After putting a job ad on a recruitment website or newspaper, generally you will receive many resumes from candidates. Shifting through them can be time consuming. Screening resumes effectively will increase your chances of inviting only the best candidates for interviewing and making a successful hire.
The best approach to resume screening is a two-phase process.
Phase 1. Eliminate individuals not meeting the basic requirements of the position.
It’s very simple. For example, if the position requires for a candidate with a university degree, you just put aside resumes that don’t meet this requirement. Of course, there are cases where the candidate can’t meet this basic requirement but his experience suits with your job requirements. What should you do? Now you move to the second phase.
Phase 2. Look for resumes that have:
• Attractive overall format and proper attention to detail. Avoid candidates who make sloppy mistakes in grammar and spelling.
• A career goal and work experience relevant and appropriate to the job opening.
• Not just experience in relevant areas, but signs of accomplishment and positive results - for example improving business results or gaining outstanding promotion.
In the second phase, you should consider subtle differences between candidates – for example the quality of training they have received, or the number of years of work experience. A hiring manager tend to select a candidate graduating from a well-known university rather than a candidate graduating from an average university. It’s the same as the way employers in the US evaluate their candidates based on the university they graduate from. A brand name like MIT, Oxford or Harvard will surely catch the hiring manager’s attention easily. However, evaluation based on university brand name does not always reflect a candidate’s genuine qualifications.
After this phase, you can invite your candidate to an interview.
Signs of a weak performing candidate.
It is a good idea to look for signs that a candidate may not be a fit, such as a lack of focus or logical career progression, periods of unemployment, or excessive job hopping. In addition, follow these basic rules to ensure effective resume screening:
• Spend the least amount of time eliminating the candidates least-likely to succeed (phase one), and the most amount of time considering the candidates most-likely to succeed.
• Get beyond the superficial. Drill down quickly to understand the substance of candidates’ accomplishments. Candidates with education background of social sciences usually have the ability to create very “appealing” resumes compared to candidates with natural sciences background.
• Avoid comparing candidates. Instead, compare candidates to the ideal candidate profile and look for the closest match.
