Help with phone interview

[Sleepy]

I will have a phone interview in a few days and wonder if anyone here can give me any suggestions and tips on how to prepare myself for it. This is an entry-level Facilities Engineering Associate position working for a hi-tech corporation. Their Facilities Department is looking for an engineer to improve work flow and efficiency, manage equipment transmittal process, oversee minor construction, update CAD drawings and develop forecasting tool for growth modeling of power, cooling and space requirements...etc

This is my first phone interview. I feel very uncomfortable and intimidated by the idea that I will not be able to see the person's facial expression and body language. I also have an accent (not a horrible one) and a somewhat low, tonal and soft voice. The interview is expected to be 30 minutes to an hour long. I am wondering:

1) Is there anything I can do to prepare myself better for what to come?

2) How is a phone interview different than a face-to-face interview other than not being able to see each other?

3) What types of questions are generally asked in a phone interview?

4) What types of questions are generally asked when considering someone for a facilities engineer position?

5) What types of questions would be appropriate to ask the interviewer over the phone?

...

N) Anything I need to be aware of and anything you want to teach me.

Thank you.

 

[kevo_55]

Sleepy,

One of the most important things that you can do is to do a few mock interviews with the help of someone else. The types of questions will actually be somewhat wide in range, but there are several websites out there which can give you sample questions. My college actually gave me a handbook on interviewing & writing a resume. Your college might have given you the same when you graduated.

Another important thing is to do all of the reasearch you can on this company and be prepared to ask questions about specific aspects of the company as well as your portental job description.

One more thing, don't worry about this job not being what you had dreamed of when you were in college. Most first jobs really suck. My first job was designing flagpoles. :true:

You'll get a lot of good info on this I think. Just do your best and everything will be just fine!

 

[DynaMechEng]

I agree with kevo 55.

Phone interviews are typically used by HR people to pre-screen potential candidates. If the phone interview goes well, they'll generally schedule a sit down interview with the department/division manager. If it doesn't, you probably won't hear back.

As such, your phone interview probably won't go in to in-depth technical stuff. HR people typically want to know that you know something about their company and can communicate effectively (I was asked to name products that a company I was applying for made once...I got that job). They'll for sure ask you how you can help them, what you're looking for in a career, etc.

 

[Trev... P.E.]

I can't advise on what a facilities engineering hiring manager will be looking for but...

Take a shot of something 15 mins before the call starts! :beerchug: Seriously, they can't smell your breath and it will settle the nerves. I've done this for every phone interview I've ever had... and it helped me relax, but of course it's a personal choice.

I've had phone interviews with both HR types as well as the actual hiring managers.

A couple of questions:

• Do you know who will be interviewing you? ie, name & position?
• Would this be your first job?

Do quite a bit of research on the company, their competition, and the type of work you'd be doing. If you have the interviewer's name, do some stalking of them on google, see what their background is if you can find out... Linkedin is especially good for this!

The point of the phone interview exercise is to trim the field as a phone interview takes much less work, money and time when compared to sit-down interviews. The types of questions will basically seek to understand your background and aspirations in a mostly general way, and time will fly by. They may dig down on anything you say that interests them.

You can have copious notes in front of you in a phone interview because they can't see you! But just have a couple of pages max because if they hear you pause and shuffle pages, the jigs up! But have enough notes on your relevant background, education and anything interesting (and relevant) you came across in the news, company website, whatnot. Always have a handful of questions prepared and written down for both during the interview as well as at the end... If they're just asking you one question after another, it's an interview, if you're throwing back questions about what they said, it becomes a conversation and shows your interest.

Finally, and most important of all, I assume you've scheduled this for a time and place where you will have no background noise or distractions??

Good luck!

 

[udpolo15]

Sleepy,
One of the most important things that you can do is to do a few mock interviews with the help of someone else.

Agreed. If you don't have someone, just practice answering questions out loud. a lot of people ramble and you will begin to realize when you have said enough by listening to yourself.

