If you’re applying for new jobs, you’re likely going to doing a variety of phone interviews as the first step in the process of interviewing with a company.
And if you’re new to the process, or if you have a phone interview scheduled and haven’t heard from your contact at the company yet, you may be wondering who is responsible for making the call for the phone interview.
To that end this article is going to answer the question “who calls for a phone interview,” as well as other frequently asked questions around phone interviews.
Who Calls for a Phone Interview?
Unless specifically specified by your point of contact at the company, the interviewer from the company is responsible for calling the candidate for the phone interview.
The interviewer calling the interviewee is standard etiquette and is my experience across dozens of phone interviews that I have personally conducted and have been on the other side of.
Do I Call Into a Phone Interview?
No, unless otherwise specified, the interviewer is responsible for calling you for a phone interview.
Now, sometimes an initial phone interview will be done via a virtual calling tool like Zoom or Google Meet. In that case, you will have to take an action to log into the actual virtual meeting room.
However, if it’s just a phone call, expect the interviewer to call you.
How Do You Answer the Phone When An Interviewer Calls?
There are a two major rules of thumb that I recommend for answering the phone when an interviewer calls:
- Answer with a friendly and professional tone
- State your name when your answer the phone
The first rule of thumb is fairly obvious and straightforward and that’s simply that you want to present yourself as professional and likeable during the interview and the way that you answer the phone is the first opportunity to do that.
The second rule of stating your name when answering the phone may be a bit less common, but it’s one that I would recommend because it helps let the interviewer know that they dialed the right number.
Specific language that you could use to answer the phone would be to say “Hello, this is {first name}” or “Hi, this is {first name}.”
For other tips on how to present yourself well on a phone interview, check out this video from Career Strategist Linda Raynier:
What To Do When a Phone Interviewer is Late?
It’s fairly common for a phone interviewer to be late for their scheduled call. It could be because they’re in back to back calls and their previous meeting is running long. Or maybe they just had something come up. Whatever the reason, if your interviewer is late to your call, it’s not uncommon.
The general best practice for what to do when a phone interviewer is late is to wait about five minutes past the scheduled time for them to give you a call.
Once they’re five minutes or more late, I would recommend the following steps:
- If you have their number, you call them. If they don’t answer, leave a voicemail
- If you don’t have their number, reach out to check in via email.
Once you’ve done the initial outreach on your end, I would recommend waiting another five minutes until they’re ten or more minutes late. Once they’re ten minutes late, you can safely assume that the interview is not going to be happening that day.
Waiting for Interview Call Email
As mentioned in the previous section, if the interviewer hasn’t called after five minutes, it’s a good idea to call them or email them to check in.
If you don’t have their phone number and/or would just prefer to send them an email to check in, you can send them a short and polite email to confirm that your still on for your phone call.
Here is a waiting for interview call email template that you can use:
Hi {Interviewer First Name},
I’m reaching out to confirm if we’re still on for our phone interview, which I have scheduled for {time of scheduled interview} today?
I’m still available for the call and would love to connect if you are as well.
I’ll continue to stand by until {10 – 15 minutes after time of scheduled call} and, if I don’t hear from you by then, will follow up to reschedule.
Warm regards,
{First Name}
Specifically, I’d like for you to make note of the last line in that email template. You set a deadline by which you will wait for them to call. I would generally recommend setting it at 10 – 15 minutes after the scheduled time. If they don’t call by then, you’re safe to go do others things, but I would recommend sending one additional follow up at that time to initiate the process of scheduling a follow up.
What To Do When a Phone Interviewer Doesn’t Call?
If it has been over ten minutes since your scheduled call with a phone interviewer, and you still haven’t heard from them, then you’re generally safe to assume that the phone interview isn’t going to happen that day.
Once you hit that point, I would recommending sending them a final email, communicating that you’re sorry that you missed each other and initiating the process of a reschedule.
Here is a short email template that you can use for that purpose:
Hi {Interviewer First Name},
Sorry that we missed one another for our scheduled phone interview at {time of scheduled interview today}.
I am still very interested in the position and would love to schedule a separate time for our phone interview.
I would be available during any of the following times over the next week for a call:
- {Time window one}
- {Time window two}
- {Time window three}
If none of those work for you, please suggest some alternatives that work better for your schedule and I’m happy to find something that will work for each of us.
Warm regards,
{First Name}
Why Is No One Calling Me for an Interview?
When you have a phone interview scheduled, and the interviewer doesn’t actually call you, it can be frustrating and disappointing.
In my experience, missing a phone interviewer is generally unintentional on the part of an interviewer and there are often good reasons for that to happen.
Some of the most common reasons for a phone interviewer not to call you for their interview include:
- They had a previous meeting or call run long
- They had an unexpected emergency come up at work that they had to deal with
- They unexpectedly had to be out of the office for the day
While it’s disappointing that the interview doesn’t happen, it’s not necessarily reflective of the company not being interested in you for the job. It’s likely just that some type of a conflict came up.
Conclusion
Who calls for a phone interview? In my experience, it’s almost always that interviewer from the company that is responsible for calling for the phone interview.
So, unless otherwise specified by the company, you can expect them to call you. And if they’re late, or miss the call, roll with the punches and work to get something rescheduled for a future date. Who knows, if all goes well, you may ultimately receive a job offer over the phone down the road.
