In a recent speaking engagement, someone asked me, “If you had one piece of advice on how to get past a phone interview and get the face to face interview, what would you recommend?”
That’s a great question, because if you have a masterpiece of a resume and a killer LinkedIn profile, and you’re getting plenty of calls from recruiters and hiring managers, but you’re never getting past the phone interview – that’s a big problem. You could become just another statistic, as it takes an average of 12-18 months in the U.S. to get a six-figure job.
STATISTICS… EW.
However, you don’t have to be that statistic! Even if you’re passively open to better opportunities (which you should be if you’re at a six-figure level), you shouldn’t have to go through the motions for over a year to get your next perfect gig that will pay you what you’re worth.
THE SOFT SELL APPROACH
Here is the one piece of advice I would give my best friend if they had a 30-second conversation with me before a phone interview. I say, keep in mind that you are in the role of a consultative salesperson when you’re in an interview, and the product or service you’re selling is yourself. So one of the most important things to remember when in sales, it’s important to…
ASK FOR THE SALE.
In the case of a phone interview, the sale is the face to face interview. At the end of the interview, enthusiastically say, “You know, I’m more excited about this role than before I talked with you. Is there some time next week we can meet in your office to talk about your company’s needs in more detail?”
Then leave the interview with a time and place on your calendar – a face to face interview. In my 13 years of experience, this approach more than not ends up getting you the in-person conversation.
WHAT IF YOU’RE TALKING TO HR?
If you’re talking to Human Resources or a Recruiter and you want to make it to the face to face interview with the actual decision maker, it can be a little trickier. In the video below, I give you some specific wording you can use to make it to the next round of interviews. If you'd like to get more details about why this works and how to do it, click the video below to watch....
