<p>Sorry if this may sound stup1d, but I just want to improve my chance of getting hired. When a company phones me to setup an interview, most of the time, I hardly can say anything on the phone. English is my second language. Not even good at it. </p>
<p>So, any tips if I receive that phone call about a company that is interested in knowing me? How do I make a good impression?</p>
<p>Improve your English. Get good at it - really good at it.</p>
<p>thanks, suzy – will you please give me some sample sentences I could say?</p>
<p>No set phrases will help. You need to be able to be flexible in your responses. Any stock phrases are more likely to hurt than help. If you work for a company here you have to be able to communicate with people. One difficulty I have with my Indian mother-in-law is her command of English. It is really fairly good but sometimes I find her answering yes or no when I’m sure she means the opposite. You need a command of English so there are no misunderstandings in the workplace. It doesn’t matter how brilliant you are or how well you solved the problems set before you unless others can understand your solutions.</p>
<p>I presume you are a college student. You should present this problem to those in charge of helping international students. They should have some classes or study materials to help you. A professor from another country may also have suggestions.</p>
<p>Anticipate the kinds of questions you’ll be asked. (“Tell me about yourself.” “Why are you interested in working here?” kind of questions.) Anyone expecting to have a phone interview should do this. The more personable you are, the better, but that comes with practice.</p>
<p>Phone interviews are especially difficult for people with language challenges since you don’t have the body language that helps convey your meaning and it’s always hard to get the pacing right even when English is your native language.</p>
<p>I suggest practicing - see if your career center has mock interviews. And, as limabeans says, be ready to answer all the standard interview questions. Most career centers can give you lists of those questions (or you can google them). Most phone interviews are just to screen out people who clearly can’t communicate and/or don’t fit the profile they have in mind, so your goal is to make them want to meet you in person. Practice is your best bet. You can’t anticipate every curve ball they throw - but most interview questions could have been anticipated by the interviewee.</p>