Top Techniques for Pre-Screening Job Candidates: A Guide

Have you ever spent hours reviewing resumes, only to find that many of the applicants are not a good fit for the role? You’re not alone. 

Hiring can be a time-consuming and challenging process, especially when you need to sift through hundreds of applications to find the right candidate. But what if you could filter out unqualified candidates before even scheduling an interview? That’s where pre-screening interviews come in.

Pre-screening interviews are a valuable tool that helps you narrow down your candidate pool quickly, ensuring that you spend your time interviewing only the most qualified individuals. This process can save time, reduce hiring costs, and increase the chances of finding the perfect candidate. 

In this blog, we’ll discuss what pre-screening interviews are, how to conduct one effectively, and share some best practices to help you streamline your hiring process.

Let's first understand what a pre-screening interview is. 

What is a Pre-Screening Interview?

A pre-screening interview is a brief initial interview conducted to assess a candidate's basic qualifications and suitability for a role before moving forward with more in-depth interviews. This interview is typically short, lasting about 10 to 15 minutes, and focuses on confirming that the candidate meets the essential requirements for the job.

Pre-screening interviews are often conducted over the phone or via video call, and they help hiring managers assess whether the candidate has the necessary skills, experience, and interest in the role. It’s an opportunity to quickly eliminate candidates who are not a good fit and focus on those who are.

Now that we know what a pre-screening interview is, let’s explore how you can conduct one effectively. Conducting a pre-screening interview involves preparing targeted questions and setting clear expectations for the candidate. Let’s take a closer look at the steps involved.

How Do I Conduct a Pre-Screening Interview?

Conducting a pre-screening interview is straightforward, but there are a few key steps to follow to ensure its success. Here’s how you can conduct an effective pre-screening interview:

1. Prepare Your Questions: Before the interview, create a list of questions that will help you assess whether the candidate meets the job’s basic requirements. These could include questions about their experience, qualifications, availability, and salary expectations.
2. Set Clear Expectations: Let the candidate know upfront that this is a brief, initial interview and that you will be asking questions to determine if they are a good fit for the role. This helps the candidate prepare mentally and reduces any confusion.
3. Ask Focused Questions: Keep the conversation brief and focused on the key areas that are important for the role. Avoid diving into too many technical details or behavioral questions—this is a time to gauge basic suitability.
4. Listen Actively: Pay close attention to the candidate’s answers and listen for red flags or inconsistencies. Be sure to take notes during the interview so you can compare candidates later.
5. Be Transparent: Let the candidate know what the next steps are in the hiring process. This keeps them informed and sets expectations about when they will hear back.

Once you have a clear understanding of how to conduct a pre-screening interview, it's crucial to keep certain factors in mind. Here are a few important things to consider during the pre-screening process to ensure it is efficient and effective.

Important Things to Consider During the Pre-Screening Process

When conducting a pre-screening interview, there are several important factors to consider to ensure you’re making the right decision.

1. Clarify the Role Requirements: Ensure that you have a clear understanding of the job’s requirements and qualifications before beginning the interview. This will help you evaluate candidates effectively and avoid wasting time with those who don’t meet your criteria.
2. Time Efficiency: Pre-screening interviews should be short and focused. Stick to the most important questions and avoid going into too much detail at this stage. The goal is to assess whether the candidate meets the basic requirements, not to conduct a full interview.
3. Candidate Experience: Keep in mind that the pre-screening interview is the candidate’s first impression of your company. Be professional, respectful, and clear about the process. This helps create a positive candidate experience, even if they don’t move forward.
4. Use Technology: If you’re conducting the pre-screening interview remotely, make use of video or phone calls. This saves time and allows you to reach a broader range of candidates quickly.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into some top techniques you can use to pre-screen job applicants. These techniques will help you streamline your process and identify the best candidates quickly.

