Hiring operations
How to Hire Seasonal Employees Fast: A Holiday 2026 Hiring Plan
A week-by-week plan for hiring seasonal employees before the holiday peak: where to find them, how to screen hundreds quickly, and how to keep them showing up.
Co-founder and CEO, Dio
Jeff Lam
Jeff is Dio's co-founder and CEO, and a recruiter with 15 years of experience.
Posts by Jeff
- For candidates
What Recruiters Ask in a Phone Screen, and How to Answer
The questions recruiters ask in a first phone screen, what each one is really checking, and how to answer well, with example answers and the mistakes to avoid.
- Interview design
Probing Questions: How to Follow Up When an Interview Answer Is Vague
Forty probing questions for interviewers, grouped by what's missing from the answer, with when to use each and how to probe without leading the candidate.
- Screening
Phone Screen Script for Recruiters: A 15-Minute Structure, With a Scorecard
A word-for-word phone screen script for recruiters: what to say, which questions to ask in what order, what to listen for, and a 1–5 scorecard to fill in.
- Hiring operations
Interview-to-Hire Ratio: Formula, Benchmarks and How to Lower It
How to calculate the interview-to-hire ratio, why published benchmarks disagree, what a healthy ratio looks like for your roles, and how to bring it down.
- Hiring operations
Interview Invitation Emails and Texts: 12 Templates, Including for AI Interviews
Twelve interview invitation email and text templates, from phone screens to AI interviews, plus reminders, reschedules and the details every invitation needs.
- Interview design
Interview Calibration: Getting Interviewers to Score the Same Answer the Same Way
What interview calibration is, why interviewers score the same answer differently, and a one-hour calibration session you can run with anchors and examples.
- Hiring operations
Hiring Manager Intake Meeting: 30 Questions to Ask, With an Intake Form
Thirty intake meeting questions to ask a hiring manager before a search starts, grouped by purpose, with a free intake form and the decisions to leave with.
- Interview design
Evidence-Based Hiring: A Practical Playbook for Deciding on Evidence, Not Impressions
What evidence-based hiring means, what research says predicts job performance, and a seven-step playbook for hiring on evidence instead of impressions.
- Hiring operations
Candidate Experience Survey: 25 Questions to Ask, Stage by Stage
Twenty-five candidate experience survey questions by hiring stage, when to send each survey, and how to turn answers into fixes, with a free template.
- AI interviewing
What Is an AI Interviewer? How AI Interviews Work for Hiring Teams
What an AI interviewer is, how an AI interview works for candidates and recruiters, the four kinds on the market, and where a person still has to decide.
- For candidates
What Is an AI Interview? A Guide for Candidates
What an AI interview is, how it works, the main kinds, what one is like from start to finish, whether it's recorded, and what happens after you finish.
- Hiring operations
Time to Hire vs Time to Fill: Formulas, Benchmarks and Where Screening Loses Days
The difference between time to hire and time to fill, how to calculate each, recent benchmarks, and where the first round quietly loses the most days.
- Interview design
Structured Interviews: Why They Predict Performance and How to Run Them at Scale
What a structured interview is, why research ranks it first among hiring methods, a full six-question example with anchors, and how to run them at scale.
- Screening
Pre-Screening Interview Questions: 50 Examples to Ask Candidates
50 pre-screening interview questions by purpose, with what each answer tells you, an order for a 15-minute screen, and how to score answers consistently.
- Screening
Knockout Questions: Examples, and Why They Should Flag, Not Reject
What knockout questions are, 25 examples by type, how to word them so a good candidate isn't lost on a technicality, and why a flag beats an auto-reject.
- Interview design
How to Turn a Job Description Into Interview Questions
Turn a job description into interview questions in five steps, with a worked Customer Success Manager example: 10 questions, follow-ups and scoring anchors.
- Interview design
Interview Scorecard Template (Free), With Rubric Examples
A free interview scorecard template with 1-3-5 rubric anchors, worked examples for three roles, STAR scoring, and how to calibrate your interviewers.
