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Bengaluru, India

  1. Home
  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 members of a protected group at a substantially lower rate than others.
  • AI interviewerAn AI interviewer is software that conducts an interview on an employer’s behalf, asking the questions, managing time and, in many tools, asking follow-ups and producing a scored write-up.
  • Applicant drop-offApplicant drop-off is the share of candidates who start a step in your hiring process but leave before finishing it, or who never move on to the next one.
  • Applicant tracking system (ATS)An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that stores job openings, applications and candidate records, and moves candidates through the stages of a hiring process.
  • Asynchronous interviewAn asynchronous interview is any interview where the candidate and the employer don’t take part at the same time: the candidate completes it when it suits them, and the team reviews it later.

B

  • Behavioral interview questionA behavioral interview question asks a candidate to describe a specific thing they did in the past, on the idea that past behavior in similar situations is a useful guide to future behavior.

C

  • Candidate experienceCandidate experience is how applicants perceive and feel about your hiring process, from the job post through every interview to the final decision, including rejection.
  • Candidate funnelA candidate funnel is the sequence of stages applicants move through in a hiring process, from first seeing a job to accepting an offer, measured by how many people reach each stage.
  • CompetencyA competency is a combination of skills, knowledge and behavior that someone needs to do a job well, described so that it can be observed and assessed.
  • Conversational AI interviewA conversational AI interview is an asynchronous interview 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 conversation in a hiring process, used to decide which candidates move on to deeper interviews with the team.

H

  • High-volume hiringHigh-volume hiring is recruiting for many openings, or roles with many applicants, at once, where the challenge is giving each candidate 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 systematic error that makes an interviewer rate a candidate on something other than their ability to do the job.
  • Interview rubricAn interview rubric describes what answers at each score level look 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 role needs and gives interviewers a consistent way to rate each candidate against them, with space for evidence.

J

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

K

  • Knockout questionA knockout question is a yes/no or multiple-choice screening question where one answer disqualifies a candidate because they don’t meet a hard requirement of the job.

O

  • One-way video interviewA one-way video interview is a recorded interview where candidates read or hear preset questions 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 a candidate needs in a screening step to move forward for review.
  • Phone screenA phone screen is a short call, usually 15 to 30 minutes, in which a recruiter checks a candidate’s interest, basic requirements and communication before inviting them to a full interview.
  • Pre-screeningPre-screening is the step between an application and a live interview where an employer checks basic fit and core skills, so interview time goes to the most promising candidates.

S

  • ShortlistA shortlist is the small group of candidates, chosen from everyone who applied or was screened, whom the hiring team decides to take forward to the next stage.
  • Situational interview questionA situational interview question describes a realistic scenario from the job and asks the candidate what they would do, testing judgment rather than recall of past experience.
  • Skills-based hiringSkills-based hiring is an approach that judges candidates on what they can demonstrably do, rather than on proxies like degrees, job titles or years of experience.
  • STAR methodThe STAR method is a way of structuring an answer to a behavioral question in four parts: Situation, Task, Action and Result.
  • Structured interviewA structured interview asks every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and rates their answers against the same predefined criteria.

T

  • Talent poolA talent pool is a group of candidates 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 a candidate entering your process, usually by applying, and accepting your offer.
  • Time to screenTime to screen is how long it takes from a candidate applying to the moment your team has a clear screening result for them, such as a phone-screen verdict or a scored interview.

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