Techniques for Pre-Screening Job Applicants

Here are some techniques you can use to effectively pre-screen job applicants and quickly identify top candidates:

1. Use Pre-Screening Questionnaires

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to pre-screen job applicants is by using pre-screening questionnaires. These can be sent to candidates after they apply, allowing you to gather critical information upfront without having to spend time on a full interview. The questionnaire should focus on the most important aspects of the role, such as relevant skills, work experience, and availability.

How It Works:
You can design a questionnaire that includes multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, or even a few situational questions that assess a candidate's problem-solving skills. For example, if you’re hiring for a sales role, you can ask candidates about their experience with sales platforms, sales quotas, or handling customer objections.

Why It’s Effective:
Pre-screening questionnaires save time by giving you a snapshot of the candidate’s qualifications. This technique allows you to eliminate candidates who do not meet your minimum requirements and proceed with those who are more aligned with the role. Additionally, the responses to these questionnaires can serve as a useful reference for the interview.

2. Conduct Brief Phone or Video Interviews

Phone or video interviews are another great way to pre-screen job applicants. These interviews are typically short, lasting between 10 and 20 minutes, and they allow you to assess a candidate's communication skills, enthusiasm, and whether their experience aligns with your needs.

How It Works:
Schedule a short call with the candidate, where you can ask them basic, but important questions. Focus on confirming key details from their resume, such as their work experience, skills, and availability. Ask about their motivation for applying and whether they have a genuine interest in the role. During this call, you can also assess whether their expectations around compensation, work schedule, and location align with your company’s offer.

Why It’s Effective:
A phone or video interview provides valuable face-to-face or voice-to-voice interaction that can give you insights into the candidate’s personality and communication style. This technique helps you assess whether the candidate will be a good fit for the team and the role before committing to a more in-depth interview. Plus, it’s a quicker and more efficient way to screen candidates compared to scheduling in-person meetings.

3. Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is software that automates the hiring process by scanning resumes, applications, and other documents to identify the most qualified candidates. It uses keywords, experience, education, and other relevant criteria to rank applicants based on how well they match the job description.

How It Works:
When candidates submit their resumes or applications, the ATS automatically scans the documents for keywords relevant to the role. For instance, if you are hiring for a marketing role, the ATS will prioritize candidates who have experience with specific marketing tools, digital strategies, and required certifications. Based on these scans, candidates are ranked, and you can easily identify those who are most likely to meet the requirements of the position.

Why It’s Effective:
ATS significantly reduces the time spent manually reviewing resumes, especially when you have a high volume of applications. It streamlines the process by automatically filtering out candidates who don’t meet the minimum qualifications. This allows you to focus on the applicants who are most likely to be a good fit for the role, speeding up your hiring process.

4. Use Pre-Employment Skills Tests or Assessments

Skills tests and assessments are an excellent way to pre-screen applicants for technical roles, or any position that requires specific expertise. These tests assess whether a candidate possesses the necessary skills to succeed in the role, providing a more objective measure of their qualifications.

How It Works:
Depending on the position, you can design skills assessments that evaluate a range of abilities. For example, for a software development position, you can give a coding challenge or ask for examples of past projects. For a customer service role, you could provide hypothetical scenarios to assess how the candidate would respond to specific customer issues.

Why It’s Effective:
Pre-employment skills tests allow you to assess a candidate’s abilities directly, helping you determine if they have the technical skills required for the job. This technique is particularly useful for roles where specific knowledge and abilities are critical to job performance. It also gives you an objective measure of their abilities, which can be a great way to eliminate subjectivity from the hiring process.

5. Check References Early

One often-overlooked technique for pre-screening job applicants is checking references early in the process. Instead of waiting until after interviews, consider reaching out to candidates' references after their initial phone or video interview. This will give you additional insights into their work history and can help you assess whether they’re truly a good fit.

How It Works:
Once you’ve conducted a pre-screening interview and the candidate seems promising, reach out to their listed references and ask specific questions about their job performance, work ethic, and past accomplishments. You can also ask about any areas of concern that you should be aware of.

Why It’s Effective:
Reference checks early on in the process can help confirm the details on the candidate’s resume and verify their qualifications. It also helps you identify any potential issues or concerns before you move forward in the hiring process. It can save time by eliminating candidates who may have been misleading or misrepresenting their experience.

