We gave the candidate a simple Six Sigma assessment, which tests proficiency in applying problem-solving skills to solve business challenges. He passed with flying colors, confirming our suspicions: he’s one of those people who’s great with technology but not so great at hyping up his own skills. Thanks to the information we gleaned from an objective assessment, he wound up getting hired. 

Every recruiter wants to avoid bad hires, but we’re all human, which comes with limitations. Recruitment assessment tools help remove subjectivity and bias from the hiring process, adding a layer of objectivity and data-backed insight that can help us make the best choices when shortlisting candidates and putting together job offers.  

We’ve analyzed dozens of pre-employment assessment tools and technologies to identify the top options that can strengthen your screening and hiring. 

What Are Recruitment Assessment Tools?

As a recruiter, you do everything in your power to gather information that will help you make an intelligent decision about who to hire. However, you can only do so much with the information that a candidate presents to you (like in their resume and cover letter) and the intel you collect on your own (like via LinkedIn and reference checks). As in the example above, all that information might still not paint an accurate picture. 

Assessment tools take your analysis one step further, helping you measure a candidate’s skills, proficiency level, and personality traits on an objective scale to make an accurate and informed hiring decision. Assessments can take many forms, including multiple-choice, open-ended answer, simulation, sample assignment, and even physical testing. 

Benefits of Recruitment Assessment Tools

Recruitment assessment tools are beneficial to hiring for a variety of reasons. They are:

Customizable

Recruitment assessments have evolved dramatically in the last decade. Today’s testing solutions can be tailored to any role or proficiency you want to assess, from technical skills like web coding to soft skills like leadership and cultural factors like work style. 

One of my team’s favorite types of assessments is a ‘culture add’ test. It analyzes how a candidate’s values align with those of the organization and whether their behaviors would be conducive to working successfully as part of the team.

Accessible

Assessment tools are easy to use and accessible for every candidate. Candidates can complete them on their own time, on a device they’re comfortable with. They can also be customized to accommodate people with disabilities, like those who use screen readers or special headsets when working on a computer.

Objective

No matter how much hiring managers want to remain objective when assessing candidates, we’re still human, and bias can creep into analysis. One of the core advantages of recruitment assessments is that they level the playing field. Pre-employment assessments help us compare candidates against one another using an equal measuring stick.

Effective

If you’ve ever been torn between two great candidates, you know the tug of war that can take place in your mind. I hate that feeling. Recruitment assessments eliminate guesswork from selecting the best person for the job. A candidate either meets the required proficiency level, or they don’t. They’re a strong fit for the work environment, or a weak one. This level of precision reduces bad hires and helps you identify great candidates faster. 

Related: How to Use Pre-Employment Assessments to Make Better Hires

Key Features to Look for in Recruitment Assessment Tools

When choosing a recruitment assessment tool, consider the following aspects. 

Reliability

A good recruitment assessment platform should provide consistent results backed by research. To predict job performance accurately, look for platforms that are scientifically validated and demonstrate their effectiveness with case studies from other employers. 

Customization

Every company’s hiring needs are unique, making customization a necessity. The ideal platform should give you the ability to tailor your assessments to different roles, experience levels, and your company culture. Whether it’s adjusting the test difficulty, adding job-specific questions, or incorporating your company’s branding, customization ensures a more useful assessment while providing a better candidate experience. 

Ease of use

Have you ever looked at some of the online forums for job seekers? Some of the people who post on them hate–and I mean hate–recruitment assessments. My guess? They have such a bad impression due to irrelevant, poorly designed, or downright offensive tests to their experience level (one senior programmer talked about being given a skills assessment that asked “What is debugging?”).

Your recruitment assessment should contribute to a positive candidate experience. That means having clear instructions, a user-friendly interface, and a mobile-friendly design. 

On the flip side, you also need it to be easy for recruiters to use. Look for software that offers pre-built assessments, drag-and-drop templates, and automated workflows that assist with distributing and following up on candidates’ tests. 

Versatility

A worthwhile recruitment assessment platform should support a range of assessments, like skill evaluations and personality tests. Versatility ensures that different roles, whether creative, technical, collaborative, or managerial, are assessed in the most appropriate way. 

AI capabilities

Cutting-edge assessment platforms capitalize on artificial intelligence to aid in identifying top candidates and reducing bias. For example, AI can predict with precision how likely a certain candidate is to succeed in a role or mesh with a team. Choose an assessment provider that prides itself on updating its platform with the latest technology. 

Analytics

Recruitment assessments are all about data, and you need an easy way to visualize and gain insights from the data they provide. Look for a tool that offers analytics features like real-time dashboards, at-a-glance reports, and the ability to compare and rank candidates easily. 

Security

Protecting candidates’ personal data and keeping your organization compliant with all relevant laws is paramount. When considering an assessment platform, ask about how it stores and manages candidate information and how its software complies with guidelines like the EEOC and GDPR. 

Integration

Seamless integration with the other software you use to hire, like your ATS or HRIS, is a must. A well-integrated platform reduces manual work, enhances efficiency, and contributes to a more streamlined hiring process. 

Best Skills Assessment Tools

Test Gorilla

When you need to verify that a candidate actually has the skills their resume claims, TestGorilla is a great option. More than 10,000 companies use the platform to assess candidates across a wide range of skills and proficiencies, from programming and engineering to a variety of languages. With more than 300 scientifically validated tests, it offers employers objective insights into applicants’ capabilities for both technical and non-technical roles. 

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pricing: 

• Free: Low-volume hirers can access up to five tests for free
• Starter: $83 per month or $990 per year 
• Pro: $127 per month or $1,518 per year

HackerRank

One of the most common gripes among development candidates is that the pre-employment assessment they were given has nothing to do with the actual job. HackerRank is a platform built by computer scientists for computer scientists to solve this problem. It uses a cutting-edge methodology to offer highly relevant tests for every facet of development. Tech giants like Amazon and AirBNB were early adopters of the platform, and companies like Goldman Sachs, LinkedIn, and Adobe now rely on HackerRank for hiring technical talent. 

