10 Best Pre Screening Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Posted by IntroMagic Team on September 11th, 2021
Hiring professionals are suspicious of candidates who seem too good to be true on paper. Today, misjudging personality and bringing aboard individuals who aren’t a great fit is easier than misspelling words. Not asking relevant or the best pre screening interview questions answers how poor-fit candidates slip undetected through the process.
Oversight in vetting methods is the reason why the personality-fit objective completely misses its mark. As a result, recruiters risk losing their industry’s best minds to competitors because they might have asked the wrong questions.
Between the actual interview and preliminary talent searches, HR teams get a limited opportunity to pose the best pre screening interview questions. It is the only time in the hiring cycle where personality assessment is critical.
So if you’re still asking mundane questions that should be reserved for rookies, stop doing it now!
Instead, ask the best pre screening interview questions, which we will cover in a bit to zero in on the type of personality every industry values. Asking some or all of these questions can be the only way of telling whether you must continue walking with the candidate or walk them out.
What are Pre Screen Interview Questions?
If you are new to the recruiting profession or have taken interest in this discussion the first time, it’s better late than never to know what pre screening interviews are.
Simply put, it’s where you learn a few extra attributes about candidates that aren’t mentioned in their professional resumes. It tells recruiters whether candidates possess the right qualities that make them suited for the role better than others.
Pre screening questions can connect dots from career expectations and job preferences to awareness about roles, and strengths.
10 Best Pre Screening Interview Questions and Answers
Not all pre screening interview questions are the same. Each industry wants to know candidates differently before disqualifying applications that aren’t standing out.
So the questions we cover here are the one-size-fits-all for every business. But we still bet on our questionnaire to bring you quality insights. So without further ado, let’s get started.
1. What are your strongest skills?
When you’re faced with this question, it usually means recruiters are looking for your core values such as analytical skills, leadership skills, and the ability to be a team player. They don’t want clichéd answers that are impersonal and lacking depth. Asking about the strongest skill is one of many easiest ways to weed out job seekers who aren’t applying out of passion.
- Firstly, don’t just jump into the answer without thinking the response through.
- Carefully recall what the job description was that made you feel worthier. It could help you phrase your response in a meaningful manner.
- Use past experiences to support your skills so you can showcase confidence, aptitude, and self-efficacy without preaching about it.
- Sample answer:
- Here’s an example of a sales manager talking about leadership:
- “I consider leadership as my standout quality. It has and will always be the best strength I possess. While working as the department head, I organized a merge and train program, bringing all sales teams under one roof to boost their confidence in new roles. This exercise saw sales numbers soar in the first month due to better motivation among agents.”
2. How did you acquire your skills or strengths?
- Knowledge-based strengths are transferable skills across the domain that you are interested in. It shows whether you have bread and butter skills relevant to today’s fast-paced and competitive workplace.
- Show the big picture to recruiters by hinting that the knowledge you hold is gold.
- Sample answer:
- Here’s how an accountant responded to being asked about his proficiency in accounting standards:
- “Please tell me an accounting standard on which we can debate.” Not only did this quirky response surprise the interviewer, but the sheer confidence and tone won them over.
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Almost every candidate is asked to share their strengths and weaknesses at least once. So why do you think this question crops over and again? Simple! Recruiters want to know where the tipping point is and whether candidates can cope with stress.
While it may seem tempting to reveal the truth as it is, it could also be a trick question to measure consistency. Nobody would want to hire workers prone to making expensive mistakes.
- Smarter candidates know better than exaggerating weakness and undermining their candidacy or coming across overconfidence.
- The middle ground is safe for most because it's easier to convince recruiters how erring is a human trait but not a habit.
- Sample answer:
- Contextualizing is the best way to showcase strengths and weaknesses. Here's an example of what it should sound if you're applying to an ops role at a Startup.
- "My strength lies in bringing order in a chaotic environment and implementing an easier process. As an executive assistant, I designed an efficient process for scheduling meetings and planning monthly agendas. The plan immediately alleviates stress within departments and sets a schedule that could be followed."
4. What are your future goals?
- Information about the company you’re applying to can be found online. It takes a bit to scour through web pages to understand what makes you hire-worthy in a competitive market.
- Know how to grow with the organization and set realistic goals with an estimated timeline to sound genuinely interested.
- When you have aligned your aspirations with the organization’s, they may try harder but not succeed in ignoring your talent.