6. Evaluate Cultural Fit with Screening Questions

Cultural fit is just as important as skills and qualifications when hiring a candidate. Pre-screening questions that assess a candidate's values, work style, and personality traits can help determine whether they’ll thrive in your company’s environment.

How It Works:
Incorporate questions into your pre-screening process that explore the candidate’s approach to teamwork, problem-solving, work-life balance, and communication. For example, you can ask them how they handle conflict at work, their preferred work environment, or how they approach collaboration with colleagues.

Why It’s Effective:
Hiring candidates who align with your company culture can improve employee engagement, retention, and overall team dynamics. Cultural fit questions help you avoid hiring candidates who may struggle to adapt to your company’s work style or values, reducing the risk of turnover down the line.

7. Utilizing TidyHire for Preliminary Screening

TidyHire can enhance the preliminary screening process. TidyHire offers features such as automated resume parsing, customizable screening questionnaires, and candidate ranking systems, which streamline the evaluation process and help identify top talent efficiently. By leveraging TidyHire, recruiters can reduce manual workload and focus on engaging with the most promising candidates.

TidyHire offers a suite of features designed to streamline candidate evaluation and improve recruitment efficiency:

Automated Resume Parsing

TidyHire's advanced resume parsing technology swiftly extracts and organizes key candidate information, such as contact details, education, work experience, and skills. This automation reduces manual data entry, allowing recruiters to focus on higher-value tasks.

Customizable Screening Questionnaires

The platform enables the creation of tailored screening questionnaires aligned with specific job requirements. These questionnaires assess candidates' qualifications and suitability, providing a standardized method to evaluate applicants efficiently.

Candidate Ranking System

TidyHire's candidate ranking system evaluates applicants based on predefined criteria, presenting a prioritized list of top candidates. This feature aids recruiters in focusing their efforts on the most promising individuals, enhancing decision-making in the early stages of recruitment.

AI-Powered Candidate Sourcing

TidyHire's Recruiting Intelligence Agent (RIA) accesses over 700 million professional profiles to identify potential candidates. This expansive sourcing capability ensures a comprehensive search for top talent

By integrating these pre-screening techniques into the hiring process, employers can enhance their ability to identify candidates who not only possess the necessary skills and experience but also align well with the organization's culture and values.

To ensure you get the best results from your pre-screening interviews, it’s important to follow best practices. Here are some key practices to keep in mind as you move forward with your recruitment process.

Best Practices for Pre-Screening Interviews

To get the most out of your pre-screening interviews, here are some best practices to follow:

1. Keep It Short: Pre-screening interviews should be brief—aim for 10 to 15 minutes. This ensures that you don’t waste time on candidates who aren’t a good fit and helps you stay efficient.
2. Be Consistent: Ask the same set of questions to each candidate to ensure fairness. This makes it easier to compare candidates and evaluate their responses.
3. Ask Focused Questions: Stick to the essentials during the pre-screening interview. Focus on the candidate’s experience, skills, and availability to quickly assess whether they meet your requirements.
4. Listen Carefully: Pay attention to both the content of the candidate’s answers and how they respond. Look for clarity, confidence, and enthusiasm—these are all signs that the candidate is a good fit.
5. Be Transparent: Set clear expectations about the next steps in the hiring process. Let candidates know when they can expect to hear back and what will happen next if they move forward.

Conclusion

Pre-screening interviews are a valuable tool for hiring managers who want to streamline their recruitment process and save time. By asking the right questions and following best practices, you can quickly identify the most qualified candidates and ensure you’re hiring the best talent for your team.

At TidyHire, we make the hiring process easier by providing tools to help you manage pre-screening interviews and candidate assessments efficiently. Our platform helps you streamline recruitment, automate parts of the process, and focus on the candidates who truly meet your needs.

Want to make your hiring process more efficient? Book a call with us today to learn how TidyHire can help you pre-screen job applicants and find the best candidates for your team.