By Debbie Bunch
April 15, 2025
These days, searching for a new job is a multifaceted process. First, you need to update your resume. Then, you need to comb through online job openings to find those that best match your skill set. After that, you fill out the applications and send your resume and a cover letter.
Often, what’s next — if you are lucky enough to be selected by a hiring manager for further review — is a pre-screening interview. Typically held on the phone or via video chat software, this interview will be your best (and probably only) chance to impress the hiring manager enough to move on to an in-person interview with the manager and other staff members.
How can you make the most of these short (usually around half an hour) but vitally essential interviews? Here are five tips to consider:
- Review the interview instructions you received before the interview to ensure you know how the session will unfold. For example, while many pre-screening interviews will consist of a simple phone call, others may require you to log on to a particular website and follow directions on connecting with the interviewer or even record a video of yourself answering the questions the interviewer will review later. If you are faced with one of the latter situations, don’t wait till the last minute to figure it out.
- Make sure you thoroughly understand the job description so that you can tailor your answers to the exact job at hand. For example, if the job description calls for extensive ICU experience, make sure you can cite the number of years you’ve working in the ICU, the types of ICUs you have worked in regularly, the ICU protocols you have worked under, and the roles you’ve played on the multidisciplinary care team.
- Research the organization to learn more about its mission and culture and use that information to show the interviewer how you can fit in with its overall goals and objectives. For example, if the organization significantly emphasizes patient-centered care, share a time or two when you went the extra mile to put the patient and family first when delivering services at the bedside.
- Resist the urge to share bad experiences you’ve had with previous organizations, previous superiors, previous coworkers, or previous patients or families. For example, if the hiring manager asks a question focused on negative behavior in the workplace, do not view it as an open door to bring up your own grievances. A better tactic would be to turn that question into an opportunity to talk about how you have sidestepped negative coworkers in the past or actively worked to overcome negativity in the workplace.
- Recognize the limited nature of the pre-screening interview so that you don’t spend too much time on any one question or topic of discussion. For example, if the interview is set for 30 minutes, you don’t want to spend ten of those minutes answering the first question you are asked. The interviewer will run out of time, and you will have missed your opportunity to get all your points across. Most interviewers will plan to ask five to eight questions in the typical 20-to-30-minute pre-screening interview, essentially allocating about three minutes for each answer.
Pre-screening interviews can be viewed as a dress rehearsal for the real thing, so prepare for them just as you would a full-blown interview. The better your performance in this run-up to the real thing, the more likely you’ll get that in-person interview leading to the job.
