Pre-selection telephone screening
6 tricks to carry out an excellent pre-selection telephone screening and increase the quality of your first interviews.
- Plan the number of candidates to call, the overall time devoted to the calls and ideally the duration of your telephone conversation, in order to set yourself a realistic goal.
- Leave a suitable message, that is to say, it should feature these three characteristics:
- Concise (one piece of information only)
- Appealing, (information that the candidate wants to hear)
- Mention your contact details and the time you wish your call to be returned.
Example: “Hello Sir, I currently have two Finance Manager posts open on the South Bank, please call Untel on 123 4567 extension 22 tomorrow, Wednesday between 11.00 and 13.00”
- Establish your list of questions in advance based on the characteristics required for the profile you are seeking, ensuring that you ask factual and open questions.
Example: “What is the maximum sum of credit that you have granted one of your clients in the course of the last nine months?” rather than “Have you ever granted a sizeable credit limit?”
- Ask the same questions throughout the process enabling you to select candidates based on the same criteria.
- Find out the reasons why the candidate wants to leave their current job.
- Have the candidates’ CV on hand while you question them.
Enjoy your call….