Interviewing & screening practices
Better questions, sharper scorecards, faster scheduling, and screening processes that surface real signal. Practical guides for running interviews that actually tell you who can do the job, written by recruiters who do this every day.
Latest in Interviewing & screening practices
Fixing one-way interview technical issues starts with your invite link
Most one-way interview drop-off traces back to the in-app browser a candidate tapped the link from, not candidate disinterest. Here's the actual mechanism, and what to check first.
Front desk coordinator vs office manager and how to tell which you need
Small businesses often can't tell these two titles apart from a job description. Here's the actual dividing line between them, the pay gap that proves it's real, and a rubric for telling which one you need before you post the role.
A first-timer's checklist for hiring a role you've never hired before
Most 'first time hiring' advice is written for a business hiring its very first employee. Yours is a different problem: judging candidates for a role type you've never filled, in work you've never done yourself.
A first-timer's guide to setting up pre-employment testing
You don't need a validated baseline to run your first pre-employment test. You need four decisions and a willingness to fix your first guess after your first batch of candidates.
Does video interviewing actually work? What the research says
Video interview vendors love citing Schmidt and Hunter. That study never mentioned a webcam. Here's what the research that actually tested video says, and the two questions worth asking before you believe any vendor's number applies to their tool.
How to share candidate interviews with your hiring committee
Every video interview tool already lets you send a link. The part nobody solves is what a stranger is allowed to see once they click it, and that's the part that actually decides whether committee hiring works.
Most types of job interviews assume a hiring team you don't have
Every guide to interview types hands you the same menu: panel, round-robin, group, structured, one-way video. Almost none of it works when you're the only person doing the hiring. Here's the menu sorted by what a solo hirer can actually run.
Why your seasonal hiring surge always feels like a fire drill
Camps, pools, and seasonal franchise locations know the exact week the flood of applications is coming every year. Here's why that knowledge never actually makes the week easier, and the one change that does.
How to hire a CPA you can actually trust with your taxes
A practical guide for small business owners: what a CPA actually does, how to tell a real license from a resume claim, what to test before you hire, and the red flags that matter.
Resume screening vs skills assessment, and which comes first
Resume screening and skills assessments answer different questions, so the real sequencing logic depends on what each one can prove, not which is cheaper to run first.
How to assess culture fit without relying on gut feel
Better culture-fit questions don't remove gut feel from hiring, they just give it a script. Here's how to score judgment, work style, and environment fit before you ever get someone on a call.
A one-way video interview guide for hiring without a recruiter
Most one-way video interview guides, including HireVue's, are written for a hiring team with an ATS and a panel of reviewers. If you're hiring alone, half that advice doesn't transfer. Here's how one-way interviews actually work when there's no one to hand any of it to but you.
General manager interview questions for small business owners
Why the interview room is the wrong place to decide alone on your highest-stakes hire, plus the general manager interview questions that actually hold up.
How to tell if a candidate is a good fit for your small business
Culture-fit advice assumes you have a team to loop in for interviews, office tours, and reference calls. Here's how to read fit as evidence you can act on alone, before you ever get a candidate on a call.
How to screen hourly candidates without a resume
Most hourly and trades job posts require a resume before anything else. Most of the best candidates for those roles have never needed one. Here's how to screen for skill and reliability without that gate.
A practical guide to pre-employment testing
What pre-employment tests actually measure, which types to use and when, what makes a test useful versus risky, and how to fit testing into a screening process without tanking completion rates.
How to hire a bookkeeper who keeps your books clean
A practical guide for small business owners, ops leads, and office managers: what a bookkeeper actually does, where they differ from accountants and controllers, how to write the posting, what to test, and the red flags that matter.
How to hire a customer service representative who can actually handle your customers
The skills that make a great CS rep don't show up on a resume. This guide walks through sourcing, job posting, screening, interview questions, red flags, and comp. Use it to hire someone who holds up under volume, pressure, and difficult customers.
How to hire a customer success manager who actually retains customers
A practical guide for CS leaders and operators: what great CSMs actually look like, where to source candidates, how to write the posting, how to structure the screening process, interview questions that surface real capability, and comp context for 2026.
How to hire a recruiter who can actually close reqs
Hiring a recruiter is one of the highest-leverage decisions a growing company makes. Get it right and your whole hiring function accelerates. Get it wrong and you spend months managing someone who's great at process talk and slow at filling seats.
How to hire a sales rep who actually closes
A practical guide for sales leaders and recruiters: what great reps actually look like, where to find them, how to write the posting, and how to run a screening process that separates real closers from polished interviewers.
How to hire an account executive who closes full-cycle deals
A practical guide for sales leaders and hiring teams: what separates real AEs from polished interviewers, how to write the posting, where to source, how to run a screening process built around closing evidence, and how to think about comp.
How to hire an executive assistant who actually makes you faster
The difference between a good EA and a great one is judgment, not just organization. This guide covers what to look for, where to source candidates, how to write the posting, and how to run a screening process that catches the real thing.
