The applicant screening process is the first and the most crucial step to fill vacant positions at any company. Screening inefficiencies threaten to upend the entire hiring and onboarding process. Accordingly, a thorough review and gap analysis of the existing process, combined with a revamp as necessary, will make hiring significantly more efficient for any business, regardless of size.
Hiring employees requires time and investment. With ongoing marketplace trends like The Great Resignation, it is imperative for organizations to take a hard look at the efficacy of their job application screening process.
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Steps to Developing an Efficient Applicant Screening Process
Job postings often lead to an overwhelming response from all manner of candidates. A manual job application screening process is time-consuming and delays the subsequent steps required for a talent acquisition strategy framework. Similarly, skipping any step, or overlooking any aspect of the interview process, often results in the hiring of an underqualified candidate.
By implementing the suggestions below, businesses can devise a smarter applicant screening process:
Create a Checklist of Requisites
Be clear about the skills, experience, and qualifications necessary to fill the vacancies within your organization. An honest assessment of needs and requirements will save effort and time, produce more suitable resumes from the applicant pool, and reduce the clutter of non-relevant candidates.
There are many job platforms and software applications that provide the opportunity for a poster to create interactive checklists. Recruitment software powered by AI likewise parses the relevant details from uploaded resumes and narrows down the talent pool based on keywords to identify the most suitable candidate profiles.
Smart Assessments
The possibility of candidates misrepresenting themselves on their resumes cannot be overlooked. In some cases, true skillset and expertise may not match with the content of a resume. Testing via smart assessments enables hiring managers to formulate a clear analysis of each candidate’s applicable skill set. Smart testing can also help when working with third-party recruitment companies like a staffing agency in Pittsburgh, for instance.
Assessment platforms have test templates specially created for certain job roles. These specialized assessments allow recruiters to test niche candidates without the help of an expert.
Background Check
A background check is still one of the most efficient ways to gain insight into a candidate’s past performance. As such, hiring managers have immediate visibility of what they brought to their previous companies, as well as their average tenure at each.
Records of legal trouble, incidents of misconduct and insubordination at work, and other behavioral issues may come to light during this process. Furthermore, reaching out to the references provided and inquiring about their experience with a candidate will verify any information provided at the outset.
Conduct Video Interviews
Conducting a video interview is a further element that makes the process of deciding between candidates easier. Amid changing workplace dynamics and more remote hiring, synced video interviews have become a more convenient and popular choice for many modern organizations.
Conclusion
Companies of every size are increasingly adopting the best practices and using the latest technology to improve their hiring process and yield long-term benefits.
Investing time and effort in the development phase of your applicant screening process will give you the edge your company needs when it comes to staffing top talent. It will enable you to attract employees who relate to the company culture and can adjust accordingly. Above all, it will minimize employee turnover.
FAQs:
What is an applicant screening process?
The process of reviewing applications and profiles of candidates for a job is called a screening process.
What are the steps in the screening process?
A screening process has the following steps:
- Developing criteria for a position
- Reviewing profiles of candidates
- Technical assessment of shortlisted candidates
- Background check
- Conducting interviews
Why is the applicant screening process so important?
An applicant screening process is crucial in the hiring process because it narrows the talent pool to the most qualified candidates within a larger talent pool.
