Preparation for a telephone interview is as important as preparation before any other form of interview or meeting. The impression you create in the opening moments, and the manner with which you present yourself over the phone will determine whether or not you will be successful.

Be professional
Your telephone interview begins from the moment you answer the telephone and ends only when the conversation, questions and your goodbyes have been completed.  If you are receiving the call, make sure you answer the phone professionally e.g. ‘Good Morning, Joe Blogs speaking’.

Be animated and enthusiastic but polite and don’t start chatting as if you were talking to a friend. Talk distinctly and clearly and try to sound confident. Some people find that standing up while talking on the phone and smiling makes them sound and feel more confident.

Take notes
If you can, jot down notes during the interview, or write down what you can remember about the questions and your answers immediately afterwards, while it's still fresh. It will be a useful record to refer to when you go through to the next stage.

Practice
Practice is useful, especially if you haven't worked in an office or used a telephone to talk to clients in previous jobs. If you can, try getting friends or family members to call you and ask interview questions.

Although a telephone interview is relatively straightforward, even highly capable candidates can be rejected because they are not used to speaking in a professional manner over the phone. For many candidates, the whole situation can feel unnatural - without eye contact it can be difficult to build rapport and display a strong personality with your interviewer.
 
Research
It is important to find out as much as you possibly can about a company and a job role before any type of interview; a telephone interview is no exception. Plan for possible questions you may be asked before your interview and consider answers you can give, including good examples for competency based questions. Plan what might be asked in the interview beforehand, e.g. personal details, education, career history, experience. The interviewer will be aiming to match candidates against the job description and person specification so re-read thoroughly.

Make a note of any questions you would like to ask as this shows you are interested in the company and the job role. Also ask about things that are important to you, especially if your decision whether to proceed depends upon the answers (for example: will I have to relocate?).

Concluding a telephone interview
Part of the reason why firms conduct a telephone interview is to find out how keen candidates are about working at their company and in the particular job role applied for. It is important to be enthusiastic throughout your telephone conversation, but make a particular effort to be forthcoming at the close.