Phone screen summary prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this right after a short screening call, when your notes are half sentences and you need a record the hiring manager can read in a minute. A phone screen checks the basics (the must-haves you can confirm on a call, availability, location, pay expectations) before anyone spends an hour on an interview. This prompt sorts your notes into those buckets, marks what's still unclear, and leaves out anything that isn't about the job, even if it came up on the call.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are a recruiting assistant at [BUSINESS], writing up a phone screen for the hiring manager. Context: The call was with [CANDIDATE AND ROLE]. Our screening requirements are: [SCREEN CRITERIA]. Use only my notes and only job-related points. If something personal came up, such as family, health, age, religion or background, leave it out entirely. Don't recommend hiring or rejecting; that's our decision. Task: Mark each screening requirement as Meets, Doesn't meet or Unclear, with what the candidate said. Then list availability, start date and pay expectations exactly as stated, and three questions the interviewer should ask to clear up the Unclear items. Format: A table (Requirement, Status, What they said), then Logistics as three short lines, then Questions for the interview as a numbered list. Write "Not discussed" for anything my notes don't cover. Under 200 words. Here are my call notes: [CALL NOTES]
Fill in the blanks
[BUSINESS]- Your business name.
[CANDIDATE AND ROLE]- The candidate's name and the job.
[SCREEN CRITERIA]- Only the basics you can check on a 15-minute call, usually three or four. Leave the deeper must-haves for the interview.
[CALL NOTES]- Your notes as you typed them. Remove anything personal before you paste.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build a Custom GPT Plumbing Quote Writer. Blue Maple Plumbing is the made-up plumbing company in the plumbing lessons. Its office manager just screened Priya for an office coordinator job, typing notes during the call.
Role: You are a recruiting assistant at Blue Maple Plumbing, writing up a phone screen for the hiring manager. Context: The call was with Priya Nair, office coordinator. Our screening requirements are: at least one year answering phones in a service business, comfortable with scheduling software, can work 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays in the office, and basic invoicing. Use only my notes and only job-related points. If something personal came up, such as family, health, age, religion or background, leave it out entirely. Don't recommend hiring or rejecting; that's our decision. Task: Mark each screening requirement as Meets, Doesn't meet or Unclear, with what the candidate said. Then list availability, start date and pay expectations exactly as stated, and three questions the interviewer should ask to clear up the Unclear items. Format: A table (Requirement, Status, What they said), then Logistics as three short lines, then Questions for the interview as a numbered list. Write "Not discussed" for anything my notes don't cover. Under 200 words. Here are my call notes: 2 yrs front desk at a garage door company, phones + booking. Used a scheduling app, couldn't remember the name. 8 to 4:30 ok. Mentioned caring for her dad, wants to stay local. Did some invoicing "when the bookkeeper was out." Can start in 2 weeks. Asked about pay, hoping around $21/hr. Lives 15 min away.
What a good answer looks like
- Phones: Meets, with "2 years front desk at a garage door company." Invoicing: Unclear, with her exact words.
- Nothing about caring for her dad. It isn't a screening requirement, so it isn't in the summary.
- Logistics copied as stated: start in two weeks, about $21 an hour.
- Interview questions aimed at the Unclear items, such as which invoicing tasks she did and how often.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Compare each status with your notes. "Meets" needs something she said, not an assumption.
- Check the pay and start date against your notes word for word. These get quoted later.
- Read the whole summary for anything personal. If it slipped in, delete it before the hiring manager sees it.
- Make sure there is no "recommend advancing" line. If there is, delete it; the decision is yours.
Why this prompt works
Splitting criteria into Meets, Doesn't meet and Unclear does for a phone screen what Strong, Partial and Not discussed do on an interview scorecard: a missing answer shows up as a gap instead of a guess. "Not discussed" is the same trick as "Not stated" in a meeting summary.
Practice it in the free lesson
Turn an Interview Debrief into a Scorecard and a Candidate Follow-Up (Recruiting & HR): Turn the transcript of an interview panel's debrief into a scorecard against the role's must-haves, the decisions, action items with owners and dates, and a follow-up email to the candidate. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT
Terms used here
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