7.6.2 Phone Screens

A phone screen is a short conversation (usually around 30 minutes) with a recruiter to assess your basic qualifications and determine if it’s worth having you interview with a real engineer.

At this stage, the recruiter may ask about:

• Your location and availability
• Work authorization status
• Salary or hourly rate expectations
• Basic technical background or resume highlights

In addition to these questions, the recruiter will judge your communication skills, enthusiasm, and cultural fit to the company. They want to see that you can articulate your experiences clearly and show genuine interest in the role.

There are usually no coding questions during the phone screen. If you pass, you’ll move on to a more technical round.

With the pressure to follow the academic calendar, many companies may not do phone screens at all, or may not need to if all the required information is already supplied through your university co-op profile.