Improving Hiring Efficiency With Highly Predictive Applicant Screening Questions
Why are applicant screening questions important?
They allow for a deeper understanding of the candidate early in the process – they are essential because they offer a level of understanding about a candidate’s qualifications that cannot be achieved by a recruiter alone. Recruiters are not subject matter experts for the roles they are hiring for, making it unrealistic to expect them to fully assess a candidate’s suitability for a specific job.
Screening questions can be highly role-specific – while recruiters can ask general questions applicable to all potential employees, such as availability or willingness to comply with health protocols, screening questions delve into the specifics of the job.
Effective screening leads to a more efficient interview process – instead of conducting 10 or 20 interviews for every person that you hire, you might only need to conduct two or three. This is achieved by asking better screening questions that filter out less qualified candidates, leaving you with a smaller, more qualified pool to interview.
How do many organizations get screening wrong?
Not requiring any screening questions – if you don’t ask screening questions at the time of application, then time constraints limit the depth of screening. Even if recruiters had the expertise to ask job-specific questions, they simply do not have the time to do so for every applicant. For instance, asking every applicant 10 detailed questions and then listing all the answers is not feasible.
Asking subjective screening questions – too many recruiters ask subjective questions, but it’s important to avoid subjectivity when screening applicants. The goal is to gather objective information that can be compared across all candidates.
How many questions total do you recommend?
Between 8 – 12 questions – this is often the ideal number of screening questions to get the information you need, while also keeping applicant attrition low.
Have a variety of question types – if all your questions are about years of experience, it’s not going to provide a comprehensive view of the applicant. Include questions about proficiency, licenses and certifications, tools and processes, and job requirements.
What can be evaluated with screening questions and what’s best left for the interview?
| Screening | Interviewing | |||
| Goal | Focusing time on the most qualified people (for a lower interview-to-hire ratio) | Assessing skills, experience, and suitability for the role | ||
| Question types | • Multiple choice • Objective measures of skill level and other qualifications, which can be answered quickly and easily | • Open-ended • Situational or behavioral type questions that provide insight into how a candidate might handle specific scenarios or challenges in the role | ||
How do you determine what topics you want to address in screening questions for your role?
Define the job qualifications – job descriptions often list qualifications in vague terms. To avoid this, hiring managers should clearly define what each qualification means. For example, if proficiency in Excel is required, specify what tasks the candidate should be able to perform in Excel (e.g., SUM, COUNT, VLOOKUP, pivot tables, etc.). This clarity helps applicants, recruiters, and hiring managers to have a shared understanding of the role’s requirements.
Engage the Hiring Manager – the hiring manager should be deeply involved in crafting the job description and interview questions. They have the best understanding of the role’s requirements and can provide the necessary details that go beyond surface-level information.
Use the Job Description as a Starting Point – while job descriptions are often copied and pasted from the internet, they can still serve as a useful starting point. Defining each of the qualifications in the job description is the easiest way to start. For example, taking a qualification like “Experience in Python” and defining exactly what that experience entails.
Avoid Bias – to avoid bias in the hiring process, focus on the qualifications and skills needed for the role. Avoid questions that could lead to biased decisions, such as asking about the college they attended.
Specific Queries
How can you ask more specific screening questions?
Differentiate proficiency levels – another way to increase specificity is to differentiate between low, medium, and high proficiency levels. For example, if the job requires proficiency in Excel, define what low, medium, and high proficiency looks like in practical terms.
Give definition to buzzwords – job descriptions often contain buzzwords like ‘experience’, ‘expertise’, ‘knowledge’, and ‘familiarity’. To increase specificity, give definition to these words. What do they mean in the context of the role? What would the scale of these skills look like?
Use a variety of question types – when asking about experience and skills, use a variety of question types. Some questions might ask about years of experience, others might ask about proficiency levels, and others might ask about certifications. This will give you a more comprehensive understanding of the candidate’s skills and experience.
Specify preferred certifications – if the job description mentions that a certain certification is preferred, specify which one. There are often many different certifications available for a particular skill, so be clear about which one is preferred for the role.
