Screening Interview Questions to Ask
Screening interview questions to ask a candidate, written for whoever runs the first call: a recruiter, an HR partner or a manager screening future employees for an interview with the wider team. The 53 questions follow the order a screen usually runs in: opening and motivation, background, depth checks short enough for a half-hour call, fit with the team and the manager, pay and logistics, then the close. Some have brackets to fill in with your own must-have, salary range, working pattern or next stage before you dial. The guide covers how to choose a dozen for one call, the few questions to ask before scheduling an interview at all, how to keep candidates comparable and what to leave out. This is the interviewer's side. If you are the candidate and want questions to ask in a screening interview yourself, you need a different list.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Opening
Tell me what you're doing now and why you're looking.
Why ask it
This is 'tell me about yourself' cut down to the two things a screen needs. The current job gives you context, and the reason for looking tells you what the next employer has to get right. If the reason is still vague after one gentle follow-up, note it and leave it for the hiring manager.
Walk me through the part of your background that's closest to this role.
Why ask it
A full tour of the CV can use up half the call. Asking for the closest part makes the candidate choose, and the choice shows what they think the job is. If they start at their first job anyway, steer once: ask them to go straight to the role most like this one.
What made you apply to this job in particular?
Why ask it
The test is whether anything in the answer could not have been said to ten other employers. Someone who cannot name one specific thing has probably applied widely, which is no crime but means the persuading is still yours to do. If you approached them first, ask what made them take the call.
What do you know about the company so far?
Why ask it
You are checking effort here, and ten minutes on the website is plenty at this stage. A candidate who has the business wrong needs correcting now, before they spend a second interview picturing a different employer. If a recruiter approached them first, lower the bar and give the summary yourself.
From the job description, what do you think we actually need?
Why ask it
More useful than asking whether they read it, because it shows what they believe the job is. Candidates quite often describe something more senior or more hands-off than the role you are filling, and the first call is the cheapest place to find that out.
How did you come across this opening?
Why ask it
Write the answer down, because it decides practical things: a referral means someone inside can speak for them, and an agency introduction may come with a fee and terms about who contacts the candidate. People who were sent the advert by a friend at the company often forget to mention it unless asked.
Have you applied here or worked for us before?
Why ask it
It saves an awkward discovery later: an earlier application sitting in the system, a previous interview with the same manager, a past contract through an agency. None of it counts against anyone, but a returning employee may need a different route through HR, so find out how rehires are handled at your company.
Background
What work from the last year are you proudest of, and what was your part in it?
Why ask it
The one-year limit rules out a career-defining story from a decade ago. The second half is where to listen carefully: watch for the slide from I to we arriving exactly where the specifics should be.
Looking at the responsibilities, which parts have you done before and which would be new?
Why ask it
Splitting the list into known and new produces an honest inventory, because you have made admitting a gap the expected answer. Anyone who claims all of it is familiar has either done the job or has not read it closely.
The one thing this role can't do without is [must-have experience]. Where have you done that, and for how long?
Why ask it
Get the must-have from the hiring manager, and make it one thing, not five. Years are a rough guide, so follow up on what they did in that time: three years of doing it weekly counts for more than six of being near it. If the experience is adjacent, write down exactly what it was and let the manager make the call.
This role needs [licence, certificate or clearance]. Do you hold it, and is it in date?
Why ask it
Ask it as a closed question and write down the exact answer, including the issuing body and the expiry. 'I'm working towards it' is a no for now, so ask when the exam or renewal falls and let the hiring manager decide whether that date works.
How big was the team, and who did you report to?
Why ask it
Team size and reporting line put every earlier claim in scale. Running three people at a ten-person company and running three at a large one are different jobs, and this is the cheapest way to learn which one they did.
Have you managed people directly? How many, and for how long?
Why ask it
Only for roles with a team to run. 'Managed' covers everything from mentoring a graduate to hiring, reviewing and setting pay for ten people, so ask which of those they did themselves. Leading a project team with no formal reports still counts for something, as long as your notes call it that.
What would stop getting done if you left your current job tomorrow?
Why ask it
A quick way to find what the person owns as opposed to what they attend. Strong answers are specific and slightly worried: a month-end close, a client who only rings them, a system nobody else can restart. 'They'd manage' can be modesty, so ask what the handover note would say.
What were your reasons for leaving your last two jobs?
Why ask it
One move explains itself. Two in a row show a pattern, whether that is following a manager, chasing pay, or going each time the work turned routine. None of those rules a person out, but the hiring manager should hear which one it is.
There's a gap between [job] and [job] on your CV. What were you doing then?
Why ask it
Name the dates and ask in the same tone you used for everything else. Most gaps are redundancy, study, travel or looking after someone, and a one-line answer is enough: if it was health or family, note that it was explained and move on without asking for more.
