Today I had a phone interview with a potential employer.
I had done the research. I looked into to the company, studied their products and social media accounts, figured out exactly what I would be doing and how it related to past positions I had held. I did my due diligence, something that was drilled into my head by numerous career counselors and websites telling me how to prepare for interviews. I can never say that I’m confident when I go into interviews – the only time I’m not nervous is when I genuinely don’t care about the position and wonder why I even bother – but I try to feel prepared. It’s impossible to see into the future and know exactly what questions are headed my way, but I felt like I had the basics (strengths, weaknesses, “Tell me about yourself”) all down.
The interview did not go well. Or, at least, I don’t think it went well. Only the future will know if it did. It is hard for me, and I assume it is the same for a lot of recent graduates and students, to tell how well an interview goes especially if it is over the phone. There have been times in the past when I know I’ve rocked an interview, when I know I’ve completely bombed. (An example that comes to mind? We finished our interview in 15 minutes with the vague “You’ll hear something soon” and I never heard back. We both were painfully aware that I was failing.) Selling myself over the phone is hard. I have experience, but how do I talk about it in a way that seems to be benefiting the company? Is it okay to just go on and on about one particular position? “Well, when I was the editor here, I did this.” “Oh, wow, you’ll never believe how I applied that same skill in that same job.” “Huh, remember that instance we already talked about? It can apply here, too! I promise!”
I felt like an idiot. A rambling, make no sense, idiot. After the fact, I did some research (read: Google searching) to determine what I did right, and what I did wrong. Why I didn’t do this earlier, or before any of the other phone interviews I’ve had, I’ll never know. And the research helped me figure out, pretty quickly, that no one actually knows to do for phone interviews. Because I did some stuff correctly… and colossally screwed up at times.
I followed up. But I didn’t use my name and the position I was applying for as the subject line (that’s a thing?). I also did a lot of internet digging to find their emails because I didn’t ask them for contact information. Not that I forgot, but the interviewer kind of told me to go through the HR person always (Good sign? Bad sign? I sure as hell don’t know). Whoops. I asked questions about the position and the qualities they are looking for in an employee. But I didn’t ask about a timeline for hearing back (I have to remember that on in the future). Luckily, I was told how the process would go from here on out, but it still feels like they were expecting it and I was just not giving the question they wanted. I’ve heard that I should stand up, walk around, dress for the part (even though no one can see me) and a lot more.
Well, it’s nice to know how I failed. And if I ever get an interview in the future (with the amount of applications I’m sending out, I’m both confident it will happen and sure it never will), at least I’ll know what to do.
Kind of.
Or not.
Any advice?
My Life in Stasis 