Hello, potential future Hawkes! My name is Lizzie Maher, and I’m one of our recruiters at Hawke Media. As my role involves conducting many interviews and picking out the best candidates for our open roles, I have a knack for what to say in a phone interview. Here are three phone interview etiquette tips that I recommend for all Hawke interviewees looking to have successful interviews and be passed onto the appropriate hiring managers.

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1. Find a quiet place, free from distractions. 

Finding the perfect interview spot is different for everyone. If you have the luxury of taking the call from home, I suggest doing so. Taking an interview call from work can get tricky if you don’t have a guaranteed safe space to talk. 

If you must take the call from work, make sure you schedule the interview with a few minutes to spare, giving you time to arrive at the space you’ve chosen for the interview. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called a candidate who is rushing to their car right on the dot and the call drops in the elevator. It isn’t a huge deal on my end, but it can end up freaking you out, throwing you off your game, and wasting valuable time that you could be using to get to know us and vice versa. 

On the topic of taking calls from your car, make sure you’re parked somewhere quiet with quality service. It’s difficult for both parties if you have to keep starting over because you’re cutting out or there’s a lot of background noise—which is why doing the interview from home is preferable if possible. I’m a fidgety person, so I like taking calls from my bed because I know there’s nothing for me to play with—unlike my desk, where you’d find me clicking every pen I own. 

Regardless of where you end up taking the call, make sure you’re comfortable and take a few deep breaths beforehand. You’re going to do great! 

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2. Hawke Recruiters—we’re fun too!

My favorite calls are the ones where I hang up feeling like I just interviewed a friend. I can’t speak for every recruiter in the world, but I know the recruiters here at Hawke stay true to our company values—one of them being “Have fun.” We own our happiness and find joy in the process. 

Our people, partners, and clients choose to see the glass half-full and have strong emotional fortitude. Recruiters may seem a little scary because we’re your first point of contact with the company and often referred to as gatekeepers, but you should view it as an opportunity to sell yourself as the stud you are! 

You don’t need to jump right into telling us about your work experience. Chances are, we’re going to ask how you’re doing. Don’t feel like you need to say, “Great!” and move along. 

Did you fall asleep in your contact lenses last night while binge-watching Breaking Bad, and now have to wear your silly glasses to a client presentation at work? That sucks, but it’s relatable and now we can laugh about it. An ice breaker can guide the conversation naturally.

When we ask candidates to tell us about themselves, we usually hear the same canned responses: “I love digital marketing, and in my free time I like to read up on new trends,” or “I like hiking and petting dogs.” I know there’s more to you than that! 

Do you leave town every weekend to explore, or do you prefer to stay close to home? Maybe you volunteer on the weekends, are a professional jump roper, or have a side business selling crafts online. 

You don’t have to have a crazy side project or fun fact to be a culture fit here, but it gives us a little something extra to remember you by. Bottom line: keep it professional but don’t be afraid to have a fun time with it. 

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3. Do your homework… and earn some extra credit!

If you’re scheduled to chat with a recruiter at Hawke Media, you’ve likely read a little about us in the job description by now. Maybe you’ve even done a little light research on the company. It’s pretty much unacceptable to show up to the phone interview and admit you don’t know even the basics about a company, no matter where you’re interviewing. 

A question you’re almost guaranteed to be asked at least once during our interview process is “Why are you interested in working at Hawke?” and because we ask all candidates this question, we hear the same couple of replies daily. Occasionally a candidate will really surprise us and refer to a case study or a blog post they read on our website. All of the tools you need to learn more about Hawke are easily available, and you may even end up learning some really interesting facts that make you want to work here even more. 

Always make sure you’re fact-checking your statements. When a candidate tells me they’ve known about Hawke Media for a really long time, it’s clear they are telling me what they think I want to hear. We’re growing rapidly, but we’ve only been around for a couple of years so that’s very unlikely.

It’s okay to have only heard about Hawke Media for the first time this year or even this week. What’s important is the effort you put in to learn more and show you’re truly interested in us like we are in you. Being honest will go a lot further and your extra knowledge will earn you some serious credit in our notes from the call. 

Join the Nest! 

If you’re interested in applying for one of our open positions (and using this guide on how to do well on a phone interview of course), check out our careers page for all of the details. Happy applying, and happy, happy interviewing! 

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