As many of us are working from home, following CDC recommendations, social distancing, if we need to conduct an integrity issue over the phone, one of the things that we should do is initiate that call by reminding our subject of those practices and the fact that you would prefer to be sitting face-to-face, to get to know them and have a more personal connection. But in these times, it’s best to handle certain things over the phone, so that we’re recognizing recommendations coming from the CDC. Recognizing other people’s health, and following social distancing practices.
Now, when you do this, you open up the call by reminding them that that’s why we’re conducting this. We remind them and talk about the witness in the room. And if we’re conducting the interview where we have a witness in another room or even another remote location, we can link them in through a conference call, a three-way call. But one of the things you should always do is be sure to introduce the fact that there is a witness and a third party on the line, even though they’re not participating in the call. Be respectful about recognizing that person should know, that there’s not just you on the call, but someone else. Inform your subject of the witness’ role, and that they are here just to listen, make sure that you don’t do anything foolish, don’t say anything dumb, and they’re there for their interest.
Conducting phone interviews over the phone can be quite easy, but in the difficult times we’re working in right now with many of us working from home, there’s certain considerations you might add into your standard protocol of having that phone interview.
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