The Screening Interview Framework

Have you ever reached the end of the recruitment process and not known whom to hire?

It has happened to me multiple times when I have sat with a list of candidates I had interviewed and couldn't choose.

Even worse, I wasn't convinced by any of them.

If so, it's time to rethink your screening process. I didn't conduct a proper screening interview.

Most screening interviews these days are left to the recruiting team, which is wrong!

You, as the manager, should conduct the screening interview, in addition to the one run by recruitment regarding salary, notice period, and bureaucracy.

Get back in control.

Screening interviews are a crucial part of the hiring process.

They allow you to assess a candidate’s basic qualifications, experience, and fit for the role before investing more time and resources in the hiring process.

So, how can you make sure you’re screening candidates effectively?

1. Define your A-players’ competencies. Before you begin reviewing resumes, determine the key qualifications and characteristics you’re looking for in a candidate. This will help you quickly identify the candidates who meet your criteria and eliminate those who don’t.
2. Use behavioral questions. Behavioural questions ask candidates to describe specific situations they’ve faced in the past and how they responded. These questions can help you gauge a candidate’s problem-solving abilities, work style, and communication skills.
3. Look for STAR model answers.
4. Have your screening templates ready.

In regard to this last point, let's take a closer look at the two templates I have been using.

Keep in mind that if you are hiring individual contributors or managers, you should use a different structure.

Screening interview questions:

For Individual Contributors

• What are your career goals?
• What are you really good at professionally? Please give me some examples.
• What are you not good at or not interested in? Please give me some examples.
• Who were your last 3 bosses, and how will they each rate your performance when we talk with them (1 is low, 10 is high)? Why?

For Leaders:

In addition to above's:

• How would you rate the team you inherited on an A, B, or C, scale? [last job]
• What changes did you make? [last job]
• Did you hire anybody? [last job]
• Fire anybody? [last job]
• How would you rate the team when you left on A, B, or C scale? [last job]

The goal of the interview is to understand if the candidate is the right fit for the job and your company. Nothing more.

Further assessments, such as skillset and specifics of the role, will be covered in the following interviews.

Look out for flags based on your A-players' competencies.

Look for responses or behaviours that oppose or clash with what you are looking for at the moment.

Remember, the screening interview is just the first step in the interview process. Make sure to nail it or you may derail everything that comes afterwards.

However, if you apply the above, I'm sure you will be fine.

‍