"The Telephone Interview: Common Courtesy vs. Multi-Tasking, You Decide" - 03/10/21 Edition
Stephen Says Column

 Dear Stephen,

 I'm a sales manager, and I have been hiring people for years. I want to tell you about a negative experience I had during a phone interview I was conducting. I am sharing my story in the hopes that someone interviewing for a job may learn from why I disqualified this person.
 
 It comes down to them making a racket on a phone call, where they put me on speaker while they tended to some noise making activity. This is not new and not one of those unique COVID stories, because interviewing over the phone has been standard procedure for a while. Zoom interviews are fine but the background picture and the quality of the audio and video can be a distraction. I like to be able to focus on what the person is saying and getting to know a candidate over a longer period by frequently talking to them on the phone once I have interviewed them in person.
 
 So for sales positions, my initial interview will be in person and then I schedule an interview with our HR person, then maybe someone else here. I go through a lot of back and forth myself just to talk and feel out the chemistry. My theory is the more time I spend in getting to know the candidate the less likely I am to make a bad hire. It also benefits the candidate because they may discover something about me or the job they do not like.
 
 Anyway, here is my pet peeve: I find it so annoying when I am speaking to a candidate (anyone really, even in everyday business or personal life) on the phone, and they have me on speaker and decide to 1) wash their hands or rinse dishes; 2) eat or prepare food; 3) do anything that creates distracting sounds; 4) talk to me from their car in traffic or with the window open. It’s not the speaker phone that bothers me, although talking via speakerphone is never as clear as talking on a regular handset, it’s the noise of the other activities. A job interview or a sales call on the phone is not the time to multitask, in my opinion.
 
 You get the idea. If you are talking to me on a supposedly important job interview, and you are shoveling paper, or your computer is dinging every time you receive an email, guess what genius, I can hear it, and it is annoying! And I’m thinking, “What if I was a customer? Wouldn’t be they annoyed, just like me?” No, I do not have 
 ADHD, I am not easily distracted, I just expect you to be respectful and focused and attentive because that is what a job interview deserves. Any phone call for that matter.
It becomes even more irritating when the person on the call knows they are making distracting noises and apologizes. It does not make it any better when you tell me, “Sorry, can you hear that? Sorry for the noise, I am making my kid’s lunch while we are talking. Almost finished.” What am I supposed to say? Recently I had a candidate I met in person. I was very impressed. Their one HR person met with them and was also impressed, and we did the dance. I started talking to them pre-offer for details and just wanted to get more of the chemistry, but each call got worse. I liked this executive but the constant multi-tasking while trying to get to know them or work out details on the phone just pushed me over the edge, and I decided to pass, all over this. And, yes this was the person making her kid’s lunch while we were trying to negotiate a start date! Guess what? Now she has plenty of time to multi-task because I pulled the offer, and she is still unemployed.

  Signed.
  Sensitive Phone Guy
 

 Dear Phone Guy,

  I hear you loud and clear! Nothing is worse than someone talking to you on the phone and eating or working in the kitchen. Let me add to your list of complaints a pet peeve of mine, and one I am often guilty of doing myself: talking too fast.The improved quality of the speaker phone 
 function on smart phones and general acceptance that the use of “speaker” is now the norm, has made each call more important. It could be you are on a speaker call and someone else in the room, such as a family member, does not know it and says something inappropriate to you -- something personal in nature and your co-workers overhear it. It’s not just the Zoom call where your kid walks in the room, t’s about someone walking in the room and shouting, “Hey dude want a beer?” while you’re on an interview, client call or internal call with your boss. And here is another hazard — calling from outside with the street noise, the people and the dogs barking, etc. You are right -- the apology just makes it worse. You do not have to accept every call, that is what voicemail is for. And when you do accept a call, there is nothing wrong with using your speaker phone, in fact I explain to people to learn “the art of the mute” — that skill has saved me many times, especially while working from home.Here is another issue that is not just annoying for a job interview or client call, it’s also just plain rude with friends and family. If you need to cook while you are calling me, then do not bother to call me. Nothing anyone has to say is worth competing with your pot and pans. And god forbid you have an urgent need to go to the bathroom during a call. If you haven’t perfected the “art of the mute,” then you’re no friend of mine. I could go on and on but you get the idea. I agree it is annoying and sloppy and disrespectful, and frankly I would much have hired that person with the “making my kid’s lunch noises” in the background either. Thank you for bringing up what is an important problem today, a phenomenon bothering more people than you think. So everyone reading this, think about the letter I received, which more or less answered itself. And let’s all be more respectful of one another on the phone.
 Stephen
 
 You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@bellow.press
 
 Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the Subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of the Viscusi Group, global executive recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @stephenviscusi. Like Stephen on Facebook and follow him on LinkedIn.