Telephone Interviewing...

in the past I've read several companies that arrange telephone interviews with candidates. Well apart from the obvious reason (distance being the biggest factor therefore the candidate is unable to attend for a face-2-face interview) how can a telephone interview be beneficial? I mean what judgements and decisions can you make of a candidate based on a phone interview?

We are into IT staffing and consulting, 99% of our Client interviews are conducted via phone. If you have the position description and have your performance parameters, tele hiring is becoming very standard and you surely can hire just based on teleinterviews. There will be exeptions, for critical company positions and for positions that need a in person interaction companies would want to have final face2face however for positions where filtering could be done via phone this is here to stay.

Telephone interviews can help identify applicants who have the requisite skills and who may fit the company culture but a fit for the job cannot be assessed over the telephone or during a face to face interview.