask you if you have any questions at the end, have some prepared and make them relevant. If they haven't mentioned salary, then don't have the first thing you ask be the salary, second or third is fine. I mean you're not gonna work for free. Some good questions to ask are:

"How has this position come about?"
"What progression is there within your company"
"How many work within this office"
"If successful how soon would you want someone to start"
"What do you enjoy most about working for this company"
"What are some of the challenges this position may face"

My Least Favourite Waste of Time (part two)

Fast forward four months and things were still not going well on the job search front. On 10/06/15 I received an unexpected email from Admirals recruitment team. They were looking to run a course called "Getting into Admiral" on 01/07/15 - 03/07/15 it was aimed at people who were "unsuccessful" in their interview. It would be three days of interview tips, sales training and an insight into Admiral. There would be an interview at the end and if passed would result in a job starting on the 13/07/15. The job was actually an inbound sales job which was appealing. I had a few interviews and few applications on the go at the time so phoned Admiral and asked if I could confirm I would attend a week beforehand due to it being three weeks away, which they said was fine.

If any ones reading this thinking "why apply for them again" I'm not in a position to turn anything down, I want to work, this was in a different site to the previous job application (actually with Admiral and not one of their brands) and hopefully it would be with different recruitment staff. I rang them a week beforehand and confirmed I was going to attend. At the time I had three interviews with three different companies over a three week period; week 1 would be HSBC, week 2 would be Admiral and week 3 would be Virgin Atlantic. All in Swansea and all call centre jobs, given my extensive experience and skill I set myself a target of passing at least two of the three interviews and getting myself a choice of jobs. Admiral in fact for various long drawn out reasons was my pick of the three jobs.

The course was situated in Admirals Telelink 2 Building in Swansea Vale, located a short hop from Llansamlet train station which is how I would be getting there. I rolled up to the building at 08:45 Thursday morning, due to confidence issues and the previous application I was dressed gender neutral. I was signed in by security then escorted into the canteen where we were to wait for the trainers. There were a few people already in before me and over the next ten minutes the rest of the applicants arrived. The applicants were as follows;

1. Me, a veteran of call centres, knows their way around the industry, can talk to people of all ilks and coming off a six month period of unemployment after working in the TSB call centre just down the road.

2. Swindon, a woman from Swindon currently living in Swansea. I didn't learn anything of her professional background.

3. Teacher, a middle aged former teacher, rather authoritarian and I found her rather old fashioned.

4. Navy, a former navy chef, currently unemployed and also had recent call centre sales experience.

5. Mac, a young girl who was a trainer in McDonald's.

6. Hardy, an ex squaddie who was currently working in sales in the call centre next door to Admiral.

7. Blonde, a woman a little younger than myself whose professional background I never found out about.

8. Q, a rather quiet guy who kept himself to himself.

9. Tess. a young girl who worked in a super market.

10. Max, a young boy who I never really found out much about.

11. Stylist, a young girl who worked in a hair salon.

12. Brunette, a middle aged woman who I never found out much about.

13. Don, a quiet guy who didn't say much with a beard to differentiate himself from Q.

14. Brad, an Australian who like me had spent most of the last few years working for an Internet retailer.

15. Ben, a rather laid back young man.


I found the trainers and recruiter who ran the course very professional the course included a welcome, facilities talk, Admirals core competencies, interview skills, listening in to agents, sales training some talks by management and sales training. All in all very professional and we got a free lunch which went down well. At the end of day two we drew lots for our interview times on the final day - the final day would  be the interview and we'd get the results the following Monday which would mean a potential start a week later.

I arrived for my interview fifteen minutes early - arriving early is good but arriving to early results in sitting around getting nervous. First people I saw were Anita and Ruth who were running the course and interviewing, we were told they didn't have a say who was interviewing who - it was randomly assigned. I found Q sitting in the canteen after a quick chat Anita and Ruth called him in for his interview. I was sat on my own composing myself until Mac arrived. We had a chat and then I was called in for my interview.

