23 Phone Interview Questions To Prepare for in 2024 [+ Answers]

You’ve been asked to do a phone interview for a new job. Congratulations! You’re one of only 2% of job seekers that get an interview. After the initial excitement wears off, you may be nervous about the types of phone interview questions to expect. 

The phone interview is an important part of the hiring process, as it’s your first introduction to the company and your chance to convince the interviewer that you’re the best person for the job.

If you’re looking for a new job, Robertson College’s Workforce Team offers lifelong career support to its students and graduates. The Workforce Team can help you craft your resume, prepare for interviews, and set you up for a meaningful career. Learn more about Robertson College and the Workforce Team here. 

Here are 23 phone interview questions you might be asked and how to answer them, so you can go into your interview prepared and confident. 

Types of Phone Interview Questions

There are many different types of phone interview questions with different purposes. Essentially, the interviewer wants to get to know the applicant better, understand their qualifications, and determine if they are a good fit for the job and organization. 

Types of phone interview questions include:

• Introductory questions generally cover the basics of the candidate and why they’re interested in the job.
• Work experience questions address the candidate’s resume and skills more closely.
• Job fit questions are aimed at seeing how well the candidate’s skills and experience align with the job.
• Culture fit questions explore how well the candidate fits into the culture of a workplace.

1. Can You Tell Me About Yourself?

This is one of the most commonly asked phone interview questions. Interviewers are looking for a bit more detail about your background and work experience. While you can add some personal information, generally keep it about your work experience and professional accomplishments. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Give an overview of your educational background as well as any relevant certifications. 
• Talk about specific work experience related to the job you’re interviewing for and highlight any achievements you’re particularly proud of. 
• Try to tie in why you care about this field and any personal connection you may have to the work you would be doing. 

2. What Are You Passionate About?

Talking about your passions is a great way to give the interviewer insight into what you care about and how it aligns with the role. The interviewer wants to get a better idea of whether your passions will be a good fit for the organization and work.

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Relate your passions to work, highlighting specific skills you have fostered because of the things you’re passionate about. 
• For example, if you’re applying for a position as a teacher, you can talk about your passion for helping people and learning. You could also talk about how you love crafting and enjoy helping students foster their creativity. 

3. How Did You Hear About This Role?

This question is quite straightforward. Interviewers want to know where job searchers find their postings so they have a better idea of visibility and can continue to share open jobs in places they know candidates will see them.

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Speak honestly. 
• Tell them you saw it on LinkedIn, Indeed, or wherever else you saw it. 
• If you heard about it through someone who works there, this is generally good to mention, assuming you’re comfortable with the interviewer asking that person about you. 

4. Why Do You Want To Work Here?

You should know why you want to work for the company before the interviewer asks this question, and it should be more than just wanting a paycheque. This phone interview question is meant to determine your motives for applying and provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate how your values and skills align with the organization. Interviewers also want to see how well you’ve researched the organization and role. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Flex the research you did before the interview.
• Talk about specific initiatives, values, and culture highlights you’re excited about. 

5. What Do You Know About Our Company/the Role?

Similar to the previous question, this one is designed to determine what you already know about the company. The interviewer wants to know that you fully read the job description and understand what the organization does, what the role entails, and what it would be like to work there. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Outline what the organization does and what the role entails. 
• Keep it relatively high level while still demonstrating that you understand the company’s mission and what your responsibilities would be. 
• Demonstrate your enthusiasm for the role with the research you’ve done and tie it back into your skills and passions. 

6. Why Are You Leaving Your Current Role?

This question is designed to get a sense of where you’re at in your career and how you talk about previous employers. Interviewers want an honest answer that demonstrates your overall attitude.

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Speak honestly while avoiding going into too much detail.
• If you can, focus on your overall career trajectory and future plans. 
• For example, if you were let go, tell them the truth while also noting that it’s been a great learning opportunity and you’re grateful for the chance to explore new options. 
• Avoid bad-mouthing your former organization, instead focusing on what you want in a new role.

7. What Are Your Strengths?

The purpose of this question is twofold. While the interviewer is looking for how your strengths align with the skills required for the role, they are also looking at how well you can assess yourself. Speaking about your greatest strengths isn’t just bragging about what you’re good at but also about how your strengths make you the best for the job. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Don’t just list a bunch of things you’re good at; instead, refer to the list of skills required for the role, imagining the interviewer has a checklist of competencies you want to help them check off. 
• Be honest about what you’re good at, and don’t be afraid to highlight other strengths that may not be directly relevant to the role but still make you a strong candidate. 

