Unexpected Phone Interview!

I'm not a recruiter or in HR, but I have gotten a few jobs lately and there are no replies yet. A phone interview is generally a check that you're basically competent and can answer some simple questions in a reasonable fashion, so they only have through the trouble of a full interview if there's a decent chance you'll get the job. Adjuncts are underpaid, so if they ask about your current salary, instead give a target salary. If you know anyone in the field, call them up and ask them their starting salary if you're comfortable, or if you're not just ask them what you should ask for. http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/01/24/the-10-most-common-job-interview-questions are a few super-cliched job interview questions (though it's missing perhaps the most cliched question, "Tell me about your biggest weakness."). Have a friend read them to you over the phone, so you can role-play an interview. Do it a couple times if you have to. Likewise cliched is the advice to always be positive in a job interview. When asked why you're moving away from academia, instead praise the field you're looking to move into: "I want to move into a field with better growth potential," or, "I want to move from theories & abstractions into more tangible work." There may also be field-specific questions on the phone. Search for "$employer phone interview" or "$field phone interview" or "$location $field phone interview" to see if you can figure out any more specifics. I'm a computer engineer, and some folks want you to solve complicated comp-sci problems over the phone, while some folks just want to chat to see if you can keep up. Since you're nervous, practicing answering interview questions over the phone is probably your best starting point.

First of all, just try to relax and be yourself. A phone screen is usually just to check if you're worth bringing in for a face to face interview (or interviews with multiple people). They want to check that you're a reasonable candidate for the job. If you're really qualified this should be straight forward. From the candidates pov the point of the phone interview is just to get to the next stage. I think the most important things are to make a personal connection with the interviewer, it can be hard over the phone, but if they like you at the end of the call they will often give the benefit of the doubt for any answers that didn't match what they are looking for and still bring you in for a full interview. The more you can learn about the company, the markets it serves, it's products, the job itself the better. Candidates that have done their homework always impress. WRT salary expectations, what akgerber said. Don't sweat giving a reason why you're leaving academia. Simply saying that you want to experience working in industry should be enough. Don't ever be negative about where you're coming from, always be positive about where you're going. So it's the tremendous pull of working for such a great company that is dragging you away from a wonderful academic career.

The phone interview with the recruiter validates that you meet the minimum qualifications. The recruiter is there to screen candidates and identify the subset of candidates that will be referred to the hiring manager. Go through the job posting and outline examples of when you've demonstrated that skill. That's probably the best prep for a phone screening.

I made the transition from academia (in the humanities) to the private sector and the best advice I received was to be positive about the reasons for the move - you need to make it clear that you're doing this because it's the right thing for you, rather than because academia is a dead end. So, this job (whatever it is) offers better opportunities, the possibility for more impact, the ability to use your highly developed analytical skills in a way that can make an immediate difference, etc. Going to the private sector is neither a failure nor a cop out--even though some within higher education are desperate to believe it is--so make sure that this attitude doesn't come through - I'm sure you're not thinking this but if you've been in academia for a while, it may have rubbed off just a tiny bit. http://www.leavingacademia.com/ is full of good tips and advice. Looks like it's had an overhaul since I last looked at it (when it was the project of a single Canadian grad student and when I used it to help get a non-academic job), but would assume that the historic content is still there and the new content is good, too.