Phone Interview Guide for the Anxious: 7 Tips to Help You Get Through it in 2020

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The above is a picture of a set of hands holding a cell phone.

Phone Screen Interview for the Anxious: 7 Tips to Get You Through it in 2020

You've got good news: you have a job interview coming up! The only problem is: it's taking place over the phone. And unfortunately, because you're an anxious person, you see speaking over the phone as being akin to swimming in a lake of fire. 

So, now you're panicking: "How am I going to get through this?!" The answer: by following the tips below. Without further remark, here are 7 tips to help you get through a phone screen interview. 

1. Practice!

The best way to ease anxiety about your phone interview is to become as comfortable with it as possible. The only way to do this (without doing it) is to practice. 

Ask a friend or family member if they would be interested in doing a trial run with you. Prepare a set of questions for your friend or family member to ask and schedule a call at a specific time. 

Establishing a trial run in this way will allow you to practice everything from your speaking cadence to your breathing to your greetings to your salutations and more. It will also give you a chance to test out your surrounding environment, allowing you to establish whether it's too loud, too hot, too cold, too claustrophobic, or otherwise. 

The more you practice your phone interview, the more comfortable you'll become with it. So, if need be, give it a few goes. It will all come together incrementally and you'll start to become relaxed in the process.  

2. Hook Your Phone Up to a Charger 

When it comes to phone interviews, there are few things more mortifying than your phone cutting out on you. A dropped phone call is not only anxiety-inducing, but it could also (rightly or wrongly) affect your interviewer's opinion of you. You need to do everything in your power to ensure that your call stays connected. 

While some dropped calls are unavoidable, you can, at the very least, ensure that your phone doesn't die during the call. All you need to do is keep it hooked up to a charger throughout the duration of the interview. 

3. Use the Quietest Room You Can 

While a dropped phone call might be the most mortifying thing that can happen during a phone interview, subjecting your interviewer to loud noises might be the second most mortifying. This is particularly true if said noises are brash or inappropriate in any way. When participating in your interview, you need to use the quietest room you can. 

If you have a basement, it might be your best bet. However, any room has potential. If you're desperate for some peace and quiet, you might even consider dipping into one of your closets. 

Live in a shared space that's constantly noisy? If so, you might find a private study room at a library or local school. 

4. Set Alarms Leading Up to Your Interview

Fear that your anxiety might cause you to be late for your interview? If so, set an alarm. In fact, you might even want to set several alarms. 

For instance, you could set an alarm an hour prior to your interview so that you can practice. Then, you could set an alarm 30 minutes prior to your interview to prep yourself. Then, you could set one 5 minutes prior to your interview so that you can collect your thoughts and relax.

Setting alarms will help to get you in the zone, all the while ensuring that you do, indeed, pick up your phone when the big call comes in. 

5. Get Dressed Up 

Because it's just a phone interview, you can wear anything you like, right? Well, while you technically could, we advise against it. Instead, we advised wearing proper interview attire.

Though your attire will make no difference to the person with whom you're speaking, it could have a seismic impact on your mindset. After all, if you dress like you deserve the job, you'll act like you deserve the job as well. Your clothing will give you the confidence that you need to succeed. 

6. Breathe Before Speaking 

If you're an anxious person, you probably hate dead air. A moment of silence probably feels like torture to you. Nonetheless, when in the course of your interview, you're advised to take a breath every time before you speak. 

Taking a second-long breath after your interviewer ceases speaking will not only help you to clear your mind and form a fully-fledged thought, but it will also help you to slow down your speech and talk naturally. 

To get the hang of this, you should practice it with a friend or family member. It might feel awkward at first, but if you do it a few times, it will start to feel normal. 

7. Study Up 

One of the biggest issues for anxious individuals is that they struggle to think on their feet. As such, they can struggle mightily with job interviews. For this reason, if you're an anxious individual, you need to study up on questions that might be asked of you during your interview. 

While there's no way of knowing what you'll be asked, there are resources available to inform you of popular interview questions. Read these questions, devise answers for them, and practice your answers ad nauseam. This will help you to develop talking points, somewhat automating the interview process. 

Trying to Snag a Phone Screen Interview? 

Yet to nab that phone screen interview? Looking for remote jobs that will accommodate your disability? DisabledPerson.com has you covered. 

Our job listings contain positions of all kinds, from financial analysis positions to office administration positions to editing positions and more. Regardless of the type of work you're interested in, our website can help you find it. 

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