Phone Screening: How to Evaluate a Potential Candidate

by Karen Alphonse, Vice President, execSearches.com

The telephone offers an employer a cost-effective means to evaluate a candidate. Employers increase the productivity of the initial phone meeting by making sure the details of the call process are confirmed, by learning as much about the candidate as possible prior to the phone meeting, and by orchestrating the questions so as to learn key details about a candidate's work history and management style.

Scheduling & Logistics

It is helpful to confirm time, phone numbers and dial-in procedures for the interview. Do so a day or two before the interview to ensure the potential candidate is still available and that arrangements are on target. It is also useful to have a list of participants and their role at your company ready to share with the potential candidate. You may want to plan on the phone screen conversation lasting between 45 minutes and an hour. You should let the candidate know that this is the expected timeframe. On your end, clear your calendar for 15 minutes prior to and after the call so you have built-in time to focus on your preparations and assessments of the candidate.

Content of the Interview

Phone interviews provide an opportunity to build rapport with the potential candidate, to learn more about the candidate's accomplishments and to share critical information about your company or organization. Preparing and referencing your own checklist or outline is helpful to keep key issues in mind as you work your way through the discussion. Ideally, plan your portion of the interview lasting about ½ hour leaving about 15 minutes for impromptu questions and discussion.

Building Rapport

Often, the easiest way to build rapport with the candidate is to demonstrate that you have taken the time to review his/her resume in preparation for the phone meeting. Along with your aforementioned checklist/outline, it makes sense to have a copy of the candidate's resume in front of you while you conduct the interview. You may also want to do a bit of research on the candidate's organization so you have a few interesting and targeted questions to ask about why the candidate is considering a move.

Pacing the Questions

Another way to put the candidate at ease is to start the phone meeting with questions the candidate will find easy to answer. If, for example, the candidate is an experienced marketing professional, start by asking questions about his/her marketing experiences and perspective. In addition, if you have common interests, or if you share a college or graduate school, talking about those topics can be an effective way to start (moved from above). There are also many general questions to get the discussion rolling. Here are examples of some good, opening questions:

• Have you ever worked with a company like ours before?
• How did you learn about this opportunity?
• Tell me about your current job and what you enjoy most about it?
• Have you ever worked with a company like ours before?
• Which experiences in your past prepare you to take on this particular challenge?
• Why is this role appealing to you at this point in your career?
• When you first graduated from college, did you imagine that you would be looking to take on this role in 2008?

Such questions serve two purposes. First, they set the candidate at ease making it possible for you to interject more difficult and/or problematic subjects later in the interview. As well, they give you background information and a context for evaluating the candidate's responses to trickier questions. You will hear his or her vocabulary, pacing and assumptions. You will recognize enthusiasm and energy in his/her voice. This will help you detect when the candidate has withdrawn, become uncomfortable or is withholding valuable information. It will also help you identify a candidate who is genuinely interested and engaged.

As the interview progresses, you may introduce more challenging questions such as:

• What do you think you will find most difficult about the role as I have explained it?
• How did you address your most uncooperative employee in your last job?
• What do you look for in a new hire?
• Have you ever made a decision you regretted? If so, how would you handle that situation now?
• How would others describe your management style?
• What aspect of your own professional development do you wish you had paid more attention to in the last two years?
• Describe a professional situation that stumped you. How did you handle the fallout?

Addressing "Red Flags"

Once the candidate is relaxed, quickly address any gaps or other red flags you detected in the resume. It does not make sense to wait until the end of an hour-long phone meeting to discover that the candidate just lost his/her job or that the candidate was fired and is several months out of work. At the same time, there are other easily explained-gaps including having taken time out to care for an ailing relative or to raise children. Knowing this information helps you, the interviewer, frame logical, follow-up questions and dismiss any unwarranted concerns early in the interview process.

Listening Carefully to the Candidate's Responses

Focused listening can be difficult. So many variables are at play during a phone meeting. However, if you can listen carefully, you will learn volumes about the candidate's values, thought processes and work attitudes. Often, it is not what the candidate says but how he or she communicates that will give you clues as to how the candidate processes information and frames issues. Tone, inflection and pacing give important information about a candidate's emotions, which can guide you towards making meaningful assessments of how the candidate will fare in a particular leadership role.

