Phone interviews can be both easier and tougher than in-person interviews. As you point out, you don’t have the opportunity to read the body language or watch what the interviewer is doing (e.g., taking notes). From the interviewer standpoint, I find it much harder to do phone interviews because I can’t:

• Read your body language: Just as you can’t read the interviewers body language, the interviewer likes to read your body language and can’t do that over the phone
• Watch your note taking / quant solving approach: It’s one thing to listen to a candidate talk through a structure or solve a quant exercise, but being able to see how organized they are or the actual equations they write down is very helpful
• Judge your overall confidence / demeanor: This is slightly different than body language. On the phone, I can judge the overall confidence that a candidate projects and can often times get a “false positive” read

I give you the interviewer point-of-view so that you can try to work backwards on what you should and should not do on the phone interview. Here are a few tipos:

• Don’t interrupt: Shows impatience and anxiousness
• Don’t be nervous about pauses from the interviewer: The interviewer needs to take notes and is often taking notes after you finish speaking. Finish your conclusion / statement confidently and then wait for the interviewer to speak
• Don’t have a bad connection / noisy background: Calls from airports / mobile phones with bad connections are not acceptable. I want to really stress this point. A lot of candidates make calls from the airport explaining they are waiting for a flight. This is NOT acceptable under almost any circumstance (except for something like traveling to a funeral). Just because you are not in the firm’s office for an interview does not give you an excuse to not be in a dedicated quiet place with a quality phone connection
• Do give short answers: Long answers do not work as well over the phone
• Do talk at a deliberate pace: Confidence is exuded this way
• Do ask questions: Words get lost over the phone. Know exactly what was said
• Do talk out loud: The interviewer can’t see your notes. Over communicate

Hope that helps!

Dear Julian!

Firstly, prepare the place for the call. A quiet environment is a must-have. Pay attention to what the interviewer will see in the background (sometimes when I do coaching via Skype with you I can see really strange stuff;) Prepare on the wall in front of you the material you might need (structures, tips for a fit part, etc) so you won't have to look for it during the interview

Prepare your own questions. Relevant questions at the end are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. This is particularly important in a phone/video interview, as the interviewer will naturally connect less with you.

Smile during the call. Even if they cannot see you it's a good way to show energy

Use numbers when communicating your structure. This applies to both face-to-face and video interviews, but it is particularly important for the video ones. Good communication will make it easier for the interviewer to follow you since he/she cannot see you. As an example: “In order to help our client, I would like to focus on three main areas. First, I would like to focus on [FIRST TOPIC], secondly on [SECOND TOPIC], finally on [THIRD TOPIC]. Let me start with the first one."

Hope this helps and speak soon,

Best,

André

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