Phone interviews are usually conducted by a company to list out applicants who have applied for their internship program. If the distance is a troubling factor, then a phone interview may solely result in an internship offer without organizing a personal interview. It is true that such an interview by phone might seem less intimidating than a face-to-face interview, but you as a candidate must not ignore its importance. It is because it can even be the sole criteria to judge the candidate’s potentials and outline an offer letter for him. So while you move on to read how to prepare for phone interview, first read to understand the significance of such an interview, particularly for an intern.
Importance of a Phone Interview for Internship:
Since companies are hiring candidates for an internship program, so even they want to hire the best candidate without spending too much time on it. It is because an intern is expected to possess certain core competencies that are required for his superior performance at work. So such an interview session is vital not only for the organization, but even for you, as an intern, because:
1. It might be your sole chance to portray that you are the best fit to the company’s internship module.
2. The interviewer wishes to test your skills, knowledge, and interest in the company through the phone, so make sure you showcase everything positive about yourself.
3. The interviewer will also judge that whether you hold a casual approach or a professional approach regarding the job.
4. Finally, he will test your potentials and your behavior to make sure that you fit well into the organization. Attributes such as flexibility, working with a team, working overtime, and more will also be judged.
So, now that you have known that you will be tested for all such skills and abilities through phone, and then you must comprehend that why even a phone interview holds such great significance. Hence, you can follow the top telephone interview tips for your internship program.
Tips to Prepare for Phone Interview of an Internship:
Besides these excellent phone interview tips, you can even prepare for a set of standard common phone interview questions. These interview questions are standard as they fit well into all kinds of phone interviews for an internship held by any company.
1. Research about the company:
Try to gather maximum information about the company as possible. Read about career openings of the company listed on its website, and investigate for desired skills and qualifications they are looking for a specific job. Learn about specific slogans or taglines that the entity uses to promote its products and services.
2. Prepare for a set of standard questions:
It is not necessary that a company may ask same interview internship questions to all candidates or all companies may ask same questions for their job position. Still there are some basic internship interview questions to ask, which most of the companies consider fit to evaluate the abilities and potentials of the interviewee. It is, therefore, wise if you look and prepare for such questions for phone interview in advance so that you can speak out a convincing phone interview answers to each questions.
3. Prepare for a role play session:
You can ask your friend or someone in your family to role play as an interviewer. You can give the internship questions to your friend and ask him to record the time that you take to answer each question. Record the time and ask your friend to give feedback. If he gives a negative or moderate feedback, then you must work on aspects that required to be polished. Don’t take it personally; rather consider it as an opportunity to prepare well in advance prior to the actual interview. This is one of the best way for preparing for a phone interview.
4. Make sure you sit in an uninterrupted and quiet environment:
When you are there to your final phone interview, then you should ensure that the environment around you is completely quiet and interruption free. It is vital so that you can communicate with the interview without moving away from your focus to impress him and get hired to the job post.
5. Request clarification politely, as and when necessary:
In case you are unclear about a question, or you are not able to hear the interviewer’s voice correctly then make sure you ask for clarification. Don’t attempt to answer an improperly understood question. It might make you give an incorrect answer that is irrelevant to what the interviewer is asking.
6. Keep your resume along with you:
Even if it is a telephonic interview, still it is essential that you are aware of skills, and other information that you have provided in your resume. It is because it is only on the basis of your resume that the interviewer has called you for his job position.
7. Ask questions:
You may also ask questions to the interviewer if you have any doubt, or if it is required. Make sure that it is a two-way conversational process where the throw of the dialog is from both the sides. Moreover, you must clear all your doubts regarding the job post as this might be your final chance to investigate about the organization before you finally join it.
8. Make sure you have a calm and relaxed state of mind:
No matter to which time of the day the interview is been organized, it is of utmost significance that you sound fresh, interested and intelligent on the phone. Don’t yawn or speak out a sleepy voice during the interview session. Remember that you have to sound your best as the interviewer is not able to see you. So, it will only be your voice that will decide the fate for you.
9. Stay Confident:
You are there for an internship program and you might be having not much experience in prior, but this does not mean that you cannot give productive returns to the company. They are calling you because you possess the set of skills that meet their criteria. So stay confident and let that confident illustrate out from your voice.
10. Be prepared to discuss your strengths:
It is an interview and, therefore, don’t only expect to exchange good things about you and the company. You might also be tested for your weaknesses. You must, therefore, prepare an impressive answer to the question that you will be asked regarding your weaknesses.
11. Prepare an Elevator Speech:
Since the interviewer will only be listening to you, so you have to impress him with you excellent communication skills and an intelligent answer to different questions. The best way is to prepare an elevator speech or elevator pitch for you to give a perfect answer to the introductory question.
12. Focus on your accomplishments and skills:
It is essential that you levy focus on speaking out your potentials, skills, and abilities, rather than just saying good things about the company. Surely, the interviewer would like to hear good things about his firm, but then he is conducting such a session to know in detail about you. Try to utilize this opportunity by speaking out to him about all good qualities of yours that make you suitable for his job opening.
13. Sound enthusiast but not too eager:
You want to get hired to this internship module, but this does not imply that you sound too eager to get hired. Showing some enthusiasm is always good, but make sure you don’t appear too eager for the post as this can create a negative impression on the interviewer.
14. Feel Comfortable:
Even if it is a telephone interview and the interviewer is not able to see you, still it is essential that you sound comfortable to him. Speaking interrupted or communicating with too many pauses and breaks are signs of your discomfort during the interview session.
15. Don’t forget to thank you:
Last but not the least, even if you think that things didn’t work out as you have planned, make sure you end the conversation on a polite note. So always say, “thank you” or “nice talking to you” while you end the conversation. It might create a positive impression about you as a person on the interviewer.
Questions asked during Phone Interview of an Internship:
1. Tell me a little about yourself?
2. What key strengths would you apply to the internship schedule?
3. What are your weaknesses?
4. What according to you are the skills that make you best candidate for our internship program?
5. How do you think your past education will help you in completing professional assignments?
6. Why did you select our firm for the internship program?
7. Which classes did you enjoy most and which the least?
8. Why should we hire you?
9. What are you expecting from our internship position?
10. Do you have any goals to fulfill with our internship process?
11. Tell us about some of your school achievements that relate to this job?
12. Do you have any salary expectations?
13. Do you wish to go for higher studies?
14. What information do you possess about this industry and some trends that have occurred in the industry?
After you have done with the interview, then you can relax for a couple of minutes and then go on to make some notes. You can make notes regarding something specific that you have discovered about the firm, specific expectations or skills that the interviewer was focusing at, and anything that you had forgotten to ask or clarified. Once you are done with all this work, then the last task is to send a ‘thank you’ message or an email to the interviewer. You should thank the interviewer for considering you as a suitable candidate and then wait more expecting another call from the company, maybe for the next round of interview, or maybe for your confirmation offer!
