Phone Interviews

Yesterday I had my very first phone interview with the City of Calgary. I have had interviews in the past but these were all face to face and with no more then two people. I felt very relaxed during these interviews and they went well. I was more nervous for my phone interview then I had been for any other interview in my life. Once I got on the phone they told me I would be on a speaker phone with three people listening in. This was intimidating to me because I had no idea what they people looked like and how they were reacting. It is so much easier in a face to face interview because you can see the other person’s facial reactions to the things that you are saying. At first it felt like I was talking to myself because I spoke for a good two minutes and had no references such as body language or facial expression to tell me if I was saying the right things or going totally off base. The latter part of the interview was more of an interrogation then a job interview with questions regarding my better judgment and social habits. I would not recommend a phone interview if the choice is yours. I feel that a face to face interview is better for both the interviewer and interviewee. You can pick up some much more from body language that is none existent over the phone. The only positive to a phone interview is the fact that you do not have to dress up nice to impress the person on the other line.