This interview is now mentally my benchmark interview, the one I will now think of as the best an interview can go. I was on top form, answers were flowing, no awkward silences, eye contact was maintained and all in all very good and I came away thinking I'd got the job. I'd done everything, I'd brought paperwork that showed when I left Amazon due to productivity I was hitting my targets but when the work dried up I missed them for two weeks - hitting 150% of target the week before I was released. I'd prepared my own role play where I mock sold the interviewers my mobile phone. Feedback from the previous weeks interview with HSBC informed me recruiters when asking for examples want recent examples so when asked about motivation/targets I talked about targets and bonus for hitting them for Amazon because the previous call centre sales targets experience was from 2010. I left feeling confident, walked into Swansea to spend some money to celebrate my start a week Monday and generally felt on top of the world.

The situation for the job was there were 20 jobs on offer, 15 on the course and 20 applicants applied to the advert. I felt I was a top contender and well capable of finishing in the top 20 out of 35. I couldn't judge the applicants who I hadn't met but here's my opinion of the contenders from the course;

Certs to be offered a position;

1. Me, I was awesome during the interview, contributed to the team and tasks throughout the course. Used a few things in the interview others wouldn't have thought of and had extensive experience.

2. Mac, very professional, carried herself very well throughout the course and came across very well when discussing her current job at McDonald's. I genuinely think she's got team leader potential despite her lack of experience.

3. Brad, a brilliant talker and wonderfully laid back, if I called Admiral to discuss my insurance I'd want to talk to him.

4. Blonde, came really well in the tasks, mixed well with everyone and can only say good things about her.

Candidates I'd Hire;

I'm grouping Tess and Brunette together in this section as I felt they were both intimidated yet showed their strengths during the tasks and group talks. If anything both of these two are prime examples of why the course was set up, didn't shine as bright as others on their initial application but a chance to get them in again, give them some pointers and give them another shot.

The Maybes;

Teacher, personally I'm not sure she's a fit for a call centre environment, she was authoritarian, had trouble getting her point over and isn't going to be able to make sales with her personality. However she put a strong effort into the group tasks and her people skills could improve during the training course.

Ben, I like him, he contributed to every task well and got to know him as I walked him to the bus stop and gave him directions. Can't remember if he has call centre experience but think he can do well on the phones. The only reason I have him down as a maybe is because he's so laid back he may have trouble convincing the interviewers (if he's interviewed by someone who wasn't involved in the course) that he cares about getting the job.

Navy, he has experience but throughout the course he had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, for an example during an example of bad customer service he told a story about how he embarrassed a call centre worker in front of his boss. In short I think he can thrive at this job but could shoot himself in the foot during the interview.

Max, in theory he should be a dead cert but his behaviour let him down, he was often laughing and giggling at other people when they were talking during presentations and discussions. Blanked virtually everyone on the course at one point of other and did the call centre no no of swearing on the call centre floor. Despite that I was impressed with him when he made an effort, he's young enough to grow out of that attitude and if he does as well in the interview as he did in the course deserves a second chance.

People Who I Don't Think Will Get Through;

Stylist, she didn't turn up after the first day and wasn't interviewed. I assume at best she'll be given a spot on the course if they hold another one. She came across as professional and the reason for not attending  may have been out of her hands or she have been accepted for another job - who knows.

Swindon, no offence to her but I thought she came across as rather awkward and I just can't see her on the phones or enjoying the job. I think her strengths lay in other areas however if she did get the job call centre turn over is high and I could see her leaving before three months. Good luck, I hope she finds something but I don't think she fits the call centre environment.

Hardy, I felt being the only one of us currently working and working in a call centre doing sales he should have alpha maled the group. However I can't remember him doing or saying anything and sat on the sidelines not taking advantage of this course.

Q, nice guy but again sat on the sidelines and didn't contribute or take advantage of the situation.

Don, god bless him really nice guy but sat on the sidelines and again sadly didn't make an impact.

So cut to the following Monday where I was preparing for the next job interview, I got no phone call. The next day I got an email similar to the previous one and rang it asking for feedback. They said I didn't disclose being released on a previous job - as mentioned I did and even brought the paperwork to the interview to show I was hitting target despite being released for productivity. Said I didn't show passion - believe me I did and was complimented for showing how passionate I was the previous week when applying with HSBC. Finally they said talking about breaking up your day, hitting hourly targets to get bonus and being motivated by spending the bonus money wasn't an appropriate answer to being asked how I motivate myself.

