How to conduct effective phone screenings and job interviews – with example questions

As an interviewer, you have the responsibility of evaluating candidates to find the best fit for the position and the organisation as a whole. Are you up for the task?

Conducting a successful job interview is not always easy. It requires careful planning, effective communication, and a keen ability to assess a candidate’s qualifications and potential.

Below we’ve provided some tips and example questions to help you conduct effective job interviews, on and offline.

Save time with initial phone screenings

Phone screenings are a great initial step to help you sort through resumes of interest. Whilst you’re not going to decide on the candidate you hire during a phone screening, they allow you to identify the applicants who won’t be suitable, saving you time during interviews.

Phone screenings allow you to check for any deal-breakers and clarify any details mentioned in a candidate’s resume or LinkedIn. For example, if they need a specific licence to work. Whatever it may be, asking those questions now will save you time later.

Below are a handful of questions you could ask candidates in phone screenings to get to know them.

Tell me about yourself

This allows the candidate to introduce themselves before jumping into questions about the job. It gives you insights into their personality and if they might be a good cultural fit. However, remember to dive deeper into their personality during a formal interview.

Tell me a bit about what you did in X role

Asking a candidate to further explain their experience in past and current roles will give you a better idea of their skills and capabilities. There may be non-negotiable skills you need the person to have before you even consider interviewing them. If they don’t mention the skill you’re talking about when answering this question, ask them directly.

What motivated you to apply for this position?

Learn what the candidate is looking for in a new role and see how this aligns with the position. It gives you the opportunity to identify any standout points or red flags regarding the candidate’s motivations to find a new job.

Are you currently working, and if so, what is your notice period?

If you’re on a strict timeline to fill the role, it’s good to have a realistic idea of when each applicant would be able to start. Try not to rule out a candidate based on their notice period if it is too long, this could lead to missing out on someone great. Instead, you may need to consider the length of your recruitment process and speed it up where possible to make longer notice periods work with your business’ start date requirements.

What are your salary expectations?

If the candidate is looking for a salary higher than the budget for the role, asking this question can save you from wasting time interviewing a candidate for a role they will never accept.

However, if you see a pattern of multiple candidates’ salary expectations exceeding the budget for the position, this could indicate that your budget is falling below the market rate. If you need assistance determining salaries for vacancies in your business, contact us for advice.

Consider saving this question until the interview stage if you have a flexible budget where you can negotiate the salary.

Do you have any questions for me?

Remember that candidates are evaluating your company as an employer against their own criteria, especially in a candidate-short and job abundant market. Allow them to do so by opening space for questions. By doing this, you can get a better understanding of their motivations and tweak your offering to keep them interested.

Effective interview questions

Asking the right interview questions can save you from a huge headache down the track when you need to consider which candidate to pick for the role. Keep in mind that you should generally ask the same questions to every candidate who applies for the same role. This will make comparing candidates easier when shortlisting.

If you’ve followed our guide up to this point, you’ll know that it’s much easier to come up with the right questions to ask after you’ve defined the role and the person you’re looking for.

Below are common questions you could ask to make sure you’re covering all bases.

What motivated you to apply for this position?

Use this question to understand why the candidate is looking for a new job, and what attracted them to apply. You’ll see if the candidate has a genuine interest in this role or if they’re looking for any old job. A candidate with a genuine interest will most likely be engaged in the role as long as the role turns out as promised.

Name a work accomplishment that makes you proud.

This is arguably a better question than asking, “what are your strengths?” because it requires the candidate to use real examples and can calm their nerves because they’re discussing something they know well.

Dive deeper and ask questions such as, “how was your performance measured?” and “what impact did this make on the business’s goals?”.

Alternatively, you could ask the candidate to tell you about their biggest success story regarding a particular skill if you want to gauge the level of their competency.

What is an area you’ve had to improve or are improving on throughout your career?

Can the interviewee overcome obstacles, or do they simply avoid them?

You’ll find whether the candidate has any self-awareness and if they value personal development. This can indicate that they are open to improving upon their weaknesses.

Candidates who are open to self-improvement are more likely to accept constructive criticism, which is integral to being a part of a high-performing collaborative team.

