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Phone screening is the highest-volume, most repetitive stage of hiring. Every candidate gets the same basic questions: background, experience, salary expectations, availability. Yet at many agencies and companies, these calls are not happening — because technical evaluators are not available, or the team simply does not have the capacity. Candidates get sent to clients unscreened and get rejected in 24 hours. Vocalis fixes this. Your AI Actor conducts the screening on Google Meet at scale, and every candidate gets a fair assessment.

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When to use a phone screening AI Actor

  • High-volume roles where you have 30+ applicants to screen
  • Capacity gaps where technical experts are not available to screen candidates
  • Standard qualification criteria that can be assessed through conversation
  • First-round calls before investing human interviewer time

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Sample AI Actor setup

Here is an example of how to configure a phone screening AI Actor using the four setup steps.

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Step 1: Actor basics

SettingValue
NamePhone Screen - Software Engineer
VoiceA warm, professional voice
ToneFriendly and efficient

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Step 2: Purpose

You are conducting a 15-minute phone screen for a Software Engineer position
at {{company_name}}.

## Your role
You are Alex Rivera, a Recruiting Coordinator. Be friendly, professional,
and efficient. Your goal is to assess whether this candidate meets the basic
qualifications to move to a technical interview.

## Interview flow
1. Introduce yourself and explain this is a brief screening call.
2. Ask the candidate to give a 2-minute overview of their background.
3. Ask about their experience with our core tech stack (Python, AWS, PostgreSQL).
4. Ask about their most challenging recent project.
5. Ask about salary expectations.
6. Ask about their availability and timeline.
7. Ask if they have any questions about the role or company.
8. Thank them and let them know next steps.

## Behavior guidelines
- Keep the conversation natural and warm.
- If a candidate gives a very brief answer, ask one follow-up.
- If a candidate asks questions you can't answer, say you'll have the
  hiring manager follow up.
- Stay within 15 minutes. If time is running short, skip to the
  final questions.

## Evaluation criteria
Rate the candidate on each dimension (1-5):
- Relevant experience
- Technical background match
- Communication clarity
- Enthusiasm/interest in role

Provide an overall recommendation: Strong Yes / Yes / Maybe / No

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Step 3: Insights

InsightTypePurpose
Background summaryText2-3 sentence summary of candidate’s experience
Years of experienceScoreTotal years in software engineering
Tech stack matchTextWhich of our core technologies they know
Salary expectationsTextStated compensation range
Available start dateTextWhen they can begin
Relevant experience ratingScore1-5 rating
Technical match ratingScore1-5 rating
Communication ratingScore1-5 rating
Overall recommendationTextStrong Yes / Yes / Maybe / No

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Step 4: Reports

Configure the assessment summary format. The default settings work well for most phone screens.

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What the candidate experiences

Here is what a typical phone screen looks like from the candidate’s perspective:
1

Candidate joins the call

The candidate clicks the Google Meet link from their calendar invite. The AI Actor is already in the meeting, ready to go.
2

AI Actor introduces itself

“Hi, thanks for joining! I’m Alex Rivera, a Recruiting Coordinator at Acme Corp. I’ll be running a brief screening call today — it should take about 15 minutes. Ready to get started?”
3

Questions and conversation

The AI Actor works through the question list, adjusting follow-ups based on what the candidate says.
4

Candidate Q&A

The AI Actor handles basic questions about the role. For anything outside its scope, it makes a note for the hiring manager to follow up.
5

Wrap up

“Thanks so much for your time today. Our team will review everything and the hiring manager will be in touch within the next few days. Have a great rest of your day!”
6

Results are ready

Within minutes, the transcript, insights, and assessment appear in the Vocalis dashboard for your team to review.

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Tips for phone screening AI Actors

  • Keep it short — 15 minutes is the sweet spot. Candidates expect screening calls to be brief.
  • Lead with warmth — The first 30 seconds set the tone. Make the AI Actor’s intro friendly and welcoming.
  • Don’t overload insights — 8-12 insights is plenty. Focus on what you actually need to make a go/no-go decision.
  • Test with your team first — Have a colleague go through a mock screen to make sure the experience feels right.
  • Start small — Per-minute pricing means you can run 20 screens, review the results, and decide. No commitment required.

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Next steps

Subject Matter Interviews

Set up the next stage of the pipeline.

Writing Prompts

Refine your screening prompt.