Telephonic interview transcription is crucial now for research, survey or recruiting purposes. Here are some tips for recording interviews that will help you get the most out of transcription.

1. Top Six Tips to Record Telephonic Interview
Telephonic interview transcription is crucial now for research, survey or
recruiting purposes. Here are some tips for recording interviews that will
help you get the most out of transcription.
Telephonic interviews are popularly used for data collection. Transcribing the data
collected from these interviews is important for students, researchers, consultants,
journalists and even organizations that recruit new employees. How to clearly record
your interviews and thereby get the most from the telephonic interview
transcription? Read on for some useful tips in this regard.
Telephone Interview Records – Things to Consider
Most people may find it difficult to decide how to accurately record a telephone
interview. However, there are certain ways in which you can ensure a much better
audio quality and more accurate transcription.
Poor quality recordings take longer to transcribe and will cost you more as it is more
time consuming for the transcriptionist.
•
Provide prior information to the interviewee: The person to be
interviewed should be aware of your call, the date and time of call. This
makes the person ready for the call and ensures that other distraction is
avoided at the time of your call.
•
Send the interview intimation: For research or survey purposes, it is
better if you can intimate the interviewee about the topic of the interview or
send him/her the list of questions prior to the phone interview via email or
post. Sending the interview information in advance can save your time as well
as telephone cost. Transcription costs also can be saved as the initial
introduction need not be transcribed.
•
Be well prepared: Plan your interview questions prior to the interview. For
instance, if you are a recruiter conducting telephonic interview to take on an
employee, you need to be well aware of the candidate’s name, educational
background, experience and the post applied for. Also, note down relevant
questions that can be asked. It’s better if you can keep the copy of the
resume handy with you during the interview. Information on hand will help
you wind up the interview on time.
•
Notify the interviewee about call recording: Just as an automated voice
recording warns that your call will be recorded for internal training, you
should notify your interviewee that you are recording the call. Assure them
that the recording will only be used for the concerned purpose.

2. •
Test the equipment prior to recording: Poor quality is often the result of
wrong choice of the recording equipment, the type of microphone or the
brand of tape used for recording. Whatever equipment you use for recording,
maybe a digital recorder, make sure that it fits the phone you will be
recording from. Before the interview, test whether the equipment chosen is in
perfect working condition. Make sure you are aware of the technicalities of
the recording process on the telephone set you – whether it is your land
phone, iPhone or VOIP. Inaudible recordings contribute to transcription errors
and incomplete output. Record a test file and play back the file to ensure
better audibility of the voice. Check the volume level of the recorder. Very
loud noise may result in distortion.
•
Choose the right recording venue: Background noise in records will affect
transcription accuracy and add to the cost. Your recording environment
should be free from background noises such as a barking dog or noisy
machinery. It’s better to choose a small, quiet meeting room than larger
rooms as it is likely to have sound echoes. During the interview, in case there
are interruptions due to network problems, it’s better to obtain permission to
call to the other number provided for the rest of the interview.
Professional transcription outsourcing services can provide verbatim as well as
non-verbatim transcripts as per your requirement.