G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5

Pricing:

• Starter: $165 per month or $1,990 per year
• Pro: $375 per month or $4,490 per year
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for testing up to 100,000 candidates at once

iMocha

iMocha is a powerful skills assessment platform catering to companies hiring for tech, finance, and business roles. It boasts an extensive library of more than 2,500 assessments with AI-based proctoring. iMocha is best for mid-size and enterprise-level companies looking to streamline their technical hiring while ensuring evaluation accuracy and fairness. 

G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5

Pricing:

• Basic: $400 per month, billed annually
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for unlimited assessments

Vervoe

Vervoe’s mission is to help companies hire based on merit rather than background. Its tests allow candidates to showcase their abilities by performing job-related tasks. Then, Vervoe uses machine learning models to tank candidates based on how they perform.  

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5

Pricing:

• Free: 7-day trial with no credit card required
• Pay as you go: Pay on a per-candidate basis starting at $300 for 10 candidates
• Custom: Custom pricing for fully customizable assessments

Personality/Culture Fit Testing

The Predictive Index

Building a dream team requires a mix of personalities. You need leaders, but not everyone can be a leader. The same goes for innovators, operators, and all of the other personality types that make up a high-performing team. The Predictive Index is built on this concept, helping hiring managers identify strong candidates and select the ones who make the most strategic sense as part of the overall team makeup. 

G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5

Pricing:

• Free trial available, pricing varies based on the features you need

HighMatch

HighMatch understands that no two roles are alike. Even the same job can be drastically different between two different companies. That’s why they use rigorous job profiles to personalize their assessments, ensuring that employers judge candidates on the qualities defining success for that role in their organization. Their test questions use simple language that’s easy for anyone to understand, so candidates aren’t left going in circles trying to figure out the “right” answer. 

G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5

Pricing:

• Pricing is dependent on company size and number of candidate profiles
• Small business (under 20 employees) pricing starts at $1,500 per year

SHL’s Occupational Personality Questionnaire

The Occupational Personality Questionnaire, or OPQ, is an industry juggernaut. It dates back to the 80s and is used in more than 10 million assessments each year. Though the test has evolved to capitalize on modern technology and contemporary science, its core value offering is the same as it was 40 years ago: to indicate a candidate’s preferred behavioral style at work and help employers gauge how well they’ll fit into a specific environment. It’s a straightforward, proven test that takes just 20 minutes and is available in 30 languages.

G2 rating: N/A

Pricing:

• Contact for pricing

Bryq

Bryq specializes in psychometric and cognitive assessments that evaluate candidates based on personality traits, cognitive abilities, and culture fit. It combines information from resumes with hard data from personality assessments to offer a comprehensive view of candidates, while using historical data to learn from the performance of existing employees. This approach enables more confident hiring decisions, better retention rates, and improved productivity.

G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5

Pricing:

• Standard: $299/month billed annually
• Advanced: Contact for pricing
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing

Harver

Harver is designed for volume hiring, specifically in the customer service, retail and hospitality industries. It offers assessments for situational judgement, personality, and cognitive ability rooted in over 35 years of psychology science designed to identify best-fit candidates. 

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5

Pricing:

• Contact for pricing

No matter which recruitment assessment technology you use, make sure that it’s tailored to each particular role and the unique needs of your organization. You can even mix and match different tools to come up with a pre-employment screening recipe that’s a perfect fit for your requirements. 

However, a few weeks into his new role, Andy’s inability to delegate became a glaring issue, threatening his continued employment. Subsequent conversations with his former colleagues revealed this was a long-standing issue I could have uncovered had I done a more thorough reference check. Lesson learned.

As my experience with Andy showed me, vetting candidates isn’t just about reviewing resumes and asking the right questions (although those are certainly important steps, too). A solid vetting process also looks at areas like soft skills, team cohesion, and personal values, all of which can impact a new hire’s success. So, I want to take the time here to explore why a thorough candidate vetting process is crucial and explain some actionable steps you can take to select the best candidates for your organization. 

Why You Need to Vet Candidates Thoroughly

Hiring the right talent is one of the most impactful decisions a company can make. A methodical vetting process will help your organization in the following ways. 

Discovering discrepancies

A confident cover letter and strong interview skills can mask red flags that point to imminent problems. From resume embellishments to outright falsehoods, fabrications can unfortunately creep into some applications, threatening your ability to make an accurate assessment. Steps like verifying a candidate’s skills and checking their references can reveal discrepancies that prevent you from making a hiring mistake. 

Mitigating risk

Bad hires are bad for business. A new employee’s negative attitude or a lack of critical skills can disrupt workflows, dampen morale, and even cause turnover. Vetting job candidates carefully will help you protect your organization’s interests. 

Strengthening the team

On the flip side, a good hire lifts up the whole team. A strong addition can improve performance, boost productivity, and enhance your employer brand through interactions with clients and partners.

Now, let’s dig into the steps for deep-diving into your job applicants. 

10 Steps to Effectively Vet Job Candidates

1. Start with a clear job description

The vetting process begins long before resumes start hitting your inbox. A clear, detailed job description is your first filter. It sets expectations for candidates and helps ensure you attract individuals with the skills and attributes required to do the job. 

For instance, when my team hires for a role requiring technical expertise, we list certifications, software proficiencies, and the preferred number of years of experience. We describe the team dynamic–collaborative or independent, creative or structured, etc. Being upfront and specific helps begin weeding out unqualified applications from day one. 

Related: How to Write a Job Description to Attract Top Candidates

2. Conduct structured screening calls

A 15- to 20-minute phone screen can save hours of your time by quickly identifying whether it’s worth moving forward with a candidate. Create a standardized list of pre-screening questions to evaluate core qualifications, experience, availability, and salary expectations. 

