and in this tutorial, I'm going to teach you how to prepare for a phone interview. So,

it does not matter which organization or company you have a phone interview with, I promise

you, if you watch and study this tutorial from beginning through to the end, you will

pass your phone interview. I can guarantee that. Before I do that, a very warm welcome

to this phone interview training tutorial. My name is Richard McMunn. That's me there

in the center. I've been helping people for about 20 years now to pass their interviews.

I do that predominantly by giving you top scoring answers to the likely interview questions

and also some brilliant tips to make sure you are the standout candidate. Now, please

do make sure you SUBSCRIBE to the channel by clicking the red button below the video,

and then you're not going to miss out on any of the weekly interview training videos I'm

uploading. I would also very much appreciate your support if you gave the video a LIKE

(Thanks!), as that was motivates me to create more content for you. Thank you very much.

I do appreciate that. So, we're going to cover three things during this phone interview tutorial.

The first thing is, I'm going to teach you how to prepare for a phone interview. I'm

also going to give you some rock-solid phone interview tips, and I'm also going to give

you some phone interview questions and high-scoring answers that you can download and use during

your phone interview. So let's get into that! How to prepare for a phone interview. What

I want to do, first of all, is I want to think about what a phone interview is used for.

Because, if we have an understanding of why an employer or a hiring manager chooses to

use a telephone interview, then we have a better chance of passing. A phone interview

is a great way for the hiring manager or recruiting manager to essentially sift through those

people they do not want to invite along to a face-to-face interview. As you and I know,

a face-to-face interview takes up a lot of time, it takes up a lot of energy and also

resources. However, if I was to speak to you on the phone, I could very quickly get a feel

or not, whether I want to invite you along to the interview. So it's a great way for

them to sift through those people they don't want to invite to the face-to-face job interview.

But, what is important, is you have to treat the phone interview as seriously as a normal

interview. And look at it this way, do all of your preparation for the phone interview,

and you will have also done a lot of preparation already for a face-to-face interview when

you get invited along for that particular thing. So, I want you to divide your phone

interview preparation up into the following three key areas. I'm going to do that during

this tutorial. Phone interview preparation area #1 is JOB ROLE RESEARCH. Now, this literally

takes a couple of minutes. But what we need to do, is have a look at the job advert and

have a look at the person specification for the job. And these documents basically outline

what the employer is looking for from the ideal candidate. So, the thinking here is

if we know what they're looking for, we can give it to them during our answers to the

phone interview questions. We also need to look at the essential criteria for the role.

I'll give you a live example in a second of what I mean by that. And then we need to think

of the skills and qualities needed to carry out the job competently. And as I say, all

of this literally takes a few minutes, and I'm going to walk you through what I recommend

you do. Then there's phone interview preparation number two, which is COMPANY RESEARCH. Again,

this literally takes a couple of minutes because they're going to ask you: Why do you want

to work for our company? And you have a good reason. You have to have a good reason for

it. And also, they might say to you: What do you know about our company? And there's

a quick-win with this! I'll tell you exactly what to do and where to go to find out the

right and correct information about their particular company so you can answer those

questions. And then finally, phone interview preparation number three is getting ready

your ANSWERS TO THE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. I'm actually going to give you the phone interview

questions and sample answers to help you prepare fully. Now, before we work through each of

those three phone interview preparation areas, let me give you five important phone interview

tips. And please take a note of these. So phone interview TIP NUMBER ONE. Make sure

you know the exact time and date of the call and be fully ready for the phone interview

at least five minutes prior to the time it's going to start. What you don't want to do

is be rushing round and thinking, oh, no, I haven't got a reception on my phone. You

know, there’s people in the office or people in the room, and it's too noisy! Make sure

you think in advance. Make sure you know the exact time of day, because you only get one

chance. If you miss that phone call, then that's it! It's all over. Phone interview

TIP NUMBER TWO, if you are using a mobile for the phone interview, make sure you are

in a strong reception area. You need to think ahead. This is the location where I'm going

to take the call and have a look on your phone to make sure you are in a strong reception

area. Because, again, if you say… “Oh, I'm sorry, I missed the call, there was no

reception!” Well, that shows a lack of preplanning. Phone interview TIP NUMBER THREE. Be prepared

for the phone interview call to come from an unknown number. So, I'm not sure if you're

the same as me, but if I get a call from an unknown number, I never answer it. However,

I can pretty much guarantee that the call will come from an unknown number, because

they don't want people to ring them back. Make sure you answer it if it's at the same

time or round about the same time that your phone interview is scheduled to take place.

Phone interview TIP NUMBER FOUR. Make sure you won't be disturbed for the duration of

the phone interview, and there’s zero background noise. So, how long does a phone interview

last? Well, of course, it depends on your answers to the phone interview questions.

However, I believe it will last for between 15 and 30 minutes duration. You need to allocate

that amount of time and make sure you are not going to be disturbed by anybody else.

Phone interview TIP NUMBER FIVE. Don't have the phone on loudspeaker for the phone interview

call. A lot of people do this. They have their phones on loudspeaker when talking to people.

But, if you are on the end of that, it sounds like you're in a tunnel. So make sure you

have it off and you have the phone close to your ear when you are talking. And that will

be better for you because you don't want to be saying to the interviewer: “Oh, sorry,

can you repeat that? I couldn't hear the question.” So, have the phone close to you and to your

ear. Now, those are very basic tips, but they are really, really important. Phone interview

TIP NUMBER SIX. Have a cheat sheet with bullet points of what you want to talk about during

the phone interview. A cheat sheet is essentially you working through this phone interview training

tutorial and taking notes as you go along and writing down the answers that I give you

to the interview questions. You can then have that sheet of paper in front of you. Now,

of course, you don't want to be reading from a sheet of paper because you don't want to

sound rigid, because the interviewer will hear that. But you can have ‘prompts’.