Depth checks
What did a normal week look like in that job?
Why ask it
A normal week is much harder to dress up than a highlight, and it shows where the hours actually went. If a duty from the CV never appears in the week, ask where it fitted. Sometimes it was a one-off project that the CV presents as routine.
Which tools did you use daily, and which did you set up or administer yourself?
Why ask it
The distinction between using something and owning it separates real depth from a line on a CV. It works for almost any stack or system and is one of the few technical checks that fits inside a screening call.
What's one number that shows how your last year went?
Why ask it
People who were measured know their figure without looking it up: deals closed, tickets cleared, budget held, error rate. If the job had no numbers, ask how their manager could tell a good month from a poor one, which gets you the same information in words.
Explain [a core task or term from the job] to me as if I were new to the field.
Why ask it
Useful when the screener is not a specialist. Get one topic from the hiring manager beforehand, with two or three things a sound answer should mention, then listen for whether the explanation is clear and in the candidate's own words. Jargon recited at speed usually means the understanding is borrowed.
Which of your skills would we get the most out of, and where did you last put it to work?
Why ask it
The familiar strengths question with a date attached. A strength last exercised four jobs ago is a memory, and one that appears nowhere in the job description tells you the candidate is selling a different role from the one on offer.
Tell me about a piece of work that went badly, and what you did in the days after.
Why ask it
The value is entirely in the second half. Four minutes on whose fault it was and thirty seconds on the repair is a fair preview of how this person might behave during your next bad week.
When did you last disagree with your manager, and how did it go?
Why ask it
Disagreement is ordinary, so 'never' needs a follow-up: ask about a decision they would have made differently. Listen for whether they took it to the manager or only to colleagues, and whether they can put the manager's side fairly.
If I asked your last manager what you were best at and what you still needed, what would I hear?
Why ask it
Putting the weakness in a manager's mouth gets a straighter answer than asking for one directly, because the candidate knows a reference could confirm it. Keep the reply in your notes word for word: it is the first thing to compare when references come back.
Fit
What do you want from the next two years that your current job can't give you?
Why ask it
Two years is close enough to be concrete and far enough to show direction. If nothing they name exists in your role, say so on the call: that is better for both sides than an offer they turn down, or accept and regret.
Describe the best manager you've had. What did they do that worked for you?
Why ask it
The description is a specification. Someone who thrived on weekly check-ins and clear priorities will struggle under a manager who appears once a month, and you know which kind is hiring. Pass the answer on unedited instead of deciding the match yourself.
What sort of workplace have you done your best work in?
Why ask it
Listen for size, noise and structure more than for adjectives. A person whose best years were in a team of six with no process may find a regulated company of thousands slow, and the reverse move can feel like chaos. If your setup is the opposite of the one they describe, say so and see how they react.
How much of your week do you spend working alone, and how much with other people? Which would you like more of?
Why ask it
The usual 'alone or in a team' gets 'both' from everybody. The current split is a fact, and the second half tells you which way they want to move. Set it against the real job: someone hoping for more company may struggle in a role that is seven hours a day alone with a queue.
The work here is [steady, deadline-driven or full of interruptions]. When have you worked at that pace before?
Why ask it
Describe the rhythm first, then ask for a past example instead of a preference. Nearly everyone says they like a fast pace when asked in general terms. A named job, a season and what it did to their week is evidence.
What kind of work makes a day go quickly for you, and what makes one drag?
Why ask it
This is 'what motivates you' asked so that the answer has to be a task: fixing something broken, a full diary of customers, a quiet afternoon with a spreadsheet. Compare both halves with the role's actual week. If the thing that drags is most of the job, tell them so now.
Which part of this job do you expect to like least?
Why ask it
Every role has a dull or difficult stretch, and a candidate who has thought about the job can usually guess it: the reporting, the cold calls, the late shift. If they name the part that fills half the week, better to talk about it now than in month three. 'Nothing' means they have not pictured the job yet.
Pay and logistics
What are you looking for on salary?
Why ask it
Ask on the first call. If the number sits well outside the band, everything after it wastes two diaries, and most candidates would much rather hear that now than after four rounds. Ask what they are hoping for and leave current pay out of it unless HR has confirmed you may ask about it where you hire.
Our range for this role is [range]. Does that work for you?
Why ask it
Naming the band first is quicker and fairer than making the candidate guess, and some places require employers to disclose it, so check the rule where you hire. A plain yes is all you need. A pause followed by 'depending on the package' often means the top of your range is their floor, and the hiring manager should hear that.
Apart from base pay, what in a package matters most to you?
Why ask it
For some people the answer is pension or health cover, for others a four-day week or Fridays at home. Knowing it now lets you say early that the thing they care about does not exist here, and it tells whoever builds the offer where a small change would count.
What's your notice period, and when could you realistically start?
