What to listen for on the call

Candidates treat the screening call as an exam. It is also the only point in the process where you can ask blunt logistical questions cheaply, before you have spent four rounds and started to want the job for its own sake. Listen while you answer.

Worth noticing

• The recruiter cannot describe what the role does day to day. Sometimes that just means they are external; sometimes it means the role has not been defined and you would be defining it under pressure.
• The job has been open a long time, or has been reposted. Ask directly why it is still open. The answer is often informative and occasionally alarming.
• Evasiveness about the band, combined with pressure for your number. One of these alone is normal; both together tells you what kind of negotiation is coming.
• A vacancy created by someone leaving after a short time, with no explanation offered. Ask what happened. "They moved on" with no further detail is a partial answer.
• Urgency that does not match the process — "we need someone next week" alongside a five-stage loop. Something in that pairing is not true.
• Anything about the contract that is vague: probation length, notice period, whether the salary quoted is basic or total, who holds the visa and what happens if you leave.

Worth asking outright

1. Is the quoted figure basic salary or total package, and what does the package include?
2. What is the probation period, and what are the terms during it?
3. How many stages remain, and what is each one testing?
4. Is the role on-site, hybrid, or remote — and what is it in practice rather than on paper?
5. Who would I report to, and how long have they been in that role?

Good signs, too

A recruiter who describes the process precisely, names the interviewers, states a band without being pushed, and can explain what the team is actually struggling with is telling you something real about how the organisation runs. Process quality at this stage correlates fairly well with what the job is like once you are in it.

You are being screened. You are also screening. Only one of you usually remembers that.