Why Phone Interviews are Still Impersonal
If you have had several phone interviews and not received an update or are not moving forward, this post is for you. Not hearing back is a tough pill to swallow. Even after reading only the resume and cover letter, the relationship remains impersonal.
There are several common reasons candidates don’t hear back after the initial phone interview.
Recruiters don’t have an emotional attachment to the candidate at this point in the process. This is why recruiters don’t want to invest in setting up a video call yet. For the recruiter, the difference between a video call and a phone call:
A phone interview is low-effort for the recruiter. No need to book a room or worry about their presentation layer. There’s no investment yet. That’s intentional.
As a result, the candidate is left with the phone call to make the right impression.
Enthusiasm Is a Signal, Not a Personality Trait
Recruiters look for signals of commitment during phone interviews. If recruiters sense a lack of commitment, they assume the hiring manager and hiring team will experience the same.
Commitment shows up in many ways.
One of the biggest red flags for a recruiter
is when a candidate treats the phone interview as their own personal informational interview.
At this stage in the process, the recruiter isn’t invested. It is up to the candidate to earn the recruiter’s and the hiring manager’s investment.
Recruiters usually have dozens of candidates. This is especially true when the job opening is trying to fill roles with candidates early in their careers or when the job market is tight. They know that if a candidate doesn’t work out, there will be 3 to take their place.
If this post resonates, there’s a reason
Most candidates never find out why they were screened out after a phone interview. Recruiters don’t provide that feedback because the decision is usually not based on qualifications.
If this post resonates, I wrote a short guide explaining how phone interviews are evaluated and why strong candidates are sometimes declined without clear feedback.
It doesn’t offer scripts or tricks. It explains how these conversations are interpreted.
→ Declined After a Phone Interview
The Phone Interview Isn’t an Informational Interview
Candidates who approach the phone interview with the expectation that the recruiter must answer their questions will be at a disadvantage. Candidates who treat the phone interview seriously will fare better.
The biggest mistake candidates make is failing to understand what the recruiter is looking for. If the recruiter doesn’t find what they are looking for, they can’t answer the hiring manager’s and hiring team’s questions.
Recruiters don’t want to put themselves in a position where they can’t answer these questions. If they don’t have the answer to these questions, it is easier to decline the candidate.
At this point, they may or may not update the candidate. With little investment, the message will be generic.
The Real Reason Candidates Don’t Hear Back
No recruiter wants to tell the candidate,
“I had several questions I wasn’t able to get to in our 30-minute phone call.”
What the candidate won’t hear is that the recruiter spent too much time answering candidates’ questions. In many cases, these questions could have been answered with minimal research.
Recruiters are busy. They are trying to fill up to 20+ positions at a time. If they are unable to get answers to their questions within 30 minutes, they know they will hear something similar from the hiring manager. Hiring managers are the recruiters’ customers.
If you do not hear back after the phone interview, ensure you are delivering what the recruiter is looking for.
Want to go Deeper?
Here is a short guide that explains how these conversations are interpreted.
→ Declined After a Phone Interview
See you at the after party,
HRNasty
nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.
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Richard Rabinowitz
March 28, 2015I would like to find a way of phone interviewing that is not inherently discriminatory against the deaf. The trouble is, since HR mainly serves as a “weeder-outer”, it cannot help but weed out the deaf, in contradiction to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
HRNasty
April 8, 2015Richard,
Thanks for stopping by and not sure how I missed this. I do not know if this helps, but I do a lot of recruiting over video skype. Yes, I may need an interpreter, but a LOT of larger employers have folks that can help out here. There are also a lot of services that one can bring in to help interpret and they are often free to the employer through volunteer services. I think we just need to get the word out. For the most part, our initial contact with an employer is via email. After you get the interview set up via email is when I would bring up the point about being deaf. But I wouldn’t stop there. I would make it easy on the employer and help them set up the interpreter services. I know it isn’t optimum but a lot of companies WANT to do the right thing, they just don’t know what the right thing is. Hope this helps, HRN
Guest
March 28, 2015Phone interview: what people do when they just want people to call people and telemarket over the phone all day, instead of actual communication.
Brian
August 18, 2014Yeah, definitely goes both ways. I’ve had so many phone-screens with really poor interviewers. People who call 10 minutes late, don’t call at all, don’t ask the standard “do you have any questions for me?” … etc.
JoeyM
February 17, 2014HRN, you are absolutely right. I just had a job interviewer hang up on me IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SENTENCE. These 20 year old HR assistants have no clue.
rae
August 27, 2013I agree with you that people should practice common courtesy. However, it should work both ways!! As a job seeker who recently sent nearly 30 CVs, it was very discouraging to not hear anything back from all but the three who wanted interviews. Even a simple acknowledgement of receipt would have been appreciated!!