In a recent screening call, one of my recruiters chatted with a promising candidate whose resume listed several examples of project management experience. However, our screening questions revealed she’d been in more of a supporting role rather than a leadership capacity–something that made a difference for this particular position. Without that screening call and the specific questions, we might have wasted a lot of our time (and the candidate’s!) by incorrectly advancing her to the next stage. 

Related: How to Conduct a Phone Interview

3. Verify skills through objective assessments

Resumes and interviews can only tell you so much. After all, applicants can say whatever they want. To gauge a candidate’s abilities, when possible, you should try to incorporate skills assessments relevant to the role, like a coding challenge for developers, a writing test for copywriters, or a role-playing scenario for salespeople. These exercises are useful for assessing technical skills and evaluating other important characteristics like creativity and problem-solving. 

4. Ask strategic interview questions

Interviewing is an entire topic on its own, and we’ve written dozens of interviewing articles about it. When it comes to vetting candidates, though, one of the most important aspects of the interview is the list of questions you will ask. 

Asking a strategic mix of questions allows you to evaluate a candidate’s previous track record and predict their likely potential for future performance in your organization. Use a combination of behavioral interview questions to learn about past experiences, situational questions to understand how a candidate would respond in hypothetical scenarios, and personality questions to understand work preferences and culture fit. 

5. Assess for cultural fit

Skills can be taught. Culture fit cannot. This is an idea that is core to a good screening process. If someone is missing a technical skill, that might not be the end of the world, but if they have a personality or motivation mismatch, they will seldom work out. During interviews and in other interactions with a candidate, ask questions to discover their values, work style, and adaptability. All of these will play a big role in their success or failure on your team. 

This is also a great opportunity to let the candidate help with your vetting process. Talking about your company culture during the interview process allows them to understand the work environment and expectations better so they can self-select in or out of continuing in the hiring process. We have a long list of ways to talk about your company’s culture during interviews here. 

6. Check references thoroughly 

Even if the candidate has been stellar throughout the interview process, checking references is a step you don’t want to skip. Trust me when I say I’ve learned this the hard way. 

When contacting references, go beyond surface-level questions like “What is [CANDIDATE] like to work with?” Ask for specific examples of their strengths, areas for improvement, and interactions as part of a team. If you hear something negative, it’s not necessarily a deal breaker. Rather, it’s an important piece of data to help you set clear expectations and provide adequate support during onboarding and training. 

7. Conduct background checks

Conducting a background check for certain roles can be an important step in verifying a candidate’s history and ensuring they have a clean record. For a position that handles cash, for example, you’d want to ensure the person you hire has never been in trouble for theft. While background checks aren’t necessary in all situations, they’re worth considering for jobs with sensitive information, finances, or vulnerable populations. 

Related: The Best Background Check Software Options for Employers

8. Involve multiple stakeholders 

Hiring shouldn’t be a solo endeavor. Include multiple team members in the interview and decision-making process to gain other perspectives on candidates. 

In a recent hiring experience, we brought a potential new hire to meet their potential teammates during an informal lunch after their interview. I then asked those teammates for feedback afterward. One person who attended had an interesting note–the candidate had spent lots of time talking about themself but hadn’t asked a single question about the team or its projects. While this wasn’t a dealbreaker, I was glad to have this piece of information to factor into our considerations and prepare to integrate this candidate into our team successfully. 

9. Leverage technology for help

AI and other evolving technologies mean we don’t have to tackle the challenge of vetting job candidates on our own. Enhance your consideration process by leveraging tools that analyze candidate data, track interview performance, and predict long-term success. 

For example, some AI-powered platforms can analyze candidates’ interview responses to assess their communication skills and detect whether they share truthful information. Other tools can assess skills and provide detailed reports on applicants’ performance. Still, others can analyze large candidate pools and identify candidates with a high likelihood of success based on their resumes and prior experience. 

Technology isn’t a replacement for human judgment, but it can help streamline some aspects of the hiring process and let recruiters focus on high-value tasks.

10. Combine fact and feeling

Gut instincts can be helpful, but you have to be able to back up your feelings with data. If you have a strong inclination about a positive or negative candidate, use it as a signal to take additional steps to confirm or refute your instinct. 

Effectively reviewing job candidates requires time, effort, and a commitment to digging deeper than surface-level impressions. By following the steps above, you’ll minimize your risk of making a bad hire and set your team up for long-term success. 

Remember: every hire is an investment. If you’d like additional help maximizing the ROI, the experts at 4 Corner Resources are here to assist. We can help you overcome challenges in your hiring process and establish a comprehensive vetting system that yields qualified, well-fitting candidates. Get in touch by setting up a call with us today. 

As she spoke with a recruiter, discrepancies began to emerge. It started with small things, like giving dates for previous jobs that didn’t align with her resume. Then, she described working in a legal area I’m familiar with. I personally know several attorneys related to the work she claimed she did. After speaking to the recruiter and talking to her, I noticed that some details didn’t add up. With a little digging, it quickly became apparent that she had just added keywords to her resume without actually working on these types of cases.

Had we not been paying close attention to this candidate’s resume, we never would have caught her fabrications. We may have made the drastic error of hiring an untrustworthy person for a role where integrity matters a lot. 

Reviewing resumes is a part of the hiring process that some managers feel is a waste of time. However, this is just one example I have of why it’s a step you absolutely shouldn’t skip or do carelessly.  It pays to improve your resume reviewing skills for both speed and precision. 

Being able to zero in on the best candidates–and do it quickly–will make the difference between quick and accurate hiring or slow and unreliable hiring. Whether you’re new to hiring or have been doing it for years, this guide will help you hone your resume screening abilities.

The Importance of Reviewing Resumes Accurately

A resume is just a document, and it’s impossible to get to really know a candidate on paper. Even so, it’s the best resource hiring managers have to get a concise summary of a candidate’s abilities. Until the hiring world develops a better method, resumes are still our number one screening tool.

