Posts filed under 'phone screen'
I had a lovely email conversation with someone who wanted to hire a firm to perform phone screens. That just makes no sense to me. Here’s what happens when a hiring manager performs the phone screens:
- When a hiring manager creates a phone screen script, the manager refines the essentials of the job.
- Based on the conversation with candidates, the hiring manager refines the job analysis and job description, realizing what is essential as technical and non-technical skills.
- The hiring manager can take the conversation in a variety of places, learning more about the candidate. The hiring manager can learn a lot about the candidate, in a very collegial way.
- The hiring manager starts building rapport, which if you end up hiring the candidate, is important.
It’s ok if the hiring manager asks a technical lead to handle the phone screens. If the hiring manager works closely with HR and trains someone in HR, maybe that person can help with phone screens (I’ve never seen this work).
But if you really want a technical phone screen, you don’t outsource it. You do it yourself.
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September 17th, 2008
In his comment, Justice points to the other side of when to ask salary questions. Too early, and you have the problem outlined in When to Ask About Salary. Too late, and you have Justice’s problem.
The way you manage the salary question–which is admittedly the start of the salary negotiation–is in the phone screen. You have a chance to build rapport and to see if this person is worth pursuing. You haven’t led this person on, thinking there’s a potential offer when you finally realize the candidate and salary don’t match. And you’re not asking the question out of the blue, when the candidate doesn’t know you, and has no rapport with you.
That’s why I like the hiring manager to conduct all the phone screens. If you have an HR phone screen or a technical person phone screen, don’t ask the salary question until the hiring manager talks to the candidate.
Treat your candidates with respect, and they are then advocates for you and your organization. Asking about salary early–but in the phone screen–is one excellent way to build respect.
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September 5th, 2007
I’m doing a webinar Thursday, May 17 for Kennedy. See Using Behavior Description Questions in Phone Screens. I am expecting to take questions and help people convert their essential technical skill, non-technical skill, and elimination questions into behavior-description questions. I hope you decide to join me.
Labels: phone screen, webinar
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May 16th, 2007
I was surprised by the comments I received on my Stickyminds article last week. Then I read Brian Marick’s insightful Tester who can script and I may have the words to describe my surprise and concerns.
I was surprised by the people who commented that they were looking primarily for personality fit and cultural fit. I don’t see how to hear enough answers on a phone screen to really judge personality or cultural fit, unless the answers are so far out of bounds that it’s easy to to tell. I’m not clairvoyant, and I bet there are people who can fake personality and cultural fit on a phone screen. I’ve certainly run into people who talk a good line on the phone screen and look like different people in the job interview.I was concerned by technical managers not looking for technical things in a phone screen. ‘Cause it’s easy to probe for technical skills in a phone screen. Brian’s article gave me some insights as to why. His point #2:
I would think less of a tester who was unwilling to learn those things(testers learning a little programming). What’s interesting to me is that everyone I consider a reasonable tester would agree with me. Programming sticks out (to me) as somehow being treated specially: it’s a burden many testers think they should be exempt from.
So here are the lessons I learned from this column:
- Some managers are not putting enough emphasis on a tester’s ability to perform technical work such as programming.
- Maybe because of this, or just because of personal preferences, they don’t screen for the ability to perform technical work.
- This causes a homogeneous group, certainly a candidate for a second-class testing group.
While it might be tempting to learn more about a person’s fit with the group, use a technical phone screen to screen for technical abilities. (Don’t forget the dirt-bag phone screen, but that’s not a substitute for a technical phone screen.) There is no point interviewing someone in person who doesn’t have the technical skills to perform the job — no matter how nice a person the candidate is. That’s why asking technical questions in a phone screen helps you create a diverse, capable group of people.
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January 24th, 2005
Smart hiring managers know to use a phone screen to screen in appropriate candidates and screen out unsuitable candidates. And they know that before you start the phone screen, you verify this is still a good time to call.
