Hi all,

I am fortunate enough to have a phone interview for a position in Switzerland sometime later this week. However, as this is my first phone interview, as well as my first interview by a Swiss employer, I thought it may be a good idea to ask for some advice of people with a little more experience.

So if anyone has any tips or advice, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you

Know exactly what the company are looking for. A job description is reallly important.

On a practical note, make sure you are not going to get disturbed, and there are no kids in the house at the time ...and you have no other phones that could ring during the discussion.

Smile down the phone, sound enthusiastic.

Have a table laid out with all your preparation notes and CV on it. They cant see you walking round the room quoting bullet points :-)

After the discussion , ask them what they think and make sure you get a clear commitment for a face to face or the next stage. Then get off the phone.

dave

Expect questions on the role the you have applied for. If it is a technical position then your questions will be of a technical nature. I've found phone interviews are more about finding out if you are capable of doing the job rather than if you fit in, that comes at the next stage.

Hi

I would say that the technique would vary considerably depending upon the type of person that is interviewing you. It would also vary depending on the type of position (permanent or contract).

However, from my perspective these are the main points that we look for when performing telephone interviews.

1. Is the person qualified to do the job. This may seem obvious but lets face it not everyone is honest on their cv's so we like to know that the person knows what he/she is talking about before going to the expense of flying them over for a face to face interview. Be prepared for some in-depth questions and make sure that you know the parts that are relevant.

2. Can they explain in detail any of the previous projects that they had worked on. I am constantly amazed at how many people seem to have no idea when it comes to their previous work history. I like to ask questions concerning the customer (who are they, what did they use it for, was the project successful, what would you change in retrospect) as these questions tend to bring out the real character of the person on the other end of the telephone.

3. What factors made you choose this company. It may pay you to do a little research on the company itself and find out a few details. Again I'm amazed by some of the apathetic answers that I receive on this one.

4. Why do you want to move to Switzerland. Again, this sometimes throws up some interesting answers. We know that the salaries are good here and we know that the tax is low. But that doesn't help us to evaluate anything. It is quite expensive and time consuming to recruit people so we like to make sure that the people that we hire will stay for a long period of time.

As I say, techniques vary considerably. Some people may take your qualifications as sufficient proof whereas others may spend most of the time grilling you on your knowledge.

Hope that helps

Following on from DaveA:
I've called people for interviews who have been walking down the street, on trains or in the works canteen.

Peace, quiet, windows shut, other phones switched off etc

If you don't, it's a reflection on you.
Pisses me off if I'm interviewing.

From me:
Telephone interviews are great.
There are no visual clues, "first impressions", cultural stereotypes etc to contend with.

They are judging you on how you answer, how you explain yourself etc.
Not how you look, your skin colour, your zits etc

If they ask for face to face, they already have a good impression of you which makes it somewhat easier...

I agree. I once called a guy at the arranged time and he made me wait while he went from his quiet office area (obviously so that his workmates couldn't listen in) and stood outside next to a busy road junction. I couldn't hear a word and eventually stopped the interview.

Also, as Dave suggested, smile down the phone. It may sound corny and you may feel like a bit of a muppet but it does work and really makes you sound more enthusiastic about the position.

Mikey that was some good advice that you posted.

I just had my first telephone interview with a Swiss employer last week and will be having a second telephone interview in about a weeks time.

I am a nearly qualified accountant with three years experience and the job has a lot of management accounting involved. The interviewer advised that there would be some technical questions in my second interview.

I was just hoping that someone could give me an idea of the extend of such questions. Does anyone have some examples of what they have been asked.

Thanks in advance.

As an aside, I had 9(!) phone interviews for my first role at UBS. First with a technical interview, then another one, then the team leader, then the boss's boss, then the boss's boss's boss, then another manager based in London, then the boss's boss again, then another manager, then HR... I should have seen the signs...
Also, as I was in New Zealand back then, the interviews were all at about 1:30am NZ time...

Wow, what a necroposting.

THE INTERVIEW WAS IN 2006!!!

If they are still talking it will be one massive phone bill....