Answers for three common job screener questions
Tell me about yourself. What's your experience with <role expertise area>? What are you looking for in your next role?
Hey, it’s 📣 Coach Erika! Welcome to a ✨ paid edition✨ of The Career Whispers. Each week I tackle reader questions about tech careers: how to get one, how to navigate them, and how to grow and thrive in your role.
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Today, I will teach you my tried-and-true frameworks for answering the three most common initial job screen questions (even if you already think you know).
I find that most people overestimate their ability to “wing it” and pass an initial screen.
They may have all the qualifications for the role, but there’s a difference between being able to do the job and being able to articulately and confidently convey your skills, interest, and relevance to HR, recruiters, or other screeners who aren’t directly involved in the day-to-day job.
I also find that just 1-2 hours invested in learning key response frameworks can significantly improve candidate confidence and success rates in initial screens.
Most people have a huge blind spot in this area, and many of you will assume this isn't your main issue. Many of you will be wrong.
I didn’t know how to answer job screening questions 3 years ago before I became a coach, for sure. I used to wing my screens, too.
But for candidates not passing initial job screens, you must dive deeper into why you are failing. There are 4 common root causes:
Your verbal career story is lacking (the way they answer “Tell me About Yourself” or “Why do you want this job?”)
You gave comp numbers (and they are way off)
Your answers to screening questions aren’t satisfactory
You threw some red flags (unintentionally)
Confident you know how to answer screener questions? No problem, but humor me and bookmark this post.
These frameworks have helped over 200 people land top-tier tech jobs in record time, with limited job search burnout and high pass rates through every interview phase. I know they work.
Let’s dive in ↓
Common Job Screen Question #1: “Tell me About Yourself” (career path verification)
Why they ask
Sometimes it’s because they didn’t have time to read your resume.
Sometimes it’s because they want to throw you a softball to get started (this is the most common interview question of all time).
Sometimes, they just want to hear how you tell your career story — what you highlight and how you narrate speaks volumes about your strategic thinking, storytelling, ego, and communication skills.
What they need to hear:
a short (2-4 minutes max)
concise (think: "safari tour" not "NYTimes Bestselling Presidential Biography")
explanation of how your professional past maps to this role:
where you've been
what you've learned along the way
what you're bringing to the table
Coach Erika’s response framework
For each job you've had, succinctly explain:
why you took the role (a strategic reason)
what you gained (mapped to the skills or requirements for the job you're applying for)
why you moved on (a strategic reason)
End with why this job (the one you’re interviewing for) leverages your expertise and furthers your professional goals.
👀 Look ma, it works:
Common Job Screen Question #2: “Tell me about your experience with ____” (expertise verification)
Why they ask
Three reasons, listed in order of frequency:
To verify your experience articulation matches the claims on your resume.
To understand the depth of your knowledge on a particular skill or domain listed on the resume (the requested skill or experience is usually one that is critical to the role, though you may not know that beforehand).
The interviewer is just plain curious about something on the resume.
What they need to hear (and how to respond)
For #1 (resume match): they need to hear you describe your experience in line with the depth, proficiency, and level of understanding you convey on the resume.
For #2 (core job skill proficiency): it often depends on the role and the skill.
(maybe they are looking for a product manager with depth building BLE-connected iOS apps, so they ask questions about your knowledge).
The interviewers know what they are looking for, though, and the key here is to explain what you know.
Avoid making assumptions about why they are asking about this skill area because it can throw off your response (and your confidence).