Telephone interviews are typically conducted by a member of a firm's human resources (HR) team, or outsourced to a specialist organisation (such as a recruitment consultancy or job assessment organisation). Questions will usually focus on: your CV, work experience and academic history; your motivations for applying to the firm in question, the particular industry and job role; your knowledge of the firm itself (i.e. competitors, global reach, future plans); and, your skills, qualifications and competencies.
Typical Telephone Interview Questions
[Edit]It is less likely that a telephone interview would include technical questions, brain teaser questions or commercial awareness style questions (although you should still prepare for these questions, just in case).
Example Interview Questions
[Edit]Typical telephone interview questions may include:
- Why do you want to work in [industry in question]?
- Why do you want to be a [job role in question]?
- What are you most looking forward to in this role?
- Tell me about yourself/take me through your CV.
- Where would you like to be in five years? What do you think you will be doing?
- Why should we hire you?
- What are your greatest achievements?
- What motivates you?
- Tell me about a time you have led a team.
- What was your degree grade? Were you happy with this?
Where possible, always use a different example when answering each question.
- Click here for a more comprehensive list of possible graduate level interview questions.
