Would you call a company for a telephone interview?

Legacy_user

Morning

I applied for a role at a company a while back and got a call from the agent saying that they want to do a telephone interview first before a face to face. This is fair enough, I'm more than happy to have a telephone interview and have had several in the past.

However, the kicker is that the agent has said that the person doing the interview wants me to call them! I've just had the 'interview' confirmation through, and not only do they want me to call them, but they want me to call this guys mobile! Something about this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth and is not giving me a very good first impression of the company.

Luckily I have lots of free minutes built up on my mobile so the call would not cost me anything, but if I didn't have this credit I would seriously not be considering calling them.

I'm wondering if they think that people are so desperate for a job that they are seeing the interviewees calling them as a cost cutting exercise.

What do you think, would you call a company for a telephone interview or do you think the company should be getting in touch with the candidate?

BTW I have been out of work since Feb, have had lots of interviews and have even turned down a couple of job offers so I'm not really that 'desperate' for a new role.

Avon2001

Have you asked why they want you to call them? There may be a valid reason (although I admit I can't think of one). Alternatively there may simply be a lot of candidates and this is a way of weeding some of them out. Personally I'd probably make the call out of curiosity and then take a decision, but I always wasy nosey!

LadyMissA

I have had two telephone interviews and you normally agree a time like you would if you are going to see them and THEY call you.

I would never call them eps if it's a mobile and thats going to cost loads as the last one I had lasted 25 minutes.

InsideInsurance

I am doing telephone interviews at the moment and we are asking the candidate to make a call but that is because myself and the other interviewer are in different offices and so all three of us are dialing into a teleconference number.

Personally I would prefer to be the one making the call because it is then 100% in my control but I agree it is a little odd for the candidate to phone the interviewers mobile.

System

LadyMissA wrote: »

I have had two telephone interviews and you normally agree a time like you would if you are going to see them and THEY call you.

I would never call them eps if it's a mobile and thats going to cost loads as the last one I had lasted 25 minutes.

That has been my past experience of telephone interviews as well. They always call you, this is the first time I've been asked to call a company for a telephone interview.

I will ask the agent their reasons behind this when they call me on Monday.

I've had one telephone interview that lasted 45 minutes, which is why I am only doing this due to my free minutes.

System

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I am doing telephone interviews at the moment and we are asking the candidate to make a call but that is because myself and the other interviewer are in different offices and so all three of us are dialing into a teleconference number.

Personally I would prefer to be the one making the call because it is then 100% in my control but I agree it is a little odd for the candidate to phone the interviewers mobile.

In my experience teleconference numbers are usually free phone numbers as well, so there is no cost to the candidate.

I agree in your situation that this is a better way of doing things, but there is a specific reason behind you asking the candidate to call you.

easy

TamaChan wrote: »

Something about this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth and is not giving me a very good first impression of the company.

I agree with you.

How well established is the company, what history do they have? Could it be that the interviewer is new to all this and hasn't thought it through? Maybe it hasn't occurred to him that it will cost a lot for a candidate to call in (mind you, a decent recruitment agency should put him right).

Maybe they just want you to call them at the appointed time, and they'll call you straight back??

Personally, I'd ask the the agent to clarify the situation for me first.

InsideInsurance

The teleconference numbers at this client are London 020 numbers so not of no cost to the candidate but included in minutes etc.

That said if it was a face to face meeting they would be paying for travel which probably exceeds the cost of a 30 minute call

LadyMissA

TamaChan wrote: »

That has been my past experience of telephone interviews as well. They always call you, this is the first time I've been asked to call a company for a telephone interview.

I will ask the agent their reasons behind this when they call me on Monday.

I've had one telephone interview that lasted 45 minutes, which is why I am only doing this due to my free minutes.

I have no mobile with credit or free minutes that's why I wouldn't call them

System

Well thankfully the 'interview' only lasted 6 minutes before I was told that they needed specific experience in the sector they are in which I don't have. There was no mention of this requirement in the job specification.

I've no idea why they even asked me for a telephone interview if this is the case as my CV gives no indication of having the experience they were looking for.

I did ask the agent why I had to phone the interviewer and he could not give me an answer.

Overall a complete waste of my time (and my mobile minutes).

LadyMissA

TamaChan wrote: »

Well thankfully the 'interview' only lasted 6 minutes before I was told that they needed specific experience in the sector they are in which I don't have. There was no mention of this requirement in the job specification.

I've no idea why they even asked me for a telephone interview if this is the case as my CV gives no indication of having the experience they were looking for.

I did ask the agent why I had to phone the interviewer and he could not give me an answer.

Overall a complete waste of my time (and my mobile minutes).

I wonder if people even read CV's or in fact can read!
At least you didn't go to an interview and then get told you don't have industry experience like I did once!