Career Coach: Screening Interview

click to expand

CHICAGO (CBS)-- CBS 2 is working with a career coach every week to bring you advice about looking for a landing a job, as we continue Working For Chicago.

This week, the CBS 2 career coach is focusing on the screening interview.

"I think many people may think a screening interview isn't that big of a deal, but these days with less opportunities available, it's really important to take them seriously," Lynee Alves, president of Interview Like An Expert said. "You're being vetted for this opportunity by someone before you get put into the more official process."

Alves says the screening interview is either conducted by phone or video.

It's an opportunity for a company to assess your skills, assess your personality and see if you're a good fit to move forward in their formal interview process.

Essentially, it's the vetting process by either a junior-level recruiter or someone in human resources. It's usually not the hiring manager.

Alves' top tips for screening interviews include:

Prepare a few questions in advance to ask the interviewer.
Keep answers brief and to-the-point.
Convey positivity, energy and like-ability.
Make a cheat sheet.

"Look at your resume and pull some of your top accomplishments and key strengths and skills that you really want to hit on in that interview and have them on your cheat sheet," Alves said. "If you're on video, iIm a laptop, I can put a sheet on my keyboard in front of it and reference and glance at it."