5 Tools to Help you Screen CVs Faster
Recruitment Technology
One of the biggest headaches for recruiting and hiring managers can be the sheer volume of applicants that apply to your job advert. This can create enormous pressure on your time and can be exasperated further with inconsistencies of CVs, distractions from never ending flow of CVs to your inbox or perhaps even phone calls from keen applicants.
Recruiting is probably not the only job you have to do and you may find yourself spending more time creating processes to deal with the volume of applications than looking at the applications themselves.
There are a number of tools and best practice methods that are adopted by recruiters and organisations. You may find some of the tools listed below, useful in helping to get your recruitment and time back under control.
By creating an efficient process, will not only ensure that you send out the right message to your potential future employees (by managing the candidate’s expectations and your employer brand), but you will also find that you are more confident with your hiring decisions and ultimately reduce the staff turnover within your business as you hire the right person more frequently.
5 tools to help you screen CVs quicker
1.Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
The recruitment software game has changed over the last decade and software it is no longer a secret just for big brands and big companies. Flat Fee Recruiter includes free use of its ATS with all online job advertising campaigns and we can also discuss supplying an effective system specifically for your company needs. However, there are hundreds of companies out there who offer ATS’ and if you haven’t got one yet or don’t know what they are, we would recommend checking them out because they can really help you with your organisation, recruitment communications and remove the distraction that recruitment can bring. Why not read 11 things you did not know about Flat Fee Recruiter’s ATS.
2. Online Testing
There used to be a perception that you needed a degree in wizardology to make sense of psychometric and other online tests, but again the market has moved on. You can find a number of suppliers who offer a bolt on skills or behaviour testing software that will enable you to quickly establish if a person is right for your business either by culture or by skill. Many are cost effective and some also offer a flat monthly fee for unlimited tests.
3. Application Forms
Application forms have been around for donkey’s years and you may have a form that applicants must download and complete from your website? These forms can also be part of your ATS. Although they allow the person who is screening with the opportunity of standardising all information, we would advise that you are conscious of how many questions you want to include in your application form. Make sure they are relevant to the job post and are created with the aim of helping you see past the information on a CV, not to replicate it to allow you gain the most benefit. The last thing you want to do is create a barrier where the perfect candidate won’t apply.
4. Killer Questions
Again these can be included on your ATS but it does not stop you asking these questions direct to applicants manually either. Killer questions do come with a little bit of controversy due to misuse, but used right, it can mean that you can very quickly accept or reject applications quickly. A typical example of a good Killer question may be for a field sales job where a driving licence is essential. “Do you have a full driving licence?” The entire pile of “No’s” will get immediately rejected.
5. Screening Matrix
This is a simple chart that you can do manually or electronically. The basic principle is to outline the various criteria required in a grid format. By assigning a point score to each of the criteria, you can quickly look at the chart to see which candidates have the desired and essential criteria for your role and who score highest. For example, you may require the candidate to have a degree in Computer Science. You could use a 5 point score for a Masters Degree and 0 score for no degree (with everything else graded in-between). You can develop this further and grade out of 10 for specific skills and experience or make it a simple matrix of 1 or 0 for things like spelling and grammar or gaps in employment etc.
These are just some of the tools that you can access to help you reduce the time spent screening CVs, make your recruitment process much more efficient and create confidence in your hiring decisions.
Next Thursday we will be discussing the importance or prioritising your recruitment criteria and helping you with some suggestions of criteria you can screen against legally with without bias too. These will help you create your Application Forms, Killer Questions and Screening Matrix too.
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