Recruiter phone screen template: a call form you fill in live

A recruiter phone screen template is a one-page form you fill in during a 25 to 30 minute call, laid out in the order the conversation should run: opener and consent line, knockouts, motivation, must-haves, logistics (pay expectation, notice, location, work authorization) and the close. Using the same form for every candidate on a role makes screens comparable and gives you everything you need to submit or reject the same day.

Below is the form to copy, what to say in each block, a filled example, and variations for in-house, high-volume and contract roles. For the questions themselves, use the phone screen question bank; this page is the structure they go into.

How the call is ordered

The order matters more than the questions. Candidates answer motivation questions more honestly before they know every detail of the job, and they discuss pay more reasonably after you have shown you understand what they do. Hard knockouts are the exception: if something the client has confirmed as non-negotiable rules the candidate out, find out in the first three minutes.

That adds up to 27 to 30 minutes. The numbers are a budget, not a rule: a senior candidate with a complicated notice situation will use more logistics time, and that is fine as long as you know which block is running long.

The phone screen template

Copy this into your notes tool or ATS note. Fill the must-haves from the intake before the call, in the client's words, so you are checking the same three things with every candidate.

PHONE SCREEN — [Role] for [Client / hiring team]
Candidate: [Name]            Date: [ ]        Recruiter: [ ]
Source: [ ]                  Call: phone / Zoom / Teams / Meet
Resume version reviewed: [file name or date]

1. OPENER
[ ] Time available confirmed: ___ min
[ ] Notes / transcription notice given     Candidate agreed: Y / N
[ ] Agenda set: role, background, logistics, next steps

2. KNOCKOUTS (client-confirmed only)
Authorized to work in [country]: Y / N
Needs sponsorship now or in future: Y / N
Required license / certification: ______  Verified how: ______
On-site or hybrid pattern acceptable: Y / N  (pattern: ______)

3. MOTIVATION
Why open to a move now (their words): "______"
What is missing in the current role: ______
What would make them stay: ______
Other processes: [company type] at [stage]; offers pending: Y / N

4. MUST-HAVES (from intake, client's wording)
MH1: ______
  Example given: ______
  Their part vs team's part: ______
  Quote: "______"
  Rating: shown / partly shown / not shown
MH2: ______   (same fields)
MH3: ______   (same fields)
Nice-to-haves heard: ______
Gap or concern, with what they said about it: ______

5. LOGISTICS
Pay expectation: base ___  variable ___  other ___
Firmness: firm / flexible / unsure     Range shared: Y / N ($___–___)
Notice period: ___ weeks    Earliest start: ______
Lives in: ______   Commute or relocation: ______
Travel acceptable: ______
Dates they cannot interview or start: ______
Counteroffer risk: low / medium / high — because: ______

6. CLOSE
Interest (their words): "______"     Interest 1–5: ___
Consent to submit to [client] for [role]: Y / N   at [date, time]
Already submitted to this client by anyone else: Y / N / unsure
Interview availability: ______
Next step promised, and by when: ______

DECISION: submit / hold / reject — one-line reason: ______

What to say in each block

1. Opener and consent line

Keep it under two minutes and ask permission for the notes before you start asking anything that matters. Something like:

"Thanks for making the time. I've got us down for about 25 minutes: I'll tell you a bit about the role, ask about your background, cover logistics, and we'll agree next steps. I use a transcription tool for my notes so I can represent you accurately to the client. Are you okay with that?"

Tick the box only if they said yes. If they say no, thank them, turn the tool off, and type notes instead; do not argue the point. Recording and notice rules differ by state and country, so use the wording in our interview recording consent script and check the consent guide when the candidate is in a different state from you.

2. Knockouts

Only ask knockouts the client has actually confirmed as fixed. "Must be on-site five days" that turns out to be "we'd prefer three" has cost you candidates for nothing. Say why you are asking:

"Before we get into your background, two quick checks the client has told me are fixed, so I don't waste your time. Are you authorized to work in the US, and will you now or in the future need visa sponsorship? And the role is in the Denver office three days a week. Does that work?"

Ask the authorization question in exactly those two parts. Asking where someone is from or what their citizenship is instead is not the same question and can create legal exposure.

3. Motivation

Open with "What has you open to a conversation right now?" and write the first sentence of the answer word for word. That sentence often ends up in the submittal. Then ask what would make them stay. Candidates who cannot name anything missing in their current role are the ones most likely to accept a counteroffer, and it is better to know that at minute seven than at offer stage.