What were some challenges you’ve had to overcome in previous roles?

You want the candidate to explain the problem and then walk you through their thought process for solving it. Listen out for the types of questions they ask themselves.

The answer you receive will determine whether the candidate has any initiative or needs a bit of handholding.

Can you tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with a colleague or manager and how you handled the situation?

How the candidate frames their answer to this question will show how they accept responsibility and how they think of their colleagues after they’ve had a disagreement. Negativity towards the person they disagreed with can be a red flag.

They should describe how they were able to recognise their own wrongs and how they were able to come together with their colleague or manager to find a solution or common ground and move past it.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

It’s important to get an understanding of the candidate’s goals to see if they align with the role. There are several ways to look at their answer.

1. You could have a candidate who is just looking for a job and isn’t very ambitious or motivated to progress with your business. If you don’t need the person to progress, they might be the right fit, but they might lack the motivation to perform highly in the role.
2. You could find a candidate who is highly motivated and has goals that align with the business’ goals. This candidate will be engaged in the role and could be a great candidate to promote as the business expands.
3. You might have a highly motivated candidate who has goals five years down the track that the company won’t be able to facilitate. Perhaps the role at hand is a great stepping stone for them to get to where they’ll want to be. This person might not stay with your company forever, but they’ll definitely put in the effort.
4. And finally, you might find that the candidate’s goals don’t align with the role at all. In this case, think back to what the candidate said when they mentioned ‘why’ they’ve applied to this role. If you feel the role does not align with both answers, politely explain how; they might have simply misunderstood what the role was about and ask for clarification.

Do you have any questions for me?

Hiring a new employee is the beginning of a mutual relationship. Allow the candidate to determine if this role is right for them. The types of questions they ask will show how interested they are in the role and their motivations. Candidates who accept roles that align with their values and goals will be engaged in the role as long as what they signed up for has been provided.

Use video interviews to your advantage

Video interviews appeal to candidates who value remote work and flexible working arrangements. They also help more candidates, and you as the interviewer, find more time to attend the interview as it eliminates the need for travel. We’ll touch on the cons and how to mitigate them later.

There are two types of video interviews; one-way and the standard video call interview.

One-way video interviews

One-way video interviews work similarly to phone screenings (see ‘Save yourself time with initial phone screenings’) but are run through one-way video interviewing platforms like Sparkhire. You would give the candidate a series of questions, then send the link to the candidate so they can complete it by your assigned due date.

You would typically implement these when you have a high volume of applicants because it allows candidates to film in their own time and allows you to view them all at once rather than speaking to each candidate at random times.

The downside is that you can’t interact with them and ask them to explain their answers further. However, you could do this in the face-to-face interview if you choose to progress them further.

Video call interviews

A bit of admin before the interview will go a long way. Here’s a checklist:

• Check to make sure your video interviewing software is installed properly and works well.
• Do a practice call if you need to check the microphone and camera.
• Ensure you’ve sent the correct link to candidates so they can access the interview.
• Let candidates know what to expect about the video interview and if you’re feeling nice, send them our top tips for filming a one-way interview. Many of these tips will also apply to standard video call interviews.
• Set a professional background or find a suitable place to sit with a professional background.
• Make sure the light is shining front on your face so you don’t look like a silhouette on video.

Conduct the video interview as per normal

The process should not be any different to a normal face-to-face interview. Ask the same questions you usually would and ask those extra questions to dig deeper like you usually would.

The differences in video interviews are that you are looking at each other through screens, you can’t see body language as well as in face-to-face interviews, and there is potential for some technical issues.

Solve video call tech issues

Going through the checklist above will help to prevent some issues, but there are issues you might not be able to avoid. One is that there is often 1-2 seconds of audio lag, so make sure the person has finished talking before you reply. Another is that the internet could drop out on either end. Have your phone charged so you can use your hotspot if something like this happens.

If you’re looking for a specialist to partner with, contact our team today to learn what a tailored recruitment solution would look like for your business.

If you’re looking for hiring advice in 2023, take a look at our hiring guide below.