And, consider this: a resume shows you what a candidate wants you to see. In the early stages, we can only judge what they give us, and the content a candidate provides speaks volumes about their knowledge and level of professionalism. The top applicants will have done the best job they can put together in their resumes, which is why only the best ones deserve further attention.

How Long Should You Spend Reviewing Resumes?

While screening is the hiring activity that collectively takes the most time, this doesn’t mean you should spend much time on each resume. You should be able to scan a resume and categorize it as a yes, no, or maybe in under a minute. You can always come back for a more in-depth pass over the yes and maybe piles later. 

Reviewing resumes is a skill you can get better at with time. If you’re spending five or ten minutes on every resume right now, aim to limit it to one or two minutes. From there, you can get even faster until you can find the information you need in a matter of seconds. 

As for how long it takes to review all of the resumes submitted for a position, that’s a different question. The answer will depend entirely on how many applications you receive, how niche the position is, and whether or not you’re using an ATS to help with some of the heavy lifting. 

Steps to Review Resumes When Hiring

1. Review the job description

You’re excited and ready to dive into the stack of resumes piling up in your inbox, but there’s one thing you should do before opening a single application: review the job description. Make sure you know the primary criteria you outlined when posting the position and that the requirements are fresh in your mind. This only takes a few seconds, making a big difference in how quickly I can spot the most important qualifications. It’s an especially important step if you’re simultaneously interviewing for multiple similar roles.

2. Screen out unqualified candidates

When reviewing resumes, most hiring managers find it’s much easier to say ‘no’ than to give a definitive ‘yes.’ I agree, and so I like to start by weeding out clearly unqualified candidates. 

These people fail to meet the bare minimum job requirements, such as having far too few years of experience or not holding a required credential. It also includes people who are blanket applying to dozens of jobs and don’t seem in any way suited for your position.

As you sort out the no’s, make two other piles: yes and maybe. You want to return to those two piles next for a closer look. 

3. Pinpoint keywords

The words that describe the most important skills and job duties should be like a magnet for your eyes. They’re also the same words you used in the job description, so reviewing them first is helpful.

Make a list of the top five to six keywords (and their synonyms) to consider when scanning resumes. This is an easy way to quickly jump to the most relevant parts of a candidate’s resume.

4. Look for customization

Look for resumes tailored to the position, pulling in keywords and phrases from the job description and citing experience highly relevant to the role. This shows that a candidate has taken the time to customize their resume just for this job, which indicates both their conscientiousness and level of interest. 

5. Identify career progression

A strong resume demonstrates career progression from one job or company to another. You can spot this progression by referencing the job titles and dates of employment. For example, a senior marketing candidate might have spent a year as an account associate and then three years as an account executive before becoming an account director in their most recent promotion. 

Remember that career progression doesn’t always follow a clear and linear path. A strong candidate might have undergone a lateral move to a different company or backtracked a bit in seniority when changing fields. This isn’t necessarily cause for concern. I’ve seen many candidates with mysterious employment gaps or title changes that are easily explained. Maybe they went back to school or moved across the country. If everything else points in the right direction, I will usually take a few extra moments to review and to decide if it’s still worth my time to reach out.

Every case is unique. You should look to see whether their moves make sense in the overall trajectory of their career or if they seem to have moved aimlessly without any discernible path.

6. Avoid bias

If possible, use a program that blocks elements of a resume that can induce unintentional bias, like a candidate’s name or school. If you don’t have such a program, make it a habit to scan past this information and focus instead on technical qualifications. 

Related: Beware of These Subconscious Hiring Biases

7. Watch out for red flags

A resume doesn’t usually deserve to be tossed over a single typo or some wonky formatting. There are other red flags, however, that should give you serious pause. Things like multiple lengthy employment gaps or several glaring spelling errors probably don’t bode well for a candidate’s level of dedication or attention to detail. 

If a resume shows red flags but still reflects a strong candidate, at the very least, note the items you discovered and be sure to ask about them during the interview.

Related: The Top 9 Resume Red Flags

8. Keep an open mind

It’s impractical to give lengthy consideration to each and every resume you receive. Some need to be thrown in the reject pile immediately out of necessity to reserve the bulk of your attention for the strongest candidates. 

But there are some reasons to allow for a bit of wiggle room rather than maintaining totally inflexible hiring criteria. For example, consider candidates with a nontraditional background or make an allowance for a lesser degree if a candidate has specialized experience. 

Should I Use an ATS to Review Resumes?

There are pros and cons to using an applicant tracking system, or ATS, to review resumes. My team at 4 Corner Resources uses one to arrive at a shortlist of interview candidates faster, giving us more time to speak with each candidate and allowing us to consider a greater volume of applicants overall. 

While convenient, using an ATS can have downsides, like the fact that some resumes are accidentally screened out because of the file type or other factors that have nothing to do with the candidate’s skills. It’s something to take into account.

Using an ATS to screen resumes is a good idea if you’re receiving several dozen applications for each open position and/or if you’re hiring for multiple positions every month. An ATS can save you time and reduce your cost-to-hire while streamlining the hiring process for both interviewers and candidates. 

Related: The Pros and Cons of Applicant Tracking Systems

How 4CR Can Help Your Team Review Resumes

As I said earlier, reviewing resumes is a skill. My team at 4 Corner Resources has spent decades perfecting it, and I’d say we’ve got it as close to a science as you can get. We can help your organization fine-tune your hiring criteria, narrow down the most important qualifications, select the best keywords to focus on, and leverage technology to review resumes faster and with greater accuracy. 

Investing in a more precise resume review process saves time and prevents bad hires. Set up a call with us today to take the next step toward more streamlined hiring. 

Thanks to current technology, scenarios like this can be largely avoided. Still, this experience perfectly illustrates why recruiting software like an applicant tracking system (ATS) is so critical for hiring teams. The right platform can help you stay on top of tasks, keep the hiring process moving, and avoid that pit-in-your-stomach feeling of losing out on a great candidate because you dropped the ball. 

