Telephone screening is an inexpensive ways of identifying and recruiting potential candidates for the job. Although they lack the immediacy of conventional (face-to-face) interviews, telephone interviews offer many advantages and commonly used by employers to screen suitable candidates before they finalized whether or not to ask the person to come for a face-to-face interview.

During your seeking of job, there may be occasion whereby they are a need for telephone interview before you have a face-to-face interview. If this is the case, you must prepare yourself for the telephone interview. You should learn to communicate professionally with personality, skill and distinction. If you have all these three, the chance of getting the job will be high.

When the other parties is speaking, you should listen attentively and answer only when asked and in a brief, effective and polite manner. If the interviewer is female, don't assume that the female interviewer is "Mrs." Or "Miss.", instead address her as "Ms." Note that her marital status is irrelevant to the purpose of the interview.

Interviews usually are stress situations for most of us even if we are qualified candidates. Because of these stresses, most candidates tend to feel nervous, worry and ultimately freeze up during the telephone interview. One way to reduce stress is by practicing mock interview questions before the actual interview.

You may ask your friend to pretend to be the interviewer and asked some interview questions. Ask him/her to conduct the interview in numerous ways including, reserved, rushed and disinterested and this will prepare you for whatever the telephone interview may bring.

How can you prepare for the telephone interview? The most important thing you should do is to get to know the company by visiting their corporate website and identify the experiences and knowledge you need to highlight during the telephone interview.

Even though you may be conducting a telephone interview, it is advised you prepare your resume and review them to make them professional and see if you have missed on any important points. It will be ideal if you prepare some questions for the interviewer after the telephone interview.

Before the telephone interview, you should go to the bathroom since you can expect the call to last for some time Avoid drinking any alcohol before the interview. If you are thirsty, you may just drink plain cold water. If you are using your hand phone to communicate with the employer, remember to charge your hand phone properly before you actually make the call.

Bring along all the necessary items like the resume, paper, pen and maybe a bottle of water handy. You should call the prospective employer in a quiet place of your house whereby there is no kids, vehicles, sound, pollution, pets or any other distractions. Do not be nervous or panic instead be cool and enjoy your communication with that parties.

Reassure that you have the required skills the client needs and now you just have to convince the employer. If they provide you with a time to make a call, you should be punctual to show you respect and value the interview appointment. Be sincere and know when to start and stop talking while answering questions. Do not irritate the employer by talking nonsense or non-stop.

Show enthusiastic in your voice. Speak confidently, clearly and slowly while controlling the speed of your speech. Mirror the interviewer's voice. If he/she speaks fast, you can speak at the pace but if he/she speaks slowly, you should speak at the pace also.

When the interviewer makes a positive offer and you agreed to it, it would be nice if you said the following: "Thanks you for providing an opportunity to work with your company and I will do my best to prove my skills…"

In the telephone interview, it is inappropriate to initiate a conversation regarding compensation. It will be appropriate only during face-to-face meeting when the employer already knows you and you have an idea about the job required and the company.