A very common interview technique for information technology hiring is the phone screen. It makes perfect sense to do phone screens early in the interview and recruiting process. It is better to exclude candidates early if they are not going to be right for your company or department. Phones screens can be tricky. You don’t want to waste time on people you are not going to hire, but you don’t want to mistakenly pass on a great candidate because of a dropped call. Hear are our top tips on how to do better phone screens for information technology jobs.
1. Choose Only 4 to 6 Candidates
You don’t have to interview a bunch of candidates over the phone because it will be time-consuming and counter-productive. Interviewing 4 to 6 candidates is a good mark. However, if you are not getting even these many candidates for interview every day, you might want to consider changing your recruiters.
2. Keep Interviews Short and Effective
Once again, spending a full day interviewing only a handful of candidates is not productive. Keep your interviews short. Keep time on a clock and be sure to wrap up the interview within 20 minutes. If you find a candidate unique and suitable for the job at the same time, you can prolong the interview.
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3. Be Consistent with Your Questions
One of the biggest mistakes many employers make in their interviews is asking different questions from various interviewees. If you are hiring an IT professional for one particular job, why would you ask different questions? It is by asking the same questions that you can find out which candidate is best
qualified to join you.
4. Don’t Prolong Calls Unnecessarily
It is a rule often followed by salespeople who would move on to a new sale rather than spend all their time on a customer who they believe is not going to buy eventually. If you are getting the vibes that the candidate you are interviewing is not a fit for the job, just end the interview. Give the ones who deserve the job more the chance.
5. Don’t Disclose Everything on the First Call
Even if you are phone screening an IT professional, it is best that you leave something for the next interview. Do tell them that another interview will be conducted after initial assessments. Let them know by when they will receive a call from you.
6. Remove the Bias
If you are calling the candidates for a phone screening, it means you are giving them a chance to prove their qualification and suitability for the job. However, if you have already made up your mind that you are going to hire a certain person and not hire some other, it is best not to call the ones you are not going to hire in the first place. Better yet, keep the bias out of it and assess based on their attitude and answers on the phone.
Decide Consulting is a software and IT Staffing firm based in Houston, TX. Founded by veteran software consultants, Decide has developed proprietary methods for finding problem-solving IT personnel. Our Software products focus on the Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) and Healthcare markets.