Three Steps to Technical Screening Success
You are a software developer and you have a technical phone screening. First, congratulations! There are many job opportunities right now. However, there is also a lot of competition. You have caught the attention of someone with your CV and networking.
What is a technical phone screen?
Let’s get to the basics: What is a technical phone screen? You are correct if you think it sounds exactly like it is. A technical phone interview is more focused than a general telephone interview. It’s a conversation between a company employee and a candidate who has (and is looking for) technical knowledge. While the soft skills that you have been developing throughout your job search are still very important, now is the time for you to demonstrate technical screening software, knowledge, and skills.
1. You can practice articulating your process:
Let’s say you already have skills in language learning, code writing, bug-testing, and problem-solving. Are you able to communicate with others via voice?
It’s one thing, and a wonderful thing! It’s a great thing to have a good idea of what you already know. Perhaps you could build a Python web scraper application that catalogs 30 years of Canadian hockey statistics while sleeping. Awesome. You won’t make it to the next round if you can’t communicate this skill thoughtfully and concisely. This is the perfect time to ask for help from your peers, friends, and classmates who share similar technical skills. To practice voice-to–voice questions-and-answer conversations with technical information, have them call you or meet you in person.
Remember that interviewers want to hear your thoughts and how they are expressed. You can think aloud to show your understanding and logical leaps when problem-solving. *Lemonade tip It may take multiple attempts with real-life technical telephone screenings before you can get an interview. This is normal, and each technical phone screening can be viewed as an opportunity to practice.
2. Be resourceful:
You may not be qualified for the job, so you don’t need to prepare. It’s normal and expected. It’s not about disqualification, it’s about testing your response. Let’s talk about “grit” for developers if you don’t know what it is. Grit is defined as “courage, resolve, the strength of character” and is a great indicator of success. When failures are common, developers especially need to have grit.
To expand on the above example, let’s say you can create a Python web scraping app that catalogs 30 years of Canadian hockey statistics while you sleep. Let’s suppose that this resulted in you being called for technical screening to work on this task. You may be given a technical problem that is too complex to solve immediately. The person interviewing you probably doesn’t expect this.
They want to know if you have the right approach for solving the problem. This means how you think about it and how well you communicate your thoughts. What’s your current situation and how do you plan to solve it?
3. Ask Yourself Questions:
A hiring manager will notice this: candidates who haven’t prepared questions for themselves are a red flag. You should not only demonstrate and articulate technical skills but also be professional. Prepare for your technical phone screening by getting to know everything about the company, the job, and your ambitions. Based on your findings, prepare some questions.
The company
You are looking to find a job with the company. Is the company a good fit for or? Learn as much information about the company’s history, mission, values, and HR policies as you can. Do your research first, and then ask questions? Ask your interviewer about their experience working for the company.
The role
Are you in a new job? Is it an existing position with high turnover? Are they part of a larger team? Who will you be reporting to and collaborating with? What support is available if you need it? Is there a way to get professional education and growth? What tools, technologies, and frameworks are they using at the moment?
Are you ready for a technical phone screening?
These three steps will help you feel more confident about the technical phone screen interview section.
- Your process should be articulated
- Be resourceful
- Ask yourself questions
Confidence can make you more attractive and help you build rapport with interviewers. Review your resume carefully and compare it to the job description. Look for common areas of experience and problem-solving. Be prepared to explain how your tech stack applied to them.