Working the phone
The little-analyzed phone interview proves to be a major piece of the job-hunt puzzle, providing perhaps the only opportunity for that must-have solid first impression.
Paul Bailo founder of Phone Interview Pro in Trumbull has built a business on showing people how to make the receiver work for their search for employment. In his book, “The Official Phone Interview Handbook,” he details the specific musts and must-nots of a phone interview.
Among his findings: Put on a clean shirt and comb your hair even though it”™s the phone; you”™ll do better than the person in his bathrobe.
“Eighty percent of your communication skills are gone on the phone,” said Bailo. “A phone conversation or interview is like a courtship. You can”™t just walk up to a young lady and get married. A phone interview is a, ”˜hello how are you, I”™m interested,”™ not so much that they love you because if the organization loved you they”™d call you in for a face to face. You want your phone interview to go like a good first date.”
Bailo said the phone interview and any emphasis put on it as an important step to getting a job has been neglected or flat-out ignored.
“I”™ve gotten calls from places like Greenwich Library,” said Bailo. “They said they didn”™t have a single thing in the library like this; they are one of the top business libraries in the United States. No one has ever done the research.”
Bailo”™s book is available on his company website, phoneinterviewpro.com and on Amazon.com where it is the No. 1 phone interview book. Phone Interview Pro has created a more than 250-point evaluation service that enables candidates to understand their strong and weak points on the phone.
Bailo said the book details singular mistakes on the phone. Bailo said prevalent mistakes are a symptom of the times with the impersonalization of professional correspondence and contact facilitated by email and texting.
“There is no reason that anyone who has a phone interview cannot be a candidate for the face-to-face, as long as you understand what you have to do,” said Bailo. “People need to listen more and talk less. The most important part of a phone interview is the first 60 seconds; it will make or break the next 59 minutes of the phone interview. You have to connect; you have to be dancing the same dance.”
Bailo said ending the phone conversation and avoiding clumsiness is also a crucial point to the interview.
“Saying goodbye someone can be awkward,” said Bailo. “It can taint their mental image of you.”
Bailo who grew up in Queens, N.Y., and lives in Trumbull, has three master”™s degrees, a double MBA, and a masters in clinical social work and is currently working on his Ph.D. He was an operations director at Adaptive Marketing, a director of customer marketing capabilities at American Express and a founder at SBC Consulting Group. He was also a senior leader at GE Money. He currently works as a marketing officer at CDU Universe Inc. in Wallingford, an internet retailer and is an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University. Bailo also holds five patents related to the marketing industry.
“It came to me when between jobs at the start of the credit crunch,” said Bailo. “When I began, it was about ego management, but with the phone interview I found a niche.”
Bailo wrote the book, “The Official Phone Interview Handbook,” and then founded the company Phone Interview Pro.
After interviewing HR professionals, Bailo found that listening, conciseness, confidence, early contact and passion and energy are just a few of the key elements to a good phone interview.
“The other person is giving you the greatest gift in the world, the gift of time,” said Bailo. “The people who are looking for work need to thank the other person. It”™s like what your mom taught you, but smart people let their ego get in the way and forget to be considerate.”
Bailo said one of the things that many people forget to do is to say how they feel about the prospective job.
“True honest emotion matters,” said Bailo. “That has to translate into your voice. You have to tell them how you feel about it. Don”™t lie; don”™t fumble.”
Bailo said tactics should remain the same whether it is a big company where a human resources person is calling or a smaller company where the owner might call.
“They all know what they”™re looking for,” said Bailo. “You want to be intelligent enough to understand that each question is headed somewhere.”
St. John”™s University has ordered more than 100 copies of the book and Berkeley College, which has seven locations including in White Plains, N.Y., is in talks to buy a book for every student.
“It”™s very impressive,” said Michael Soehnlein, vice president of career services at Berkley College. “It boils down to exactly what the students should be doing; I don”™t see how it can”™t help in a phone interview.”
Best Buy, the major technology retailer, has also bought books for its job coaches to aid in recruitment and deal closing.
Bailo said that according to his research dressing up for a phone interview creates a 17 percent increase in performance.
“If you feel like a million bucks, you will act like it,” said Bailo. “It”™s the same thing as home field advantage; some people are morning people some work better in the evening; you can try to schedule your phone interview around the right day and the right time. Know your stats.”
On Bailo”™s advice the University of Connecticut”™s business school bought extra landlines for its career services area to conduct phone interviews.
Bailo said having a landline for phone interviews is imperative.
“Cell phones still don”™t have as good a clarity as landlines and there”™s always the possibility of a dropped call,” said Bailo. “If you”™re looking for a job where your salary would be $60,000 to $100,000 go out and get yourself a landline for $9.99 a month. Have it there only for your job search, make it your bat phone. When that phone rings you know it can only have to do with one thing.”
Bailo said keeping a list of the businesses your resumes have been sent is also a good practice. Bailo even recommends not being too available to suggested times for a face-to-face interview.
“Most people want things they can”™t have,” said Bailo. “If someone says ”˜let”™s meet Monday,”™ you say Tuesday. You don”™t want people to think that you don”™t have things to do. Why would I want someone who doesn”™t have anything to do for a week? You want someone who is busy, who is in demand.”