But what if you call the candidate and he or she answers the phone? Can you just start the screen? Nope. This is probably the first time the candidate has heard about your interest, and most people are not ready to talk. If you are phone screening a big-time extrovert (like me 
it could be fine. But many technical people are not flaming extroverts, and need to think about their answers a bit before answering. Some candidates want to research your company, now that they know you’re interested. Even more importantly, you send a specific message when you schedule a phone screen: that you respect the other person’s time and you want to make sure the candidate is ready to talk.
As a hiring manager, you are in the position of power in the interview. You can use that power, or abuse it. When you tell a candidate, “Let’s talk now,” you’re telling the candidate his or her time is not valuable compared to yours. From your perspective, you may be right. But from the candidate’s perspective, you’re wrong. If you treat your employees with respect, why not treat your candidates with respect too? Remember, candidates will think that the way you treat them is the way you treat your employees.
If you really don’t have much time, you can say, “I’m on a short leash, and I can phone screen you now or in two days at such-and-such a time. What works best for you?” When you explain why you want to phone screen immediately without scheduling, you’ve involved the candidate in the problem-solving, and are acting with respect.
It’s possible to schedule phone screens right away — but ask. It’s better for both you and the candidate to schedule slightly farther out in the day, so that both of you are relaxed and prepared.
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February 23rd, 2004
Back in March, I posted an entry for hiring managers on how to develop a phone screen for candidates. Here’s a tip for candidates on how to prepare for a phone screen. (Hiring managers, most of this applies to you too
- Make sure you suggest a few alternative times for a phone screen. Not all hiring managers can call you at 7:10pm on Wednesday.
- When the hiring manager calls, make sure you can find some privacy and a comfortable place to sit and talk. Stop doing the dishes, watching TV, yelling at the kids, whatever. If you can’t create a private quiet space, consider asking to reschedule the phone screen. I once tried to call someone who was attempting bathe a small child. I happily called back in an hour.
- Use a headset if you have one, when you speak on the phone. If you’re like many of us, you use your hands to gesture as you talk. Or, you might want to take notes. A headset frees up your hands, so you’ll sound normal (and animated).
- Hopefully, the hiring manager will ask the elimination questions first, and then will start with the behavior-description questions. This is your chance to shine with your stories. (Remember the Practice Before Interviewing post)
- If the hiring manager asks about money early in the phone screen, decide if you want to postpone the discussion. If you don’t want to talk about money early, say something like this: “I’d really like to learn more about my fit for the job before we talk about money, ok? I’m flexible on salary.” But at the end of the phone screen, when the hiring manager asks about money, be honest about your salary (and whatever else you received as compensation.)
If you’ve thought about the value you provide to the organization, you have some stories, and a comfortable place to talk, your phone screens should be a breeze.
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December 30th, 2003
So you’ve developed a phone screen of 10-12 questions, with your elimination factor questions at the top. You’ve hit a snag with a candidate and you’re sure the candidate will not fit your position. What do you do?
Stop the phone screen. Right now. Say, “You’re not a good fit for this position. Thank you for your time.”
If you’re at the beginning of the phone screen, you’ve only spent 5 minutes, and you’re ready for the next phone screen. If you’re in the middle of the phone screen and you know someone who would want this candidate, you can offer to forward the resume or offer the hiring contact to the candidate. If you’re at the end of the phone screen and everything seems perfect with the exception of salary expectations, say that. If you have salary leeway, you may also want to add, “If we can work out the salary issues, we’ll call you for an interview.”
When you stop the phone screen when you recognize you can’t go forward with a candidate, you’re saying to the candidate: I respect your time and my time. I won’t waste it for either of us.
I’ve met some hiring managers who didn’t want to make people feel bad, so they continued with the entire phone screen. What a waste — for everyone. If you don’t want to make the candidate feel badly, then practice saying something like “You’re not a good fit for this position,” or whatever it is you want to say. The more you practice, the more likely you can say it when you need to stop the screen.
