I've placed candidates at Bloomberg and I've also done their initial recruiter screens as part of agency partnership work. Let me tell you what the recruiter phone screen actually is, because people overthink it.
Format: 20-30 minutes, usually with an in-house recruiter or recruiting coordinator. It is a logistics and culture screen, not a technical screen. No coding.
What they cover: Quick background verification. Where are you now, what's your YOE, what kind of roles have you been in. They want to confirm the resume makes sense before they invest engineer time. Location and visa status. Bloomberg NYC roles require NYC presence or at least hybrid. They'll ask upfront. If you're not eligible to work in the US, they'll tell you now rather than after 4 rounds (in my experience they handle this respectfully). Why Bloomberg. They ask this every time. It's not a gotcha. They want something specific. "I've always wanted to work at Bloomberg" is not specific. "I've used the terminal, I care about real-time data infrastructure, I want to work on software that has to work every time" is specific. Bloomberg employees are often a bit proud of what they build. Reflect that. Compensation expectations. They typically ask for a number or range early. Don't lowball yourself. Research market for your level in NYC before this call. Senior SWE NYC 2026 market is roughly $250-350K TC depending on level and equity structure. Timeline. Are you actively interviewing elsewhere? They'll want to know if they need to move fast.
What they won't do: grill you technically, ask you to code, ask detailed questions about past projects. Save your technical depth for the actual interviews.
Tip: the recruiter is routing you to the right team. Mention specific interests (infrastructure, data, terminal, trading tech) if you have them. It can influence which team you talk to.