Why You Should Be Pre Screening Your Candidates
Hiring the perfect candidate is always a challenge, you need to overcome many obstacles, not only do they have to be a proper fit for the role but they also need to fit in with your company culture.
Most companies are missing a proper screening routine for their hires. But what is a pre-screen interview? It’s basically a series of questions that lets you learn more about a candidate before you conduct a more extensive interview.
What is Pre Screening?
How is that different from just a regular interview? For starters a pre screen should last no more than a 10-15min phone call and is primarily used to get a broad understanding of the candidate and gauge if an in person interview is suitable.
Some organizations are opting to streamline and optimize their pre-screening process by using an online questionnaire or using pre-employment screening software to collect the relevant candidate data to help in their decision making process. An online form would be more effective with millennial candidates as they are more inclined to answer text or email messages than answering calls from numbers they don’t recognize.
Note that you can add some more questions that are more personalized for the role you are recruiting for. Ideally try and frame them so that they can be answered in a single sentence or short paragraph.
Once you receive their response, be sure to plan the in person interview to incorporate the responses given in the pre screening phase. Ask them to elaborate on some questions like their career goals. This should give you an idea about what drives them and help you make a more informed hiring decision.
Why is pre screening so important?
The biggest advantage you get from this process is all the time you will save, a proper pre screen routine, especially with the help of an automated system should help you filter through the majority of candidates quickly and give you more time to focus on the candidates that are most suited to the role. They can also assess candidates in terms of their cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, skills, personality, honesty and integrity which should let you know if they are a right fit for your company’s culture.
Finally ensure that you communicate a candidate’s standing in the hiring process, if you choose not to select a potential hire, let them know! It boosts the opinion of your company in their eyes and will encourage them to apply for other job listings they may be better suited for in the future.
If you are having trouble getting started, here are is a list of questions you can ask:
- What knowledge areas are your strongest? What could you learn more about?
- Do you have any other skills or knowledge that might be helpful but aren’t on your resume?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses? How can you overcome them?
- How can you apply your skills and knowledge to this job?
- What are your professional goals?
- What would you like to be doing in three years?
- What does the perfect manager look like to you?
- How do you prefer to be managed?
- What normally frustrates you most about managers?
- What leadership skills are your strongest? Your weakest?
- How are your interpersonal skills?
- What normally frustrates you most about jobs?
- How would you describe your work style?
- What does a normal day at your current job look like?
- What are three of your career accomplishments so far?
- What makes a job fun?
- What do you dislike about your current or previous job?
- Why did you quit your last job? Or, why do you want to leave your current job?
- Have you applied anywhere else?
- Has another business made you an offer recently?
- What are you looking for in a job?
- What do you want to get out of this job?
- What is the minimum starting salary you will accept?
- When can you start work if you are hired?
