Speech-language pathologist phone screen questions: CCC or CF, school or medical, license and compact

A speech-language pathologist phone screen is a 20 minute recruiter call that settles where the candidate is on the credential path and whether their caseload matches the job. Confirm whether they hold the CCC-SLP or are a clinical fellow who needs a mentor, which state licenses they hold, whether a school job's education credential is in place, and whether their recent work is school, medical or outpatient pediatrics. Then ask about caseload size and mix, dysphagia or AAC experience if the job needs it, documentation, the calendar, motivation and the rate they need. Compact and certification facts below are as of November 2026.

This page is the first-call version. The deeper bank, with swallow evaluation, IEP goal and overstated-experience questions, is in speech-language pathologist screening questions; the client's own loop is in the interview guide for therapy roles. The general call structure is in phone screen questions for recruiters, and if you are screening OTs for the same client, use occupational therapist phone screen questions.

What do you need from the client before the call?

School and medical SLP work share a title and little else, and a clinical fellow is a different hire from a certified SLP. Get these facts in the intake; the speech-language pathologist job description template shows where each belongs in the posting.

How should a 20-minute SLP phone screen run?

1. Opening (1 minute). Who you are, the setting and caseload in two sentences, how long the call will take, and your consent line if you record.
2. Knockouts (4 to 5 minutes). CCC or CF, state licenses, school credential, setting, schedule, work authorization.
3. Caseload snapshot (5 minutes). Size, mix, and the clinical areas the job needs.
4. Documentation, telepractice and calendar (3 minutes). Systems, report turnaround, states, dates.
5. Motivation, pay expectations and logistics (4 minutes). Why now, rate needed, start date.
6. Their questions and the next step (2 minutes). Consent to submit and interview availability.

The timings are a planning example. If a knockout fails, say so kindly and end the call or redirect to an order that fits.

Which knockout questions come first?

The authorization wording follows the Justice Department's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section FAQ, which says an employer may generally ask whether applicants have the legal right to work in the United States and whether they will need visa sponsorship (as of November 2026).

How do you check the CCC-SLP, a clinical fellowship and the compact?

ASHA certification, the state license, a school credential and a compact privilege are four separate records. Check each that the job needs before you submit. Details below are from each body's own site, as of November 2026.

If the candidate is a clinical fellow. Confirm before you submit that the client can supply a mentor who meets ASHA's rules: a current CCC-SLP for the whole fellowship, at least nine months of full-time experience after earning it, two hours of professional development in supervision, and at least six hours of direct and six hours of indirect mentoring in each third of the fellowship. ASHA says the hours and weeks in a segment count only if the mentor provides that minimum, so a fellow placed without one can lose time.

Where the compact stands. The Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact says 37 jurisdictions have enacted it. Its status page lists registration open for licensees in Louisiana and West Virginia (October 28, 2025), Ohio (February 9, 2026), Tennessee (May 28, 2026) and Mississippi (November 9, 2026). The compact's FAQ says practitioners need an active, unencumbered home state license and a license to practice independently, so anyone whose role requires supervision, such as a clinical fellow, is not eligible; neither are assistants or people who hold only an education department credential.

How do you get a caseload snapshot in five minutes?

Ask for numbers and the mix, then one or two questions in the clinical area the job needs most. Treat clinical answers as information for the client's lead SLP, not a judgment you make.

• "How many students or patients are on your caseload, and what is the mix?" Good: a number and a split ("52, mostly language, eight AAC users, a few fluency"). Weak: a round number with no breakdown.
• Medical roles: "How many swallow evaluations do you do in a week, and when do you refer for an instrumental study?" Good: a count and a clear threshold for a modified barium swallow or FEES. Weak: dysphagia only from a graduate rotation.
• School roles: "How many IEP meetings did you attend last year, and how do you track progress toward goals?" Good: a number and a data method. Weak: no sense of how progress is measured.
• "Do you provide services in a language other than English, or through an interpreter?" Good: a clear answer and any training in bilingual assessment. Weak: conversational fluency described as bilingual assessment.

How do you check documentation, telepractice and calendar fit?

School SLPs sit on IEP teams with special education staff, so the special education teacher screening questions are a useful cross-check for collaboration questions.

How do you test motivation on an SLP phone screen?

How do you ask about pay without asking salary history?

Many states and cities bar employers and their agents from asking about current or past pay, as of November 2026; the list is in salary history ban states. Ask what the SLP needs, in the pay basis the role uses.

If the candidate volunteers a number, leave it out of your notes and the submittal and record the expectation instead. This is general information, not legal advice; check the law where the job is located.

When should you advance a speech-language pathologist?

An example rule to agree with the client: advance when every knockout passes, caseload match and the job's clinical area score at least 2, and two other areas score 3. Hold when one fact, such as a license application or a school credential, can be confirmed in days. Decline when a knockout fails.

What should you not ask an SLP on a phone screen?

The EEOC says pre-employment inquiries should be limited to what is needed to judge whether someone is qualified, and its guidance on pre-employment questions allows asking whether a candidate can perform the job's functions, with or without reasonable accommodation, but not disability-related questions before an offer.

If you screen SLPs, OTs and PTs back to back, a question guide that keeps the certification, license and credential questions pinned until they are asked keeps any from being skipped. If you take the calls through your computer, Interview Signal does that from the job description and writes the notes while you listen, with no bot in the call.