Phone interviews are often your first introduction to the interviewer outside of them reviewing your resume. That’s why it’s important that you’re in a quiet place with little to no distractions. I’ve listed a few potential places where you probably shouldn’t be during a phone interview.

1. Outside near a busy road or construction

2. In a stairwell with bad reception (AND stairwells usually have an echo)

3. A loud coffee shop

4. While you’re walking down the street or up flights of stairs

5. Any place where you don’t get clear reception. If you’re worried you can go “old school” and use a land line (if you have one).

6. At your desk, at your current job. (Unless you have special circumstances such as – the company you’re working for is closing and they have given the ‘ok’ to take calls during working hours).

Be prepared. Have a friend call you from where you’re planning to take the call from the interviewer. Then you can confirm that you’ll have good reception and not a lot of background noise OR that you need to find a new location.

Additionally, it can be good practice to confirm if the interviewer is calling you or vice versa. If they haven’t made this clear feel free to shoot them a quick email confirming who is calling whom. You can also include your phone number one more time to make sure they have the correct contact information.

As always, don’t forget to send a ‘Thank You’ email to your interviewer!

Best of luck!!!

P.S. You can also check out an article I wrote for Hired.com on phone interview prep!

– C.C. Coach