Screening completion rate

A screening only helps if candidates finish it. Every candidate who stops halfway is a candidate you reached and then lost. Screening completion rate shows how many candidates get to the end. Drop-off shows where the others leave.

How do you measure screening completion rate?

1. Count the started screenings. A screening starts when the candidate answers the first question, not when you send the first message.
2. Count the completed screenings. A screening is complete when every required question has an answer and the candidate has a result.
3. Divide completed by started.

Screening completion rate = completed screenings ÷ started screenings

Drop-off rate is the other side: 1 − completion rate.

Keep this separate from candidate response rate. Response rate counts who answers your outreach. Completion rate counts who finishes once they started.

Where do candidates drop off?

Track the last question each candidate answered. The pattern usually points to one of these causes:

• Too many questions. Each extra question gives a candidate a reason to stop.
• A hard question too early. A question about pay or a document can stop a candidate before they are interested.
• Unclear questions. Candidates stop when they do not understand what you ask.
• The wrong channel. A long form on a phone screen loses more people than a short conversation. See conversational screening. The same happens before the screening: see application abandonment.
• Bad timing. A candidate called during a shift may hang up and never come back.

How do you keep candidates to the end?

1. Ask only what decides the job. Leave the rest to the interview.
2. Put the must-haves first. Knock-out questions at the start save time for candidates who do not qualify.
3. Ask one question at a time. Short questions get short, clear answers.
4. Do not ask what you already know. A candidate who answered a question last month should not answer it again.
5. Let candidates continue later. A candidate who stops in a chat should be able to pick up where they left off.
6. End with a clear next step. A booked interview gives the candidate a reason to finish.

What does a low completion rate cost?

A candidate who drops off costs the outreach that reached them and the minutes they already spent. They also leave without an answer, which hurts the candidate experience and your name as an employer. See candidate experience.

How does Ringtime help candidates finish the screening?

Ringtime's AI agents hold the screening as a conversation, by phone or WhatsApp.

1. You set the questions per campaign. Recruiters can read them in Ringtime Connect.
2. If a candidate answered a question in an earlier screening, the assistant does not ask it again.
3. A candidate who replies on WhatsApp days later picks up the same screening.
4. A candidate can answer with a WhatsApp voice message instead of typing.
5. A candidate who qualifies gets an interview booked at the end of the conversation.
6. Every conversation ends with a clear result in the Ringtime web app and in your applicant tracking system (ATS).

Because every conversation ends with a result, you can measure completion on your own candidates.

To keep candidates talking until the last question, see how Ringtime's conversational screening works.