When they say to you: Why do you want to work for our company?” You can have bullet point

prompts of what you want to say. That is a really good tip! Let's now start working through

all three phone interview preparation areas. I've got more tips to give you, and I've also

got to work through those phone interview questions and answers! So make sure you follow

all of this. Phone interview preparation area number one. This is really, really important.

This is JOB ROLE RESEARCH. And don't forget, I mentioned about looking at the job advert,

the person specification, taking a look at the essential criteria for the job and also

the skills and qualities needed. So, this will help you to pass. Let's take a look at

an example person specification. So this is a job for an admin role. And I just want to

use this to explain what I want you to do quickly, to help you pass your phone interview.

If you look there, we have the ESSENTIAL SKILLS required and it says that we need to have

excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Now, if, say, is that when they say

to you, what skills and qualities do you possess? Well, you can say: “I have strong communication

skills and I have the ability to get on with everyone, both customers and clients.” Because

that is essentially what good interpersonal skills is. But you can also then be prepared

for an interview question around that essential criteria, which will probably be: “Describe

a time when you communicated an important message to a group of people?” So, once

you follow this process, you are fully prepared for your phone interview, and not just a phone

interview, but any face-to-face interview as well, because the essential criteria will

stay the same for both phone interview and face-to-face interview. Let me give you another

example. It says there that one of the essential criteria is to have strong organizational

skills. So, again, when I say to you, what skills and qualities do you have? “I am

a solid organizer who can plan and prioritize all work in a timely manner.” And the interview

question for that essential criteria element will be: Describe a time when you demonstrated

solid organizational work skills? So, I would then work through the entire document and

look for those. So when they say to me: What skills and experience do you have suitable

for this role? I will do my research based on all of these ESSENTIAL criteria. And this

is what I would say in response to that phone interview question: “I am a solid communicator

who has exceptional organization skills, the ability to be left alone to plan and prioritize

all tasks whilst working under pressure. I particularly enjoy supporting the senior management

team to complete tough projects and tasks, and can be left alone to work on my own initiative.

I prefer to work as part of a team and my personal life means I have the flexibility

to be available as and when needed to carry out all duties as required.” And you will

see that I have underlined all of the essential criteria and I have simply put it in my response,

and that is the best way to pass your phone interview! That took me about five minutes.

It's a very quick process, but once you learn that, you can pass any interview with ease.

So, that response is derived solely from the ESSENTIAL CRITERIA of the job description

and person specification. Let's have a look at now phone interview preparation area number

two, which is COMPANY RESEARCH. They're going to want to know why you want to work for their

company and also what you know about their company. When they ask you the question: Why

do you want to work for our company? This is the answer that I use every single time

for any job. “I’d like to work for your company for three reasons. Firstly, you have

a strong reputation in the industry, so I know I’ll be able to grow and develop as

a person professionally. Secondly, the skills and qualities I have are a match for both

this role and the standards you expect from your employees. Finally, I noticed during

my research you have ambitious and exciting plans for the future and I would very much

like to be a part of those.” That's a great response to use for the phone interview question…

Why do you want to work for our company? You know, you could write that down and read that

off on your CHEAT SHEET during your phone interview. Then they're going to want to know

about what you know about their company. So, my advice is to simply go on their website

and have a look at their LATEST NEWS SECTION and write down on your cheat sheet two or

three points of interest about their company. What products and services do they have? How

long have they been operating? What's their mission statement? What is their USP, their

Unique Selling Point? And also, on the latest news section, there should be something of

significance that has happened within the company. They may have won awards, or they

may have featured in a news article, or something like that. Write down some things when they

say, ‘what do you know about our company’ that you can tell them. Before we go through

preparation number three area, which is those all-important phone interview questions and

high scoring answers, let me give you a couple of more tips to pass your phone interview.

So, the next tip is, and this is a big one, smile whilst talking throughout the phone

interview, and your tone will then be positive! I'm smiling right now whilst I'm talking.

And you can probably hear a change in the tone of my voice? So remember, write down

on your cheat sheet at the top… “DON'T FORGET TO SMILE” because you will then exude

a positive communication aspect when you're talking to them, and they will pick up on

that smile whilst you’re talking throughout the phone interview. Put that on the top of

your cheat sheet for an interview! Tip number eight. Send a thank you email at the end of

the phone interview. So, once the phone interview is finished, simply send this email to the

person who conducted the phone interview. Dear sir/madam, RE: Phone interview. I would

just like to say thank you for the opportunity to undertake the phone interview today. I

very much enjoyed discussing the role and I sincerely hope I get the opportunity to

attend a face-to-face interview. Kind regards, Richard McMunn. Obviously, you'd put your

own name there and you would change ‘Dear sir’ or ‘Dear madam’ to their gender,

whoever it was at the interview. But just send that. That’s very positive and they

will think of you in a positive light. If you send that to me, I would think: “Brilliant.

Let us get them along to a face-to-face interview. I like this person! They are positive and

they are caring and they are genuine.” Phone interview preparation area number three. These

answers to the phone interview questions. Very important. I'm going to tell you the

phone interview questions that I recommend you prepare for. Here we go. Question number

1. Tell me about yourself? That's going to be the first phone interview question. So