Stage 1 — Screening Overview
A 30–45 minute call. The bar is "real, communicative, competent." Don't try to win — just don't lose. This page is the strategic overview; the next pages drill into specifics.
01Who you'll meet
One of three:
- Recruiter / talent person — most common. Conversational. Light tech screen at most.
- Hiring manager — possibly the frontend lead. Will go a bit deeper technically.
- Tech lead / senior engineer — least common for stage 1, but they may combine roles in a small company.
Tactic: Within the first 2 minutes, figure out who they are. If they say "I'm an engineer on the team," shift toward more technical conversation. If they say "I'm part of the people team / talent," keep it product/business/culture-focused.
02The structure (most likely)
- Their intro (2–3 min). They tell you about themselves and Omnesoft. Listen carefully — clues drop here.
- Your intro / "Tell me about yourself" (2 min). See your scripted answer.
- Background / "Why this role" (3–5 min). See why Omnesoft.
- Light tech screen (10–15 min). 4–6 verbal questions. See common questions and the technical pages.
- Logistics (5 min). Notice period, location, work hours, salary expectations. Deflect salary if asked first.
- Your questions (5–10 min). See questions to ask. Have at least 3 ready.
03Tone calibration
Do
- Speak slowly and deliberately. Senior devs don't rush.
- Pause before answering — silence is confidence.
- Use concrete examples. "At Artlist we…" beats "I think…"
- Ask clarifying questions before answering technical things.
- Smile. The camera reads it.
- Take notes visibly — it shows you're engaged.
Don't
- Apologize for being open to leaving Artlist.
- Pretend to know AG Grid or Nx if you don't. "I've used adjacent tools and I'd ramp quickly" is fine.
- Trash-talk Artlist or any past employer.
- Volunteer salary expectations early.
- Use filler ("kind of," "like," "you know," "basically"). Watch for this.
- Read your notes aloud. Have them as anchors, not scripts.
04The mental frame
05Red flags to listen for
Things that should make you slow down (not necessarily walk away — just probe more):
- "We move fast and don't always document" → ask about onboarding, code reviews, knowledge sharing.
- "Everyone wears many hats" → fine in moderation, but probe scope. Are you a frontend dev or a one-person engineering team?
- "We're like a family" → classic. Probe boundaries, on-call, work hours.
- Vague answers about funding or runway → ask directly. "Are you bootstrapped or VC-backed? What's the funding situation?"
- Pressure to commit quickly → "I want to make sure I'm a good fit on both sides. What's your timeline?"
06Walk-in mantra
I have 10+ years of experience. I'm currently employed at a real product company. I have a public portfolio, side products, and documented work. I'm not desperate. I'm here to have a conversation, share what I do well, and find out if this is a real fit. If it is, we'll go to the next round. If it isn't, my Tuesday is fine.
Internalize that. It's the difference between "please pick me" energy and "let's see if this is right" energy. The second one is what gets offers.
07Logistics: the day-of
Full checklist page available, but the highlights:
- Test camera, mic, and meeting link 30 minutes before. Not 5.
- Quiet room. Phone on silent. Door closed. Tell Sathi when not to interrupt.
- Light in front of you, not behind.
- Resume open in a tab. Job description open in a tab. parish.cv open in a tab. Your STAR stories open in a tab.
- Glass of water. Pen. Notebook.
- Wear something better than what you'd wear at home. It changes how you sound.