Some recruiters attempt to skip the interviewing process when selecting candidates for employers. This is a huge mistake that could cost time, money and a client's business if you send the wrong employee to a job site.

The screening interview may be the best style of interviewing for recruiters who are short staffed and have little time to conduct face-to-face interviews.  A screening interview is used to quickly and easily qualify (or disqualify) a candidate for an employer. This type of interview should be used to quickly assess a job candidate's character, intelligence, work background and general qualifications. Below are a few cost effective ways to conduct screening interviews.

Telephone Interview
The same rules apply in a telephone interview that you would use in a face-to-face interview. Telephone interviews may also be tape recorded; but you are required by law to tell the job candidate that you are recording the interview in advance.  The recording gives you the opportunity to review the candidate's responses and further improve your ability to screen them.

The Computer Interview
The computer interview usually involves a series of multiple-choice questions that the job candidate can answer via email or online.  With the right set of questions a recruiter can easily assess a job candidate's appropriateness for a potential employer.  For this type of interview it's important to choose questions that will assess the job candidate's ethics, character and personality.

Video Conference Interview
The video conference interview is a convenient and cost effective interviewing method that has all of the benefits of the telephone interview with the added advantage of seeing the candidate's visual presentation.  Cheap and free video conferencing is available online through companies such as Skype.

No matter what type of interview you choose, it is important to screen job candidates before you send them to an employer.