- Sample answer:
- When a project executive faces the question about future goals, here’s the answer that wins trust:
- “In five years, I’d love to see myself become an industry connoisseur, having racked up experience to leap into the shoes of a senior market analyst. But, considering that you take a special interest in candidates with hands-on experience, I have the quality and goal-setting skills that your organization values.”
5. What experiences make you stressed or frustrated at work?
Stress and frustration are two frequent challenges in every employee’s life. It’s unthinkable to completely separate these emotions from anybody unless they follow a disciplined stress management approach.
This is what every recruiter wants to know. They care to know what makes you flip and whether you’ve had moments in life that couldn’t be easily overcome.
- While corporate stress is a hair puller, it mustn’t be allowed to take a toll on dynamics and cohesiveness.
- If you have a holistic approach to deal with negative scenarios, prove your emotional intelligence by showing how you deal with stress. Not only is it a valuable leadership quality but also a necessary skill in the era of workplace politics.
- Sample answer:
- Keep a cool head around heated scenarios and respond like this professional whose employees are missing deadlines:
- “I pride myself on my analytical thinking whenever a challenging situation arises. Instead of letting emotions take charge, I look at ways to incentivize employees to tackle the problem by goal setting and time management.”
6. How would you describe your accomplishments?
- If you have qualities that people at your workplace are attracted to, wouldn’t you be inspired if they talked about it? So recall the time when your customer or line manager patted your back for meeting deadlines.
- However small the appreciation, they can tell a lot about your values to a potential employer and make an impact in your pre screening interview.
- Sample answer:
- A genuine response is one that sounds like your actions were inspired by life events like this employee.
- “I am a firm believer of consistency. A habit I inherited from my father. He always stressed the importance of work ethics and avoided shortcuts. Each day, I live up to standards that inspire good actions in people around me.”
7. How would you measure your achievements?
- Recruiters see grandiose applications bragging about various accomplishments, some more meaningful than others.
- Stand out and get noticed. Talk about accomplishments as a team worker or the times when you demonstrated leadership. When you solve a problem that nobody else wanted to, it becomes your achievement.
- Sample answer:
- An employee who worries about a lesser experienced staff under his leadership phrases the answer as follows:
- “One time, a co-worker deleted files that were critical to the sales team. On his end, all efforts were put in to retrieve the lost file but in vain. However, his honesty in approaching me earlier allowed us to reverse the damage and recover valuable information. This helped me protect my co-worker from a furious customer.”
8. What do you least like about your current job?
If you’re wondering whether hirers trick you into telling them about your last assignment and the outcome that led you to tender resignation, they aren’t. They want to know whether you have a positive way of looking at negative scenarios.
They want to ensure your papers won’t be tendered on their desk when there is the first sign of trouble.
- Everybody loathes a personality blaming everyone except themselves for failure. So instead of dissing your past employer, use constructive criticism to convince recruiters how you needed a way out to avoid straining relationships.
- Don’t divulge more information to avoid looking desperate. The goal is to ease concerns that you aren’t looking for the first flight out when fraught with challenges. Employers like to know you tried and will try your best in case concerns arise.
- Sample answer:
- A confident answer would make your personality shine even if you resigned from a toxic workplace. Such as this:
- “The last company I worked at grew tremendously and led to scenarios where supervisors and managers weren’t on the same page. While it allowed me to test my skills under stress, I needed a way to evolve rather than compete without a common goal. This is the reason I am on the job market right now.”
9. How do you say you have interpersonal skills?
- If you lack the mind of your own and feel you’re just another cog in the system, you could be building a poor impression in the recruiter’s eyes.
- Instead, they are keen to know whether you can bring the team together and become a single moving force shaping organizational goals.
- Sample answer:
- An enthusiastic designer eager to impress with his ability to join forces with the team responded this:
- “I collaborated with the developer, strategists, and copywriters on a rebranding project to drive the web traffic by up to 30%.”
10. How soon after getting a job can you start?
- Pour your passion into words to express your enthusiasm at landing the new role. It instils trust in your new employer, letting them know how much the role matters. They expect you to serve your notice period with your current employer most of the time.
- Sample answer:
- As someone who needs one extra week to part with the current organization, here’s how you can word the response:
- “In the current contract, I am obligated to serve a three weeks’ notice. But I am eager to start as soon as I am through with the requirement. If possible, I am open to early introduction with the team if you’re hoping to have a team in place.”
