Candidate Screening Call Script + 12 Questions (India)

Job portals and social posts can send a recruiter 200 applications for one opening. Most of those candidates have also applied to five other companies the same week, so the first recruiter who calls usually gets the interview. That makes the first screening call the most important — and most repeated — call in Indian hiring.

This guide gives you a ready-to-use candidate screening call script for India, the 12 phone screening questions worth asking, a simple scoring sheet, and the rules to follow so candidates trust your call instead of hanging up on it.

What a screening call should (and shouldn't) do

A phone screen is not an interview. Its only job is to answer one question: should this person spend an hour with the hiring manager? A good screen takes 4–6 minutes and checks five things:

• Interest — is the candidate still looking, and do they remember applying?
• Must-haves — years of experience, key skill, licence or degree the role legally or practically needs.
• Location and mode — current city, willingness to relocate or commute, office/hybrid/field.
• Notice period — in India this is often 30, 60 or 90 days and decides whether the timeline works.
• Salary fit — current CTC and expected CTC, compared with your budget band.

Everything else — culture fit, deep technical skill, attitude under pressure — belongs in the interview.

Candidate screening call script (English, Hindi, Telugu)

Use this script word for word, or load it into an AI calling agent. Keep the opening short: candidates get many spam and fake-job calls, so the first 10 seconds must prove you are real.

1. Opening and identity

English: "Hello, am I speaking with [Name]? This is [Your name] from [Company]. You applied for the [Role] position on [Naukri / our website / LinkedIn]. Is this a good time for a 5-minute call?"

Hindi: "Namaste, kya main [Name] se baat kar raha hoon? Main [Company] se [Your name] bol raha hoon. Aapne [Role] ke liye apply kiya tha. Kya abhi 5 minute baat kar sakte hain?"

Telugu: "Namaskaram, [Name] garu na? Nenu [Company] nundi [Your name] ni. Meeru [Role] job ki apply chesaru. Ippudu oka 5 nimishalu matladavachha?"

If they say no: "No problem — what time today or tomorrow suits you?" Book the slot and end the call. A rushed screen gives you bad answers.

2. Consent and recording line

"This call is recorded so our hiring team can review your answers. Is that okay?" Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you should tell people why you are collecting their data and use it only for that purpose — here, evaluating their application.

3. The 12 screening questions

1. "Are you still looking for a new role?"
2. "Which company are you working with now, and what is your role there?"
3. "How many years of experience do you have in [key skill / domain]?"
4. "Have you worked with [must-have tool, licence or process]? Can you tell me where?"
5. "Which city are you in right now?"
6. "This role is [office in Madhapur / hybrid / field job across Hyderabad]. Does that work for you?"
7. "What is your notice period? Is any part of it negotiable or bought out?"
8. "What is your current CTC?"
9. "What CTC are you expecting?"
10. "Do you have any other offers or interviews in process right now?"
11. "Which languages are you comfortable speaking with customers?" (for customer-facing roles)
12. "Do you have any questions about the role before we schedule the next step?"

4. Close and next step

If shortlisted: "Thank you. Your profile matches what the team is looking for. I have interview slots on [Day] at [Time 1] or [Time 2]. Which one works? You'll get a confirmation on WhatsApp or email."

If not a fit right now: "Thank you for your time. For this role the team needs [must-have], so we won't move forward right now, but we'll keep your profile for similar openings."

Always close the loop. A clear "no" protects your employer brand far more than silence.

Screening scorecard: shortlist in 30 seconds

Score each candidate right after the call (or let your AI agent fill it in automatically). Anyone with a 0 on a must-have is out, regardless of the total.

Check	2 points	1 point	0 points
Interest	Actively looking	Open to offers	Not looking
Must-have skill / experience	Meets or exceeds	Close (trainable gap)	Missing
Location / work mode	Fits now	Will relocate / commute	Won't work
Notice period	Immediate–30 days	31–60 days	Over your limit
Expected CTC	Within band	Up to 10% above	Far above band

A score of 8–10 goes straight to interview scheduling on the same call. 6–7 goes to the recruiter for a judgement call. Below 6, send a polite regret.

Rules that keep screening calls trustworthy

Questions to avoid

Don't ask about religion, caste, marital status, pregnancy, family plans or age unless a law specifically requires it for the role. These questions aren't job-relevant, they put candidates off, and they can lead to discrimination complaints.

Never ask for money or OTPs

Fake job offers that ask for "registration" or "training" fees are common in India, so careful candidates are suspicious of unknown numbers. Say clearly on the call that your process is free, and never ask for payments, bank details or OTPs during screening.

Call from an identifiable number at sensible hours

Call between roughly 10 am and 7 pm, from a number candidates can call back. Calls about an application the candidate submitted are generally treated as service calls, but you still need clean records of where each applicant came from. Our guide to TRAI DLT rules for AI calling explains number series and registration.

Store answers once, in one place

Write the answers straight into your ATS or a shared sheet. If the hiring manager has to call the candidate again to ask the same questions, the screen failed.

How many screening calls can one recruiter make?

Here's a rough working estimate. A screen takes about 5 minutes. Add dialling, unanswered calls, callbacks and notes, and a recruiter usually completes 40–60 real screens in a full day of focused calling. Most recruiters don't get a full day: they also brief hiring managers, schedule panels and chase offers. A role with 200 applicants can therefore take a recruiter a week of calling. By then the best candidates have often accepted interviews elsewhere.

That gap is why teams now automate the first round. For a fuller headcount method, see how many telecallers you need. The same formula works for recruiters.

Automating the first screen with an AI recruiter

An AI voice agent can run this exact script. It calls each applicant minutes after they apply, asks your screening questions in the candidate's language, fills in the scorecard and books shortlisted candidates into open interview slots. It can also send day-before interview reminders to help cut no-shows. Your recruiters then spend their time on the candidates who already passed.

RANA AI for HR and recruitment does this in 11 Indian languages plus English. Every call is recorded, transcribed, summarised and scored. RANA AI plans start at ₹13,999 a month (excluding GST) for 1,000 connected minutes, which covers about 200 five-minute screening calls, or more when many calls end early. A starter checklist before you switch it on:

• Write your 5 must-haves and the budget CTC band for the role.
• Decide which score sends a candidate straight to scheduling.
• Share 2–3 weeks of panel availability for interview slots.
• Pick the languages your applicants actually speak — Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and more.
• Test the agent on 10 real applicants and read the transcripts before scaling up.

You can try it on your own script with a free trial. Upload a small applicant list and listen to how the calls go before you commit.