Telephone Interview

[Zambeze]

Has someone experience with being interviewed by telephone by a Recruitment Agent in OZ?

Please give some advice on type of questions you have to answer and possible "trap-questions".

Once you are interviewed, what are the chances of getting to the next stage?

I have received yesterday an e-mail stating that I will be called for interview, I just was wondering how far is the Agent/Employer interested, after receiving my CV.

Thanks in advance.

[Tex]

Has someone experience with being interviewed by telephone by a Recruitment Agent in OZ?

Please give some advice on type of questions you have to answer and possible "trap-questions".

Once you are interviewed, what are the chances of getting to the next stage?

I have received yesterday an e-mail stating that I will be called for interview, I just was wondering how far is the Agent/Employer interested, after receiving my CV.

Thanks in advance.

Hello Zambeze, I have not been interviewed telephonically by Australians, but I have in the last few years been interviewed by the Brits & the Dutch by phone. And they certainly can't be too different from the Ozzies!

As I recall, my questions fell into 2 major categories - technical & personal. On the technical side you may be asked questions around your skills and abilities to do the job that you are being interviewed for. On the personal side you may (and should!) be asked general questions about yourself, the answers to which should give the interviewer an idea of what kind of person you are and how well you might fit in with the new company and its culture etc. You may or may not be asked questions around salary expectations (since its the first interview), but in any event be ready with answers to these types of questions should they arise. Trap questions??....perhaps the old one "tell me some of your strengths and weaknesses"....Make sure your answers to both will compliment the prospective position that you are applying for. For example a potential weakness "sometimes I can be impatient with people" can be converted into a strength "I like to achieve my work goals on time"....something like that. There are many similar such examples.

Have a set of prepared questions that you would like to ask the interviewer about the company and position. How many staff? Location? What is the reason for the vacancy? etc. This shows interest on your part and is an opportunity for you to find out who you might be working for. Make sure you are happy with the answers.

Since its a phone call the interviewer cannot see you. So, your voice, vocabulary and diction will be some of the most important aspects that the interviewer will use in deciding to progress your application to the next stage or not. Try to maintain a positive tone, answer all the questions as best you can, smile a lot (that sounds weird but it actually helps!) and try to build a rapport with the interviewer. If the interviewer has a "warm & fuzzy" feeling after the interview, and you have been able to answer any work-related questions, then (in my experience) you are probably half way there.

If you want more specifics on what types of questions are asked, I suggest you do a search on google using the term "job interviews by telephone". I got 972,000 hits when I did so a few moments ago. There is lots of info out there!

Good luck and please let the forum know how the interview went!

Tex

Edited August 26, 2008 by Tex

[Mark and Muriel]

Has someone experience with being interviewed by telephone by a Recruitment Agent in OZ?

Please give some advice on type of questions you have to answer and possible "trap-questions".

Once you are interviewed, what are the chances of getting to the next stage?

I have received yesterday an e-mail stating that I will be called for interview, I just was wondering how far is the Agent/Employer interested, after receiving my CV.

Thanks in advance.

Howzit Zambese

I went through a few those last month. My phoen interveiwws varied between 4 and 6 in the morning and were always pre-arranged via email. Basically the questions ranged from "why you want to leave SA, why settle in Australia, have you ever been to Australia", and then a whole lot of stuff about your profession. I would advise you to do a bit of research about the firm questioning you over the internet. They asked me what I knew about their firm and were keen to make out all the positives so that you would be interested in accepting any offers that they may make in future.

The questions varied form firm to firm but you should be interviewed on more than one occassion by the persnnel department and then by the technical guys in the division that you woiuld be employed by. Thereafter there is normally a bit of a break whilst character checks are undertaken (references) and CV scrutiny. Out of th eblue after quite a while I received offers that were then tweaked where possible to meet both party's requirements.

Hope this helps

Regards

Mark