

Ask HN: Phone interviews during work - thrwy10

Forgive me if this has been asked before.<p>How do people deal with interviewing when actively working? Phone interviews take 45 mins to an hour and are not always worth taking an entire day off, besides the fact that there could be several. If your employer doesn&#x27;t like you working from home and you have limited PTOs, what is your solution? Has anyone used Regus business lounges? What about coffee shops? Are they any good?
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mattwritescode
The best way I have dealt with these in the past is to tell recruiters and
companies that you can only do one date for phone interviews. That way you can
plan 4-5 calls in one day.

Far from what recruiters and companies say if they are serious in hiring you
they will respect this. They understand you have a job and that whilst you are
working for them it is inappropriate for you to be on the phone. (Doing this
is a good way to see if a company really wants you. If you are their ideal
candidate they will wait for you to become free).

Failing that you can either arrange first thing in the morning or last thing
in the work day. That way you can start a little early or later without
causing too much hassle for the recruiter.

Failing that, you need to try and arrange on your lunch breaks (guessing you
get an hour or so).

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JSeymourATL
The recruiter & hiring manager will appreciate you have competing demands on
your schedule. It's entirely acceptable to plan phone conversations/meetings
before & after normal business hours, say 6:30am coffee or 6pm conference
call.

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psychometry
When I drove to work, I would just go sit in my car. Quiet, discreet, and
convenient.

~~~
gregcohn
I never thought of zipcar as a phone booth you can rent by the hour, but
that's actually a pretty good solve if you have one nearby. You can reserve
them in advance.

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mga226
In my experience, coffee shops and the like are too loud, and if they aren't
you won't feel comfortable speaking in your "interview voice". If you have a
coffee shop with outdoor seating, that can work.

I have done phone interviews literally walking about the neighborhood near my
office. This has the added benefit that you supposedly speak with more
confidence and authority when standing up and walking.

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davelnewton
Are "coffee shops" any good? How can anybody answer that? They're fine if
they're quiet and it isn't _you_ that's being the d-bag.

If you bill for something that isn't work that's fraud, although a five minute
call is a lot different from a full-on phone screen.

Go somewhere quiet, don't bill for it. Common sense.

~~~
AznHisoka
"don't bill for it"

You're assuming OP is a consultant or freelancer. For most salaried workers,
there's no such thing as billable hours, only a set salary per year.

~~~
davelnewton
Use your head. Just because they do the paperwork doesn't mean you're not
billing them for your time.

~~~
AznHisoka
Umm.. no. I can work 60 hrs a week, but I still get paid for the 40 hours.
That's the definition of a salary

~~~
davelnewton
I get that being pedantic is fun and all, but give me a break.

If your salary reflects a 40-hr week, and you work 60, all you're doing is
reducing the $/hr you make. If you do non-work-related stuff at work, and you
expect compensation for it, you're billing your company for time you shouldn't
be.

I refuse to believe you don't get this.

~~~
drstewart
When you're salary your compensation isn't based on your time. So your
argument doesn't really make sense. It doesn't matter how much time you spend
on non-related stuff at work, as long as you get your work done. That's kind
of the point of salary.

~~~
davelnewton
If you're doing your work in under the "expected" hours then you're basically
making _more_ $/hr. You can couch it in whatever terminology and pedantry you
want--the work you do for the company is the only time in your work chair that
counts.

~~~
AznHisoka
No.. I think you're an consultant yourself and extrapolating your experience
to the 9-to-5'ers. day jobbers can get their work done before lunch, but
they're still stuck in their chair until 5 because that's the nature of a day
job, and having a salary.

~~~
davelnewton
No.

If they have nothing else to do and they're just sitting around then there's a
_systemic_ issue and the employee/employer relationship is broken in one or
more of several ways, e.g., employer is over-staffed, employee is under-
utilized, etc. An idle employee is a waste of money--e.g., they're effectively
making more per hour and/or the employer is incapable of managing their
resources, etc.

There's no extrapolation here. If you're idle at work then something is
broken, and you're wasting the employer's money. If the employer is _ok_ with
the wasted money then it's all good, but the underlying economics haven't
changed. If the employer _isn 't_ ok with this, or is _unaware_ of this, then
there's fraud.

~~~
AznHisoka
Nobody's arguing whether the system is broken or not. Or whether it's fraud or
not. You're attacking a straw man.

The truth is most salaried workers aren't billed per hour.

~~~
davelnewton
... And I'm saying you're being pedantic, because the underlying economics are
that they are. Workers are paid for output vs. time, whether or not it's shown
that way on the record books.

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saluki
Try to schedule them an hour before you typically start work or the earliest
you can get out of the office for the day.

An early or late lunch might work as well.

If there are lots of private conference rooms around you might be able to grab
one of those and take the call on your mobile and then work through lunch.

Good luck with your interviews.

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TeeWEE
I just ask them to call me in the evening. Its imho NOT OK to due it during
your working day.

If they don't want to call you at the time you will be suggesting, then it's
not a position worth going for.

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vishalzone2002
I think a company like breather might have a use case here.

