If you're a recruiter hiring engineers, you know the struggle — we only have so much time in a day to prescreen candidates. So ideally, we aim for 20 to 30 minutes for each call. And honestly, that’s the sweet spot.

Because if you wrap it up in 10–15 minutes, you probably didn’t dig deep enough.
But if you go past 40 minutes, you sound long-winded… or the candidate starts wondering why you're giving them a full technical interview.

So we have to be smart with our time. And that means asking questions that reveal both technical depth and attitude

Over the years, I’ve narrowed it down to three questions that always work — and honestly, they work across almost every industry.

Question 1: The Real-Work Test

👉 “Tell me about a piece of code someone else originally built, and you had to work on it. What was your approach?”

And if you're in another industry, adapt it — ask about a task they had to take over from someone else.

A great answer sounds like:
“First I tried to understand the logic… then I made improvements… and checked in with the teammate who built it.”

Thoughtful n  Collaborative.

Red flags sound like:
“That code was a mess.”
“No one knew what they were doing.”

If they trash past teammates, they’ll trash yours too — I’ve seen it happen.

Question 2: The “We vs. I” Test

👉 “Walk me through a recent feature or project you worked on — what was your part in it?”

Listen to the pronouns.

Healthy engineers say:
“We launched this.”
“I handled the backend while frontend covered X.”

Balanced.

Red flags?
“I built everything.”
“I drove the whole project.”

Software is never a solo sport — this tells you instantly if there’s ego in the mix.

Question 3: The Business Understanding Test

👉 “Walk me through your project’s functionality — how does the system work end to end?”

You’re checking if they can clearly explain:

• what the product does
• what problem it solves
• where their work fits in

If they really worked on it, they’ll explain it like a story.
If they didn’t, it’ll sound vague or memorized.

Try these on your next call — they’ll save you from sending the wrong candidate to your hiring manager.

Happy Candidate Screening!