Engineering Phone Screen: Listening for Alignment

When I’m hiring engineers, the phone screen is our first real conversation. It sets the tone for everything that follows. Over the years, I’ve found that it can reveal far more than a resume ever could. It’s the first chance to listen — not just to what someone has done, but how they see their own work, how they relate to others, and what they’re looking for next.

I don’t treat it as a gatekeeping exercise. I’m listening for alignment.

Let Them Tell the Story

Rather than marching through a checklist, I usually start by inviting the candidate to walk me through their work history. What they choose to highlight matters. It tells me how they think about their growth, what they’re proud of, and what kind of roles they tend to gravitate toward.

I’ll ask questions as we go — sometimes to clarify, sometimes to go deeper. I want to know:

• How did they work with others?
• What were the hard parts, and what did they learn?
• Where did they take on more responsibility?

A good resume might give me facts. A good conversation gives me insight.

Looking for Growth, Teamwork, and Context Fit

I’m listening for more than competence. I want to know if someone grows through their work. If they collaborate well. If they take ownership. If they’re resilient. These are all good signals.

But I’m also paying close attention to context.

I often work in small, dynamic organizations. We move fast, adjust often, and rely on people to step into ambiguity with a sense of ownership. I’ve found that candidates coming from large, well-structured organizations sometimes struggle in that environment — not because they’re less capable, but because the operating assumptions are different.

So I ask questions to understand:

• Have they worked in unstructured or fast-moving environments?
• How do they handle wearing multiple hats?
• What do they do when a process doesn’t exist yet?

I’m not trying to weed out people from big companies. But I want to know if the environment we’re hiring into will support their success — and if it matches what they’re actually looking for.

Where Are They Headed?

Toward the end of the call, I usually ask where they see themselves heading. It’s not a trick question. I want to understand their motivations and career direction. If we’re going to do good work together, it has to be a fit not just for us, but for them.

This is also where I check for alignment on stage and scale. Some candidates are looking for hypergrowth or a rocket ship. That’s not us — and I want to be honest about that. Others are looking for stability, mentorship, or a place to take the next step without getting lost in a huge org. That’s a much better match.

Listening for the Ideal Team Player

This is probably the most important part of the phone screen. If something is off here, we don’t move forward. I borrow Patrick Lencioni’s framework (The Ideal Team Player) and listen carefully for signs that someone is hungry, humble, and people-smart.

Here’s what I’m listening for:

• Hungry: They care. They’re motivated to contribute and keep learning. I look for signs of initiative — like a project they started on their own, or a time they stepped up when no one asked them to.
• Humble: They recognize others, reflect on their mistakes, and don’t need to posture. If they talk about wins as shared, and mistakes as learning moments, that’s a strong sign.
• Smart (in the emotional sense): They work well with others. They notice dynamics. They communicate clearly. I pay attention to how they describe team challenges or conflicts — do they show empathy and awareness, or just assign blame?

It’s rare for someone to be perfectly balanced in all three — but I’m listening for orientation. Are they growing in this direction? Would they thrive on a team that values these things?

A Mutual Fit

I always leave time at the end for the candidate to ask questions. I want them to get a feel for who we are, how we work, and whether this is the kind of team they’d be excited to join. They should leave the call with a clearer sense of what they’re saying yes to, if we keep moving forward.

A good phone screen isn’t just about checking boxes. It’s about understanding people. It’s about helping both sides decide whether to keep moving forward.

That starts with listening. So I try to ask honest questions, follow the thread of the conversation, and create space for the candidate to show me who they are — not just what they’ve done.

That’s what I want from the first conversation. Not certainty, but clarity. Enough to know if it makes sense to keep going.

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While this post focuses on engineering hiring, I’ve found the same posture valuable in other roles too — whether I’m hiring for a sign shop, a coffee roastery, or a nonprofit-facing team. The signals look different, but the listening is just as important.