Screening the Applicants

• Work experience
• Education and training you have completed or in the process of completing.
• Length of experience.
• Computer or other technical skills
• Experience in the companies industry
• Any employment gaps.

One of the most common methods of first contact is through a telephone interview.  Typically, if you are asked for a telephone interview, you have made it through the initial stage(s) of screening and the recruiter is looking for clarification of the information you provided in the covering letter and résumé. As well, the recruiter might be looking to conduct a mini-interview with a listing of questions, which are common for all applicants. Always remember that the recruiter generally has the ability to decline your application at any time during the telephone interview. Usually, a good recruiter should know in the first five if your application should go to the next step.

Why would a company want to do a telephone interview first? Cost. Telephone interivews is the lest costly method of screening an applicant and can gather the most amount of information from the applicant in the shortest amount of time.

Here are a few tips given to recruiters when they are conducting the telephone interview:

• Use discretion, when making first contact.
• Develop a rapport with the candidate
• Use standard questions for all applicants
• Listen carefully to what the person is and is not saying, and their tone.
• Take notes; don’t rely solely on memory. Detailed notes aid in your evaluation of the candidate.
• Dig for more information; obtain clarification about comments that are inconsistent or ambiguous.
• Seize the opportunity and try to gain as much information as possible.
• Explain the general description of what the position entails.
• Answer their questions; give the applicant the opportunity to ask questions.
• Evaluate immediately. Decide if the candidate should be required for a face-to-face interview.