Also - make sure you have some questions and not stuff that you can answer by looking at their website. I almost always give a thumbs down to someone who doesn't have at least one question for me in a interview. I don't care if you have already asked the same question to the 5 people before me , just ask me a question.

 

[Sleepy]

I've been to the company a few times before because my friend works there. I do know about their products, their facility, labs, cafeteria, break rooms and what not. I probably go back there tomorrow to observe a few things, maybe talk to a few employees about the facilities, what they like most/least about the campus, any improvements or suggestions to be made...etc...

I do know the name of the person who will interview me and I already checked her out on LinkedIn.

This is my first real job. I graduated two months ago. The company is a hi-tech computer company. It has nothing to do with my major (Civil) so I don't know if this is my dream job. However, lately I've been fascinated by intelligent, high-performance building design and think my best shot is to work for the Facilities or Real Estate Development of a hi-tech company with state-of-the-art facilities (which in this case, they do) Also, I want to gear toward becoming an architectural engineer - so this is job fits into the career path I think I want to follow.

I do have a few questions related to their Development Program for recent graduates and interview/hiring process for the position.

I gave them my cell phone, but I think I should email them again and ask them to call me on the land line instead. I am not sure where to do it, so I think I will just do it at home. First, kill the dog. Second, kill the neighbor's kids. Third, break the neighbor's cd player. That should do.

 

[ALBin517]

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

 

[Wolverine]

I'm a firm believer in the Intro and Outro: 60 to 90 seconds each, memorized, answering the question "Why Should I Hire You?".

It's kind of like your basic college 5-paragraph essay - Intro/3Points/Conclusions. The intro is your upfront sell point and should give them plenty of meat to chew on about how fantastic you are and what you can do for them. Then during the interview you hit the points you made in the Intro about how great you are and keep coming back to them. The Outro is the last thing they will hear from you so it should be like the conclusion, summing up how great you are (hopefully you believe, without arrogance, that you ARE the best person for the job).

The Intro and Outro should be honed, polished, and memorized to the point that it sounds natural and confident. Take the advice that you should practice it in front of someone you trust, maybe even on video. Just like any subject matter, once you're an expert on it, it just flows from you with confidence, only in this case the subject matter is your ability to bring value to the company. If you read off the page, it will sound canned, but once it's memorized and practiced, it will sound sincere (which of course, it should be in the first place - it's all in the presentation though).

Relax and good luck!

Oh yeah: there's an invisible gun on the table. 5 out of 10 people will pick it up and use it on themselves (as in, ask the interviewer what she's wearing). Don't pick it up.

 

[Sleepy]

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

The interviewer is indeed a chick and last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have. No need to get a mental picture of 'her height and other measureables' since it is not job-related.

But thanks for trolling by.

 

[willsee]

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

The interviewer is indeed a chick and last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have. No need to get a mental picture of 'her height and other measureables' since it is not job-related.

But thanks for trolling by.

Another tip

Don't take everything so seriously...your co-workers won't like that.

 

[Sleepy]

hmmmm good tip. I agree, but

"last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have"

Does that sound serious to you?

 

[kevo_55]

Ha!

You've got spunk Sleepy!

Good luck on the phone interview.

 

[ALBin517]

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

The interviewer is indeed a chick and last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have. No need to get a mental picture of 'her height and other measureables' since it is not job-related.

But thanks for trolling by.

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

The interviewer is indeed a chick and last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have. No need to get a mental picture of 'her height and other measureables' since it is not job-related.

But thanks for trolling by.

Another tip

Don't take everything so seriously...your co-workers won't like that.

hmmmm good tip. I agree, but
"last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have"

Does that sound serious to you?

Ha!
You've got spunk Sleepy!

Good luck on the phone interview.

That really spiraled out of control. My work here is done.

 

[Sleepy]

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

The interviewer is indeed a chick and last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have. No need to get a mental picture of 'her height and other measureables' since it is not job-related.

But thanks for trolling by.

If the interviewer is a chick then be sure to ask what she's wearing, along with her height and other measurables. It helps to get a mental picture of the interviewer.

