04.17.08
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Email ThisWhen we think about appearance, we often think of our body, clothes, maybe our car or house but rarely do we think about our phones. While your resume is often the first interaction you have with a professional employer, your phone is second. It’s important to manage your “phone appearance” and ensure that it reflects your professional appearance.
- Get rid of the ringtone replacement songs. There’s nothing more annoying that dialing someone and hearing “Please enjoy the music while your party is being reached.” This is just asking for someone to hang up. This thrill does nothing to impress other professionals and your friends are probably annoyed as well. Your phone is not your Myspace. We do not want to listen to your favorite music.
- Avoid unique voice mail greetings. Stick with the standard “Hi, you’ve reached Jane. Please your name and number and a brief message.” In fact, just stick with what is programed in and just add your name. Don’t use slang. Don’t try to make your greeting funny. Don’t have your children record the greeting. Just don’t. I personally witnessed a candidate lose a job due to a unique voice mail greeting that I’m sure the candidate thought was funny.
- Keep religion out of it. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve phone screened have religious statements at the end of their voice mail greetings. If you wouldn’t say it at the interview, don’t say it on the phone. I don’t want to know your religion, that puts companies in an uncomfortable situation as they do not want to give the appearance of discrimination.
Your phone should be just as conservative as you would be at an interview. If it is not, you risk the chance of never getting to an interview. 
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7 Responses to “Don’t Let Your Phone Get in the Way of a Successful Interview”
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Good tips, Rachel. Another thing I’d add is that if you’re going to forgo a home phone and only use a cell as is popular nowadays, make sure you have a phone and service plan that gives you the best coverage for your area. Nothing would annoy a potential employer more than trying to schedule an interview or ask screening questions while you’re cutting in and out or worse, your call gets dropped.
All good points. Another thing to consider:
Often, we supply a mobile number on a resume. Many of us answer our mobile phones whenever they ring - even when we are driving or in the middle of a mob of screaming baseball fans. If you are job hunting, be aware that trying to scream, “I can’t HEAR you” or cursing the driver who just cut you off as you are picking up your phone does not offer the impression you want to give your prospective employer.
Once your resume is out there, be aware that ANY time the phone rings, it might be your dream job on the line. If you’re in a bad or loud spot - let it go to voice mail (to your nice, clear, professional greeting), listen to the message and call back as soon as possible. You (and the caller) will be glad you did.
Miriam Salpeter
Keppie Careers
I would also recommend that when you do get the interview it really is best to turn your phone off before the interview starts. You won’t want the distraction, neither will they.
If you are in one of those long all-morning interview sessions meeting a series of different folks, by all means check your messages during one of the breaks that they give you.
Miriam - I always wonder why they bothered to pick up the phone when they’re driving. It’s an unknown caller, why would you bother? I also think it’s weird when people pull over, just reschedule with me.
Rupert - I’ve yet to have someone’s cell phone go off in an interview. I did have one girl drop her cell on the way in and set it on the table in front of her the rest of the interview. The supervisors I interviewed with did not know it had fallen and were quite annoyed she left it on the table. Once I explained what happened they were understanding, but people don’t realize that such a little incident can have such a big impact.
Rachel - That’s interesting that your colleagues were irked by the woman placing her cellphone on the table. That’s something I think I will be avoiding in the future. While I’ve never done it during an interview, I commonly place my cellphone and wallet on the table at dinner for comfort reasons (I have an iPhone which isn’t the smallest phone in the world, etc). But if it irks an interviewer, I could also see it offending a friend.
Also, I’m surprised by the comment to have no unique voicemail. I can understand no unique voicemail when it’s a song, kids, etc. But if it were a unique, professionally oriented voicemail, I would think that would make it better. I suppose it depends on the company. I know Gitomer has said that a unique voicemail can do wonders, but it’s also risky.
Nathan - Give me an example of a unique professional voice mail? Seems like a misnomer to me!
Rachel - Haha, well, we have varying names, the tones of our voices differ, as do their intonation, and those combined could lead to a unique prfessonial voicemail…
You’ve got me there. The safe bet is to leave out the unique. Unless the job you’re looking for isn’t one that rewards safe