Specific questions help ensure honesty – most people are not liars. When you ask a generic question, you get a generic answer. In other words, ambiguity is the culprit here, not dishonesty. But when you ask a specific question, you put the applicant in a position where they can either lie or tell the truth, and most people are not liars.
What are the qualities of screening questions that will increase intake among quality applicants?
Good screening questions should be fast, easy, and relevant – the screening questions asked during the application process should be quick and easy for the candidate to answer, and they should be directly relevant to the role. If all three of these criteria are met, candidates will not only be willing to answer the questions, but they will also appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Additionally, these questions can help candidates understand more about the role and determine if they would be a good fit.
Avoid write-in boxes for each question – While it may seem like a good idea to provide a write-in box for each question to allow candidates to elaborate on their answers, this can actually be counterproductive. Firstly, it can be time-consuming for the candidate to write out detailed answers for each question. Secondly, it can also be time-consuming for the recruiter or hiring manager to read through these detailed answers. Thirdly, write-in answers are read subjectively by all parties reading them. Fourthly, without objective answers, there is no scoring mechanism to automate the answers. Without scoring of answers, there is no way to automate this process and create a stack-rank of applicants.
Including a write-in box at the end of the application – at the end of the application process, candidates should have the opportunity to add any additional information that they feel is relevant to their application. This could include experience or skills that were not directly asked about in the application questions. This gives candidates the opportunity to highlight their unique qualifications and experiences that may not have been covered in the standard questions.
Subjectivity can lead to confusion – Write-in answers can also introduce a level of subjectivity that can lead to confusion. For example, a candidate may use specific jargon or terminology in their answer that the recruiter may not understand, requiring the hiring manager to read and interpret each answer.
What are the different types of screening questions you can ask?
| Education | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | Minimum education? • Ideal education? • Highest level? • Field of study? | ||
| Tips | • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Explain what will happen with a “knock-out” • Don’t create Yes/No questions • Answer options should cover all potential scenarios | ||
Sample Education Question:
| Licensure & Certifications | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • Required certifications? • Preferred certifications? | ||
| Tips | • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Explain what will happen with a “knock-out” • Don’t create Yes/No questions • Answer options should cover all potential scenarios | ||
Sample Licensure & Certifications Question:
| Job Requirements | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • Travel • Salary • What are the minimum expectations needed for this role? • What issues do you run into with applicants down the road in the interview process? | ||
| Tips | • The more specific the better • Parenthesis (i.e., and e.g.,) are your friends • Are there true “knock-outs” here? Don’t need to KO! • Almost never any Yes/No questions • Answer options should cover all potential applicants | ||
Sample Job Requirements Question:
| Years of experience | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • These questions identify the specific experience that the applicants have | ||
| Tips | • Usually, the first question to be created • The more specific the better • Parenthesis (i.e., and e.g.,) are your friends • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Don’t create Yes/No questions • Answer options should cover all potential scenarios | ||
Sample Years of Experience Question:
| Tools & Processes | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • Knowledge and/or capabilities to perform field-specific tasks | ||
| Tips | • The more specific the better • Parenthesis (i.e., and e.g.,) are your friends • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Don’t create Yes/No questions • Answer options should cover all potential scenarios | ||
Sample Tools & Processes Question:
| Proficiency | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • Excellent for separating applicants Provide levels, highly specific definitions, and examples The more specific the better Parenthesis (i.e., and e.g.,) are your friends Are there true “knock-outs” here? Don’t create Yes/No questions | ||
| Tips | • Excellent for separating applicants • Provide levels, highly specific definitions, and examples • The more specific the better • Parenthesis (i.e., and e.g.,) are your friends • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Don’t create Yes/No questions | ||
Sample Proficiency Question:
| Skills Assessment | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • These are quick assessment questions to identify if the person “knows their stuff” | ||
| Tips | • The more specific the better • Parenthesis (i.e., and e.g.,) are your friends • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Don’t create Yes/No questions | ||
Sample Skills Assessment Question:
| Situational | |||
| Areas that might be addressed | • Adds an element of subjectivity to the questions • Used to understand how they view/think | ||
| Tips | • Ask them which example most closely aligns with how they would handle situations • Provide “reasonable” responses for all answer options • Are there true “knock-outs” here? • Don’t create Yes/No questions | ||
Sample Situational Question:
Creating a Scoring Model
How do you think about creating a scoring model to rank the responses from screening questions?
