How to Prepare for a Phone Interview with a Recruiter

A phone interview with a recruiter can often times be a make or break situation. If you have a good resume, then the recruiter will often want to schedule a time to call to discuss the job opening.

However, more often than not, what is really happening is that the recruiter wants to screen you as an applicant and determine if you are someone who is actually capable and if the resume is a good representation of your skills, or just a polished document that someone else dreamed up and wrote for you.

So, it is vital that you prepare well for a phone interview.

Are Phone Interviews with Recruiters Necessary

A lot of people will ask if it’s really necessary to have a phone interview with a recruiter.  Aren’t phone calls so passe? Well, no not really. Interviews in general are not a waste of time, and phone interviews are just another type of interview.

The main reason that phone interviews are necessary with recruiters is  that it helps the recruiter judge you as a functioning candidate. If you were to only provide the recruiter with a resume, they would have no clue as to how you handle yourself in real life. Most things can be fudged and fabricated on a resume, so it’s always vital that the recruiter has some real personal connection with the candidate before submitting them to a job.

This is accomplished either by an in person meeting (becoming ever less common post covid) a phone call or a zoom or other form of video call.

Recruiter vs Hiring Manager- Difference in Phone Interview Prep

There is a huge difference between a phone interview with a recruiter and a hiring manager. These are two vey different approaches to interviews. The recruiter is someone who is looking to place you in a company and make commission, and the other person is someone who is actually in charge of hiring the person.

These are two separate roles, but each is important. In many cases you will never be able to reach the hiring manager by phone unless you first have a phone interview with the recruiter.

In many cases, the firm that hires a recruiting agency will never connect directly with an applicant without that candidate first being pre-screened by a recruiter.

When it comes to a phone interview with a recruiter, the prep is going to be slightly different than when compared to a phone interview conducted with a hiring manager.

The main difference in interview prep when it comes to speaking with a recruiter vs a hiring manager are the questions.

You will want to have different questions and different answers when speaking with a recruiter. First, the recruiter is someone you can be more honest with. If you would like to have a salary of 100k, but would realistically accept 85k, then you can tell your recruiter that. If you start discussing those numbers with the hiring manager during an initial phone interview, you will likely not move down the candidate pipeline.

During your phone interview with a recruiter, you should also ask questions about the company that you might be interviewing with that could be seen as impolite to the actual people who work there. Ask honest questions, but don’t be rude.

Your prep for a phone interview with a recruiter is going to be less strenuous. You are only going to want to ask questions about the types of roles they can secure for you, and give them information regarding what sort of role you are seeking as well as your compensation.

What Questions To ask a Recruiter on a Phone Interview

Your first call with a recruiter is an important one. You do not want to make yourself look to eager, or too disinterested. Instead, what you want to do is make sure that the recruiter has a good sense of how you come across to people (something a resume cannot convey) as well as give them a good idea about what sort of work you’re looking for.

The initial phone interview with a recruiter is also your time to find out if they can help you.

Maybe you connected with an entry level recruiter who is incapable of finding you the executive work you are looking for. Or maybe they are someone who works only with medical staffing, and you happened to get them on the phone.

If they do not sound enthusiastic, then realize that they cannot help you. Recruiters do not want to waste their time with people who they can’t place. Time is money in recurring, so it’s going to be clear if the recruiter can help you.

If the recruiter is dodging your calls, or sounds disinterested while on the phone, then they can’t make money with you or for you.

If you do get a recruiter on the phone who sounds interested and excited, then it’s a good chance that they have the ability to make you money. This is where you need to ask them questions and tell them what you want.

Make sure to ask them about the placement process. How many interviews will you need to go on. What sort of salary ranges do the firms they work with tend to offer. Does the recruiter only work on direct hire roles, or will they occasionally be reaching out with temp to perm offers as well.

The initial phone interview with a recruiter can be better classified as a conversation where you both learn about each other and decide if it’s a good use of both your time to continue working together.

Video or Phone Interview: Which Do Recruiters Prefer

Honestly, most recruiters want to get a good sense of their candidate. If you have a good LinkedIn profile with a photo, and you have social media, then a phone screen is sufficient. Unless their agency requires them to hit a certain number of video interviews a week (a meaningless KPI that’s designed by management who never recruit).

But if you don’t have a good social medial profile, and if the client is super picky about presentation, then a video call is normally preferred.

The other reason that a video call (be it a Zoom or Google Meetup) is preferred is that it shows that you as a candidate are more involved and invested in the process than if you were to simply jump on a call while waiting in line for a Starbucks.

The benefit to having a Zoom interview with a recruiter also goes in your favor. If you make a connection and they see your face, they are more likely to be engaged and remember you for when the next job opening comes in. If they have only ever seen your LinedIn profile, or spoken to you on the phone, then it’s not going to be as memorable a meeting.

Finally, if your recruiter is going to send you on an important interview with a client of theirs, then it really does make sense for them to run a test interview with them. This way the recruiter will know if you are really set and can figure out how to conduct yourself on a Zoom call or other video interview.