Phone interviews are probably an important part of your IT hiring process. They provide more interactivity than merely sending emails back and forth, while offering additional insight into the candidates’ abilities, personality, and poise. Another bonus is that phone interviews save a bit of time and money compared to bringing everyone with good résumés on site for an in-person interview.
Ultimately, they serve as a nice intermediary step between résumé perusal and an in-person meeting. Here are some additional steps and techniques your company can take to improve the efficacy of the phone interview process.
Use a Phone Interview to Gauge True Interest in your Company
The perception into a candidate’s attitude provided by a phone interview helps you to gauge their real interest in your company. If they ask meaningful questions about your firm’s culture, prospect for growth, and current project workload, it is probably a good sign that they are intrigued.
Additionally, if the candidate displays some knowledge about your company as well as your industry, it is another positive indicator of their interest. This is something to pay close attention to during the interview.
Leveraging a Technical Interview on the Phone
Using a phone for a technical interview is another positive for your firm. First off, your company’s technical staff can spend some off-hours time conducting the interview which minimizes the impact on their workload.
Short of actually putting them in front of computer writing code, or administering a test network, the phone technical interview is the best way to verify they are truly qualified for your company’s open position.
Clarify Details and Experience
An interactive phone interview is perfect for gaining additional details on the candidate’s work experience. Take this opportunity to probe into their responsibility level (is it growing?) and how they reacted to any stress or conflict on the job. It is better to filter out someone who wouldn’t fit into your culture at this point before spending the time on an in-person interview.
If you want any additional advice on how to leverage the phone interview process, talk to the experts at APN Consulting. They are one of the leading IT staffing companies in the New Jersey area, with the knowledge and experience to ensure your organizational staffing needs are easily met. Talk with them today!