How to hire employees for a startup when everyone interviews well
Most startup hiring advice tells you what to look for and never how to see it past a candidate's interview performance. Here's the founder playbook for breaking the facade and hiring the real person.
Why talent evaluation goes sideways more often than the rubric admits
Most talent evaluation problems don't come from a bad rubric. They come from criteria that change shape between intake and debrief, and evidence that doesn't travel between the people deciding.
20 communication skills interview questions and how to score them
"Are you a good communicator?" is the laziest question in interviewing. The 20 questions here actually evaluate the specific sub-skills that make someone communicate well at work.
20 conflict resolution interview questions that surface how someone actually handles conflict
Most conflict resolution questions get the same rehearsed answer: 'we talked it out and found common ground.' These 20 questions make that answer unavailable.
20 leadership interview questions that work for non-managers too
Leadership isn't a manager title. It's a set of behaviors you can interview for at any level. Here are 20 questions that surface them, for first-time managers, senior ICs, and execs.
20 panel interview questions that actually triangulate (and how to score them)
Most panel interview questions are a single interviewer's question asked in a louder room. The questions that work in a panel format do something only a panel can, generate signal across multiple criteria at once.
20 problem-solving interview questions and what good answers actually sound like
Most problem-solving questions test whether the candidate can sound smart under pressure. The ones that matter test how they think when the answer isn't already in their head.
20 teamwork interview questions that don't sound like every other teamwork question
"Are you a team player?" gets you a yes from everyone, including the people who aren't. The questions that actually evaluate teamwork are the ones the candidate hasn't already rehearsed.
Panel interviews: when they actually work, when they don't, and what's replacing them
Panel interviews were designed to reduce bias by triangulating multiple interviewers. In practice they usually amplify the loudest panelist's opinion and produce a worse candidate experience. Here's the version that actually works.
Structured interview questions: the 25 that actually work and the rubric to score them
Structure isn't about formality. It's about asking every candidate the same questions in the same order so the scores are comparable. Here are the questions that build a structured loop from scratch.
Structured vs. unstructured interviews: what the research says and what most teams still get wrong
Structured interviews outperform unstructured ones on nearly every measurable axis, predictive validity, fairness, legal defensibility. Most teams know this and still run unstructured. Here's why, and what a structured loop actually looks like.
What is a hiring manager? The role, the decisions, and why software for them keeps missing
"Hiring manager" is treated as a job title but it's actually a process role, the person who owns one open seat. Most recruiting tools confuse the two, which is why most hiring managers hate the tools they're handed.
A reference check form template that verifies what your screening already told you
Most reference check form templates are built to discover. Here's one organized by what each question is verifying, plus the framing every other guide skips.
The dos and don'ts of social media background checks most guides skip
Most social media background check guides treat the activity as a given. Here's the prior question, the legal floor, and what to fix one stage upstream.
Why your interview notes template was built for an interview that doesn't exist anymore
Most interview notes advice solves the wrong job. Here's what the note is actually for in a stack that already records and ranks the evidence.
Why your interview rubric isn't getting opened during interviews
Most interview rubric advice fixes the doc and ignores the workflow. Here is why the rubric and the evidence have to live in the same place.
How to check if a freelancer is good before hiring them (Truffle's process)
Stop hiring freelancers based on polished proposals and borrowed portfolios. This is the 20-minute screening process that marketplace operators and agencies use to separate the real ones from the noise, without a single discovery call.
The best interview questions to ask candidates (and why most lists get it wrong)
The only interview questions guide that tells you what to ask, how to score the answers, and which popular questions to stop using immediately.
What is a personality hire (and when does it actually work)?
TikTok made "personality hire" a meme. Here's why it keeps happening and how to screen for likability without skipping the part where you check if they can do the work.
What is a video interview? Types, how they work, and why companies use them
A video interview is a screening format where candidates respond to interview questions on video. There are two types: live (both people present) and one-way (candidates record answers on their own schedule). This post explains how each works, when companies use them, and what to expect as a candidate.
A practical plan for hiring manager interview training
Companies spend thousands sourcing candidates, then hand them off to hiring managers who've never been trained to interview. The cost of that gap is bad hires, legal risk, and broken candidate experience.
Active sourcing gets candidates. Your screening process loses them.
Active sourcing finds candidates. Slow screening loses them. Here's how to fix the conversion gap most teams ignore.
Candidate recruitment is broken. The fix isn't more sourcing.
Most candidate recruitment strategies obsess over sourcing. The real bottleneck is screening, and it's costing you the best matches.
How to screen candidates without losing your mind (or your best matches)
You have 150 candidates for one open position. Your hiring manager wants a shortlist by Friday. If you phone-screened every one of them, you'd need 30+ hours. You don't have 30 hours. You probably don't have 10.
One-way interview questions that actually reveal candidate fit
Most recruiters paste their phone screen script into a one-way interview and wonder why every response sounds the same. The format changed. Your questions didn't.
Video interview tips for employers that actually improve results
You added video interviews to your hiring process three months ago. Completion rates are hovering around 40%. Two candidates left Glassdoor reviews calling the experience "impersonal" and "confusing." Now you're wondering if phone screens were actually better.
