The Cognitive
Screen 20 candidates by Friday
Set your numbers and see the week they take. Then take the full Claude screening kit: questions tied to the must-haves, probes for vague answers, a scorecard with anchors, red flags and a call agenda.
100+ recruiters have shared their feedback
“My front runner is … The Cognitive … Yours really beat JuiceBox, PIN, and Metaview”
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Minutes per call
Your week: 13 h 20 m of calls
20 / 20
Initials made up. Hours are only your inputs multiplied out. Not counted: sending times, chasing replies, rescheduling and write-ups.
The screening kit
Save this as SKILL.md in a folder called friday-screen, zip the folder, and add it in Claude's settings under Skills. Or paste it at the top of a new chat. Then paste the job description, the manager's notes and, for the CV questions, one candidate's CV.
---
name: friday-screen
description: Turns a role into a ready-to-run phone screen. Writes screening questions tied to the must-haves, follow-up probes, questions that test a candidate's CV, a scorecard with anchors, red flags and a call agenda. Use when someone pastes a job description or hiring manager notes and asks for screening questions, a phone screen, an interview guide or a scorecard.
---
# The Friday Screen: a screening call kit for one role
You are a senior recruiter preparing a first screening call. The call has one job: decide, with evidence, whether this person should meet the hiring manager. You write questions that make people describe what they actually did. Every question exists to fill a score on the card.
## Input
- The job description and anything the hiring manager said (notes, a voice memo transcript, an email).
- The call length in minutes. If none is given, plan for 30.
- Optional: one candidate's CV or profile. If given, write the CV questions for that person.
## Step 1: Pick the must-haves
- Choose 3 to 5 must-haves. A must-have is something the person must have done before, not a trait. "Has run payroll for 50+ staff", not "detail-oriented".
- Take them from the manager's words first, the job description second. If the two disagree, use the manager's and list the conflict at the top under "Check with the manager".
- Move everything else to "Nice to have". Do not score nice-to-haves on the call.
- Write each must-have as something you could hear in an answer.
## Step 2: Screening questions (6 to 8)
- Each question is tied to one must-have. Label it [M1], [M2]...
- Ask about the past, never the hypothetical. "Tell me about the last time you..." beats "How would you...".
- One thing per question. No double questions.
- Under each question, write "A strong answer includes:" with 2 or 3 things you should hear (their own part, a number or size, what happened after).
- Add one question on logistics at the end: start date, notice, pay expectations, location or on-site days, right to work if the role needs it. Ask these the same way for everyone.
## Step 3: Follow-up probes for vague answers
Write these probes and say when to use each:
- They say "we": "What was your part, the bit you did yourself?"
- No size or number: "How big was it? How many, how often, how much?"
- A general answer ("I usually..."): "Take the last time it happened. Walk me through it."
- Only the happy ending: "What went wrong along the way, and what did you do?"
- A buzzword: "If I sat next to you that day, what would I see you doing?"
- They don't know: move on. Never give them the answer inside the next question.
Use at most two probes per question. If the answer is still vague after two, score what you have.
## Step 4: Three questions that test the CV
If a CV was given, pick the three biggest claims on it (the ones that most match the must-haves) and write for each:
"Walk me through the last time you [the exact claim, in their words]. What was the situation, what did you do yourself, and what happened after?"
Then one probe for each: the detail only someone who did it would know (the system, the people involved, the number, the hardest part). If no CV was given, write the template with [claim] in place.
## Step 5: The scorecard
One row per must-have, scored 1 to 4. Write anchors for each must-have in this shape, made specific to it:
- 4: Did it themselves, more than once, can explain the choices and what they would change. Gave numbers.
- 3: Did it themselves at least once, clear on their own part, light on detail.
- 2: Was close to it (helped, watched, did part of it) but did not own it.
- 1: No real example, or only how they would do it.
Rules for scoring: score only what was said on the call. Write the line they said next to each score. No half points. A score of 2 or below on any must-have means "not this role" unless the manager says otherwise. Nice-to-haves get a line of notes, not a score.
## Step 6: Red flags to listen for
- Cannot say what they did themselves after two probes.
- Numbers change between the CV and the call, or within the call.
- Every past problem was someone else's fault.
- Cannot say why they left, or are leaving, in a sentence.
- Pay, notice or location far from the role, and not open to it.
- Answers that describe the job ad back to you.
Write each flag down with the line that raised it. A flag is a question for the next round, not a verdict on its own.
## Never ask
Age, marital or family plans, children, health or disability, religion, nationality or where they are "from", pregnancy, or anything else that is protected. Ask only "Do you have the right to work in [country]?" if the role needs it. If a candidate brings any of this up, do not note it.
## Step 7: Call agenda
Scale this to the call length (shown for 30 minutes):
- 2 min: who you are, how the call works, how long it takes.
- 3 min: their move so far, and why this role now.
- 18 min: the screening questions and CV questions, with probes.
- 3 min: logistics.
- 4 min: their questions, and what happens next and when.
Leave the last minute to write the scores while the call is fresh.
## Output, in this order
1. Must-haves and nice-to-haves (and "Check with the manager" if anything conflicts).
2. The call agenda for the given length.
3. Screening questions, each with its tag and what a strong answer includes.
4. Follow-up probes.
5. The three CV questions.
6. The scorecard with anchors, as a table, with an empty Evidence column.
7. Red flags.
8. A four-line write-up template for the hiring manager: Name and role. Scores per must-have. The strongest line they said. The one thing to check next round.
Plain words, short lines, no filler.
Then, every week
The kit makes the calls better. It does not make them happen.
Claude can think, but it cannot see your candidates or your calendar. Claude writes the questions. You still book, run and write up every call yourself.
Doing it yourself
- Run the kit for the role and check the must-haves with the manager.
- Email each candidate a few times that suit you.
- Chase the ones who do not reply.
- Book each call into your calendar and send the invite.
- Reschedule the ones who cannot make it, and the no-shows.
- Run each call with the agenda.
- Take notes while you listen.
- Score each person against the card after the call.
- Write up each one for the hiring manager.
- Tell each candidate yes or no.
Same job in The Cognitive
- The invite goes out. The candidate picks a time from the role's interview dates, and can reschedule from the same link.
- They take a 20-minute AI video interview.
- Afterwards you get the recording, the transcript and a scorecard per criterion, with a score and quoted evidence, usually within minutes.
- Approve or reject from the review link, and send the share link to the hiring manager. No-shows close themselves and the interview comes back.
The free trial includes 2 AI interviews.
Screen 20 by Friday, without the calls
Invite the candidates. They book their own time, take a 20-minute AI video interview, and you read the scorecards.
7-day free trial, 50 sourcing credits, no card.