Phone Screen: Team Fit & Soft Skills

30 minutes

The goal of this phone screen to find out if the candidate is the right fit for the company and the team based on soft skills, potential interest, and communication skills. It’s also important to understand what they’re passionate about and if it aligns with our goals.

Can be conducted by a recruiter

Competencies Evaluated

• Communication
• Grit & Passion
• Evangelism
• Scope

Questions to Ask

1. What are your career goals? What are you looking for?
2. What don’t you want to do?
3. How do you continue to advance your design knowledge? / How do you learn?
   1. When is the last time you tried a new product? What was it? / What are your favorite products? Why?
4. How have you improved the design practice from process to tool usage on your Design team?
   1. What do you want to learn next?
5. What are you most proud of in your design career? Look for if they talk about product, process, people, or other things to find passion areas

Nice to Haves

• Can you tell me about someone you’ve helped in your career? How?
• Tell us about the newest thing you’ve learned that has improved your design work. What was it?
  • Why did you decide to invest time in it? How did you learn it? Look for someone that is a self-learner.
  • How did you apply it afterwards?

Lastly, request their portfolio details, if you don’t already have it.

Brand Designer Questions

1. What are your career goals? What are you looking for?
2. What don’t you want to do?
3. How do you keep your skills sharp and up-to-date? Look for consistant practice, doing work on the side, experimenting, Dribbble profile, etc…
4. Where do you find inspiration?
5. What software do you use?
6. What are you most proud of in your design career? Look for if they talk about product, process, people, or other things to find passion areas

Questions Repository

Phone Screen Questions

Record Answers & Notes

Google Form Template

Competencies Assessment

Since this is such a high-level call, keep your scoring system simple (Yes, No, Uncertain). Do you believe the candidate as the outline competencies?

Scorecard Example

Product Designer - Phone Screen Scorecard

Next Steps

If the candidate has an excellent resume, portfolio evaluation, and phone screen, move them straight to the background interview to keep commitment level a bit lower and have more time to sell. Go to Background Interview

If the candidate is interesting but there is still uncertainty in some areas, proceed with the portfolio presentation to get additional depth of their capabilities. Go to Portfolio Presentation

Otherwise, pass on the candidate and email them thanking them for their time.

References

• https://uxdesign.cc/five-things-to-look-out-for-when-hiring-a-designer-eb288879cca8