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Non-Tech Advice Needed: Telephone Interview

gemz4the1
Level 23: Casual Specs
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I am on to stage 3 of a job application and the next stage I have to do is a telephone interview.  I am nervous and I know that my mind will go blank so I want to prepare well for it.  The only problem is, I have to show that I fulfil certain competencies and give examples of it, which I am bad at doing.

 

The competencies needed are:

  • Managing a quality service (main one)
  • Managing effective decisions (main one)
  • Delivering at pace
    Leading and communicating
  • Collaborating and partnering

 

Does anyone have any advice or examples for me?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Gemz

 

First congratulations for getting to your current stage. Well done. 

 

The next step is indeed to do some homework and asking here is a great start. 

 

I hope you get some helpful informative suggestions and tips. 

 

Perhaps use Google too for helpful insight. 

 

I'd also say be clear , concise and to the point. 

 

If I think of anything else I can offer to help and support you I will. 

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MI5
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I can't add anything either except to say good luck wink
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

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sheepdog
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At least you have the opportunity to show some good examples of your abilities. Some telephone interviews don't give you that and you have to think on your feet.

 

First off - and this is a good one given to me by a recruitment agent - be in a room with no distractions and stand up whilst talking. You give an air of confidence if you do that rather than sitting down as you're less inclined to be distracted. Oh and switch off your mobiles and no computers/tables or any other distractions. Take only a notepad and pens. Doodle if you have too but only switch on the mobile if your landline becomes unavailable at the last minute (which hints at having a backup plan, trust me, you can rely on BT breaking your phone line at the most inopportune time).

 

Not that I can remember what you do but it looks like they're looking for things relating to teamwork and how you manage people under pressure rather than job specifics. I'd focus on your ability to deliver your normal day job saying things like people come to you for queries and questions to deliver the end results. In my line of work, it comes under service delivery i.e. consistent & repeatable=quality. Bizarrely, even if the output is dire as long as you've followed the docs then it is viewed as a pass in the audits! Its not the final result, its how you get to the final result that counts. But I digress...

 

Strangely, saying you have a hand in producing documentation and revise operating procedures regularly (perhaps based on feedback or issues) will go a long way in demonstrating those competencies.If you can throw in on-the-job training examples then you've more or less got 3 of them already. I wouldn't be too worried about discussing a bad issue providing you can explain what happened afterward and how that changed things i.e. the infamous "lessons learnt". Which covers your communication part/quality service.

 

What I've been doing recently is doing bullet points then rehearsing what I want to say around that which helps a lot to convey what you want to get over. Or if you have access to powerpoint, then using bullet points, you have a limited amount of space to state your point as a prompt leaving the rest to you to talk through. 

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gemz4the1
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Thanks for your help slight_smile
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