TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE
Identify yourself
Give the name of your company and
yourself as clearly as possible. Spell your
name if necessary.
Names
Be sure you get the
interviewer's name right. You could ask for the spelling
and pronunciation if
required.
Greeting
Wish the interviewer
according to the time of the day at his end.
Politeness
Being polite to the
interviewer is the smallest courtesy you can extend.
Wherever appropriate, use the words
"Please", "Thank you", "Sorry" etc.
Small
talk
Learn to engage in small
talk about the weather and other sundry topics. The
interviewer will start this way of
politeness and then set the pace.
Clarifications
You could paraphrase a
question to get clarification if necessary. A direct way
could be to say "Sorry, I
didn't get you, could you please explain what you mean
by... "
Doubts
If you are not
confident about something it is better to be truthful and say that
you are not sure. This is
because you are likely to be cross-examined.
Thinking
time
Ruminate over the
question and take your time in replying. Avoid hesitating
and using words like
"err", "um", "uh" etc. This reflects your
nervousness and lack
of confidence.
End of
call
You could sign off
by saying "It was nice talking to you. Thank You."
SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THAT FATEFUL CALL
COMES THROUGH ?
Opening
Identify your company
and yourself. Greet the interviewer with respect to the
time of the day at his end
(morning in the USA is evening in India, the UK is
five-and-a-half hours behind
India.
Get the
interviewer's name correct. As for the spelling and write it down. Also
clarify the pronunciation - it
helps.
Show you
are friendly, eager and efficient. Handle small talk appropriately.
For questions like "How are
you?" or "How are you doing", the response could be
"Good", "Great"
or "I'm fine, thankyou".
Practice your
opening. Make it creative. Check yourself for tone and inflection.
More...
|
