Every candidate is screened in a private web chat. The questions come in two stages: first the basics and your must-knows, then your screening questions. When nothing is flagged, the candidate answers both in the same visit. When something is flagged, the questions stop and the candidate waits for you. What you get back is their answers and any must-know flags. A flag is information for you. It never declines anyone.
A recorded call is your own record of the conversation, so it skips the chat. See Screen Candidates via Web Chat for both.
The link opens on the first questions:
Each must-know is checked against the answer you said you were hoping for. An answer that does not match, or a must-know left blank, is flagged. The check is a plain comparison, not an AI judgment.
If nothing was flagged, the candidate sees Saved, thank you! and a choice: answer the remaining questions now, or Later. Their first answers are already with you either way. The link has no deadline, so "Later" means whenever suits them.
If something was flagged, the screening questions are not offered. The chat closes the same neutral way it does for everyone: "Our recruiter personally reviews your answers. If there is a next step, they'll reach out to you directly." The candidate is never told they were flagged.
Until you step in, the candidate is talking to PlacementFlow's assistant. Your agency is not named yet.
Everyone who answered the first questions lands on Today, under Qualified. You read what they said and choose:
Before anything is sent, PlacementFlow shows you the exact message. A candidate who came from a cold campaign gets it in that same email thread, with your mailbox copied in, so they can reply to you directly. Anyone else gets it from your desk's connected mailbox.
Once you have approved and their answers are all in, the answers are filed and the candidate moves to Screened, under To review. From there you Shortlist them or Decline them. Both are your decisions, and both can be undone from the toast. See Reading Screening Results.
What the candidate told you about notice, salary, working setup and right to work also fills in their Candidate Facts, ready for a submission.
Questionnaires you create in PlacementFlow belong to a desk or a campaign, not to a job. So a screening gives you the candidate's answers and any must-know flags, with no fit score. This is the normal outcome, not a failure. A fit score is only produced when the questions are tied to a specific job, and even then it is a record for you to read. It never moves anyone on its own.
A short chat on their phone or laptop, no login, one question at a time. It says up front that it is an automated assistant and that a human recruiter reads every conversation. It always ends with a neutral close, and the decision stays with you.