Here, I’ll share my best tips for choosing software that meets your needs today and can grow with you in the years to come.

How the Right Recruiting Software Can Help Your Organization

An ATS can enhance and accelerate your ability to hire. It can help your organization:

Save time

At one point, my team manually posted openings to LinkedIn, Indeed, and every other job board we needed to cover. It took hours every week. We could publish listings to 10+ platforms within a few minutes by implementing a one-click job posting. This freed up valuable time recruiters could spend on other tasks, like actually interviewing candidates. With the automation power many ATSs provide, staff can focus more closely on high-value tasks that require a human touch, like engaging with suitable applicants. 

Streamline hiring

From screening resumes to simplifying scheduling to delegating tasks, A good ATS offers many features that keep the hiring process moving smoothly. Minimizing delays from one step of the process to the next helps you hire faster and provides a more seamless experience for candidates. 

Maintain consistent candidate communications

When we lost the all-star candidate I mentioned earlier, our biggest mistake was forgetting to check in. Sometimes the hiring process moves slower than recruiters would like, for reasons beyond our control. Staying in close contact with candidates can make all the difference between losing them and keeping them interested. Many recruiting tools automate the process of maintaining a consistent line of communication so applicants never feel like they’ve been left in the dark. They’re less likely to drop off the map when you stay in touch regularly.

Related: The Dos and Don’ts of Candidate Communication

Build a talent pipeline

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using spreadsheets to manage parts of the recruiting process. They get the job done… to a point. Once you amass a large number of candidates or begin hiring at a more rapid pace, though, spreadsheets become impractical for sorting, filtering, and maintaining your candidate database in a useful way. 

There are custom-built applicant tracking systems to help companies build and maintain an organized, searchable database at scale. With these tools at your disposal, you’re already a few steps ahead when a vacancy occurs, and you have a high-quality, vetted pool of candidates from which to begin your search.

Related: How to Build a Talent Pipeline

Facilitate collaboration

A recruiting platform provides a centralized location for various team members involved in hiring to work collaboratively, track progress, and compare notes, keeping everyone on the same page and preventing duplicate work.

Things to Consider When Choosing an ATS

Here are the top aspects to keep in mind as you review different recruiting platforms. 

Features

Does the program offer must-have features like tracking and sorting applicants, sending personalized messages, scheduling interviews, and screening resumes? What about additional capabilities like AI-powered matching, customizable applications, asynchronous video interviews, and background checks? How often do they roll out new features? If you’re a large organization, can you request custom functionalities that support the nuances of your business?

During COVID, my team learned firsthand how important it was to be able to schedule interviews across time zones and differentiate between virtual and in-person meetings. After several missed appointments and numerous mix-ups, where someone thought they were being asked to attend in person instead of via video, we knew we needed to take action. 

With a little tweaking to our templates, we were able to clarify our scheduling process and reduce the frustration candidates and recruiters were feeling during that tumultuous time. Having the right features made it possible. 

Accessibility

How easy is the platform to learn? How much training is required for new users? Are all features available on a mobile device, or are there tasks that can only be completed on a desktop? If you’re looking at a recruiting platform with a candidate-facing side, consider the ease of use of that interface and how it will contribute to your candidate experience. 

Integrations

Find out if the software you’re looking at works with the other applications you rely on, which can multiply its usefulness. Consider its ability to integrate with essential hiring tools like your calendar, email client, payroll provider, or benefits administration program. Integrating these programs saves time and reduces the number of actions you must perform to complete tasks. 

Security

Recruiters collect a mass of personal data on applicants, but we don’t often think about what happens to that data (that’s some IT person’s job, right?). When you’re choosing recruiting software, ask questions about how the platform protects sensitive data, where it’s stored, and how it’s used. 

Support

What happens if there’s an outage? Don’t take the marketing line of “99% uptime!” at face value, as this is a baseline industry standard. Probe deeper to find out how frequently outages occur and how fast the average outage is resolved.

And what about when you need help with the platform–how will you get it? Does the software provider use a ticketing system where you have to submit a request and wait to hear back, or do they offer dedicated phone support? Your needs may vary, but it’s important to know ahead of time what you can expect so you’re not caught off guard when dealing with a problem. 

Scalability

How many different users does the platform support, and how easy/costly is it to add new users? This is usually the area where the pricing model changes, so pay attention to what you’re looking at. Consider also the software’s ability to manage different offices or geographical locations, especially if those locations are in different states or countries. 

Reporting

Assess the app’s ability to delve into recruiting analytics, which can be a rich source of insights on your hiring efficiency and where the process can be improved. How quickly can reports be generated, and how much effort is required? How much ability do you have to customize reports based on what’s relevant to your organization? I personally love the ability to build custom reports and save them for easy access later. I can access my clients’ most important metrics within literally 30 seconds–super helpful for providing timely status updates and flagging problems quickly. 

Cost

Different ATS have different billing methods. As I mentioned, a platform may calculate cost based on the number of recruiters using the platform, the number of jobs being posted, or the level of features you have access to. One thing most modern platforms have in common is that they’re subscription-based, which means you’ll be billed annually or by the month. To avoid overpaying, selecting a platform with a billing method that aligns with your needs is wise. 

How to Choose the Right ATS

1. Define your needs

Outline the goals you want your recruiting tool to help you achieve, the pain points you’d like to alleviate, and the critical features that are non-negotiable. Don’t make this decision solely at the executive level; involve stakeholders in various job functions. 

If I hadn’t done this when selecting our recruiting platform, I would never have learned that my associate recruiters spent several hours a week manually combing through LinkedIn and comparing user profiles against job listings. Now, we use technology to do this for us. The point is that you can’t fix pain points you don’t know about. 

2. Establish a budget

Consider the abovementioned factors to decide which payment model is most practical for your organization. Be sure to ask about “hidden” costs, such as one-time setup fees, training costs, and costs for additional users.

