Easy Phone Interview Tips for Physician Candidates

Congratulations on making it to the phone interview stage! We know the interview process can be stressul, so here are a few tips to help make sure you make a great first impression on that dreaded phone interview:

Do:

• Have a copy of your CV. You might get asked very specific questions about your experience or dates of employment. You’ll sound more prepared if you can reference your CV easily.
• Smile. It comes across in your voice when you are in a good mood.  
• Have some water handy. You’ll be talking a lot. You might get thirsty.
• Have a pen ready. You might want to take some notes or jot something down to ask about later.
• Thank the interviewer. At the end of the call, thank your interviewer and ask about next steps.

Don’t:

• Ask about compensation first. Many of our clients find compensation questions to be off-putting when asked very early in the process. Our clients tend to offer salaries that are competitive within the market. If you think you are worth more, let them get to see that you are awesome before bringing up the finances.
• Lie. Be honest about what you want in a job.  If it isn’t the right fit, save everyone some time and be up front.
• Fill space. A lot of time on a phone interview, there will be silence. That’s okay.  Don’t rush to fill the void with extra information. It may be that an email distracted the interviewer or s/he may be writing down something that you said. Extra chatting may distract from your earlier (great) point.   
• Interrupt. Allow the interviewer to finish their question before you answer. They won’t mind if you allow an extra pause, but they might care if you keep cutting them off.

If you follow these few simple guidelines, you should have no problem acing the phone interview and moving on to the next step of the physician recruitment process.