Making Notes about the Candidate’s Key Responses

Sometimes, it is helpful to make quick notes about a candidate’s initial responses to key questions. If, for example, you have developed a formal position description, prior to the phone meeting, you may want to jot down a few critical skills and qualifications you want to investigate. When the candidate gives you information related to these core skills, note this. At the end of the call, you will probably have a list of concrete attributes to assess the candidate’s readiness to take on a particular leadership role. This becomes even more important if you are screening multiple candidates. Keeping track of specific responses is one way to make sure your approach to all candidates is similar. At a point where two candidates seem equally qualified, your notes will provide a basis for pursuing one in preference to the other.

Answering the Candidate's Questions

You want to answer candidate's questions honestly and tactfully. If your organization is going through a transition, think through how you are going to present that situation in the best possible light. Before speaking with the candidate on the phone, figure out how to present the history or the position for which you are hiring. Is it a newly created role developed in response to rapid growth? It is a replacement hiring? If a replacement, what were the circumstances surrounding the departure of the previous person in the role? If the circumstances were less than pleasant, think through how to briefly describe the situation without undermining the company. Bear in mind that the telephone conversation gives you an opening to present your organization as a desirable, professional destination. You, the interviewer, are one of the first ambassadors of your company. It makes all the difference in the world how you present difficult or ambiguous situations to the potential candidate. If necessary, collaborate and get support of others in the organization as to how you will present difficult situations. This can save you time and headaches further on in the hiring process.

Explaining the Process

Prior to the phone meeting, put a rough timeline and process overview together. Coordinate with other key stakeholders to make sure you communicate a company-wide consensus about the interview sequence and prospective hiring date. It is a definite plus to go into the phone interview with an idea of when the company expects to make an offer and the procedures you will follow to get to that place. By sharing this information with the interviewee, you are managing that candidate’s expectations. You are also demonstrating respect for the candidate’s time and interest.

On the other hand, if your company has not reached a consensus about process and dates, tactfully share that with the candidate. Your candor will ease that candidate’s anxiety as the process evolves. Again, your honesty will demonstrate you value the candidate’s time investment and interest in exploring your organization.

Pitching Your Company

Sometimes, interviewers forget that the phone meeting is also an opportunity to "sell" their organization to the candidate. As you ask your questions and hear thoughtful responses, be sure to interject key information about why you think the job opportunity is worthwhile and challenging. Great candidates respond favorably to situations that offer the potential to grow professionally. The more you present the opportunity as a growth opportunity, the more enthusiastically the candidate is likely to respond. There is a give-and-take component to the process, and you need to convey your energy and interest in your company as well as gather information from the candidate.

Avoiding Awkward Topics in the Phone Meeting

It is advisable to avoid some topics during the earliest phases of interviewing. These topics include salary and others that might be construed as borderline or even illegal. If you are uncertain about what may be off limits, plan a quick consultation with an attorney specializing in employment law. Knowing what is absolutely off-limits and what is questionable is a tremendous help in the interview process (and beyond). Operating with this knowledge adds of level of confidence to your questions. It also tells the savvy candidate you intentionally framed your questions in ways that demonstrate awareness of the law and ultimate respect for the candidate’s legal rights.

Salary

Most experienced recruiters agree that salary discussions are best deferred until a personal meeting occurs. This is partly out of the knowledge that clients sometimes make offers above the range they suggest at the beginning of a search for the "right candidate." Conventional wisdom also suggests the salary discussion should occur after both parties establish a rapport and there is mutual interest in pursuing an offer.

Other Touchy Topics

In addition to high-risk topics and the legal issues they raise, such as race, religion and sexual orientation, there are a host of others you may want to avoid because of their emotional content. As a pragmatic matter, it is sensible to avoid anything directly related to a candidate's personal life. It is good practice to avoid any topic that might be construed as an effort to open the door to a controversial or private topic. As tempting as it may be during an election year to comment on political events, this is probably an area of questioning to avoid at least during the initial discussion with a candidate. In many cases, a candidate's political persuasion should not detract nor enhance his or her qualifications to take on a leadership role at your organization. Even if there is material on the resume clearly identifying a candidate's political affiliation, steer the discussion toward more neutral topics. When in doubt, rely on concrete discussions about career and job related matters.

If a candidate volunteers information that might otherwise be questionable, take note of it. However, let caution guide any and all discussion related to prohibited or borderline topics. As the interview process moves ahead, you will have ample time to learn more about every aspect of your candidate's life as it relates to professional pursuits.

Keep your initial phone meeting as professional and as focused as possible. This, too, gives your candidate a positive impression of your organization and prompts him/her to see you as businesslike and fair-minded.

by Karen Alphonse, Vice President, execSearches.com