Phone interview tomorrow.
 

Alright guys, I applied at a place totally across the country online (something I have been doing every few months)

While I have a great job it has been my lifelong dream to get out if Louisiana. And this may be my chance. Now the person I have been speaking to(email) has seemed genuinely interested and has asked specific electrical questions to the specific field I'm in, I have to always keep in mind a possible scam.

So if asked personal questions how should I respond? Say a social security number for employment how should that be answered or given?

Or should I be expecting a phone interview first and the fly out there to take care of such information.

I would not give my SSN over the phone.

Oh and, tell them you have a beard. Do it.

I've done phone interviews before. Basically, they should be asking questions you would expect in an interview done in person.
You may be asked personal questions. Do you like Cajun food? That's personal, but not really invasive. What race are you? That's illegal.

They shouldn't be asking for SSN. If they do, just respond that you provide that later.

Phone interviews are a very common "first interview" now in high tech. Don't give your SSN. They do not need it until you do the actual paperwork.

That would've unfair to the others and they could get fined for discrimination against lady men.

Ok but what if they wanted to do a background check.

That would be possible but not before a first phone interview. If they like you after the phone interview, they'll get back to you and will most likely provide a form or forms for you to fill out and return.

Employers typically don't do the background check until they decide to hire you. They'll make an offer pending approval of the background check and possibly a drug test. At that point, you'll generally submit to the check and provide all the information.

But if they're asking for that info on your first interview... it's probably not what you're looking for. I'm not even sure if that's legal.

You definitely don't want to give a SSN on a first telephone interview.

If this is legit, there will be multiple discussions and paperwork.

I have conducted many telephone interviews over the years.
I have never asked for a SSN - there's absolutely no reason to at that phase.

How much do you know about the company?

As others have mentioned a background check is usually done later. Many companies don't even check your references until after the initial interview.

Do you know how big the company is? Size can make a big difference. Small companies may not have the same process as bigger ones.

Phone interviews are generally done as an initial screeing procedure as you go through a selection process. Basically, they are seeing whether or not you are worth the investment to push further through the selection process, such as taking part in in-person interviews, assessment centers, psychometric testing, etc.

Every situation is different, but they're generally conducted by recruiters who aren't necessarily subject matter experts in the field in which they are recruiting. They may have met with such people, like managers, and targetted a few KSAOs or have conducted a job analysis. But bottom-line, you're probably not going to get asked a lot of complicated, in-depth questions about your content area of expertise. Expect more character-based questions, situational and behavior-based questions, strenghts, weaknesses, where do you see yourself in x number of years, etc.

And has already been stated, you shouldn't be asked anything like your SSN number. Some applications ask for it, but it's not standard to ask for such information in an interview, phone, in-person, or otherwise. Background checks cost money, so employers aren't going to shell that out until they're pretty confident they found the right candidate.

Remember to ask them what they're wearing.

Also, smile while doing the phone interview. It may seem silly, but but it alters the way you project yourself in a positive way.

+1.

And, stand up! Your lungs won't be compressed and you will sound more confident. And you can release any nervous energy by walking around.

Reviving this thread because I'm going to have a telephone interview this Monday, where I could be asked to solve problems and have been asked to 'be prepared to respond to behavioral questions'. The latter portion has left me kinda confused: what exactly could these 'behavioral questions' consist of, especially considering they're specifically asking me to 'be prepared'? Any suggestions? :(

Behavioral questions are common in interviews today. Here are some examples:

* Tell me about a time when you had a conflict on a project.
* Tell me about how you work in a team.
* Talk to me about you contributions on this point on your résumé.

The point of this kind of question is to get you to talk in detail about your experiences. There is a response type the interviewer is looking for in most cases. STAR is the most common.

SITUATION - describe an overview of the situation.
TASK - describe the tasks that needed to be accomplished.
ACTIONS - talk about the actions you took to complete each task.
RESULTS - talk about the outcomes as a result of your actions.

Hope this helps.

This.

The purpose of the behavior-based question is to improve the validity of an interview (which is actually a pretty crappy predictor of performance in a job anyway). The thinking behind it is that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

The best course of action is to stick to the STAR format outlined above. Don't speak in generalities. Be as specific as possible.

For example, if I were to ask, "Tell me about a time you were confronted with a moral dilemma on the job that challenged your ethics. How did you navigate that situation?"

Don't say something like, "Well, I think in those situations the best thing to do is follow your own sense of what's right or wrong."

You're not answering the question and you're not providing any meaningful information. Instead, talk about a time on the job where you honored an expired coupoun that a customer brought in because it was an unique circumstance, and then expound upon what lead you to making the decision you did.

Also, I tell people to clearly identify and specify any technical information that wouldn't be general knowledge to the average high school-educated adult when answering questions. As I stated in my above post, most recruiters aren't subject matter experts. So if you needed to cool a turbine down with water in a previous job, explain why cooling that turbine down with water was important. Implicitly, your communication skills and ability to convey technical information to a, perhaps, unsophisticated audience is often being evaluated in an interview, whether you realize that or not.

Also, related to the above, if the interview starts off with the "Tell me a little about yourself" question and you highlight education, don't use college abbreviations in place of their full name. Unless you went to MIT, there's a good chance the recruiter may not know what the abbrevation stands for, particuarly if he or she is based out of the region where you went to school. Instead, state the full name of the school, e.g., "I obtained a Bachelor's of Arts at Florida Internation University," instead of "I obtained a Bachelor's of Arts at FIU."

Thanks a ton :) I will try to prep myself up mentally in whatever little time I have. I'll be doing the STAR analysis beforehand for all of the points I've mentioned on my resume.