When there are dozens of applicants for each position you post, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Use an applicant tracking system to speed up the shortlisting process, or let someone else do it for you.
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When there are dozens of applicants for each position you post, it can be difficult to know where to begin when reviewing resumes and applications. After all, it can be challenging to determine from a CV whether a candidate is indeed a good fit for your company.
1. Take into account the number of candidates you want to advance to the next phase.
It's good to have a general idea of how many applicants you desire to forward to the next level in your hiring process, whether that's a skills assessment, a telephone interview, or a face-to-face interview, before you begin reviewing applications.
If you are swamped with excellent CVs or haven't gotten the caliber of applications you had hoped for, this guide should help you stay focused.
Industry benchmarks suggest that around 1 in every 5 interviewed candidates is offered a role so it’s worth bearing this in mind when thinking about the number of candidates you wish to interview
2. Pay great attention to the crucial requirements you outline in your job ad.
Your primary criteria should always serve as the basis for your evaluation of candidates. When creating your job ad, you would have given great consideration to your essential needs; this should serve as the standard by which you determine if a candidate is qualified or not.
It's crucial to avoid excluding individuals based on requirements you haven't made clear. For instance, if you're hiring for a marketing position, it would be unfair to eliminate a candidate for lacking a SEO qualification if you hadn't made that requirement clear in the job description.
3. If there are a lot of qualified individuals, consider "nice-to-have" skillls and requirements.
It's fantastic if the majority of your candidates have all the qualifications and talents you've been looking for. When it comes to narrowing down a shortlist, this is of no assistance. Now is a good time to review your list of "nice-to-haves," also known as desirable criteria.
For example, if they already knew how to use a certain type of software that your company uses, that would be a skill, qualification, or experience in a certain field that you would want.
By focusing on any ideal criterion, you should be able to reduce the number of people on your shortlist to a manageable number for interviews.
4. Check for misspellings, grammatical mistakes, or overall carelessness.
A lack of attention to detail is evident in a candidate's application if their CV is rife with spelling and grammar issues. If a candidate doesn't send a cover letter or sends one that is generic and not very specific, it may show that they didn't put in much effort or research the job.
If an applicant's application is full of obvious mistakes, you should probably turn them down unless they are a perfect fit for the job.
5. Quickly review the candidates.
While finding a "good fit" candidate is crucial, it's also critical to evaluate applicants quickly. It's critical to start analyzing applications as soon as you receive them because the best prospects will probably be scooped up immediately.
It is simpler to keep track of new applicants thanks to recruitment technology like an application tracking system. For example, an ATS can send you an email every day telling you how many new applications you need to look at.
6. Use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to speed up the shortlisting process, or let someone else do it for you.
Use an applicant tracking system to shortlist applicants more quickly and stop logging candidate information and results in spreadsheets (ATS). You can mark candidates as shortlisted, possible, rejected, or move them to the interview stage with the click of a button. This makes it simple for you to see at a glance where candidates are in the hiring process and how many candidates you still need to examine.
Are you looking for a faster method to select candidates? Request a demo and rely on our professional team.