Here's what most career changers get wrong. They save all their prep for the hiring manager interview. The recruiter screen? They wing it like a casual chat.
Then a rejection email lands three days later, and they never find out why.
Here's the truth: the recruiter screen is the easiest interview in the whole process. Recruiters aren't testing your CS knowledge. They're checking for red flags, salary fit, and whether you can tell your story clearly.
Which means you can prepare for almost all of it in advance.
After 100+ mock sessions, here are the 10 questions recruiters ask on almost every screen:
- Walk me through your career history.
- What were you hired to do in your most recent role?
- What achievements are you most proud of?
- Where could you have improved?
- How would your last manager describe your work?
- What's a piece of feedback that changed how you work?
- Why did you leave your last job?
- Rate your performance in your last role, 1 to 10.
- What are your comp expectations?
- Are you authorized to work in the US?
Two of these sink more candidates than the rest combined:
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Number 7: never bad-mouth the old job. One sentence, forward-looking, done.โOne more thing most people miss. The recruiter call is full of hints. Ask what the team is struggling with and what the hiring manager cares about most. Their answers become your script for the next round.
- Number 9: give a researched range, not a single number. And never say "I'm flexible."
But here's the part nobody tells you.
One more thing most people miss. The recruiter call is full of hints. Ask what the team is struggling with and what the hiring manager cares about most. Their answers become your script for the next round.
Talk soon,
Gozde
P.S. Only 3 mock interview spots left in August, and the 10% summer discount applies to all of them. If a recruiter call is anywhere on your horizon, grab one from the link below! ๐