3. Compare options

Ask fellow business owners and executives about their preferred software. Peruse online reviews to learn about the pros and cons of different platforms and see how they stack up side by side. Check out buyers’ guides; we have a breakdown of our favorite recruiting platforms here. 

4. Check interoperability 

Confirm that the software you’re considering works with the other applications you need it to work with and what that entails. Is the integration built-in, or does it require a special setup? Will you incur an additional cost? Some platforms may offer the functionality you’re currently getting through a different piece of software. Consolidating vendors can save on costs. 

5. Review finalists

Compile a list of finalists and test them out. Use free trials to get hands-on experience or schedule demos to understand the full range of available features. If you do partake in a demo, bring up the needs you identified in step one. A consultant should be able to speak specifically to whether the program will provide your required features and solve your pain points. This is also a good time to find out what the software’s onboarding looks like and what support will be available to you during the transition. 

6. Compile feedback and make a decision

Select your platform of choice using all of the information you’ve gathered thus far, checking in with stakeholders to weigh in where appropriate. If you are deciding between multiple platforms, you may be able to negotiate on costs and get your top choice to price match their closest contender. 

7. Monitor performance and results

Monitor performance and progress as your team gets up to speed on the new platform. After you’ve had time to fully acclimate (six months to a year is a good benchmark), analyze whether your goals are being achieved. 

Finding the right recruiting program may take some trial and error, but the one that’s a fit for your business will reduce manual work, help you keep great candidates close, and allow you to focus on hiring quickly. 

A common gripe new clients have when they first meet with my team is that they’re squandering precious time speaking with candidates who don’t meet the minimum requirements for a position. When I hear this, I know exactly where we need to fine-tune their hiring process: the pre-screening phase. Asking the right pre-screening interview questions helps eliminate unqualified candidates so you can avoid wasting time and make better hires. 

Here, I’ll explain a strong pre-screening interview process and share some of the best questions to use to ensure that only viable applicants make it to the interview stage. 

What Is a Pre-Screening Interview?

A pre-screening interview is a conversation that occurs before an official job interview. Recruiters and HR representatives use it to narrow down the pool of candidates for a position, eliminating those who don’t meet the minimum job requirements before passing qualified applicants on to the hiring manager. 

Pre-screening interviews consist of basic questions like ‘Tell me about your background’ and ‘Why are you interested in this position?’ It’s not a deep dive into a candidate’s past experience; rather, it’s a way to quickly identify whether they hold the skills necessary to do the job. This phase may also consist of skills assessments designed to verify an applicant’s technical capabilities. 

Pre-screening interviews protect hiring managers’ time since hiring is not their full-time job. They’re also overseeing their department’s operations, so they can’t spend all day talking to candidates only to discover that some of them can’t fulfill the basic job duties. 

Pre-interview conversations are useful for weeding out candidates who have embellished their resumes, making it seem as if they have more experience or responsibilities than they actually have. Talking live will often reveal this.

In one previous screening experience, a candidate for a data analysis role claimed on their resume that they were proficient with Microsoft Excel. I asked them, “What advanced functions are you familiar with?” After a pause, they admitted that they’d only used the software to create basic spreadsheets. If I hadn’t asked that question, we might have moved forward with a candidate who lacked the technical proficiency to perform at the level we needed. 

Hiring managers aren’t the only ones who benefit from pre-screening interviews. They’re also an opportunity for candidates to learn more about a position and opt out if they decide it’s not for them. For example, a pre-interview conversation might clarify that the work isn’t what an applicant expected or that the schedule wouldn’t work for them. This is one more way pre-screening helps avoid wasted time. 

Types of Screening Interview Questions

Interest

One of the first things my team will do during a screening interview is assess the candidate’s interest. Are they applying for every job opening within a 100-mile radius, or did this position specifically appeal to them? Ideally, you want to move forward with candidates interested in the role beyond the paycheck. Time after time, those candidates have proven to turn into employees who are motivated to perform at a high level and remain with the company for an extended period of time. 

Background

Next, you want to learn a little about the applicant’s history. You don’t need their complete biography, but you want to understand where their professional path has taken them and how they’ve arrived at this opening. This is one area where a resume can’t always tell you the full story. It’s useful to get a summary straight from the candidate’s mouth. 

Skills

While the majority of highly focused technical questions will be reserved for later interviews or skill assessments, you can still get a basic understanding of whether the candidate meets the minimum skill requirements. You can learn a lot simply by asking them to discuss their proficiency with a certain tool or process. Someone who uses that skill regularly will have no problem rattling off an answer, while someone who may have fudged their resume is likelier to stumble through their response. 

Fit

When screening for a project management role, I asked one candidate, “Why are you leaving your current job?” They shared that they’d become frustrated by fluid responsibilities and shifting deadlines. Being adaptable was a huge requirement for success in the role I was screening for, so unfortunately, their answer told me they were not a strong fit. Assessing fit on the core aspects of the job is a primary goal of pre-screening, from job duties and salary to company culture and personality. 

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How to Conduct a Pre-Screening Interview

Most pre-screening interviews are conducted over the phone, but video conversations have become more common due to the increasing use of video conferencing platforms. Pre-recorded interviews and even written surveys are other options. 

A pre-screening interview shouldn’t take too much time on the part of the interviewer or the candidate; 15 minutes is a good benchmark. Limit the conversation to just a handful of questions designed to gather the most important information. Remember, the goal is not to learn everything there is to know about a candidate but rather to make a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ ruling about whether the applicant should move forward in the hiring process.

Related: Phone Interview Dos and Don’ts

Pre-Screening Interview Questions Examples

Work experience and responsibilities

The primary objective of a pre-screening interview is to determine whether the candidate possesses the necessary skills for the job. This can be done by asking basic questions about the candidate’s work experience and responsibilities in their one to two most recent positions. 

Example questions:

• Tell me about your current job.
• What experience do you have with [job duty]?
• Tell me about your skills in [technical skill area].
• How will your skills benefit you in this position?
• What types of responsibilities are you looking for in a new job?

