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LessRounds

An AI interviewer that holds the first interview with each job applicant. You share it as a link. Fewer rounds. Better hires.

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Bengaluru, India

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  2. Glossary

Glossary

Hiring terms, in plain English.

Plain-English definitions of hiring and screening terms, from pre-screening and knockout questions to adverse impact, scorecards and time to hire.

ABCFHIJKOPST

A

  • Adverse impactAdverse impact is when a hiring practice that looks neutral selects people from a legally protected group, such as a particular race, sex or age group, at a much lower rate than others.
  • AI interviewerAn AI interviewer is software that runs an interview on an employer’s behalf: it asks the questions, keeps time and, in many tools, asks follow-up questions and writes up the results with scores.
  • Applicant drop-offApplicant drop-off is the share of applicants who start a step in your hiring process but leave before finishing it, or who never move on to the next step.
  • Applicant tracking system (ATS)An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that stores job openings, applications and records about each applicant, and tracks where each applicant is in the hiring process.
  • Asynchronous interviewAn asynchronous interview is any interview where the applicant and the employer don’t take part at the same time: the applicant completes it when it suits them, and the team reviews it later.

B

  • Behavioral interview questionA behavioral interview question asks an applicant to describe a specific thing they did in the past, because how someone acted in a similar situation before is a useful guide to how they’ll act next time.

C

  • Candidate experienceCandidate experience is how applicants see and feel about your hiring process, from the job post through every interview to the final decision, including being turned down.
  • Candidate funnelA candidate funnel is the series of steps applicants go through in a hiring process, from first seeing a job to accepting an offer, counted by how many people reach each step.
  • CompetencyA competency is a mix of skills, knowledge and behavior that someone needs to do a job well, described in a way that lets you observe and rate it.
  • Conversational AI interviewA conversational AI interview is an interview the applicant takes on their own time, in which an AI asks spoken questions, listens to the answers and asks follow-up questions, much as a human interviewer would.

F

  • First-round interviewA first-round interview is the first real interview in a hiring process, used to decide which applicants move on to longer interviews with the team.

H

  • High-volume hiringHigh-volume hiring means recruiting for many openings at once, or for jobs with very many applicants, where the challenge is giving each applicant a fair look without the process slowing down.
  • Hiring managerA hiring manager is the person who asked for a new hire and will usually manage them, and who typically makes or signs off on the final hiring decision.

I

  • Interview biasInterview bias is any repeated, predictable error that leads an interviewer to rate an applicant on something other than their ability to do the job.
  • Interview rubricAn interview rubric is a short written guide that describes what an answer at each score sounds like for a given question or skill, so different interviewers rate the same answer the same way.
  • Interview scorecardAn interview scorecard is a form that lists the skills a job needs and gives interviewers a consistent way to rate each applicant on them, with space to note the evidence.

J

  • Job requisitionA job requisition is a formal request to fill a job, usually listing the job title, team, budget and reason for hiring, which must be approved before hiring starts.

K

  • Knockout questionA knockout question is a yes/no or multiple-choice question on an application where one answer rules the applicant out, because it shows they don’t meet a must-have requirement of the job.

O

  • One-way video interviewA one-way video interview is a recorded interview in which applicants see or hear questions set in advance and record their answers on their own time, with no interviewer present.

P

  • Pass mark (cut-off score)A pass mark, or cut-off score, is the minimum score an applicant needs on an early hiring step, such as a first interview, to move forward for a person to review.
  • Phone screenA phone screen is a short phone call, usually 15 to 30 minutes, in which a recruiter checks that an applicant is still interested, meets the basic requirements and communicates clearly, before inviting them to a full interview.
  • Pre-screeningPre-screening is a quick check an employer does after someone applies and before a full interview, to confirm the basics and test a few key skills, so interview time goes to the most promising people.

S

  • ShortlistA shortlist is the small group of applicants, chosen from everyone who applied or was interviewed, that the hiring team decides to take forward to the next step.
  • Situational interview questionA situational interview question describes a realistic moment from the job and asks the applicant what they would do, testing their judgment rather than their memory of past experience.
  • Skills-based hiringSkills-based hiring means judging applicants on what they can show they can do, rather than on stand-ins like degrees, job titles or years of experience.
  • STAR methodThe STAR method is a way to structure an answer to a behavioral interview question, one that asks about something you did in the past, in four parts: Situation, Task, Action and Result.
  • Structured interviewA structured interview asks every applicant the same questions, in the same order, and rates their answers against the same standards, written down in advance.

T

  • Talent poolA talent pool is a group of people an employer has already found or assessed, kept on file so they can be considered for future openings.
  • Time to hireTime to hire is the number of days between an applicant entering your hiring process, usually by applying, and accepting your job offer.
  • Time to screenTime to screen is how long it takes from an applicant applying to the moment your team has a clear first result for them, such as notes from a phone interview or a scored interview.

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