Ways to Improve Your Candidate Screening Skills

Finding a suitable job after college or even when you want to switch your current job is a difficult task and candidates struggle a lot. However, it definitely is hard for the people who are looking for the right job but often we do not realize the complexity of the job for the recruiters and hiring managers.

People sitting on that side of the market are also in a challenging situation. No doubt they do not have to suffer financial insecurity, but what they do have to suffer is the constant pressure of an entire company’s future on their future.

Recruiters’ job is to hire people for the organization and therefore, they have to make an important decision. Not only the fact that they have to be highly credible and perfect with the final decision among quite a lot of candidates, but also the fact that the selected candidate should be perfect for the betterment of the company should be kept in mind.

If you are a hiring manager, you would understand the pressure. However, following are the few tips to improve your candidate screening skills.

Be clear about your search

Sometimes recruiters are not sure what exactly they want in a particular candidate. You must be very clear about what you want in the potential employee.

There are always certain features and qualities which make the people stand out from the rest, and so is the case for candidates and employees.

Narrow down your requirements and make sure the list is not too long because then it could get really frustrating and overwhelming. Align core competencies considering the job role and look out for only those in the candidates.

Avoid asking “yes or no” questions

A lot of interviews across the world go unsuccessful because the interviewers ask questions to which the answers could be in the form of yes or no only.

This is not right and it also makes the candidate nervous and hesitant.

Therefore, it is better to ask open-ended questions to which the candidates can reply properly and in detail.

These questions give the chance of speaking and staying confident to the candidates and so they are able to perform well.

Focus on the body language

Candidate’s body language plays a great role to tell about his competence regarding a certain position. Make sure you are paying attention to the body language throughout the interview.

Most of the times the body language is disturbed due to nervousness but if you observe it closely, you will understand the true version of it when the nerves are calm.

For example, if you are interviewing people for the job of an attorney, you must check whether the candidates are able to look in your eyes while talking or not.

If not, they are most likely not suitable for the role they are applying for. Hence, in short, the body language should be judged according to the job role.

Convey your company’s culture

Every organization has its own culture and it should be made sure by the hiring managers that the candidates are informed about it in the interview.

Think of some relevant terms that describe your company’s culture most appropriately and then use them during the interview while informing the candidate about it.

For this specific task, you can also consult CV makers online to provide you with some professional terms to describe the company’s culture.

Furthermore, make sure to notice how the candidate is responding to each term.

For instance, a start-up might use the term ‘long working hours’ and any candidate who is looking for a strict 9-5 job would not be comfortable with it. Identifying it then and there would be better for the employer to avoid employee turnover in the longer run.

Write the job ad properly

If you are publishing an ad for the job vacancy in your organization make sure to mention all the details in it. The ad should clearly mention the required expertise and education, and the expected salary range.

Furthermore, you must ensure that it is marketed properly and to the right set of audience.

For example, if you are looking for a candidate older than 25 years old, make sure to target the audience appropriately and targeting people belong to the age bracket of 20-25 would be plain stupidity.

Call screening before interviewing

Recruiters receive hundreds of resumes on a daily basis. Even after sorting out the ones with the right set of education and experience, quite a lot of them are left.

However, it is not possible to call all of those candidates and therefore, the better idea is to screen the candidate through call before calling them over for an interview. You can easily check whether the candidate is suitable for the interview or not.

Conduct the interview with the team

Hiring managers belong to the HR department and they are obviously more aware of their own department as compared to the rest of the fields.

However, they are supposed to recruit people for all the departments; since that is what their job role is.

The best way to check the candidate’s competency in his potential field is to conduct the interview along with a person from the respective department. That way you will be able to judge and analyze the candidate’s competency better as a team.

Conduct a feedback round

After the team interview, make sure to conduct a feedback round amongst the team about the candidate. Ask questions regarding the candidate and regarding his behavior, personality, and professional abilities.

That way you will be able to conclude the competency of the candidates better and more appropriately.

The feedback could be conducted by asking questions verbally or you can keep specific feedback forms for that and get them filled by the team afterward.

Screening a candidate is definitely not a piece of cake since there are multiple things to be taken care of.

However, discussed above are some of the effective tips for recruiters to make their candidate screening skills more effective and fruitful and reach the right decision.

If you are a recruiter, you must remember that the company’s future performance depends on your decisions of candidates that you select for various job roles and therefore, you must stay vigilant in that matter.