8. What Are Your Weaknesses?

This is one of the phone interview questions that often makes people the most nervous. Although it can feel like a trap, the interviewer is really just trying to see how self-aware a candidate is. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Avoid listing something that could be viewed as a negative and turn it into a positive, like “I’m too much of a perfectionist”; interviewers are likely to see right through this tactic.
• Try instead listing something that is actually a weakness and then talk about the actions you take so it doesn’t impact your work. 
• For example, if you struggle with time management, you could highlight how you use a specific time management tool like Monday.com to stay organized and implement the Pomodoro Technique to break up your tasks into more manageable chunks.
• By doing so, you’re not just answering the question but also demonstrating your problem-solving skills. 

9. What Are Your Current Job Responsibilities?

This question is quite straightforward. The interviewer wants to know what you’re currently doing to understand the scope of your role and get an idea of the level of responsibility you are used to. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Don’t just list every single responsibility you have. Instead, list the specific tasks that align with the job description of the role you’re applying for. 
• Highlight any projects or accomplishments you’re particularly proud of. 
• Demonstrate that the role you’re interviewing for would be a good fit because you already have experience doing similar or complementary tasks. 

10. What Do You Need To Succeed in a Role?

This question helps determine if the job and management are a good fit for you and if they’ll be able to meet your needs. It’s an opportunity to show the recruiter that you’ve thought about actually getting the job and how you can be successful in the role. This is also a chance to get a feel for the culture around things like onboarding, flexibility, and the level of oversight. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Think about specific things you know work for you as a team member. 
  • Do you like lots of feedback and instruction or do you prefer to figure things out on your own?
  • Do you like to have very clear onboarding objectives or would you rather learn at your own pace?
  • Do you appreciate variety in your day-to-day or do you prefer a routine? 

You might answer these types of phone interview questions by saying things like:

• I like to receive a lot of feedback.
• I like to figure things out on my own and have a manager who only steps in when necessary.
• I appreciate a lot of flexibility to get my work done how and when I want to.
• I want a manager who is always honest with me. 
• I work best when I know that my manager and team trust me to do my job.
• I love collaborating — teamwork is very important to me.

11. Where Do You See Yourself in 3/5/10 years?

This question aims to ensure that your goals align with the organization’s. The interviewer doesn’t necessarily want to hear that you plan to work your way up their organizational ladder in five years, but rather that your goals are ones they can help you achieve and will help them achieve theirs, too. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Have at least a rough idea of what you want to accomplish. Answer honestly by explaining your goals and doing your best to connect them back to the role.
• If you have a specific career development plan, talk about that, but if you don’t have any big plans, that’s okay! You can also talk about smaller accomplishments you have in mind, like becoming more proficient with a particular tool or furthering your knowledge of a topic. 

12. How Do Your Skills Align With the Role?

This question is quite direct. The interviewer wants to know your skills and competencies and how they correlate to the specifics of the job. This is an opportunity to demonstrate the specific competencies you have that make you the best candidate for the job. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Use the job description to determine which skills you should highlight.
• If there are any skills critical to the role that you don’t have, emphasize that you’re excited to expand your skills and learn more about those particular areas.

13. How Do Your Values Align With Ours?

This question is designed to get a sense of your personal values and their alignment with the organization’s, but to also check that you’ve done your research about the company. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Make sure you’ve researched the company and picked out a few values that align with your own to talk through.
• While values can be quite personal, aim to talk about your values in a way that’s relevant to your work. 
• For example, if one of your values is family, relate that to teamwork and collaboration. You can also mention how because you value family, work-life balance is very important to you as well. 

14. What Are Your Salary Expectations?

This is another very direct question. The interviewer wants to make sure your expectations align with their budget and get a sense of how you value your experience. 

How To Answer

To answer this phone interview question:

• Do some research to determine the average salary for the position and region.
• Speak honestly about the salary you want or provide a range you’d like it to be in. 
• You can also ask if they’re able to provide you with a range and confirm it meets your expectations. 

Culture Fit Phone Interview Questions

Whereas the previous questions were more about assessing your experience and skill match, culture fit questions are designed to see if you’d fit in with the team. Culture fit questions are usually more fun and don’t need to be as well-thought-out, but you should still be prepared to answer these types of questions. 

15. What’s the last TV show you binged? Answer this question with the name of the show and a few sentences describing what you think about it. Try to avoid talking about any shows that may be controversial, such as ones with violent or religious themes. 

16. If you could go anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go and why? Talk about your dream destination and why you’d like to go there. Focus on what you think you’d enjoy about it and what you would get out of the experience. 

