Effective Phone Screening Interview Questions | ApplicantStack

A phone screening is a steadfast part of nearly every interview process, acting as an initial filter to identify suitable candidates and weed out others who may be unqualified for a particular role. They serve to save recruiters time and their company’s money by being the buffer between a candidate applying for a job and being scheduled for a full-fledged interview.

Here, we’ll discuss the art of phone screening and how to ask the right questions to help hiring managers and recruiters streamline their hiring process.

Phone Screening: The Ultimate Time Saver

Phone screenings are a popular part of the hiring process for a reason. They’re quick and effective for identifying promise in potential candidates ahead of a real interview. When a phone screening is executed correctly, the recruiter (and their organization) can benefit greatly from its streamlined structure.

Quick Elimination

Phone screenings help to quickly eliminate candidates who are not a good fit for the position right out of the gate, saving invaluable time in the hiring process. With the right phone screening interview questions, recruiters can swiftly discern whether a candidate’s qualifications, experience and salary expectations align with the job description. If they don’t, there’s typically no need to push them further through the funnel.

Efficient Filtering

Most jobs have essential criteria that candidates must meet. Phone screenings are a great way to efficiently filter out candidates who don’t meet baseline requirements, ensuring subsequent interviews are only scheduled for the most promising candidates.

Brevity

Leveraging the brevity of phone screenings is another key advantage. These screenings allow recruiters to evaluate a larger number of candidates within a shorter time frame compared to traditional interviews. While they’re not a true replacement, the concise nature of a phone screen interview enables quick assessments of candidates’ communication skills, professionalism and suitability for the role.

Flexibility

The flexibility of phone screenings can help reduce hiring delays. Unlike traditional interviews, phone screenings are lower stakes and, in some cases, a lot less formal. They’re flexible to accommodate both the recruiter’s and the candidate’s schedules, which helps maintain momentum in the hiring process.

What Types Of Questions to Ask During a Phone Screening

To realize the benefits of phone screenings, recruiters have to ask the right questions. As these calls are typically short, there’s no time to waste inquiring about information that won’t move the needle — in one direction or the other.

These question categories are a great place to start; developing just one query for each can be more than enough:

Basic Qualification Questions

Asking about basic qualifications helps recruiters quickly understand whether or not a candidate’s background aligns with the role at hand. Learning about their education, certifications, and specific skills related to the position helps the hiring manager determine if they meet the minimum requirements. These questions, or variations thereof, are great examples of basic questions to kick the phone screening off.

• ​Why are you interested in this position?
• ​Can you briefly walk me through your professional experience? How does it relate to this role?

Experience and Skill-Based Questions

Diving a little deeper than the above questions, discussing a candidate’s experience and skills through project examples and tool proficiency is another effective way to gauge their suitability for the position.

Ask candidates to describe their involvement in previous projects and the tools they used to get a sense of their hands-on experience and problem-solving abilities and to identify candidates with the practical skills necessary to succeed. Try questions like:

• ​Can you provide an example of a project or task you’ve handled that is similar to what this role requires? What role did you play in getting that project across the finish line?
• ​What tools or software relevant to this role do you have experience using?

Cultural Fit Questions

Culture is an important part of most workplaces. Evaluating cultural fit helps determine whether a job candidate will thrive at the organization. Questions about teamwork, adaptability and conflict resolution can provide insights into how a prospective candidate interacts with colleagues and handles challenges. Consider questions like:

• ​How do you approach teamwork and collaboration?
• ​Can you describe a time when you had to adapt to a significant change at work?

Understanding a candidate’s work style and values can strongly indicate how they’ll integrate into the workplace and even shine a light on their potential for long-term success with the company.

Logistical and Availability Questions

Checking availability factors, such as potential start dates, willingness to relocate or ability to work specific hours, ensures that logistical requirements are addressed early on. This helps avoid misunderstandings and ensures that candidates who progress further in the interview process can meet the job’s demands. These types of questions are typically fairly straightforward, but here are a couple of examples:

• ​What is your current availability? When would you be able to start if hired?
• ​Are you comfortable with the location or remote work requirements for this role?

Motivation and Goals

Understanding the reasons that a candidate is seeking a new job and what their career aspirations are can reveal valuable information about what drives them and their long-term career goals. How committed are they? What’s their potential for growth within the company? To help reveal their passion and vision for their future, ask questions like:

• ​Why are you looking to leave your current position (or why did you leave your last role)?
• ​Where do you see yourself in the next few years? How does this role align with your overarching career goals?

Clarifying Questions

Finally, leave some time for one or two clarifying questions. If the candidate has employment gaps, specific skills or experiences listed on their resume that would be valuable to learn more about, ask about them. This allows candidates to explain areas of concern directly, giving recruiters a more complete picture of their background and capabilities. While these will be customized to each individual candidate, try questions like:

• ​I noticed a gap in your employment history—can you explain what you were doing during that time?
• ​Your resume mentions a skill (or experience) we’re particularly interested in—can you elaborate on that?

Tips To Apply To Your Next Candidate Phone Screening

With those categorical questions in mind, there are a few valuable tips recruiters can couple with their phone screening interview questions to deliver the best possible candidate experience and gather the most valuable information:

• ​Prepare in advance: Review the candidate’s resume ahead of time to ensure a productive phone screening. Become familiar with their work history, skills and achievements and tailor phone interview questions to their specific background.
• ​Introduce yourself: Set the context of the call by starting with a brief introduction. This helps put the candidate at ease and provides a clear understanding of the purpose of the call, which can help create a structured yet lax environment that encourages open and honest communication.
• ​Listen actively: Practicing active listening during the phone screen is key to identifying a candidate’s qualifications and potential red flags. Pay close attention to their responses and read between the lines to pick up on nuances that may not be evident on their resume. Active listening also shows the candidate that the organization values what they have to say, building positive rapport from the get-go.
• ​Take notes: Take brief notes on qualifications and red flags and consider using a simple rating system to enhance the efficiency of the phone screening process, like assigning a score of 1-10 to their answers. Documenting key points and impressions during the call provides a reference for later comparison and decision-making.
• ​Allow the candidate to ask questions: Candidate questions can reveal their level of interest in the role, their understanding of the job requirements and their expectations regarding company culture and career advancement.
• ​Communicate next steps: Talk about timelines and what’s next at the end of the phone screen to set clear expectations for the candidate. Transparency helps maintain engagement and respect throughout the recruitment process, ensuring that candidates are informed and prepared for what comes next.
• ​Review your notes immediately following the call: Promptly reviewing notes post-call helps maintain momentum. Quick follow-up actions, such as scheduling the next interview or requesting additional information, keep the recruitment process moving. And, responsiveness demonstrates the company’s commitment to finding the right candidate and can significantly enhance the candidate’s experience.

By applying these tips to phone screenings, recruiters can maximize the effectiveness of this important step in the hiring process. A well-conducted phone screen not only saves time but can significantly impact hiring decisions to ensure the right candidate moves forward.

Take Control of All Aspects of Your Hiring Process

ApplicantStack gives recruiters everything they need to find, attract and hire the right candidates for their open roles. With built-in tools for recruiting that cast a wide net across social channels to features that make it easy to create questionnaires and score candidates, recruiters can focus more on asking the right questions at the right times during their phone screenings. Top talent is one complete recruiting solution away. Start a free trial today to see how ApplicantStack streamlines the hiring process—from job bulletins to onboarding.