Hi All,
I’m new into my current role as HR Coordinator and am down to support Hiring Manager with some screening interviews this Friday. Does anyone have some good resources or tips / questions I can ask the candidates? This is something new to me so I feel a little overwhelmed.
What competencies are you trying to identify - use the job description to ascertain these ?
Basically use the funnel technique and have a bunch of preplanned top of funnel open questions which you ask the same of every candidate (then you modify those going down the funnel depending upon answers before summarising each and moving on to next funnel)
Keep notes as you go as after a few interviews (if you are doing a mass screening) your memory will not be good enough to do afterwards.
Having planned and working to a structure you will be less susceptible to horns & halo and more objective but it is a bit worrying you are being expected to do a mass screening tomorrow and have not been taught interview techniques
Hi, welcome to the community and congratulations on the new role! Screening interviews can feel daunting at first but once you have a solid framework they become much more straightforward. A few things that might help: Structure every interview the same way. Use the same core questions for every candidate for the same role — this keeps your process fair, defensible, and makes comparison much easier afterwards. Focus on four key areas at screening stage:
Can they actually do the job? (skills and experience) Will they do the job? (motivation and commitment) Will they fit the team and culture? Are the practicalities right? (salary expectations, start date, location)
Questions worth having in your toolkit:
Tell me about your current/most recent role and your key responsibilities What prompted you to apply for this position? What does a typical working week look like for you right now? What are you looking for in your next role that you don't currently have? What are your salary expectations and notice period?
Practical tips:
Prepare a simple scoring sheet so you can rate each candidate consistently Take brief notes during the call — you won't remember everything afterwards Always leave time for the candidate to ask questions — what they ask tells you a lot