17. How would your best friend describe you? This is a great opportunity to talk about what kind of person you are outside of work. Of course, stick to positive descriptors, such as kind, funny, or trustworthy. 

18. Describe your dream job. While your dream job might not be the exact one you’re interviewing for, try to tie your answer to at least some aspect of the role or organization. You want to assure them that you’re worth investing in. For example, if you’re applying for a job as an account executive at a tech company, you could say your dream job is to one day become VP of sales or start your own tech company. 

19. What motivates you in the morning? Answer this question by talking about some of your goals, values, or passions. Or, you can go with a cheekier answer and say something like coffee. 

20. Who inspires you and why? While you want to answer this one honestly, it can also be a great opportunity to mention someone in the prospective job industry. Focus on the “why” and try to tie the reasons back into the organization’s values. 

21. What tool/app could you not live without? This is a great opportunity to highlight something like your favourite scheduling or productivity tool or something else that may be relevant to the role. How you answer this can speak to your values, so that’s important to keep in mind. 

22. Who is someone you’ve worked with that you’ve really admired and why? This is another great opportunity to demonstrate your values by how you describe this person. The way you speak about former colleagues also shows your character. 

23. How do you manage work-life balance? Employers want to know that you can manage your own work-life balance. The question itself is a bit of a balancing act, as you want it to be clear that you work hard and are flexible, but that you also aren’t going to burn yourself out. 

Questions To Ask in a Phone Interview (As the Job Candidate)

Usually one of the last questions the interviewer asks is if you have any questions for them. Your answer should always be yes! 

The questions can be about specifics of the role, the organization, or the interview process. You want to make sure your questions are appropriate for who you’re speaking with. For example, you wouldn’t ask the HR Recruiter about their management style when they won’t be managing you. 

Here are some example questions:

• How would you describe the culture at the company?
• What’s the management/reporting structure?
• Is there a salary range?
• Can you outline the day-to-day of this role for me?
• Do you have any additional questions or concerns I can address now?
• What would the ideal start date be?
• What are the next steps?
• When can I expect to hear back from you?

How To Prepare for a Phone Interview

Many people struggle with job interviews because they don’t like bragging about themselves, but assuming your resume already grabbed their attention, your job is really just to continue to convince them that you’re a great fit for the role and organization. 

Some phone interview tips:

• Do your research beforehand. Read through their website and the job description, taking note of specific requirements of the role you meet, as well as any organizational initiatives you can talk about.
• Get in the habit of copying and pasting any job postings you apply for into your own document. As jobs progress in the hiring process, the posting may be changed or removed. You’ll want the job description and requirements handy for your phone interview. 
• Speak slowly and clearly. Phone interviews can be a bit awkward because you can’t see the other person, so you may miss visual cues that they’re about to say something. 
• Jot down some notes answering common phone interview questions so you have your responses lined up.
• Smile! Even though the interviewer can’t see you, they’ll be able to hear the enthusiasm in your voice. 
• If your call drops for whatever reason, wait for them to call you back. If you try to call them at the same time they are trying to reach you, you’ll get a busy tone, which will be frustrating for both of you. 

FAQ

Phone interviews can be daunting, especially if you don’t know what to expect. Here are some frequently asked questions about phone interviews. 

What Questions Do They Ask on a Phone Interview?

The most common phone interview questions are: 

• Can you tell me about yourself?
• Why are you leaving your current role?
• Why do you want to work here?
• How do your skills align with the role?

The specific questions you are asked will depend on the role and organization. 

How Do I Prepare for a Phone Interview?

Prepare for a phone interview by researching the company and closely reading the job posting. Prepare some answers ahead of time, as well as any questions you would like answered. 

What Can I Expect From a 15-Minute Phone Interview?

A 15-minute phone interview will likely involve the interviewer clarifying details about your resume. It will likely be a quick meet and greet, with an overview of the company and its hiring process.

What Do They Ask in a 30-Minute Phone Interview?

In a 30-minute phone interview, they will ask you about yourself, your previous experience, and how your skills match the job you’re applying for. Thirty minutes is generally the standard time for a phone interview. 

Set Yourself Up for Success in a Phone Interview

Knowing what phone interview questions to expect should help set you up for success. The rest is up to thorough research and confidence to get you to the final stages of the interview process. 

If you’re looking for some resources to boost your resume (and confidence), consider taking one of Robertson College’s micro-courses. These courses can help you gain valuable skills and jump-start your career. All Robertson College students and graduates also receive the career support of our Workforce Team. 

Looking to land your dream job? Explore our Workforce Team’s services.