Pre-screen

In this section we will discuss the importance of a Prescreen and the information we should be obtaining when speaking to a potential consultant of our organization. A valid Prescreen is going through the entire process of ONH (Offer, Need & How) and gathering the information we need to help identify the right opportunity.

 

An in-depth Prescreen should be treated as one of the most important steps in a Recruiters workflow. A successful Prescreen will take 30+ minutes to complete and your goal will be to become a “career coach” for that individual.  When a Prescreen is completed, the candidate should trust that you have all the information you need to properly represent them to a potential client.

 

The Goal:

  • Build genuine relationships with top talent.
  • Understand the individual to effectively match them with the right requirements.
  • Build credibility to be referable.
  • Gain marketplace knowledge including subject matter and leads.
  • Identify any possible red flags.
  • Ensure deliverability with potential candidates by setting expectation.

 

Reviewing the Resume:

  • Identify Red Flags
    • Gaps in resume
    • Grammatical Errors
    • Tenure of experience Junior vs. Senior
    • Mismatched technologies
  • Certifications
  • Trends
    • Skill Set
    • Length of Employment
    • Movement in career/growth
    • Direction in career, i.e. Development
    • Key words to help distinguish responsibilities, i.e. Monitor (operational) vs. deploy (functional)

 

How do we gather more information? – Mirroring

Optomi U Course – Mirroring

Practicing your mirroring techniques can be a great way to gather more information in your Prescreen. If you are trying to learn more about a specific role/ technology / language they worked on and you are getting very “canned” or shorter responses, try to insert mirroring in the conversation.

EX:

Recruiter: Walk me through your experience as a Network Engineer.

Candidate: I work on primarily Windows and most of my day is spent in Routing / Switching.

Recruiter: (Insert Mirroring) I see, so most of your time is in Routing / Switching?

Candidate: Yes, I work on a lot of Cisco devices and I utilize routing protocols such as BGP & OSPF. I also help with some of the F5 load balancers but would love to work more with Firewalls in Security.

 

In this example above, the Recruiter is trying to learn more about the Candidates routing / switching experience, so they repeated that phrase and were able to get a more in-depth answer. As a new Tech Recruiter, we understand that you are not always going to have the perfect questions to ask. Your goal should be to learn as much as possible on every conversation and try to insert mirroring to gather more.

 

 

3 Main Aspects (ONH)

 

Optomi gives our Recruiters a lot of flexibility when it comes to pre-screening candidates. The main criteria for a Prescreen consists of the Offer, Need & How. For a Prescreen to be compliant, you need to have the following character count in each section (Offer-500, Need-225 & How-50). Below defines what we are looking to accomplish in each category and the WHY behind it.

  • Offer (500)
    • Gain understanding of their specific responsibilities.
    • Learn specific technologies they’ve used, and what they did with them.
    • Gain understanding of their reporting structure (Potential Leads), and where they currently sit in the organization.
    • Get a clear picture of what made them a Rock Star (helps to build their marketing campaign to make them stick out from everyone else)
  • Need (225)
    • This section should build on any career goal information that was shared at the beginning of the conversation.
    • You should find out about any movement in their career search
      • Have they applied to or interviewed for any positions?
      • What kind of positions?
      • Which companies have they interviewed with?
      • Why did they not take opportunities that they interviewed for?
      • What types of positions are they interested in, to align with career goals?
      • Finding active “Hot Leads”
  •  How (50)
    • How we work together moving forward
      • Specific Req
      • Future Opportunities
      • OTT

 

 

Credibility Statement:

(Introduction to Optomi and Yourself)

Purpose is to set expectations for the entire Prescreen. Craft it in your own style so you keep the candidate engaged and they understand what the purpose of the conversation is.

 

Example:
“The reason I’m reaching out is because I specialize in recruiting software development professionals in the _____ area and represent more than 20 different clients locally. I was really intrigued by your profile because we are working on a number of really intriguing opportunities that your expertise in ______ would be awesome for”

 

PRESCREEN FORMAT:

Prescreen Template

 

 

Set the Agenda (ONH):

  • Introduction to Brand and Yourself
  • Learn candidate’s current situation
  • Learn candidate’s experience/career goals
  • Explain how we can work together

 

Current Situation:

Can you quickly walk me through your current career situation (why are you potentially looking)?

 

OFFER

 

Company 1:

Responsibilities:

Applications or Key Technology:

  • Size of Team
  • Reporting Structure Contractors vs. Perm

Accomplishments/Major Achievements

 

Company 2:

Responsibilities:

Applications or Key Technology:

  • Size of Team
  • Reporting Structure Contractors vs. Perm

Accomplishments/Major Achievements.

 

NEED

Are you interviewing currently?  If yes-Where?

Are you at the in-person interview stage or offer stage?

Is that a contract or direct?

  • If Direct – Great, are you working directly with the company or were you submitted by a recruiter or firm?
  • If Contract – Ok. Do you have a preference between the direct hire or the contract role?

 

 

See attachment for how to obtain a Lead while conducting the Need section:

Hot Leads Document

 

CLAMS

Challenges:

Location:

Career Objectives (Advancement):

Compensation (Money):

Security/Stability:

  • Contract (W2/C2C)
  • Salary
  • Bonus (How much received and when)
  • Retirement
  • PTO
  • Stock Options
  • Insurance benefits
  • Security/Stability:
  • Stock Options
  • Insurance benefits

 

HOW

  • Is it a placeable candidate that I can put in my network?
  • COI – Center of Influence
  • Are they good for current roles?

 

If Candidate is the Right Fit:

Confirmed Compensation for the specific role (Hourly W2 or C2C/Salary):

Availability to Interview:

Availability to start:

Degree (Graduation Date, Cumulative GPA/Major):

Work Authorization:

 

Three things you will always need:

  1. Word Document Resume
  2. 2 Professional References – 1 peer and 1 manager
  3. Opt2Vue

 

 

Take a look at a completed prescreen to evaluate which information goes where:

Prescreen Example 

  

Next Steps:

 

The 3 questions you should always ask yourself after every Prescreen:

  1. Is this candidate placeable, but not for this immediate role?
    1. Send follow-up email to get resume / Opt2Vue / Buy-In to partner in the future
    2. Save in appropriate Tearsheet
  2. Is this candidate not placeable, but a potential COI (Center of Influence)?
    1. Network, Network, Network – Find out who they know and what groups they are a part of and how we can get involved.
    2. Save in COI Tearsheet
  3. The candidate is a right fit for this current role.
    1. Send follow-up email with JD, Optomi Benefits, and additional details on next steps.
    2. You need: Updated Word resume, Opt2Vue & 2 Professional References

 

How to Log in BH

 

 

Under the Candidates record:

Actions – Prescreen

Additional References: Job #

Internal User: Anyone you want to Tag internally (AE / Lead / Manager)

Tear Sheet: Save appropriately based on skillset

 

 

Looking to lock down an $HR Rate but talking to a candidate in a FTE role? Utilize the Salary to HR calculator

Salary to Hourly Converter