Poll of the Day > Does anyone else find phone interviews terrifying?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I had one today and I almost had a meltdown when they asked me to talk about myself. I let them know I was nervous, so they basically had to ask me questions about myself. I don't like talking to people on the phone in general. I need to be able to see someone's face! So much for that job :P
---

I don't know if terrifying is the right word, but I definitely like them more than Skype interviews. Simply because there's less that can go wrong from a technical perspective (be it internet crashing, webcam malfunctions, software issues, or other crap), whereas the worst that can happen is a dropped call for a phone interview. Or, if the signal is bad, just be blunt and say sorry my signal is bad, let me move outside or something.

That said, body language is clutch in interviews (both yours and interviewers)
---

Not really, they are much easier to do than in-person interviews. You don't have to worry about dressing up, or if your hair misbehaves, or you start sweating too much, etc. The only thing that's more annoying about them is it can be hard to avoid accidentally interrupting people, especially if there's a noticeable delay.


In any time of interview, though, "Tell me about yourself" is maybe my least favorite question, so I understand your pain. Some people ask that wanting to know about you in general but some mean it more specifically with regards to your career. I usually try to lead them into more specific questions but it's still annoying with how hard it can be to gauge.

Yeah I don't like talking to someone I don't know over the phone
---

I've never done one, but I find phone calls in general to be annoying.

Well not annoying per se. It's like I'm not good at making conversation in general, and a phone call is nothing but conversation. I don't like taking them and I'm wary of making them.
---

I dunno, I'm fine with them. Even when I've had shit go wrong like hanging up on the call, I've gotten job offers.
---

I had one today scheduled for 10 am. But I didn't hear my phone ring. So 5 minutes later, I looked at my phone to see I had a miss call. I called them. They were going questions I have not practiced with. And I could not hear some of the questions clearly. But I was to tell them about my volunteer experience.
---

I have only have been on the receiving end once. It wasn't too bad, and I ended up getting the job so I guess I don't mind them!

Trying to interview someone over the phone is kind of annoying though, you have to be pretty keen when you ask someone a technical question to determine if they are thinking about it, or just googling the answer and stalling for time. I end up having to do a lot of them because we interview contractors and in many cases they are halfway across the country (or halfway across the world in some cases) and it makes more logistical sense to interview over the phone.
---