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Job Interviews & Careers vocabulary · The Interview

Phone screen

Meaning in job interviews & careers, with examples

nounCommon term

In job interviews & careers, phone screen means: A short first interview by phone, usually with a recruiter, to check basic details before inviting a candidate to a full interview.

In Turkish: telefonla ön görüşme, telefon mülakatı

How it is used

Common in the US and in tech hiring; in British English it is usually called a telephone interview. It often lasts 15 to 30 minutes and covers your background, salary expectations, notice period and right to work.

Example sentences

  1. The recruiter wants to set up a 20-minute phone screen on Monday.

  2. I passed the phone screen, and now I have a technical interview.

Common collocations

  • schedule a phone screen
  • pass the phone screen
  • initial phone screen
  • recruiter phone screen
  • recruiterA person whose job is to find and select people for jobs, either inside a company's HR team or at an external agency.
  • video interviewAn interview held over a video call, or one in which you record answers to set questions on camera for the employer to watch later.
  • salary expectationsThe amount of pay you hope to receive in a new job, which employers often ask about on application forms or in interviews.
  • job interviewA formal meeting in which an employer asks a candidate questions to decide whether they are right for a job.

More terms: The Interview

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