Work environment

Work environment plays a big part in a candidate’s success at a new company. You want to learn whether their expectations are in line with what it’s actually like at the hiring organization and how adaptable they’ll be to a new environment. 

Example questions:

• What type of work environment do you prefer?
• What does your ideal workday look like?
• What do you like/dislike about your current work environment?
• How do you adapt to a new work environment?

Work style

Work style encompasses things like communication, teamwork, independence, and the ability to receive feedback, all of which are important elements of fit. Ask questions to get a general sense of whether the candidate’s style would allow them to thrive in the role. 

Example questions:

• Describe your work style.
• Tell me about your ideal boss.
• What’s your communication style?
• Do you prefer to work independently or as part of a team?
• How do you prefer to receive feedback?
• How do you deal with workplace conflict?

Time management

Time management is a crucial skill regardless of the position or industry. Can the candidate stay on task and get their work done on time?

Example questions:

• Tell me about your time management skills.
• How do you prioritize work when you have multiple important things to get done?
• What kind of deadlines did you have in your previous position?
• Have you ever missed a deadline? How did you handle it?

Salary expectations

This can be a sensitive topic, but it’s a necessary one to learn whether it makes sense to continue the conversation with a candidate. While you don’t need to nail down an exact figure, it’s important to ascertain whether the applicant’s expectations are on par with the salary band for the job. It could indicate a mismatch if their expectations are too low or too high.

Example questions:

• What are your salary expectations?
• Are there certain benefits you’re looking for in your next position?

About the company

A good candidate will have done their homework to learn what the company does and the basics of the job. This topic can help you gauge a candidate’s level of interest in the position. It’s also a good idea to hand the microphone over to the candidate and give them a chance to ask their own questions.

Example questions:

• Why do you want to work for our company?
• Why are you leaving your current job?
• What interested you about this position?
• What role do you see yourself filling here?
• What other types of jobs are you applying for?
• What questions do you have for me?

Red Flags to Watch Out for During Pre-Screening Interviews

A pre-screening interview is mostly meant to gather information. However, it’s also a chance to have your antennae up for any red flags that could be grounds for tossing the application straight into the trash. 

They don’t ask any questions

If a candidate seems disinterested, distracted, or doesn’t have anything to ask at the end of the conversation, it could be a sign that this job is merely one of the dozens they applied for rather than one they really want. 

They only ask about pay and benefits

It’s natural for a candidate to want to ensure the position meets their salary requirements, but if this is the only thing they ask about, you probably want to look elsewhere. 

They are secretive about their background

If a candidate sidesteps questions about why they’re leaving their job or seems apprehensive about providing references, it causes me to dig a little deeper. There are valid reasons they may seem cautious–for example, they don’t want their boss to learn that they’re job searching–but they also might have been fired, had disciplinary issues, or have other things in their background they’re trying to conceal. 

When speaking with candidates, take thorough notes. Specifically, jot down any topics you want to cover further in a future interview. If you need more information from an applicant to give them the green light to move forward, this is a good opportunity to ask for it. Hence, you have all the necessary details to make an informed decision on their candidacy. 

Related: Guide for Evaluating Candidates in a Job Interview

If your screening process could use some refining, my team is eager to help. We can assist in creating tailored screening questions that zero in on the capabilities that separate qualified candidates from the rest. You’ll spend more time speaking with the strongest applicants and gaining the information you need to confidently move forward. Set up a time to talk with us today. 

The Importance of a Thorough Screening Process

The screening process you use to learn more about candidates serves many valuable purposes. Screening enhances your recruitment efforts by:

Identifying necessary skills

Simply put, can the person feasibly do the job, or can’t they? Screening determines whether a candidate possesses the necessary technical and soft skills to meet expectations and do the job effectively. 

Studies have shown that hiring based on skills results in stronger employee fit and higher productivity, and it’s a practice that’s on the rise among employers. In 2023, 73% of firms used skills-based hiring, up from 56% the year prior. 

Eliminating candidates who don’t meet the criteria

This may seem like a basic step, but it bears mentioning. I have spoken to many managers who have walked into an interview only to realize that the candidate they’re speaking with is unqualified. It’s a waste of time for both parties and takes your attention away from candidates who do meet the requirements. 

Screening for those essential job requirements will quickly filter out candidates who fail to meet the experience requirements or otherwise aren’t a strong enough fit to be effective in the job. 

Assessing for culture fit

Sometimes, an applicant meets all of the requirements on paper, but once you get on the phone with them, it becomes clear that their idea of the role is out of line with the actual duties or that their work preferences mean they likely wouldn’t be satisfied in this particular position. Screening is a valuable opportunity to assess for fit before the more rigorous interview process. 

In many roles this is almost more important that technical skills. It’s frequently easier to train someone to use a specific technology at your company than it is to deal with a conflict of personality. Your coworkers may have to work closely with this individual for a long time, so you want to ensure that they match your team and company dynamic.

Preventing hiring mistakes

Inadequate screening is a major contributor to hiring mistakes. By thoroughly investigating a candidate’s capabilities up front, you’ll save yourself from the much bigger inconvenience of a hiring mistake that becomes apparent later on. 

10 Steps To Successfully Screen Job Applicants

1. Review the job description

Before you begin looking at candidates, review the job description to make sure the important qualifications are fresh in your mind. This is a key step as it reminds you of the essential things you need to be looking for on each resume. Create a detailed list of criteria that includes:

• Essential qualifications. This covers the skills, education, and experience that are non-negotiable to move forward in the hiring process. 
• Nice-to-have characteristics. This includes things like personality traits, additional experience, and other attributes that would give a candidate extra points but are not an absolute requirement. 
• Culture fit. What core values and personality traits would make a candidate fit in well in your organization?
• KPIs of success. Define how performance will be measured and what KPIs you’re looking for the right candidate to achieve. 