Why ask it
Notice, booked holidays and visa timelines all surface here. Screening exists partly to catch a start date that cannot work before a team builds a plan around someone who cannot arrive until autumn.
This role is [days in office, hours, any on-call]. How does that sit with you?
Why ask it
State the pattern out loud instead of asking in the abstract, because agreement with a schedule you never described is worthless. If they hesitate, ask which part is the difficulty. It is often one detail, such as a fixed day or the on-call week, that the hiring manager may be able to move.
The job involves [how much travel, how far, any nights away]. Is that workable for you?
Why ask it
Give the real figure, including nights away and how much warning people usually get. 'Some travel' means one conference a year to one person and every other week to another. Ask about the travel and nothing about who is at home; if they have had a travelling job before, ask how often they were away.
Where are you based, and would this job mean a long commute or a move?
Why ask it
Ask about the journey, not the home life. A ninety-minute commute sounds manageable on a call and feels different in the first winter, so ask whether they have done one that long before. If relocation is involved, find out what has to happen first and who pays, since employers differ on that.
Are you legally able to work in [country], and would you need sponsorship now or in the future?
Why ask it
Put it to every candidate in the same words, whatever their name or accent, and record only the answer. What you may ask and what the employer must verify differ by country, so get the exact wording from HR and do not improvise follow-ups about where someone is from.
This is a [permanent, fixed-term or part-time] post. Is that what you're looking for?
Why ask it
Adverts get skimmed, and people do apply for a six-month contract believing it is permanent. Saying the terms aloud takes ten seconds. If they hoped for something else, ask whether they would still take it, and write the answer down exactly as given.
Is there a non-compete or any other agreement with your employer that could affect when or where you start?
Why ask it
You are not judging whether the clause would hold, which depends on its wording and on local law. You are finding out that it exists so the right person can read it before an offer goes out. Candidates often remember these only when prompted.
An offer here depends on [references, a background check, proof of qualifications]. Is that all right with you?
Why ask it
Tell them what will be checked and at what stage, then stop. Do not ask what a check might turn up: what an employer may look into, and when, is set by local law and your own policy, so take the wording from HR. A candidate who wants to explain something will usually do it once they know the check is coming.
Closing
Are you talking to other companies, and how far along are those conversations?
Why ask it
This sets your timeline more reliably than any internal deadline. Someone at final stage elsewhere means your process either compresses or loses, and that is a decision to make today, not next month. You need the stage and any deadline, not the names of the companies.
Is there anything in the role as described that gives you pause?
Why ask it
Inviting the objection is how you find the doubt that would otherwise show up as a quiet withdrawal. Concerns about scope, pay or reporting line are all easier to address now than after an offer letter.
What would make you turn down an offer from us?
Why ask it
This asks for deal-breakers, which are easier to say out loud than wishes: refusing something feels less presumptuous than asking for it. Expect a short list, such as a minimum salary, a location or a reporting line. Check each item against the role before the call ends.
Now that you've heard more, how interested are you out of ten?
Why ask it
The number matters less than the follow-up: ask what would make it one point higher. A seven that wants to meet the manager is a healthy answer after one call. A ten delivered before you have described the job is politeness, so ask it late.
If I could tell the hiring manager only two things about you, what should they be?
Why ask it
A screen-sized version of 'why should we hire you', and a kinder one, because the candidate is briefing you instead of pleading a case. Put their two points in your write-up in their own words. If neither appears anywhere in the job description, they may be picturing a different job.
What questions do you have about the role or the team?
Why ask it
Note what they ask about, because it shows which part of the job they are still unsure of: the work, the manager, the hours. Answer what you can and say who will answer the rest. Having no questions on a first call is not a mark against anyone, since plenty of people save theirs for the hiring manager.
The next stage is [format, length, who they meet]. Is there anything about the timing or setup we should change for you?
Why ask it
This is the neutral way to learn about an access need, a time zone, a religious observance or a shift pattern without asking about any of them. Describe the stage in full first. Nobody can tell you that a two-hour panel in a third-floor room is a problem if they do not know that is the plan.
If we go ahead, are there dates in the next few weeks when you can't interview?
Why ask it
A booked holiday or a week of night shifts is easy to plan around today and a nuisance to discover by email. People who are still employed may only be free early or late, and offering those slots without being asked keeps good candidates in the process.
What's the best way to reach you, and when is it all right to call?
Why ask it
Plenty of candidates take this call from a car park or a stairwell because their employer does not know they are looking. A personal email address and a safe hour spare them a voicemail played aloud at their desk, and they make your scheduling quicker too.
Here is what I plan to pass on to the hiring manager. Have I got anything wrong?
Why ask it
Read back the facts only: current role, notice, salary figure, the working pattern they agreed to, anything flagged. It catches the misheard number before it reaches the manager, and candidates tend to trust a process more when they have heard what is being said about them.
