4 Essential Steps for Screening Job Candidates

Covid has laid waste to jobs in many sectors, in particular the travel, retail, and hospitality industries. In July, the unemployment rate hit 4.8 percent, which is a percentage higher than the same period of 2020. There are jobs out there, but employers may find that the number of applicants for a vacant position far exceeds their expectations.

Screening candidates for a job can be time-consuming, and the more applicants you have to sift through, the longer it will take. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to weed out the least qualified individuals and ensure that once you progress to a face-to-face interview, only the cream of the crop is invited. Read on for more details.

Write an Informative Job Advert

The first step is to create a job advertisement that is clear about what you are looking for. The more ambiguous the language you use, the more likely you are to receive a large number of applications. List the requirements, and state whether they are ‘must have’ or ‘desirable’. Describe the job and what is expected from candidates as part of the role. Avoid using generic language and phrases that say nothing concrete. The more precise you are, the easier it will be to attract the right people with the necessary skills.

Check Resumes Carefully

The most important step is to ask candidates to send a resume with a covering letter. This lets you check their qualifications, employment history, and skills. Cross-check their resume against the job description.

Do their soft and hard skills match your vision of an ideal candidate?
Have they got any relevant experience?
Do they have the right qualifications?
Is their cover letter concise and insightful?

Resumes and cover letters offer many clues to a candidate’s intelligence, experience, and overall motivation. Read through each one carefully and place any of interest in a separate pile. Next, ask a colleague to read through them to ensure you haven’t missed anything important.

Virtual Screening

Once you have a shortlist of potential candidates, the next step is to conduct a virtual interview. You can do this over the telephone, but it’s just as easy these days to schedule a video interview. This lets you see the person you are talking to, which helps you to read their body language.

You don’t need any special tools to hold a video interview: a video conferencing app such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, plus a webcam is all you need.

Because this is a screening step, the interview doesn’t need to be especially long. Around 15 minutes is probably long enough to ask some key questions and progress candidates to an in-person interview with more than one interviewer. Prepare your questions and ask each candidate the same ones, so you can compare their responses.

Check Social Media Accounts

It should go without saying that it’s always sensible to check a job candidate’s social media to make sure they don’t have any suspect political affiliations or unpleasant hobbies.