Phone interviews

Generally, I find phone interviews to be more difficult than in-person interviews, as you have no control over perception except for how your voice sounds. Having someone ask you some mock questions can be a good prep for this so that you don't say common pauses like "umm", "well", "hmm", ect....

On the types of questions, it really depends on what type of job you're applying for. I'm technical and systems, so whenever I've done these types of interviews, they generally open with some questions about my past experience, why I'm interested in the job, what I know about the company/what they do, and then they'll often finish off with some kind of technical question that tries to measure your ability to think on the fly, problem solve, or perform whatever task they're asking of you. Finally, they'll probably check if you have any questions about them / the job / the company, and its usually good to have a couple.

One thing I've actually found helpful for these types of questions / interviews is some practice consultant tests that exist on the web to give you a feel for consulting. They're often not directly related to what you're going for, but they get you in that mindset of answering vaguely defined problems and systematically cutting them apart. BCG, Siemens Consulting, IBM, ect... all have these.

Interactive Example (BCG)

Sorry I can't target this more, but if you say at least the general type of job, I might be able to have more specific advice on questions.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

First up, I agree that being at least superficially familiar with the common phone interview questions is a good idea. Its not that you need to think of detailed thoughts for each one, as its not really about nailing them. You just don't want to have any that are totally out of the blue and catch you unawares. Things like talking badly about your past associates are ones that often trip people.

With a computer science background, one of the things they may ask are details on projects or work which highlights the particular skillset/languages they're looking for. A decent amount of the time, its silly things like saying you know X language which actually nets the job on some of these, and they might want to know what you've done with it and what your level of involvement was.

If I were giving it for a CS person, the level of super-technical questions would really depend on the focus of the job. If all I want is a surgical C++ / SQL guy to write database abstraction layers, then I'll probably ask some harsh, specific technical stuff. If I want more of a generalist, who can easily adapt to multiple languages and handle a changing work environment, then I'll probably stick to more general questions that cover problem dissection skills and reasoning. That said, there is a good chance that for the phone interview it will just be an HR person who wouldn't know what to ask in terms of super-tech anyhow. They may have already told you who you'll be talking with. If it is HR, they'll probably ask general problem skills questions, and super-tech, if needed, would be reserved for a face-to-face. If the specific tech person is on the line, then you may get more in-depth.

Whenever we write these, we often have an immediate project/need in mind, and we'll try to put as much of that in as we can, in terms of things that are pluses or requirements. However, through the HR process, much of that can get blurred or filtered out, as they work to get a wide range of applicants. People who make it to the phone interview round are normally those who met the base requirements, and then had something else we found particularly interesting. A project, an aligned experience, or an interesting secondary skill that piqued our interest. Its hard to say what that is going to be, but its good to look over the information you sent in, the things you noted of interest, and then think about what you might say if someone asked you about them.

On the "umms, uhhs, err" section, having been the one administering these, I would agree not to stress out about it, but practice does help. Generally, if you use them every once in a while, but don't constantly drop them, then you're fine. However, it tends to be one of the first things that stands out over the phone, and I've personally had bad impressions from interviewees because they're constantly interjecting long "ummms". Its not really fair, as they're often smart/skilled people, but they just can't convey that skill convincingly.

Hope all of that helps, and that the interview goes well.

There's nowhere I can't reach.