What are asynchronous interviews and do they work in 2026?
An asynchronous interview, also called a one-way interview, is a screening format where a candidate answers pre-set questions on their own time, usually by video, and you review the response later instead of meeting live.
40 entry-level interview questions that actually reveal who can do the job
Most entry-level interview questions test whether someone can rehearse an answer. These 40 questions test whether they can actually do the work.
10 signs you're interviewing a red flag candidate
Here are the 10 signs you're interviewing a red flag candidate.
15 video interview templates for hiring success
Standardize your interviews with these 15 templates designed for one-way video formats. Clear questions, evaluation criteria, and role-specific examples included.
20 common interview mistakes made by the interviewer (and how to avoid them)
What candidates should wear on a one-way or Zoom video interview, and how hiring teams can share attire guidance that keeps the focus on answers.
7 proven strategies to handle too many job applicants
You posted one role and woke up to 300 resumes. Here's how to cut the pile to a short list you can trust, without a recruiter, without reading every application.
A simple resume screening checklist to save you time
Learn how to screen resumes quickly and objectively with this practical checklist. Avoid bias, spot red flags, and find the right candidates without wasting time.
Can you record a job interview? What the law says, why it matters, and how to do it right
The root causes of the restaurant labor shortage, its impact on hiring, and practical solutions from screening tools to retention strategies.
Essential tips for acing your one-way video interview
One-way video interviews feel strange for a reason. No live interviewer, no feedback, just you and a camera. But with the right preparation, you can turn an awkward experience into a real advantage. Here’s how to show up confident, polished, and ready to move forward.
Follow-up email template after an async video interview
Most candidates don’t follow up after async video interviews. That’s exactly why you should. This guide covers follow-up strategies, timing, and 7 ready-to-use templates to stand out.
How knockout questions work (and why Truffle automates them for you)
Most applicants don’t get rejected by people; they get filtered out by knockout questions. This guide explains how to use them well, and how Truffle automates the process so you never waste time on the wrong fit.
How many rounds of interviews is normal?
A hiring manager's guide to the WHO interview methodology: scorecards, structured interviews, and how to screen for outcomes instead of gut feel.
How to conduct an interview that actually tells you something
Most interviews test how well someone interviews. The useful ones test how someone works. Here's how to structure questions, judge evidence over vibes, and screen well enough that the live conversation is worth having.
How to create an interview scorecard (with free template)
Learn how interview scorecards can improve hiring by standardizing evaluations, reducing bias, and enabling data-driven decisions. Includes templates and best practices.
How to create the best hiring assessments
Discover the best hiring assessments to improve your hiring process. Learn how AI, structured job analysis, and real-world job simulations can help you hire.
How to find candidates who can make tough decisions
Most decision-making interview questions reward a clean story with a happy ending. That's exactly what a prepared candidate gives you. The signal lives in the messy middle, so ask for that instead.
How to give interview feedback without burning bridges
Knowing how to tell someone they didn’t get the job is just as important as telling someone they did. This guide covers best practices and real-world interview feedback examples to help you deliver decisions with clarity and professionalism without burning bridges.
How to make one-way video interviews fully accessible
Make your one-way interviews inclusive without slowing hiring. Learn ADA and WCAG-aligned tactics; captions, screen-reader support, flexible timing, and clear accommodation workflows.
How to nail the intake call with a hiring manager (+ questions)
In this article, I’m going to walk you through how to absolutely crush your intake call, set the foundation for a smooth recruiting process.
How to request availability for an interview (+ email templates)
A smooth scheduling process is a sign of a smooth operation, and that's exactly what you want to convey with your interview availability email.
One-way video interview invitation email templates
One-way video interviews only work if candidates actually complete them. These email templates are designed to boost response rates, reduce confusion, and make your process feel more human.
Situational interview questions that AI can’t answer convincingly
As AI-polished answers flood the hiring process, situational interview questions remain one of the few tools that reliably reveal authentic thinking.
The complete guide to hiring a virtual assistant in 2026
Hiring a virtual assistant can save you dozens of hours a week...but only if you do it right. This guide breaks down the 22 most important tips for hiring a VA who actually delivers value.
The ultimate guide to the WHO interview method
A hiring manager’s guide to the WHO interview method, also called topgrading: scorecards, the topgrading question set, structured interviews, and how to screen for outcomes instead of gut feel.
The ultimate guide to video interview questions
Master the most common video interview questions and learn how to stand out on camera.
The ultimate interview schedule template & best practices
A candidate interview schedule template lays out the timing, format, and people involved in each interview stage, so your team stays organized and candidates know what to expect. Copy the free example below.
Top interview questions for assessing flexibility in candidates
Here are five thoughtful flexibility interview questions that get to the heart of how a candidate has demonstrated resilience.
Video script examples for introducing async interviews to candidates
A clear, thoughtful intro can make or break a one-way interview. Use these 15 ready-made scripts to welcome candidates, set expectations, and streamline your screening process.
Hiring software was built for a recruiter you don't have
Most hiring happens without a recruiter. Here's who we build Truffle for, and why the decision should still be yours.
