A phone screen usually lasts between ten and thirty minutes and follows a short set of questions: why the candidate applied, whether the hours, location and salary work for them, their notice period and a few questions about relevant experience. The recruiter notes the answers and decides whether to move the candidate forward. Some teams now run this step as an AI voice screening call that candidates can take at a time that suits them.
Phone screens catch mismatches on pay, location and availability before anyone spends time on full interviews. The weakness is consistency: with many recruiters and hundreds of calls, questions vary, notes are patchy and scores reflect who made the call. Using the same core questions for every candidate, scoring answers against agreed criteria and recording notes in one place make the step fairer and easier to review.