Hi everyone
Is there anyone who can give me some good advise about phone interviews, i'm a mental health nurse and i'm having a phone interview on friday morning this week.
Me and my family are hoping to move to perth ASAP. I visited in May am currently looking for a job, this will be my first phone interview and just wondered if anyone has any handy hits. Thanks

Treat it as you would a face to face interview, but also keep a CV , list of main achievements, or something similar close to refer to if needs be.

As always, make it into a discussion. Ask questions, follow up on areas raised by the interviewer. Also do your research - is there a web site you can check the client/agency out on before the call? Get your questions together? Take notes and refer back to these later in the interview if appropriate.

There's some debate about how you handle the call. Some people suggest you stand up (apparently it helps your voice to 'project'). If you can take it in a quiet room away from any potential disruption (e.g. a dog barking, kids running in, etc)

Above all, relax and be yourself. Be positive, but honest, about your strengths. Make any perceived weaknesses into strengths. e.g your lack of Australian Nursing experience can be countered by experience across a range of cultures and different nursing environments, working with multi-national colleagues, etc.

Good luck


Kev

My husband is a mental health nurse and he had his interview by phone. Just be yourself and natural like you would in a normal interview...and to be honest...unless you are a complete dipstick, they are so desperate for nurses there, that i am sure you'll do fine.

My husband was offered the job within a few days!

Excellent words of wisdom Kev, take notes, speak slowly, write out your questions before hand.

I was really nervous about my telephone interview, but the interviewers were so friendly and approachable, they made me feel quite at ease. Now that I have the job and have met the people {4 people over a speaker phone}, they are just as nice as they sounded. The other thing is with nursing shortages, they may be trying to sell the job to you, rather than make you sell yourself to them!

A common approach seems to be asking you to talk through what you would do with a given senario.

Worry if they sound too desperate for staff.
Good luck and let me know how you do

Gill

All the advice given has been great.
Im a renal nurse and had a phone interview aswell.
My advice is make sure you get up a few hours before they are going to call and get your head together! They called me 3pm Perth time, which was 7am here!! Not a good time for me at all!! I got up early, had a coffee and a shower and had time to take stock and get myself mentally prepared. It turns out that it was really informal, and they were really friendly. The few questions they asked were easy enough, and yes there was a scenario question, but if you have been nursing here it shouldnt be a problem! I got the job straight away, and as everyone says they are so desperate for nurses, if they have shortlisted you for an interview, they have pretty much made up their mind already that they would offer you the job!! Interview is just a formality!

Anyway, good luck with it, and try not to be too nervous!

Let us know how you get on!

hi brummiebird,
good luck with the interview - I had a phone interview too and the only thing I tripped up on was when they asked me about my nursing experience since qualifying; I qualified in 1990, and have held quite a few positions since then!!!(12+) if you have had more than a couple of employers/posts keepa copy of your cv handy! I felt a bit of a twit for not doing that myself (doh!) but I was offered a job.
let us know how you get on
Sue

Hi
I did the telephone interview thing,strange experience!! I was phoned at night after a horrendous day at work so wasn't psyched up for it at all!! My manager was really nice and was actually apologising slightly because her unit would be pretty quiet compared to what I was used to in the NHS!!
Just beware of a slight time delay while speaking ! I found myself rambling on while the next question was being asked cos of the silence after I'd given my answer!!!
Do write some questions down first and ask a bit about the hospital etc.
Good luck,you'll be fine.
Fi