The interviewer is indeed a chick and last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have. No need to get a mental picture of 'her height and other measureables' since it is not job-related.

But thanks for trolling by.

Another tip

Don't take everything so seriously...your co-workers won't like that.

hmmmm good tip. I agree, but
"last time I checked, I still had whatever that she might naturally have"

Does that sound serious to you?

Ha!
You've got spunk Sleepy!

Good luck on the phone interview.

That really spiraled out of control. My work here is done.

Please Master, don't leave!!!

Pleaaaaseeeeee..."don't break my heart, say you come back again..." [SIZE=12pt]ok, I can't sing.[/SIZE]

Anyway, the interview went well. I'm scheduled for another phone interview next week to speak with the hiring manager. Thank you everyone for great tips/suggestions (including the one with lesbian tendency)

The thing is...they are looking for someone with Electrical Engineering background. The team is highly diverse, so it may, or may not work. I am not holding a high hope on this one. However, I have a week and I want to know what I can review/study in a week that at least will not make me sound stupid and completely lost on the next interview? The topics should focus on electrical engineering related to building, not the electrical network stuff.

I took ONE class in EE, Intro to Circuits. I liked the class though and did good but nothing beyond that. Am I screwed?

 

[solomonb]

OK, let's not panic on the EE background. You won't pick up enough in 7 days to make any difference on a second hiring interview. My advice is to carefully focus on what you learned before in the initial interview process. They may "want" a EE because they are going to do some major power rework, redesign the facility for greater electrical efficiency-- you don't have enough data at this point.

If the EE becomes a binding constraint, point out that you are a civil engineer, not a EE, however have a good undergrad engineering background. If indeed they want a lighting or power specialist, then this may not be the "ideal" job for you. You will be able to instinctively tell if this is a fit or not. If the fit is a little wobbly, OK, however, if it is not a fit, so be it. Getting a second phone interview says something-- perhaps the salary is lower than what EE's are commanding-- play it and see where it goes.

Your ideal job--you just graduated-- you have been out 2 months--you will have 5 jobs before 30 years of age-- that is the average today. None of them will be your ideal job-- that is OK as well, you are gaining experience and background for your 30's, where, perhaps you will find your ideal job. However, you can stand on your head for 24 months if you have to--don't get spun up on the ideal job at this point-- you are just getting started.

 

[Sleepy]

Thank you for your inputs. I actually did an intensive study on their systems: cooling, HVAC, flooring, power distribution, cable management, racking, fire suppression....etc.... While I couldn't really defend my background in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering since I only took a few classes in ME and in EE, but I was able to say a lot about the specific systems that they are using at their facilities. He did test me a bit about the cable and fire suppression systems that I claimed to know and I was able to answer his questions well. I did study in details their floor plan layout, port mapping and what not and I made a few trips back to their facilities to observe and took notes on what I noticed (mainly to satisfy my curiosity) I think I did fine for not having a degree in ME or EE or knowing much (if at all) about Data Center design a week prior to my interview. If I don't make it to the next round, that's fine. I'll hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Some other places will make a good use of me

He was more concerned about leadership and project management skills...which I had some hands-on experiences in that aspect. I was a co-founder and a VP of an engineering student chapter at my school and an analysis lead for a national design competition, so I was able to talk about my experiences, what I learned along the way, my mistakes and corrective actions.

Phone interview was actually in a way a lot easier than face-to-face interview. I had all my notes with me and I was able to check with my notes so I didn't miss too many points.

Thanks everyone for the support. I learned a lot from this forum.

 

[kevo_55]

Sounds like you did a pretty good few interviews!

I hope that you get the job!

 

[Trev... P.E.]

Good luck on getting to the next step Sleepy! Sounds like you nailed it to me

 

[Sleepy]

Nope, I didn't make it to the last interview. I am a bit sad but I am ok. I understand that I am not the best match for them...at the moment. I will spend more time studying.

But it was a great learning and interviewing experience. And I learned a lot about Data Center design. Well, I guess I am back to my LEED study ... to plan A.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[kevo_55]

Keep on plugging Sleepy!