Why pre-screen economists before the technical panel
Economics candidates present well because the discipline trains people to argue clearly, and a strong theoretical grounding is genuinely visible in conversation. What that conversation hides is whether they have ever produced a number that someone acted on and then had to defend when it turned out to be off. That experience changes how a person handles assumptions, and it is the difference between an analyst who flags a fragile result and one who reports the point estimate.
What actually matters when screening Economist candidates
- 01
Technical command
Check depth in econometric methods: panel fixed effects, instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, VAR or DSGE work, plus fluency in Stata, R, EViews or Python statsmodels.
- 02
Deals and deliverables that closed
Probe concrete outputs: published forecasts, regulatory impact assessments, cost-benefit appraisals, expert reports, or quarterly outlooks, and what decision or publication each one fed.
- 03
Risk judgement
Assess how they handle data limitations and uncertainty: revisions to national accounts, structural breaks, small samples, and how they communicate confidence intervals or scenario ranges.
- 04
Explaining it to decision-makers
Test the translation to non-economists: briefing ministers, boards, or clients; chart choices; handling challenge from people who dislike the conclusion.
Pre-screening questions to ask Economist candidates
12 questions grouped by what they test. Ask the same set in every screen and score answers on a consistent scale, or send them as an async video screen and compare answers side by side.
Method and software
3 questions01Which fields or sectors of the economy do you specialise in?
Listen forA narrow specialism with the data sources and institutions of that sector named, rather than a general claim to cover applied microeconomics.
Claims broad coverage across sectors, or cannot name the standard datasets in the area they say they specialise in.
02What is your experience with statistical analysis software?
Listen forA primary package used daily with an honest level on the others, plus whether their code is reproducible by someone else on a different machine.
Lists every package as advanced, or produces analysis in spreadsheets with no reproducible record of the steps.
03How familiar are you with economic forecasting and trend analysis?
Listen forA forecasting approach they have actually run, with the horizon and the intervals they published rather than a single central estimate.
Publishes point forecasts with no interval, or has never checked a past forecast against what happened.
Work that reached decisions
3 questions04Can you describe a time you used economic theory or a model to solve a real-world problem?
Listen forA specific problem with the decision it fed, plus what the model deliberately left out and whether that omission mattered in the end.
Describes a working paper with no decision attached, or theory applied with no data behind it.
05Do you have experience conducting cost-benefit analyses?
Listen forReal appraisals with the discount rate and its justification stated, plus how they handled benefits that resisted monetisation rather than ignoring them.
Applies a standard discount rate with no reasoning, or omits non-monetised effects entirely from the conclusion.
06What is your approach to evaluating the economic impact of a new policy or regulation?
Listen forA stated counterfactual and an identification strategy, with honesty about what the available data can and cannot support.
Compares before and after with no counterfactual, or presents correlation as policy impact.
Honest uncertainty
3 questions07What role does data play in your decision-making as an economist?
Listen forA case where the data contradicted their prior and they changed position, plus how they handle a series they know to be poorly measured.
Uses data to support a position already held, or treats official statistics as free of measurement error.
08Which economic theories or models do you most align with in your work?
Listen forA stated position held loosely, with awareness of where the framework performs badly and what they would use instead in those cases.
Commits to one school as universally correct, or cannot name a situation where their preferred framework fails.
09Can you share an example of a complex economic project you handled, and how you approached it?
Listen forThe sequencing they chose, where they simplified deliberately, and the point at which a first approach was abandoned as unworkable.
A tidy project narrative with no dead ends, or complexity described entirely as scale rather than difficulty.
Explaining to non-experts
3 questions10How comfortable are you making economic predictions and explaining them to non-experts?
Listen forA usable answer given while the caveats survive, with uncertainty expressed in terms a decision-maker can act on rather than dropped.
Either refuses to commit to a range, or gives a confident single number with the qualifications quietly removed.
11How much experience do you have creating reports and presentations for non-technical audiences?
Listen forOutputs aimed at a decision, with the finding first and the method available behind it, plus a case where they were challenged and held their ground.
Reports structured as academic papers, or presentations that lead with methodology before the audience knows why it matters.
12Have you worked in a team of economists? What was your role?
Listen forTheir own contribution separated from the team's output, including whose review caught an error in their work and what they did about it.
Team output presented as personal work, or no experience of having their analysis reviewed by a peer.
How to score responses
Score every candidate on the same four criteria immediately after the screen. At this stage you are shortlisting for panel interviews, not making the final call.
Technical command
35%5Names the identification strategy and diagnostics used, discusses endogeneity and standard error choices without prompting, and cites specific model specifications.
Deals and deliverables that closed
25%5Points to named deliverables with dates and audiences, including forecast accuracy versus outturn and how findings changed a policy or pricing decision.
Risk judgement
25%5Distinguishes correlation from causal claims, flags where their estimates would break, and presents scenarios rather than a single false-precision number.
Explaining it to decision-makers
15%5Explains an elasticity, multiplier, or output gap in plain terms, and describes defending a controversial estimate under scrutiny without overstating it.
Economists interview well because the discipline trains people to argue clearly. A one-way video screen lets you hear whether their numbers have ever been contested before you convene a technical panel.
Try it on HirevireScreening FAQ
Process basics
How long should a pre-screening round for an economist take?
Fifteen minutes across eight to ten questions, answered async. Enough to confirm their sector specialism, hear their software and method depth, and find out whether their work has ever informed a decision before a technical panel.
Should the screen include a technical exercise?
Not yet. Ask them to describe a piece of analysis and the assumptions inside it. A modelling exercise is expensive to set and mark, and it is wasted on a candidate whose applied experience turns out to be entirely academic when the role is not.
Evaluating answers
What is the strongest signal when screening an economist?
How they talk about a forecast that missed. Applied economists name what the model assumed, which assumption broke, and what they changed. Candidates who attribute misses entirely to unforeseeable shocks have not examined their own work closely.
How do I judge an academic background against an applied one?
Weight the questions rather than scoring both the same. For the academic, push on deadlines, decision relevance and communicating to non-experts. For the applied candidate, push on method depth and whether they can justify a specification rather than reuse one.
Go deeper on this role
Sanat has been hiring since 2012 and watching the recruitment industry change up close ever since, and turned that screening process into Hirevire's video screening platform. LinkedIn