4. Must-haves

One example per must-have, not a list of skills. "Walk me through the last time you ran month-end close on your own" gets you a story you can check; "Are you strong in month-end close?" gets you "yes". Separate what they did from what the team did, and write down numbers when you hear them: team size, volume, budget, the system name.

Rate each must-have as shown, partly shown or not shown. Do not rate personality here. A three-way rating on evidence is enough for a submit decision and it is easy to defend when a client asks why you sent someone.

5. Logistics

Ask what they are looking for, not what they earn: "What are you looking for in base salary for your next role, and how firm is that?" If the client has a range, share it first. Then notice ("When you resign, how much notice will you give, and is there anything that might change that?") and the practical details. The wording for pay, and where asking pay history is prohibited, is in salary expectation questions.

6. Close

Two questions do most of the work. First: "If the client wants to meet you, is there anything that would stop you going ahead?" Second, and never skip it: "Do I have your okay to send your resume to [client] for the [role] position?" Write down when they said yes. Consent to submit to a named client for a named role is what protects you in a duplicate-submission dispute.

Finish by telling them exactly what happens next and when: "I'll send your profile this afternoon and call you by Thursday either way."

A filled example

An invented candidate and client, filled in the way a usable form reads at the end of a call:

PHONE SCREEN — Accounts Payable Supervisor for Halden Manufacturing
Candidate: Marcus Webb      Date: 14 Sep      Recruiter: J. Ortiz
Source: LinkedIn outreach   Call: phone

1. OPENER   Time: 30 min. Notes notice given, agreed: Y.

2. KNOCKOUTS
Authorized: Y   Sponsorship: N
On-site 4 days, Aurora plant: Y ("I'm 15 minutes away")

3. MOTIVATION
Why now: "We got bought and AP is moving to a shared service center in Texas."
Missing: no path to lead a team after the move.
Would stay if: offered a team lead role locally — "they haven't."
Other processes: one, a distributor, first interview done. No offers.

4. MUST-HAVES
MH1: Supervised AP team of 3+
  Example: leads 4 clerks, sets weekly priorities, did 2 of the 4 hires.
  Quote: "I rebuilt our approval matrix after an audit finding."
  Rating: shown
MH2: Three-way match in an ERP (client uses NetSuite)
  Example: 5 years in SAP, NetSuite only in a previous job for ~1 year.
  Rating: partly shown
MH3: Month-end close for AP by business day 3
  Example: currently closes AP on day 4; cut it from day 6.
  Quote: "Day 3 would need cleaner receiving data, honestly."
  Rating: partly shown
Nice-to-haves: vendor onboarding, 1099 filing.
Concern: NetSuite recency. He raised it himself.

5. LOGISTICS
Pay expectation: base $78–82k, open on bonus. Firmness: flexible.
Range shared: Y ($72–85k)
Notice: 2 weeks; wants to finish the Sept close first. Start: 6 Oct.
Counteroffer risk: low — role is being moved out of state.

6. CLOSE
Interest: "This is the kind of job I was hoping would exist." 5/5
Consent to submit to Halden for AP Supervisor: Y, 14 Sep 10:42
Already submitted to Halden: N
Availability: Tue/Thu after 3pm
Next step: submit today, call him Wed by noon.

DECISION: submit — MH1 strong, MH2/MH3 partly shown with specifics.

Everything a client will ask about is on the page, the two partial ratings come with the detail that explains them, and the quotes are short enough to use as written. Turning this into the client-facing write-up is covered in the candidate submittal template.

Variations by desk

• In-house recruiters: replace "consent to submit to client" with "happy to go forward to the hiring manager", add a line for internal referrals and a line for whether they have applied to the company before. Keep the must-haves identical to the ones on the hiring manager's scorecard so the screen and the interview measure the same things.
• High-volume and light industrial: cut blocks 3 and 4 down to two questions each and move shift pattern, start date and transport into the knockouts. A 12-minute screen with the same six fields for every candidate beats a 30-minute screen nobody has time for.
• Contract and IT contractor roles: add engagement type (W-2, 1099, corp-to-corp), rate, end date of the current contract, and right to represent. These belong in the knockouts because a rate or engagement mismatch ends the process no matter how good the experience is.
• Executive search: add a confidentiality line in the opener ("I won't share your name with the client without your say-so"), and in motivation ask what they would need to see from the board or owner to move.

Mistakes that make the form useless

Once the form is filled, the rest of the day's work is the same every time: decision, ATS note, submittal, follow-up. The screen-to-submittal workflow walks through that hour step by step.