Just like every other telecom giant, T-Mobile has applied a lot of innovation to their hiring process. Video answers, psychometric tests, online group interviews, and coding riddles for engineering job applicants are just some of these innovations. However, regardless of whether you interview face to face or online, alone or in the group, with a human being or with a robot, you always face the same challenge: to come up with the goods when it matters, and to impress the hiring managers with your answers and attitude to work.

In this article we will look at 10 most common questions you may face while interviewing with T-Mobile, for two types of roles. First, sales and customer service jobs–the two prevalent fields in terms of number of employees and new hires each year. Second, interns and general sourcing interviews, that means talent acquisition, when you interview with a company not knowing what job you will get with them, simply testing the waters. It will become clearer much later in the process.

Obviously I’d love to provide questions and answers for engineering positions with T-Mobile as well. But you should realize such questions vary a lot from one position to another, depending on your specialization and the job description. And it also exceeds my level of technical expertise. Hence we will focus on the 10 most common personal and behavioral (situational, STAR) questions you may face while interviewing with T-Mobile, for the jobs I’ve already mentioned. Let’s start!

 

Can you please tell us something about yourself?

The most typical first question, the icebreaker. You should realize that as with every big corporation, T-Mobile recruitment and HR departments are huge, and the person interviewing you on the day may have never seen your resume before. Other people saw it, and decided to shortlist you for the next stage of the hiring process. Hence you should not expect that the person sitting opposite to you knows something important about you, just because you included it on your job application.

When it comes to your introduction, you should focus primarily on your strengths. This depends on many things, but especially on your level of experience. If you have relevant experience–you’ve worked with other telecom company or had a sales/CS job before, focus mostly on it, briefly explaining where you worked, what you did, and what you achieved there.

If you lack experience, your primary focus should be your personality, skills, and preferences. Tell them about your excellent communication and sales skills, your interest in the telecom industry and their products, and how the job description matches your expectations and preferences when it comes to your new job. You can also add one or two details from your personal life (your biggest hobby for example), to show that you have life outside of work as well, and won’t be a bore in the office.

 

Why did you choose T-Mobile?

Let’s face it: There are so many telecom and tech companies you can apply with, be it for customer service, sales, tech, or engineering jobs. And T-Mobile definitely isn’t the most trendy of them. So they wonder why, and you have a few options here.

First one is personal affinity to the brand. Perhaps you’ve been a customer of T-Mobile for years. You’ve been using their products, enjoyed the level of customer service, and overall have great experience with their brand. When you were deciding about your future place of work, they were an obvious choice.

Second idea is picking a particular product or technology you’ll work with if you get a job, or something else that makes the company special. You can explain your interest in that technology or product, how it resonates with your values or career goals. But make sure that your answer makes sense, because speaking about some advances augmented reality technology only a few chosen engineers will work with, while applying for a sales rep job with T-Mobile, won’t do the trick…

Third option is focusing on the job, instead of the company. Sure enough, many companies advertise similar or exactly the same job titles as T-Mobile does. But you like something particular on their job description–certain duties, employee benefits, shift patterns, place of work, etc. Hence you decided to apply with them, instead of some other telecom or retail giant. Of course, you still know T-Mobile and have mainly positive associations with the brand–otherwise you wouldn’t apply with them…

 

What can this company do for you?

This one is extremely common in internship and general sourcing interviews, for two reasons. First of all, T-Mobile cannot afford not asking such a question, for a reason I already described. They aren’t the most trendy tech or telecom company in the world, and they have to fight for talented young people with many other corporations that boast bigger budgets and can generally offer more interesting working conditions.

Logically speaking, hiring managers at T-Mobile try what they can to win the favor of interesting job seekers. Second reason is that they want to see where you can fit in the company, what job will be fitting for you now, and in the future. And you should have an answer ready.

You can either talk about professional development in this or that area, working with specific technology, specific customer segment, and so on. Another alternative is referring to their excellent employee training program. Last but not least, you can also try brutal honesty. Perhaps you’d love to work for Google or Tesla but you aren’t the best student, or one of the smartest guys from your class. Or you still lack experience. Despite of that you have your skills and strengths, and try to get the best job you can realistically get, which happens to be the job with T-Mobile…

How does your previous work experience help with this role you’re applying for?

The key is to find the connection–and there always is some connection. Even if you’ve worked in a seemingly unrelated field, you should find similarities, because at the end of the day everything relates to everything. Let me give you an example. Imagine that you apply for a sales job with T-Mobile, but the only role you had up to this point was the role of an office assistant.

It seems the two jobs have little in common. But do they really? Even as an administrative assistant, you faced deadlines and issues, you cooperated with other people, and sometimes you had to sell your ideas to your boss or to one of your colleagues. You can definitely benefit from these things in the new sales job you try to get with T-Mobile. Find the connection, explain it to your interviewers, and show confidence in your readiness to handle the job.

* Special Tip: What if I told you that you can practice your answers to all tricky T-Mobile interview questions, getting an immediate feedback from a life-like AI interview coach? And that you can start doing it for free, and it is a lot of fun too? 🙂 Check out this page on our partner website, Real Mock Interviews, pick a question, enter your email, and start practicing for free, either on your mobile phone or on your computer. Check it out now and see for yourself!

 

Sell me your mobile phone.

A role play is probably the biggest challenge you can face in any sales or customer service interview. Let me give you a few tips how to pass it with flying colors. First of all, do not look for excuses. Back in the day when I was leading interviews, I heard such excuses many times: “I need to prepare for the sales talk”, “I do not know the product well enough to sell it”, “I just cannot do this now”, “I need more time”, etc. Mark my words: If you refuse to do the role play, they won’t hire you. So do not look for excuses, and give this your best shot.

When it comes to the role play, ask a lot of questions. What they are looking for in a perfect phone, what are their favorite applications, whether they take a lot of pictures with their phone, etc. Then you can connect their answers with actual features of the phone. For example, if great pictures are their priority, you can praise the phone camera and its functionality in different settings. But do not lie. Be honest about the phone, and if you feel like their wishes do not meet with the specifications of your device, suggest them a better one. Show some creativity, and your eagerness to upsell the customer. Hiring managers will love such an attitude.

Last but not least, try to close the deal. As soon as they give you the buying signal, agreeing with how the features of the phone match their preferences, ask them whether they want the phone. Of course, it is a role play, and the interviewer may throw at you some objections and questions. Stay calm, try your best to answer them, and stick with your plan. If you manage to do so, you will pass this test. Whether they eventually decide to buy the phone or not (as a part of the play) is not important…

 

Other questions you may face in your interview with T-Mobile

 

Conclusion, next steps

Interviews at T-Mobile belong to interviews with average difficulty. On one hand, the company tries to put into place an innovative and complex interview process, and they will test you with a variety of situational and behavioral questions, often over several rounds of interviews, including online, phone, and face to face.

On the other hand, they are aware of their position on the employment market, and the brands and corporations they are competing with. Because of that they aren’t as picky in their selection, and it is generally easier to get a job with them.

Try to prepare for the questions from this article and check also other online sources. Do not forget to do some research about T-Mobile, and try to identify at least two reasons why you’d prefer to work for them instead of some other company. I hope you will manage to succeed in this interview, and wish you best of luck!

Matthew

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Matthew Chulaw
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