Build a consistent scoring structure – generally, it’s advisable to have a fairly consistent scoring structure. For instance, if you’re using a five-point scale, ensure that the scoring across all questions is relatively equal. This helps to maintain relatively equal weighting attached to each question.
You need the right types of questions: Multiple Choice and Multi-Select – in multiple-choice questions, the highest score for a question is the highest possible score. For multi-select questions, where candidates can select multiple answers, ensure that the total points for all selected answers are equal to the highest possible score for a single question. This prevents any single question from having an undue influence on the overall score. Avoid yes/no questions—they don’t provide enough information and are rarely beneficial.
Weight responses to your questions – be careful about the weighting of questions. If one question carries significantly more weight than others, it could skew the overall score. However, if a particular question is critically important, it can be scored a bit higher. The key is to ensure that the scoring reflects the importance of each question to the role.
The hiring manager plays a crucial role in scoring – as they have the best understanding of the importance of each skill or attribute being assessed. For instance, if a role requires more JavaScript than CSS or HTML, the question of assessing JavaScript skills should carry more weight.
If you can score each answer, you can stack rank applicants- If the application questions are designed as multiple choice or multi-select, each answer can be scored. This allows for the creation of a stack ranking of candidates based on their scores. Without scoring, the recruiter or hiring manager would have to manually review each individual’s answers to each question, which can be very time-consuming.
What tools can help you digest your screening answers?
Using a tool to track and score responses can help – tools like SmartRank can automate the scoring process for you. They allow you to input scores and automatically weight the questions, showing you the weightage of each question in the total score. This helps you to adjust the scoring if necessary.
Integrate an ATS with your job board – LinkedIn and Indeed can be set up to route applicants to your ATS when they click ‘Apply’. This is how most SmartRank clients operate. When an applicant finds a job on LinkedIn or Indeed and clicks ‘Apply’, they are taken to SmartRank where they go through the normal application process and answer screening questions. This method is more efficient and less time-consuming.
Leveraging Responses Further Down the Hiring Funnel
How can you use your screening questions to save time for the hiring and HR manager?
Use the initial screening process to guide your interviews – the screening questions and the answers to those questions should guide your interview. In an ideal scenario, you’re working with the top-ranked people from your screening process. This creates a baseline for your interview questions, allowing you to focus on more specific, situational, or behavioral questions.
Avoid conducting interviews off the cuff – Many interviews are conducted without proper preparation, often leading to irrelevant discussions. The screening process should provide you with enough information to avoid asking basic questions during the interview. Instead, you can build on the information you already have and ask more insightful questions.
Don’t waste time on screening questions during the interview – Many interviews today spend most of their time asking what should be screening questions. This not only wastes time but also frustrates both the hiring managers and the candidates. The first couple of interviews should not be spent on screening; that should have been done earlier in the process.
Reask any situational or behavioral questions during the interview – once you have established the candidate’s proficiency in key skills, the interview should focus on situational or behavioral questions. This allows you to assess how the candidate thinks about situations and shows you how they would handle specific scenarios or challenges in the role.
How can your screening questions play a role in your compliance and legal? How do good applicant screening questions improve your DEI efforts?
Eliminate Bias with ranking tools that allow you to blindly rank applicants – tools like SmartRank can help eliminate bias in the hiring process by masking certain information that could potentially lead to bias, such as names, colleges attended, and LinkedIn profiles. This ensures that all applicants are evaluated based on their skills and qualifications, rather than their background or identity.
Leave resumes out of the process – incorporating resumes can often lead to bias in the hiring process. For example, a candidate with a strong technical background but poor spelling might be overlooked due to their resume. Screening responses allow you to focus on the skills and qualifications that are truly important for the job, rather than superficial details on a resume.
Screening questions and a ranking system provide a clear record of why each decision was made – this helps with legal and compliance, as you can record that decisions were based on the candidate’s responses to the screening questions. This can be helpful in the event of a legal challenge, as it provides clear evidence that the hiring process was fair and unbiased.
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