- Hiring operations
Interview No-Shows and Candidate Ghosting: How to Fix the First Round
Why candidates miss interviews or go quiet, how to measure drop-off by stage, and the fixes that work, with three plain email templates you can copy.
- For candidates
How to Prepare for an AI Interview: Advice From the People Who Build One
How to prepare for an AI interview: set up your room and microphone, prepare five or six STAR stories, be specific, and why reading AI answers backfires.
- AI interviewing
How to Choose AI Interview Software: 15 Questions to Ask Every Vendor
15 questions to ask every AI interview software vendor, what a good answer sounds like, a two-week pilot plan, and the red flags that should end a demo.
- AI in recruiting
How Recruiters Use AI: 12 Use Cases That Work Today
Twelve ways recruiters use AI that work today, from job descriptions to first-round interviews, each with an example and a watch-out, plus three that don't.
- Interview design
How AI Interview Scoring Works, and How to Check a Vendor's Scores
How AI interview scoring turns a transcript into scores, what goes wrong (invented quotes, inconsistent runs, polish over substance) and how to test a vendor.
- Hiring operations
High-Volume Hiring: A Screening Playbook for Roles With 500 Applicants
A high-volume hiring strategy for roles with hundreds of applicants: must-haves, a short application, first rounds with no scheduling, and the metrics to watch.
- Hiring operations
Cost per Hire: Formula, Benchmarks and What Screening Automation Changes
How to calculate cost per hire: what counts as internal and external cost, a worked example, and the recruiter screening time most teams leave out.
- Interview design
Competency-Based Interview Questions: 60 Examples by Competency
60 competency-based interview questions across 12 competencies, each with a follow-up and what a strong answer includes, plus how to pick and score them.
- Candidate fraud
Candidate Fraud in Hiring: Fake Applicants, Deepfakes and AI-Written Answers
How candidate fraud works, from fake résumés and proxy interviews to deepfakes and AI-written answers, and the checks that catch it at each stage of hiring.
- Industries
Call Center Hiring With AI Interviews: What to Assess and What to Ask
Why a voice interview is a sample of call center work, what to assess, 12 customer service questions with strong answers, and how to add a skills check.
- For candidates
Are AI Interviews a Red Flag? How to Tell a Legitimate One From a Scam
An AI interview isn't a red flag on its own, but scammers borrow the format. The signs of a legitimate AI interview, the signs of a fake one, and how to check.
- Screening
AI Screening Interviews Compared: Phone Bots, One-Way Video and Voice Interviews
Five first-round formats side by side: recruiter phone screens, AI phone bots, one-way video, chat screening and browser voice interviews, and when each fits.
- AI in recruiting
AI Recruiters, AI Interviewers, AI Notetakers: A Map of AI Recruiting Tools
A plain map of AI recruiting tools in eight categories, from sourcing and AI recruiters to AI interviewers and notetakers, with where each fits and what to ask.
- Industries
AI Interviews in Healthcare Hiring: Screening Nurses and Care Staff
How healthcare teams use AI interviews to screen nurses, CNAs and care staff: what the first round must cover, 12 behavioral questions, and where people decide.
- Industries
AI Interviews for Staffing Agencies: Submit Faster and Re-Screen Your Database
How staffing agencies use AI interviews to screen every applicant to a job order, submit faster with consistent notes, and re-screen their database.
- AI interviewing
AI Interview vs Human Interview: What Each Does Better
What an AI interviewer does better than a person, what people still do better, a side-by-side table, and where each belongs in your hiring process.
- AI interviewing
Candidate Experience in AI Interviews: Why 38% Have Walked Away, and What Keeps Them
Greenhouse found 38% of US job seekers have quit a hiring process over an AI interview. What candidates dislike, and the choices that keep them.
- Interview design
AI Interview Bias: Where It Comes From and How to Check a Tool
Where bias gets into AI interviews, from training data and accents to fluency scoring, documented examples, and how to test a tool before you trust its scores.
- AI in recruiting
AI in Hiring Statistics 2026: Adoption, Candidates, Fraud and Workload
AI in hiring statistics for 2026, each with its source, sample and date: employer adoption, candidate trust, fraud, recruiter workload and public opinion.