Pre-screening Interview Questions to Find Your Next Talent In Malaysia

Streamline your hiring process in Malaysia and narrow down relevant candidates so you can spot those with massive potential earlier.

By Kimberly Chang on 2023-11-27 at 7:11 AM

Updated on 2024-09-09 at 7:49 AM

Discovering Your Next Top Candidate

One of the best things you can do when hiring is to perform a pre-screening interview. It helps you weed out unqualified or uninterested candidates so you can invest your time in getting to know those that have massive potential.

Besides, resumes make great first impressions but don’t always tell the full story. Phone interviews give you a glimpse of their interpersonal skills, too!

5 Pre-screening Interview Questions To Ask

Pre-screening interviews are a critical component of the hiring process in Malaysia. By carefully crafting your questions, you can uncover invaluable insights about potential hires and significantly improve your chances of finding a top performer who is not only skilled but also a perfect match for your company culture and values. Here are the 5 types of pre-screening interview questions you can ask to screen candidates and identify your next star employee: 

1. Cover the basics

Do yourself (and the candidate) a favour by starting the conversation off with something simple and easy. There is no need to dig too deep just yet.

Open the conversation by asking them questions about themselves and see whether they satisfy your most basic requirements. If you have an urgent deadline to fill a position, it’s never too early to ask the candidate when they are available to start.

Get the non-negotiable requirements out of the way so you don’t end up wasting time on candidates that won’t be available to join you.

Begin the conversation with any of these questions:

• “Tell me about yourself.”
• “Why are you looking for jobs?”
• “What are you looking for in this position?”
• “Can you tell me about your educational / work background?”
• “When are you available to start working?”

Asking these pre-screening interview questions helps with job candidate screening in Malaysia, ensuring that only those who meet your most essential criteria move forward in the hiring process. By starting with these basics, you set the stage for a deeper conversation that will allow for an employee fit assessment later on.

2. Gauge the candidate’s interest

After determining whether they meet the basic qualifications for the role, you can then assess their level of interest in the job and the company.

Some foolproof questions include:

• “What drew you to apply for this position?”
• “What do you understand about the responsibilities this position require?”
• “What do you know about our company?”
• “Why did you choose to apply to our company?”
• “Are you familiar with what we do/sell?”

Using these pre-screening questions as part of your candidate selection process helps to reveal the true motivations and preparedness of the candidates. Incorporating these employment interview questions into your pre-screening strategy allows for a more thorough employee fit assessment, ensuring that you identify candidates who are genuinely interested and have the potential to excel in the role.

Quality candidates do their research and have a general understanding of what the position entails. If they aren’t sure and are keen to learn more, they will use this chance to implore further with you.

Be on the lookout for the kinds of questions they ask you – it can tell you a lot about their plans for the role!

3. Work Environment and Style

It can be a huge help to learn about the candidate’s work style and the working environment they’re looking for from the get-go. You’ll immediately have an idea whether they’ll be the right fit for your company’s working environment.

On the other hand, if it isn’t an exact match but you see potential, put a pin in the conversation and explore it in the next stage of the hiring process.

Some pre-screening questions you can ask are:

• “What does an ideal workday look like for you?”
• “What type of managing style works best for you?”
• “What is your working style like?”
• “What working environment do you thrive in?”
• “In your opinion, what do you think a team needs to be successful?”

You can also take this opportunity to educate the candidate on the work environment and working style at the company so they’ll know what to expect.

4. Personal Goals and Motivations

Nothing beats having a driven employee that’s determined to achieve the goal you set out as a company. To do this, both parties need to ensure their missions align. A pre-screening interview can make it easier for you to identify potential hires that share similar goals.

Discover what drives the candidate with these questions:

• “What type of work excites you?”
• “What personal goals are you currently working towards?”
• “What do you hope to achieve in this position?”
• “What do you enjoy about your current role?”
• “What motivates you to give your best work?”

Finding out what motivates the employee to perform is key information you can keep in mind for when you do end up hiring the candidate. This insight not only aids in the employee fit assessment but also helps in tailoring motivational strategies that enhance job satisfaction and productivity. Integrating such effective hiring techniques into your recruitment process ensures that you attract and retain top talent who are aligned with your company's goals. Understanding their personal goals and motivations during the pre-screening interview phase can significantly streamline the candidate selection process, leading to more informed hiring decisions and a stronger, more cohesive team.

5. Salary and Employee Benefit Expectations

Some candidates may shy away from answering questions about salary and employee benefits head on but if you have little room for adjustments to your hiring budget, it may be beneficial to get it out of the way.

Candidates will appreciate knowing earlier on if your company has the salary or benefits they are looking for to meet their needs.

Cut straight to the chase with these questions:

• “Are there any company benefits that are important to you?”
• “What are your salary expectations?”

Employer tip: If you have plans to expand your company benefits in the future, asking these questions will give you a look into what the job seeker market is looking for!

Implementing a structured pre-screening interview process is one of the best strategies you can adopt when hiring in Malaysia. It ensures that you spend your valuable time engaging with candidates who not only meet the basic qualifications but also show genuine interest and potential to excel in your company. By incorporating these five types of pre-screening interview questions, you gain deeper insights into each candidate's background, motivations, and fit for the role.

Alternatively, just skip the phone interview and let Aivi do the work for you!

If you are an employer hiring on Hiredly, you’ll have access to Aivi – our AI-enabled automated chatbot that does the pre-screening interviews for you.

This feature comes with every job you post on Hiredly so you no longer need to set aside time to physically call candidates yourself.

How Aivi works:

Aivi is activated using ‘Virtual Interviewer Tokens’. Once the token is applied to a job, Aivi automatically launches virtual interviews with up to 50 candidates. If the average phone interview takes you 15 minutes, you just saved 750 minutes on phoning candidates one by one!

How Aivi helps you screen candidates:

• Save time with our preset questions.
• Gauge the candidate’s interest from the way they respond to Aivi’s questions.
• Learn information about the candidate not available on their resume.
• Use the customisable question slot to ask a unique question, lead candidates to a skill test or request for portfolios.

Ready to elevate your recruitment game with Hiredly? Get in touch with us today at hiredly.com/employer!

By Kimberly Chang on 2023-11-27 at 7:11 AM