After the first application it just sounds like utter utter bullshit.

I don't know what I want from this blog entry, there are no winners to be found here only losers. Admiral have missed out on a top quality worker twice and I've been trapped on the dole for seven months more than I should. Maybe I should have kicked off a second time but given the results from the first time my heart wasn't in it.

I bid the second interviewers no ill will just hope they are retrained before interviewing anyone else. I would hope that the first set of interviewers have been found out by now (I doubt this is the first time they've done this) and sacked. I'd like to thank everyone at Admiral who contributed to the course and I hope everyone who took part from it got something out of it.

As for me, tomorrow I'll be getting a call from a recruitment consultant about a new job I hope to be starting on Monday. 

Here's to new starts...

Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

For the past few months dear readers I have been unemployed and just between you and me - I don't like it. Like myself I'm sure some readers will have experienced unemployment and there may even be some of you who have enjoyed it. While I'll admit the hours are cracking everything else is an absolute soul destroyer and all things considered I can't wait to see the end of it - which brings us to the theme of this blog: getting out of unemployment. Lets call a spade a spade, this isn't rocket science (unless your an unemployed rocket scientist) and there are a number of simple steps to follow. You look for a job, you find a job, you apply for the job and then its a case of either getting the job or going back to square one then starting again. I'm sure you'll agree it looks very straightforward, however there is an element to getting out of employment I have yet to touch upon, ladies and gentlemen I present to you the bane of my life the recruitment industry.

Over the last few months I have seen ineptitude from recruitment consultants and HR people that would make David Brent look like a candidate for Mensa. I'll probably touch on aspects of this in future blogs but there's one particular event I want to vent over at the moment. The tale begins last month one morning where I happened over this job advert:

Company confidential

Out Bound call centre operatives

Job description

Due to expansion Our client is looking to employ new Call Centre operatives within their busy outbound call centre.
You will be making outbound calls offering a variety of services to the general public. You must be driven and sales focused and have the following skills and attributes:-

Excellent telephone skills
An ability to assess customer needs and discuss options combined with an ability work to deadlines and targets.
Excellent communication skills.
Confident and enthusiastic
Friendly and approachable
Persuasive and sales driven.

In return for this we offer a very competitive salary of £300.00 a week plus an enviable commission structure.

 After a quick perusal I decided that this job my name on it, I have the sales skills having done door to door at the age of 16, I'd done telesales for a number of companies successfully and had even run a telesales team for a loan broker. Admittedly it was an entry level job and paid a lot less than my previous jobs however with my experience and background it was a case of being awesome at entry level for a month or two and then take the inevitable promotion. Checking the person spec it also looked like it was aimed at me so I sent off my CV and within the day I received a reply saying I'd been shortlisted. I phoned them up and had a brief chat with the HR and Recruitment Manager and arranged a suitable time and date for what I was informed would be a group interview.

Nothing to worry about there as you pretty much interact with people from birth (although some might say during) and it would be a chance to see who I was up against. Suitably attired that Tuesday morning I set off for CCS Review (also known as Consortium Technology Ltd), I'd done my research on the company, planned some questions and planned a few positive things about myself to slip in during the interview. I was expecting a number of things from the interview: a group exercise, typing/intranet system test, a bit of role play and one on one with the HR person in which to enquire about the company and put myself over to them as a prospective employee.

A quick train trip into Swansea and bracing walk found CCS placed just off Wind Street, for Who fans its quite close to where the exteriors to The Unquiet Dead were shot. A few of us interviewees turned up at the same time and we were led into the building. As we walked through the contact centre floor I dropped to the back of the group and took a few moments to examine my surroundings. The company seemed to exist in the basement of a quite impressive building and was full of the mixture of cocksure, stressed twenty somethings that populate the call centres of the country. In all honesty I wasn't impressed there seemed to be a lack of decorum, in particularly one team leader was busy moon walking instead of taking a call from an agent - it took him three minutes to get around to helping out the agent by which time I'd imagine whoever was on the other side of the phone would be fuming at having been kept waiting. I looked to the sales charts which showed they had a mixture of the impressive salespeople and people struggling who would soon be showed the door.

