If you’ve landed an interview and it will be conducted remotely—with with or without video—you’ll boost your chances of success by using a phone interview cheat sheet. And you’ll want to know about the information to include and ways to structure it, so it’s as helpful as possible.
It’s critical to ensure success with each interview you have, because the job market is especially competitive today—and each interview is tough to land. You’ll want to make the best of your opportunity and set yourself apart, using every available strategy including using a video or phone interview guide.
What to Expect with a Video or Phone Interview
So, what should you expect with a phone interview—or a video interview? Either of these is likely to be both challenging and rigorous. And while it may seem like the pressure will be less for a remote interview—after all, how hard can it be if you’re able to wear sweat pants—chances are, it won’t be easy street.
For phone or video interviews, plan on meeting with people who are well prepared and discerning in assessing you as a potential candidate. You’ll face plenty of questions and also the likely use of recording and transcription—so your answers will be especially important to articulate well.
Phone or video interviews can occur early in the process as screening sessions—taking you to the next interview—or they can be second interviews or they can happen late in the selection process. They can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as an hour. You may face one interviewer or a handful. In any of these conditions, an interview cheat sheet will serve you especially well.
There are huge benefits of an interview cheat sheet, because you’ll be able to use it to present yourself as prepared, articulate, confident and competent—all of which will help you shine—and get the job.
How to Create A Video or Phone Interview Cheat Sheet
So how do you make an interview cheat sheet for a video or phone interview? And what should you include (or exclude) on a cheat sheet?
1. Prepare Categories and Use Bullets
First, when you prepare your cheat sheet, separate information into broad categories like company information, elements that make you a great candidate, what interests you about the job and the like.
Then, use bullet points to prompt you in your answers to each question. Avoid writing a script for what you want to say, because it will be obvious if you read it—or hard to find key points if you’re using it without reading. Instead, list the points you want to cover using a few words—guiding you to answer more naturally in the moment.
2. Prepare Key Content
Make a list of all the questions you’ll need to be ready to answer. Focus on topics, rather than specific questions, because interviewers’ inquiries can come in various forms.
For example, if they want to learn more about you generally, they may ask, “Tell me about your career journey so far,” or “Please share a bit about yourself,” or “Let’s start by having you introduce yourself and your background.” In any of these cases, they’re looking for an overview about you—and you’ll want to be ready with key points, no matter how they ask the question.
Generally, these are the topics they’ll want to ask you about. There may be others, but these are the main areas.
- About You. Tell me about your career journey so far. Please share a bit about yourself to get us started. Can you describe yourself? Let’s begin by having you introduce yourself and your background.
- Job Interest. Why are you interested in the job? Why are you a good fit for the job? What drew you to this job, in particular?
- Company and Culture. What do you know about our company? What attracts you to this company? What can you bring to this company? What do you need from a company culture in order to be successful?
- Hard Skills. Tell me about the technical skills that make you a fit for this job. Tell me about your competencies that will help you perform this job well.
- Soft Skills. What are your strongest soft skills? Tell me how you would assess your communication skills. To what extent are you comfortable with teamwork? What kind of feedback do you get about your people skills?
- Strengths or Weaknesses. What are your biggest strengths? What characteristics are you most proud of. Tell me about an accomplishment. What do you struggle with? What coaching or improvement feedback do you typically receive?
- Resilience. Tell me about a time you failed and how you handled it. What is a struggle you’ve come through?
- Leadership. Can you talk about a time when you took the lead? What skills do you have in influencing others?
- Innovation. Tell me about a time when you solved a problem in a novel way. What is an example where you came up with a new approach?
- Goals. What are your short-term and long-term goals? Where do you see yourself in five years? What are your expectations for career development?
- Salary and Specifics. What are your salary expectations? Are you willing to relocate? Do you prefer to work in the office, remote or hybrid?
For each of these areas, be sure you’re prepared with a response that includes all the aspects of a STAR interview method. You’ll want to be able to describe the situation you faced, the tasks or responsibilities you had, the actions you took and the results of your actions.
Many interviewers will press you for specifics using a STAR approach, and even if they don’t, providing these specifics will put you ahead of other candidates who may answer in more general terms.
3. Prepare Questions to Ask Them
In almost every interview, you’ll be asked whether you have questions for the interviewer(s), so be ready with questions that you’ll ask as well.
Prepare a list that is long enough that you can choose questions that haven’t already been answered during the course of the interview.
Good questions to ask have to do with what makes someone successful in the job, characteristics of the culture, opportunities for learning and career development and the like.
4. Practice with Your Interview Guide
Another aspect of a useful interview cheat sheet is being able to leverage it successfully—so be sure to practice with it.
Have a friend ask you questions—or imagine questions for yourself in your topic areas. Practice referring to your guide, so you become accustomed to formulating meaningful answers using your bullet points.
5. Use Your Best Format
Finally, you’ll want to find the best format for your interview guide. One common practice is to put information from your guide on small notes and tape them to the frame of your computer—or to put up a split screen on your computer—so you can refer to your guide while you’re still facing the interviewer and staying engaged with them. Another practice is to print out the pages in a large font so it’s easy to scan information quickly.
It’s okay to look down or away from the interviewer(s) somewhat, of course. But you’ll want to be super-familiar with your notes so you’re not desperately seeking information when you’re trying to answer questions.
Succeed With Your Phone Interview Cheat Sheet
Every interview is important—so you’ll want to do everything possible to put yourself in a positive light and get to the next step. And your phone interview cheat sheet is a critical tool to demonstrate your competence and confidence—and to set yourself apart as the very best candidate for the job.