Phone Screens:

Rather than a formal face to face interview, a lot of places will do initial phone screens. Those are really useful for everyone involved. They're easier to schedule, to stack up several in a day for both interviewers and interviewees, and to give a good assessment before the face to face meeting. So if you get a phone screen before you get to meet anyone in the office, you should consider that a positive event. There are a few things you should note.
  1. This is a real part of the interview. You should be dressed in a way that makes you comfortable, but still somewhat business minded.
  2. Stand while you're talking on the phone. It gives more weight to your voice and will generally slow your talking down and make you more understandable.
  3. Smile when you are answering questions on the phone. It's weird, but you can hear the difference in someone's voice when they smile. You want to seem friendly, especially if you don't understand a question (or don't know the answer) so that you can get the other person to help you out a bit or weight the question less heavily.
  4. Turn off your email, crackberry, radio, etc. while you're on the screen. Close the door while you're doing the screen as well. This is the most important thing you are doing while you're on the phone interview. Make sure you treat it appropriately.

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