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Phone interview

Kemarin saya phone interview dalam rangka job hunting. Phone interview adalah hal yang baru bagi saya. Metode rekrutmen ini baru saya ketahui setelah saya di US. Waktu di Jakarta dulu, kalau job hunting ya selalu on-site interview. Malahan dulu pernah waktu saya interview di sebuah instansi pemerintah, ada teman sesama kandidat yang bela-belain datang dari Singapura ke Jakarta untuk interview, dan itu tidak cuma sekali :)!

Berbeda dengan jika kita berhadapan langsung dengan interviewer, menurut saya phone interview itu "unik". Kita dituntut untuk bisa memberi penjelasan verbal yang mudah dipahami oleh si interviewer yang ada di ujung telpon di sana, semata-mata verbal, karena tentu saja kita tidak bisa menggunakan ekspresi muka, gerakan tangan, atau membuat diagram :) To my experience, rasanya seperti kalau kamu harus membantu seorang klien yang bermasalah yang menghubungi kita melalui telepon.

Nah, karena sifatnya yang unik itu, saya pribadi merasa perlu persiapan khusus kalau mau phone interview. Grogi dan deg2an booo :p Lalu apa2 aja sih yang saya siapkan kemarin?

Pertama, alokasikan waktu interview yang baik sehingga kita bisa menyiapkan diri sebelumnya. Jangan mau kalau ditelepon oleh HRD dan diminta phone interview saat itu juga. Waktu pertama kali saya mendapat phone interview, saya langsung meng-iyakan saja, padahal waktu itu saya baru bangun tidur, huehehe. Akibatnya hancur lebur lah, tidak ada persiapan sama sekali.

Kedua, pastikan kita berada di lokasi yang nyaman dan bebas gangguan pada waktu phone interview. Jangan sampai phone interview ketika kita di bis :p, atau kita harus diskusi dengan rekan kerja kita.

Ketiga, pastikan kamu menguasai materi yang kira-kira akan ditanyakan. Lebih baik kalau kita sempat konfirmasi tentang materi interview, apakah itu technical interview atau non-technical. Nah, dengan informasi itu, kita bisa bikin "cheat sheet" alias contekan, hehehe. Inilah sisi tricky phone interview yang berbeda dengan on-site interview. Phone interview itu mirip ujian open book, di mana kita bisa dengan bebas membuka referensi, dokumen, contekan, atau kalau sempat mau search dulu di google juga boleh, hihihi. Tapi kalau nggak ada persiapan, ya sama aja seperti kita sibuk buka text book dari depan sampe pas ujian open book, dan gak nemuin jawaban yang kita mau.

So, saran saya :
- Pelajari bahan2 yang kira2 akan ditanyakan, dan bikin contekan yang berfungsi sebagai shortcut untuk merefresh memori. Misalnya saja kita bisa bikin daftar definisi singkat, atau list of keywords, jembatan keledai, atau cara-cara lain yang bisa membantu kita.
- Jangan lupa untuk print resume yang kita kirimkan. Karena hampir pasti ada pertanyaan yang berasal dari resume tersebut. Dengan memiliki resume di depan kita, kita akan sangat terbantu ketika harus merefresh ingatan dan merangkai jawaban.
- Siapkan juga daftar pertanyaan dari kita terhadap interviewer. Di akhir interview session, biasanya kita diberi

Keempat, practise makes perfect ;) So, kalau sempat, sebelum real interview, minta bantuan dari pihak ketiga untuk latihan interview, misalnya ke career center, advisor, atau teman-teman kita. It helps a lot, apalagi kalau kita interview bukan dalam bahasa ibu, atau belum terbiasa interview. Lebih-lebih phone interview menuntut kita menggunakan kosakata yang tepat, structure yang nggak asal-asalan, dan pengucapan yang jelas.

Akhirnya, wish me luck ya ;) Saya juga masih harus belajar banyak nih ....

Comments

Anonymous said…
edun, wis golek kerjo dekne? wis ketompo rung? biasane gaji pertama, mangan2 mit :D
Anonymous said…
wah tips2nya berguna banget nih, walaupun aku blom ada niatan pindah kerja :D
Anonymous said…
emmmm..... ada ga ya yg pernah menjalani phone interview dr instansi di Indonesia? Jd bukan instansi di luar negeri,seperti di US.

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