Is there anything I haven't asked that I should have?
Why ask it
Costs fifteen seconds and regularly surfaces the thing that actually mattered: a holiday already booked, a competing offer, a job title that needs explaining. People will often volunteer at the end of a call what they would not raise at the start.
Running a Screening Call in Half an Hour
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to Spend the Thirty Minutes
Choose about a dozen before you dial
Nobody gets through this whole list in a half-hour screen. Take two or three from the opening group, the background and depth questions that match the role's must-haves, one or two on fit, every logistics question that could end the process, and two from the close. The rest are there for the role or the candidate that needs them.
What to ask before scheduling an interview
When there is no time for a full screen, or the first contact is an email or an application form, six questions settle whether a longer interview is worth booking: the must-have experience, the licence or clearance, the salary range, the working pattern, the right to work and the start date. All six have an answer the hiring manager agreed in advance would end the process, which is what makes them fair to put in ten minutes. The rest of the list needs a conversation, so save it for the people who clear those six.
Fill in the brackets first
Some questions leave a gap for your must-have, salary range, working pattern, contract type or next stage. Get those facts from the hiring manager before the first call and say them the same way to every candidate. A question about a schedule you cannot describe gets an answer you cannot use.
Two minutes of framing
Say who you are, how long the call will take, what happens after it, and when they will hear. Candidates who know the shape of the call stop guessing at what you want and start answering.
Ten minutes on background, eight on depth
The opening and background questions establish scale and relevance. The depth probes about a normal week, tools owned and something that went badly are where you learn whether the CV is accurate. Protect that second block, because it is the part that gets cut when a call runs long.
Five minutes on logistics, and never less
Salary, notice, working pattern and other processes. Skipping these to be polite is a common way for a hiring process to fall apart at offer stage, when the number or the start date finally gets said aloud.
Five minutes for their questions
Leave a real gap rather than a token one. A screening call is also their screen of you, and someone who never gets to ask anything often withdraws quietly afterwards.
Making Candidates Comparable
- Agree with the hiring manager beforehand which answers end the process: a missing licence, a start date past a fixed deadline, a salary figure beyond the top of the band. A rule set before the calls gets applied evenly, and one made up afterwards tends to fit the candidate you liked least.
- Ask the core questions in the same order for every candidate. Once the order drifts, you are comparing conversations rather than answers.
- Write down numbers and dates verbatim during the call: team size, notice period, salary expectation. A decision gets defended with these facts, and they are the first things to blur after four calls in a day.
- Score after the call, not during it. A rating fixed in the first two minutes tends to colour how you hear everything that follows.
- Give every candidate the same depth probes, not just the ones you already like. Extra follow-up for favourites is how a shortlist ends up reflecting rapport instead of evidence.
- Record what you would need to check at the next stage instead of trying to resolve it now. The screen decides who gets a longer interview, and the longer interview decides the rest.
Questions to Keep Out of the Call
Anything about family, health or age
Children, pregnancy, caring arrangements, medical history and age are not screening topics, however friendly the conversation feels. If you need to know whether someone can meet the schedule, describe the schedule and ask about that.
Salary history where it is restricted
Some places limit or ban asking what someone currently earns, and the rules differ from one to the next. Asking what they are hoping for and stating your band gets you the number you actually need. Check with HR before asking about current pay at all.
Nationality instead of right to work
What the job depends on is whether the person may work in the location and whether they would need sponsorship. Where someone is from is a different question and has no place on the call. The wording an employer may use differs by country, so take yours from HR.
The reason behind a gap
Asking what someone was doing between two jobs is fair. Pressing for detail once they have said it was illness, a child or a relative is not, and nothing from that answer belongs in your scoring.
What a check might find
Tell candidates which checks an offer depends on and leave it there. Whether and when an employer may ask about records, credit or past pay depends on where you hire, so that wording belongs to HR or a lawyer, not to the screener.
Casual chat that becomes assessment
Small talk in the first minute still shapes your impression. If a topic could not appear in your written notes, such as a partner, children or a place of worship, steer away from it even when the candidate is the one who raises it.
What Screeners Get Wrong
Selling before you have listened
A ten-minute pitch about the company tells the candidate which answers you are hoping for. Describe the role briefly, ask your questions, then sell at the end if you want them.
Filling silences
After a question about something that went wrong, the pause is the candidate thinking. Count to five before rescuing them, because what comes after the pause is often the most useful part of the answer.
Screening for polish
Confident phrasing and a smooth story show practice at interviews, which is a different thing from being good at the job. Ask for the normal week and the specific tooling, which are hard to describe well without having done the work.
Promising a timeline you do not control
Say what you know, including that you do not know. A deadline you invented on the call and then missed can cost you the candidates who had other offers in hand.