Telephone interviews are a cost effective way of ascertaining a person’s suitability for a more in-depth, face-to-face interview. They can also provide a valuable benchmark for comparisons at a later date. You can sometimes find out quite a lot more than you expect to when the call and questions are unexpected. Your candidate’s phone manner and behavior may not be what you would have expected. Although, in some circumstances, there may be a good explanation, it could be that this is not a one-off. This may be their usual manner when they’re not putting on their best behavior at an interview. Telephone interviews are also a great opportunity to ask questions before your candidate has done too much interview preparation or got too nervous. You may get information that is immediately helpful or to consider further along the interview process. The opportunity to get a valuable insight can work both ways, so always expect your candidate to be evaluating whether you and your role sound appealing at the same time. Needless to say, it is just as important to prepare well for a phone interview, as you would for a face-to-face interview.