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Soup Cans and String:
The Telephone Interview
By Robert L. Withers
When I was a boy living in a subdivision in Kensington, MD, my next-door neighbor Jackie and I utilized a highly sophisticated form of communication: Campbell's soup cans and string. You will, of course, understand that these were the days before cell phones and the Internet; in fact, they were the days before touch-tone phones. However, contrary to the belief of my grandchildren, we did have electricity and indoor plumbing.
Puncture the bottom of two empty soup cans, thread sting through the holes, knot the string so that it will not pull back through the holes, and behold - a communication system. Naturally, you'll need to ensure that your string is long enough to reach from point A to point B, because there are no repeater stations for soup can/string communications. Our string reached from my second-floor bedroom window to Jackie's second-floor bedroom window which, conveniently, faced each other. Our "string-line" chats were pretty simplistic, and we sure didn't have to give much thought to what we were going to say, how we were going to say it, or to how the other person might interpret what we said.
In the pastoral job search process, though, simplistic conversations are anything but the norm. The nature of oral-only communication requires some important awareness of its complexities, else the candidate risks a poor impression and perhaps his/her consideration for the position. So during the phone interview, a pastor would do well to remain aware of the following points.
The Initial Telephone Contact
If you are a candidate, the interview process usually begins with a phone call or email from a search committee indicating their interest in you. If you receive an email, its purpose is likely to clarify a point or two in your candidate profile or to schedule an initial phone conversation with the liaison, or perhaps with the liaison and one or two other committee members. If you receive a phone call rather than an email first, it might result in a preliminary discussion where the liaison asks you "screening" questions raised by your profile and the job description.
When receiving such a phone call, if the caller wishes to engage in extended conversation, make sure that you will be uninterrupted and without distractions. If you are in the midst of a dinner party, if you have fifteen children playing "tag" in your house or have workmen in your office, thank the caller for the phone call and ask for a time when you can call back. You want to give undivided attention to your caller; divided attention is worse than no attention. Background noise and interruptions at least convey an unprofessional image, and at most they make it very difficult for you to give thoughtful, precise answers. They also suggest to the caller that he/she is not worthy of your full attention. Because first impressions are such lasting ones, resist the urge to engage in conversation if the time and place will not allow you to make a great impression.
Even if the telephone call will be brief, bring out your records of the church's profile as you talk to the liaison. This will refresh your memory of the church, and you can make and keep notes of the conversation. It will also assist you in asking any screening questions you may have of the church.
In some instances, you may have a number of preliminary conversations with the liaison, either via telephone or email. If via email, always print hard copies for your file. If by telephone, note the date and topic(s) of the conversation and with whom the discussion was held. These can be helpful in future discussions with the prospective church.
Telephone Conference Calls
When significant travel is involved, a search committee may wish to hold a preliminary conference call prior to an on-location interview. Some tips for telephone conference calls include:
- Have a desk or table organized with the church profile, your candidate profile, a list of questions for the church, a pen and note paper.
- Have at least one glass of water available.
- Begin the conversation with prayer.
- Ask the participants to introduce themselves. Write their names down, ensuring that you get the correct spelling of each name.
- During the discussion, if you are unsure who is speaking, ask the person to identify himself or herself.
- Throughout the conference call, pay close attention to your own voice. Speak clearly; do not mumble. If you are asked a question that requires you to pause, indicate that you need a moment to reflect before answering. Unexpected silence can create uncertainty and tension in a telephone conversation.
- Since you cannot use body language to communicate with the search committee on a conference call, your voice is everything. You can, however, use your body to support the sound and tone of your voice by maintaining good posture during the discussion. Maintain the same good posture that you would use in a face-to-face meeting. It might even be a good idea to dress for the occasion, just as if you were meeting the committee in person. You'll want to do all you can to put yourself in a prayerful and professional frame of mind, so that your attitude will be accurately reflected in your voice.
- If certain subjects are raised that you feel are best discussed in person, say so. These are often matters of a highly personal nature and better lend themselves to communication that incorporates eye contact and body language. You can give the committee a preliminary response while indicating a desire to further discuss the matter in person: "I'm glad you raised that question. Let me give you a preliminary response right now, but I would be pleased to go into more detail should this process continue and we meet in person."
Tips for search committees:
- Pray before initiating the conference call.
- Once introductions are made, pray with the candidate to invite God's leadership and grace into the conversation.
- Identify yourselves each time you speak to enable the candidate to know who is speaking.
- Avoid side conversations when one of you is speaking to the candidate or the candidate is speaking to you. This can be distracting and confusing to the candidate, as most speaker-phones will pick up some level of side discussion.
- If you find that the conference call is taking longer than you anticipated, you may wish to ask the candidate if he would like a ten-minute break. A moment of refreshment can be good for both parties.
- Before ending the discussion, ask the candidate if he/she has any unanswered questions that he/she would like to address.
- Indicate to the candidate what the next step is in the process. Include who will contact the candidate and a date by which the contact will occur.
- If your committee will hold multiple conference calls during the same day, consider limiting their number and giving yourselves down-time between each call. This will better enable you to engage each candidate with energy and focus and will guard against confusing candidates with each other.
Gone are the days of soup cans and strings, but technology has in many ways complicated communications. While it has enabled the rapid transmission of data, the nuance and complexity of relational communication is not necessarily well-served by bits and bytes and cellular transmissions. All too often, our email and cell phone communications aren't much more than data-dumps: We often act as if we're downloading information to each other rather than cultivating understanding and building a relationship. These are the dangers candidates and search committees should consider in their communications - after all, the church and candidate are both seeking God's will for a sacred pastor-church relationship in Him.
Granted, soup cans and string are a thing of the past, but they did require us to listen carefully and speak clearly - not a bad summary of advice for a phone interview.
Robert L. Withers is the principal of CompassDynamics™ and Pastor of New Hope Church, Woodstock, VA. He holds a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he served as administrator of The Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Workplace. Bob's extensive organizational experience includes the recruitment, training and mentoring of executives and managers in the corporate sector. Bob recently published the book, Charting the Course: The Pastoral Search Process, with related resources for both pastors and search teams. Comments and requests for more information may be directed to Bob at info@compassdynamics.org.