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November 21st, 2003
At the last Software Management conference, one senior manager said that he always did a “dirt-bag” phone screen. He asked his administrative assistant to call the candidate with a bunch of reasonable questions and make sure the candidate treated her nicely. She asked questions such as basic skill questions, when the candidate was available for an interview, things she could evaluate. He figured that since the employees all had to work with his admin, he wasn’t going to hire anyone who treated the admin like dirt.
That idea has spread Take a look at HR Interviews Can Be Senior Execs’ Waterloo (Thank you to Boston Works Job Blog for the pointer).
In my experience, the higher up the management chain you travel, the less you can act like someone who doesn’t care about the way other people experience them. Not if you want to actually accomplish anything in your job. Having a non-peer perform an initial phone screen can be helpful, if you want to ensure a collegial atmosphere.
Maybe this will help the execs realize that HR is a crucial function in the organization and that staffing it with benefits people just isn’t enough. Well, maybe not .
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October 8th, 2003
I’ve long been a fan of phone screens, to make sure I only invite candidates for an in-person interview who are a reasonable fit for the job. Now that online services and some recruiters make candidates list every technical tool they’ve ever seen on their resume, it’s hard to tell who’s actually qualified for the job based on the resume. And, since you probably receive 50 resumes (or more) for every open position, phone screens may take too long.
Chris Sepulveda has a solution for this time dilemma: He performs email phone screens. He takes his list of 5 or 6 questions, and emails them to the candidates. He can easily reduce the 50 or 60 resumes to a much smaller group (10-20) to consider phone-screening.
Remember, the initial screen is to eliminate people who are not at all appropriate, so limit your email screen to a handful of questions, focusing on elimination factors and relevant experience. Don’t ask about salary or any kind of benefits in your first contact with a candidate. Once you’ve established contact and decided to phone-screen, then you can ask more questions.
I still recommend phone screens, even if you perform an email screen, because I want to get a feel for the person by phone, not just in writing. (When the economy is good, and it’s a candidate’s market, don’t email-screen first. Just phone screen.)
Chris has been using email screens as an initial screening technique for 4 years and has hired 20 people with this technique. He doesn’t have to consider the people who don’t respond. And the people who do respond provide enough information for him to choose what to do next. So far, only one person has given him feedback that the initial screen wasn’t appropriate:
“[...] by the time I finish answering all these questions I will find a job. You have not mentioned anything about the position and you already ask me so much. When you have a more fair process for recruiting, let me know.”
Hmm. I learned that this candidate was very quick to judge something that he didn’t understand the value of. It’s ok that he didn’t reply positively; I wouldn’t want to manage him. Even in this case, the initial screen worked quite successfully.Use email or phone or some combination of techniques as an initial screen on candidates. Don’t fall into the trap of screening so much that you never get to the interview. But use these screens as a sanity check on the resume.
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August 21st, 2003
If you’re a hiring manager, you’re probably faced with a gazillion resumes. You’ve taken the first step and screened the resumes (more on that in a future tip). Now you’re thinking about bringing candidates in for an interview.Stop. Don’t just bring people in for an interview. Phone screen candidates first. Ask questions to verify the candidate is appropriate for you:
- Check on elimination factors: Does the candidate have the minimum technical skills, and ability to perform the job?
- Check on relevant experience: Does the candidate have experience that means something to you in this job now? Or, can the candidate adapt their experience to your job?
- Check on salary and ability to start: Is the candidate appropriate for your salary and available to start?
Don’t let your HR staff phone-screen for you. Unless they understand the technical issues of your job, they can’t ask the most appropriate questions.When I phone screen, I make 3 piles: Yes, No, Maybe. I invite the Yes people in for an interview. I reject the No people (nicely, of course). I tell the Maybe people I’m phone screening other people, and I may invite them in for an interview.Phone screening takes some of your time, but frees up your technical staff to continue their work. Use phone screens to protect your staff’s work time and to verify the candidate is appropriate.
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March 5th, 2003