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Ask HN: Phone interviews during work

6 points by thrwy10 ↗ HN
Forgive me if this has been asked before.

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'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?

21 comments

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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).

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.

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.

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.

jpindar
For many of us, our salary isn't for any particular number of hours, but for accomplishing things.
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.
thrwy10
dave, thanks for your response. Rest assured that I won't 'bill' them for non-work related stuff. I assumed it was obvious but will explcitly state that if take an hour off, I'll make it up later in the day.
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.
vishalzone2002
I think a company like breather might have a use case here.
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.
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.