Automating the Phone Screen: Benefits for Busy Recruiters

Phone screening interviews remain an essential element of the hiring process.

Though, many hiring teams are unhappy about how much time taking the same call over and over again takes away from their day. Additionally, highly qualified individuals might be missed due to constraints; and it’s difficult to ensure a thorough review from a mass of interested candidates.

To streamline the repetitive, increase bandwidth and provide fairer opportunities for job seekers, more and more recruiters are turning to automation.

Today’s automated phone screen technology ranges from structured voice bots, to AI-enabled tools that allow for a more natural experience.

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Why Phone Screens Matter

It’s that first opportunity between a candidate and a company to set expectations and discuss key details, such as the candidate's availability and the core requirements of the role, including experience and qualifications.

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What Phone Screen Automation Actually Covers Today

Today’s automated interview systems provide a lot more than simple question lists.

As recruitment requirements have changed, so have the products designed to ease the first-round interviewing process. There is now a myriad of options that can be customized, and consider factors like team size, hiring goals, and candidate expectations to support various use cases.

1. Voice bots or browser-based interview bots: These tools guide candidates through pre-recorded or scripted interviews. Some allow back-and-forth interactions, but most follow a fixed sequence of questions with limited flexibility. It isn’t capable of handling open ended questions to probe for deeper insights.
2. Conversational AI tools (phone or web-based): simulate real-time conversations with follow-ups and branching logic - where they can provide “recruiter” like interactions, and work asynchronously.

Some systems collect responses and nothing else, but more sophisticated tools like HeyMilo’s AI recruiter can additionally help with:

1. Automatically compiling detailed candidate interview summaries for review and pushed to your ATS of choice
2. Identify anything that is a red flag, or that is not clearly or truthfully answered through cheat detection software
3. Rate/Tag responses to be followed up on later

From a lean screener bot to a fully integrated AI recruiters, there’s a modern solution for all types of teams wanting to add more efficiency to their phone screening processes.

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Common Use Cases for Automating the Phone Screen

Automation works best with predictable, high-volume processes.

• High-volume hiring: With hundreds and thousands of applicants interested in your roles, automation ensures that no candidate gets lost, and the most qualified candidates can be surfaced a lot quicker.
• Repetitive screening questions: If you find yourself repeatedly asking the same set of basic questions, such as work eligibility, availability, and shift preference, automation eliminates the need to have the same conversation over and over.
• Global and remote hiring: Multiple time zones make scheduling live phone screens a logistical challenge. Candidates can take their screen at any time using automated tools, with no scheduling necessary.
• Lean recruiting teams: If you’re a smaller team, automation can help you review more candidates without getting burnt out and expand your availability.

When your team is able to increase and enhance their output through automation, it means recruiters can redirect more time to higher-value activities, and close more roles.

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Candidate Experience: What It Feels Like on the Other Side

From a candidate perspective, the positives are:

• Flexibility: With the help of virtual interview platforms or candidate screening software, candidates can complete their phone screen at their convenience, meaning they do not have to be confined by a busy recruiter’s calendar. This added flexibility makes candidates feel accommodated and respected.
• Structure and clarity: Screens that ask clear, pertinent questions allow candidates time to think about their response - something that can be more challenging on a live call.
• Fairness and consistency: Each applicant is screened equally. This helps to minimize bias, thereby improving comparability and fairness across responses.
• Shorter timelines: With this efficiency, candidates also receive follow-ups and next steps more quickly, and don’t have to worry about frustrating delays or ghosting.

The primary concern with using automation for recruiting agencies is its impact on candidates. To address this, it’s crucial to implement these tools in a way that actually enhances their experience and that teams are transparent with candidates about their processes.

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Reliable AI Tool for Staffing Agencies Wanting to Automate Engagement & Screening

If you’re evaluating AI tools for recruiting to make your phone screening faster and more effective, HeyMilo is one of the leading platforms built for real-world recruiting at scale.

The platform scales AI candidate engagement and screening - from automated form fills, to smart SMS, WhatsApp, and email outreach, resume screening, and two-way voice and video interviews that work across languages and time zones.

HeyMilo’s AI recruiter is GDPR and SOC 2 compliant, third party audited for bias, and offers 24/7 support for both recruiters and candidates. And we integrate directly with most major ATS platforms.

Explore leading automated engagement and phone screen interview solutions, or book a demo today!

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