We were shown into the interview room which consisted of a large central table and some forms. The HR person said we would fill in the forms, then tell the group about ourselves including our favourite films (and if we had a super power what would we have) and could ask questions about the job afterwards. I don't know about you reader but that sounds a bit crap and lacking to me, on top of that the forms would end up regurgitating the information we'd given in our applications. Assuming HR person would go around the table clockwise I positioned myself on the far left of the room, this way I would be able to find out more about them and be in good position to mention something or ask questions other candidates hadn't covered. As we went around the room I found out more and more about the other contenders...

The first contender, was experienced in sales and had worked in a variety of Swansea call centres, had worked at team leader level and conducted himself well. He was a dead cert to get through and from his delivery and description of himself I could tell he'd be one to watch and I suspected when we were put on the training academy he was most likely to be my closest rival.

The second contender was No 1's goofy sidekick and appeared to be joined to him at the hip. They had worked together throughout Swansea's call centres but this guy was far from the talented one of the pair. It was 50/50 weather he'd get through.

No 3 is what we in South Wales call a "shunk" and stood no chance whatsoever. If he had turned up in clobber he was wearing on casual Friday he still would have been sent home, on top of that he couldn't string a sentence together and may have been hung over.

No 4 seemed only interested in the job because it was in staggering distance from her flat, didn't seem to care and was one of those people who think they are a "character" because they once wore orange on a Wednesday.

No 5 was a very nice chap fresh out of university with a Physics degree, had never worked in his life and looked like he had been dressed by him mum. I firmly placed him in the "nice guy but no chance" category, if he got through he would be gone within the month. If this had been for customer service he'd have a chance but in sales he was out of his depth.

No 6 was a competitor, like myself he appeared to have managed sales departments and was coming into the company like myself at a level lower than he would like. His demeanor showed that while he was professional I didn't think he'd do to well at entry level. I think he'd get in but I think he'd get stuck at entry level.

No 7 was a shop worker and had no sales experience. Despite this I think she'd get through as she put herself over very well in the interview.

No 8, Jesus bloody Christ where the hell did they get this guy from? Apparently he was some sort of weekend club manager who did pole dancing in his spare time.

No 9, was me.

As we went around the table telling our life stories and what super powers we wanted I grew more confident. By the time it was my turn to speak I had my speech planned out, I was able to mention that as well as lead generating I had experience of closing - something a few others kicked themselves for not mentioning, took them on a verbal tour of my work history and finished up by saying I'd like Wolverine's healing power so if I got injured I'd still be able to talk to the customers while I healed - I was the only person to link the power to the actual job. We finished off quizzing the HR person about the actual job then left to go about our different merry ways with a promise we'd be called back by the end of the day. I was full of confidence and had a skip in my step after a well done (albeit lacking from CCS Review) interview. However a few hours later i opened my email to find this:

Hi .........,

 Thank you for attending the interview of Telesales Advisor earlier today. Unfortunately, you were unsuccessful in your application.

 We wish you the best in your future endeavours.

 Kind Regards,

 ****** *******

 "That's it?" I asked myself on reading the email, applied for a job I've previously excelled at, done excellent in the interview and all I get is future endeavoured - who the hell did they think I was, Chris Jericho? This rejection had a bad affect on me, I'd been unemployed after previously doing a job with little prospects and seen a chance to get back into the industry I'd previously excelled at and I get future endeavoured. Naturally I asked for some feedback, so if I'd done anything on I could work on it for my next application but heard nothing back.

I feel badly let down by CCS Review IMO they showed a complete lack of professionalism. The thing that gets me about unprofessional recruiters is nobody wins, I don't get employed, the company don't get the benefit of my experience and the recruitment personnel will just go about doing the same thing bringing down their own value getting found out when they move onto a new employer. I'll bounce back as I always do, someone else will employ me, CSS will continue with their poor recruitment policy and they'll be the ones that suffer long term. 

Anyway that's that and as said earlier its time to move on, or in my case back to square one...