Why pre-screen eLearning developers before the portfolio review
Most corporate courses are slides with a quiz attached, completed under obligation and forgotten within a week. Developers worth hiring start from what people need to be able to do differently, build practice into the course, and can say what changed at work afterwards. A short screen asks for that, which separates instructional designers from people who operate authoring software.
What actually matters when screening eLearning Developer candidates
- 01
Portfolio
Ask for published course links or Storyline, Rise, Captivate or Lectora source files, and check whether they built interactions, assessments and branching scenarios themselves rather than reskinning templates.
- 02
Craft and rationale
Probe technique: responsive layouts, accessibility to WCAG 2.1 and Section 508, SCORM 1.2 versus xAPI packaging, audio sync, and why they chose a given interaction pattern.
- 03
Feedback and iteration
Test how they handle SME review cycles and pilot feedback: tracked review tools, revision logs, and evidence they changed a module after learners struggled with it.
- 04
Working with the brief
Look for how they turn a raw request into scope: learning objectives, storyboards, seat time estimates, Bloom or Kirkpatrick framing, and negotiation with stakeholders on timelines.
Pre-screening questions to ask eLearning Developer 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.
Courses that landed
3 questions01What kinds of eLearning programmes have you created?
Listen forCourses that were deployed with audience size and completion described, not just built.
Courses described as built without deployment, or no idea whether anyone finished them.
02Can you provide examples of interactive content you have created?
Listen forInteraction that requires a decision or practice, rather than clicking to reveal more text.
Interactivity described as clicking through screens, or quizzes used as the only activity.
03What is your experience converting in-person training into online courses?
Listen forContent redesigned for the medium, with practice and discussion replaced rather than dropped.
Slide decks uploaded with narration, or in-person exercises removed without replacement.
Design behind it
3 questions04Can you explain your approach to course design and development?
Listen forStarting from what learners must be able to do, with assessment aligned to those outcomes.
Design starting from the content available, or objectives written after the course was built.
05Do you have a background in instructional design or teaching?
Listen forGrounding in how people learn, with evidence-based methods such as spacing and retrieval used.
Design driven by presentation software features, or no theory behind the structure.
06How do you make a course effective for a varied group of learners?
Listen forVaried practice and clear structure, with scepticism about designing for learning styles.
Courses built around learning styles, or variety pursued for its own sake.
Standards and access
4 questions07Which authoring tools and technologies are you most proficient with?
Listen forTools used to build published courses, with their limitations understood from real projects.
Tools listed without published output, or every tool claimed at expert level.
08What is your experience with learning management systems?
Listen forCourses deployed and troubleshot in a real system, including tracking and reporting problems.
Courses handed over for somebody else to deploy, or tracking failures never encountered.
09How familiar are you with the standards used for course tracking?
Listen forTracking standards understood well enough to debug why completion is not recording.
Standards named without understanding, or tracking issues escalated without investigation.
10What is your approach to accessibility in course development?
Listen forKeyboard access, captions and screen reader compatibility built in and tested before release.
Accessibility treated as an addition, or interactive elements unusable without a mouse.
Measured beyond completion
2 questions11How do you determine whether a course has been successful?
Listen forBehaviour change or performance measured where possible, not completion and satisfaction alone.
Success reported as completion rate, or evaluation limited to an end-of-course survey.
12Can you describe adapting your work based on feedback?
Listen forCourse changed after watching learners struggle with it, with the specific revision described.
Feedback collected without changes, or revisions limited to correcting typographical errors.
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.
Portfolio
35%5Shows several live modules with named clients, explains their role in each, and can open source files including variables and triggers.
Craft and rationale
25%5Justifies packaging, tagging and accessibility choices with reference to the LMS, the learners and completion or bookmarking behaviour.
Feedback and iteration
25%5Cites specific revisions driven by pilot data or SME markup, and describes how they closed out conflicting reviewer comments.
Working with the brief
15%5Converts vague requests into measurable objectives and a storyboard, pushing back where content did not need a course at all.
Most courses are slides with a quiz, completed and forgotten. A one-way video screen asks what changed at work.
Try it on HirevireScreening FAQ
Process basics
How long should a pre-screening round for this role take?
Fifteen minutes across eight to ten questions, answered async alongside course samples. Enough to test instructional design thinking before anyone reviews a portfolio in detail.
What should I ask for besides the screen?
A live course link rather than screenshots, plus completion and assessment data if they have it. How the course behaves is more informative than how the slides look.
Evaluating answers
What is the strongest signal when screening this role?
What changed at work after a course. Developers who think about outcomes have an example and some evidence. Anyone reporting completion rates alone has measured attendance, not learning.
What should make me cautious in an answer?
Designing around learning styles. The idea that matching content to a preferred style improves outcomes is not supported by evidence, and building a course around it wastes effort.
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
