Well, I just finished a telephonic interview for a job in sales.. It was difficult to know how to prepare. My résumé was top-notch. My references were impeccable. I’d done my homework. But nothing can quite substitute for a handshake or looking someone in the eye. And there’s that whole body language thing that makes you second guess how the interview is going..

But it’s amazing how many nuances you can detect in the voice when you have nothing else to focus on. My interviewer couldn’t keep the skepticism out of his tone.

I was actually prepared for all his questions and puzzled why he didn’t ask a number of others like, “How would you increase sales?”

Then it finally became clear why this was a telephone interview. They had no intention of hiring me. I suspect it was based on gender and age, but I’ll never be able to prove it. They conducted an interview to avoid any hint of bias.

Well, if nothing else, I can now offer a few sales interview tips, starting with, “If they ask for a telephone interview, tell them you’d rather meet face-to-face.”