2. Use an applicant tracking system

An applicant tracking system, or ATS, greatly simplifies the process of tracking and filtering candidates. It can automatically scan all application materials looking for specific keywords and identifying candidates who meet the minimum qualifications. An ATS also allows you to prioritize candidates for outreach and keep a record of your interactions with each individual. It’s something any team that does regular hiring should have.

3. Conduct initial resume screening

Review resumes for the criteria you outlined in step one (or use an ATS to complete this step). In addition to verifying candidates’ qualifications, look at important details that add context, like work history and achievements. Does the candidate have any employment gaps that need to be addressed? Does their resume note accomplishments demonstrating the value they can add to a team? 

As you review resumes and flag candidates you want to speak with, take notes about specific details you want to discuss in your conversation so you can reference these during a phone or video call.  

Related: Resume Red Flags

4. Read cover letters

Include cover letters in your initial screening if you require cover letters as part of your application process. Cover letters can provide useful insight on a candidate’s goals, career trajectory, and alignment with your company’s values. 

5. Complete phone or video screenings

Once you’ve ruled out candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements, the next step is to talk live with those who do. This is done via phone or video call and is the prerequisite to the interview stage. 

In a screening call, a recruiter or HR staffer asks questions to learn more about a candidate’s strengths and suitability for the role. During this step, you may gain additional information that allows you to filter a candidate out or definitively advance them to the interview stage. 

At 4CR, this is our most essential step, and we generally try to speak to all candidates who don’t outright lack critical skills. This is simply because you can learn so much more from a 10-minute phone call than you could from a simple resume.

Here are some good topics to ask about during a phone or video screening. 

Candidate background

Ask questions to learn more about an applicant’s work history and interest in the job, like:

• Tell me about yourself.
• What motivates you?
• Why are you interested in this position?
• Why are you leaving your current job?
• What do you know about our company?
• How soon are you looking to start a new position?

Skills and experience

Inquire about skills and experience detailed in the candidate’s resume to understand how they might apply them in this role and company. Address any questions you noted while reviewing their application materials. Here are some good things to ask:

• What strengths make you a good fit for this job?
• What prior experience has prepared you for this role?
• What are your biggest accomplishments during your time as [current job title]?
• I noticed a gap in your employment during [dates]. Can you tell me more about that?
• It looks like you previously worked in [different industry]. How do those skills transfer to this industry?

Fit

Since this is your first chance to hear from the candidate directly, it’s an important opportunity to assess fit, which can’t be gleaned from a resume alone. It’s also a good time to make sure you’re aligned with the candidate on salary. Ask questions like:

• What is your ideal work environment?
• How well do you work as part of a team?
• What motivates you?
• What are career goals?
• What are your salary expectations?

Based on your screening calls, create a shortlist of applicants who will be offered an interview. 

Related: How to Conduct a Phone Interview

6. Allow candidates to ask questions

Screening isn’t a one-way process. The candidate is screening you as well, and in that pursuit, they probably have some questions of their own. So, your screening call should give them a chance to ask those questions.  

The topics a candidate raises can tell you a lot about their motivations, thought processes, and interest in the role itself. Do they ask questions that are relevant to the job? Do they seem interested in the right aspects of the job, like its opportunities and challenges, or are they more concerned with starting quickly and collecting a paycheck? If they don’t have any questions for you at all, it could signal a lack of preparation or low interest in the job. 

7. Use skills assessments 

If certain technical skills are a make-or-break component for success in a role, like computer programming or data analytics, incorporate testing for these skills into your screening process. Use skills tests to assess candidates on an objective scale and use their scores to determine whether to advance them to the next round. 

8. Review social media 

These days, a person’s real-world identity is intertwined with their online persona. You want to hire employees who present themselves in a professional manner not just face to face, but virtually, as well. Reviewing candidates’ social media profiles can reveal useful information about their values, professionalism, and judgment to ensure you’re considering candidates who will reflect positively on your company. 

9. Look for red flags

Certain characteristics can’t be identified with an automated screening tool, and this is why there should always be a human aspect in hiring. A recruiter requires discretion to sense warning signs that a candidate may not be a good choice. Throughout the process you should pay attention to indicators like:

Low enthusiasm

A candidate should seem excited at the prospect of joining your team, not act as though you’re just another company in the sea of applications they’ve submitted. Get to the bottom of a candidate’s lackluster attitude with questions like “what caught your eye about this position?” If they can’t cite concrete details, it’s probably a sign they’re not all that interested in this particular role. 

Negative comments about previous jobs/employers

If a candidate speaks poorly of their current or former job, boss, or company, it’s not a good look. Badmouthing a previous employer is unprofessional and conveys a lack of understanding of appropriate workplace behavior. 

Lying/misrepresenting details

While it’s not all that common to catch a candidate in an outright lie, it’s much more common for applicants to stretch the truth or misrepresent elements of their candidacy to give them a better shot at being hired. If something smells fishy and a candidate can’t explain the discrepancy, it raises serious questions about their ability to do the job with integrity. 

10. Create a shortlist and proceed to interviews

Using all the data points your screening process has produced, create a shortlist of candidates who will advance to the next hiring phase and be granted one or more interviews. 

By following a measured, objective, thorough, and consistent approach to candidate screening, you can accelerate your recruitment process, reduce the chance of hiring the wrong person, and make better-quality hires overall. 

Simplify Candidate Screening With Expert Assistance

Candidate screening is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. Outsourcing screening to a seasoned professional can reduce the burden on busy HR team members. 

The team at 4 Corner Resources can quickly and thoroughly screen applicants and provide you with a selection of high-quality candidates for closer consideration. Get started by talking to us about your hiring needs today. 

Imagine if AI could deliver a shortlist of ideal candidates, saving you from combing through endless resumes or sitting through interviews with less-than-ideal applicants. This scenario isn’t just wishful thinking—it’s becoming increasingly common as AI takes on a bigger role in recruitment. But should you completely rely on AI to handle your recruitment needs? Before making that decision, here’s what we’ve learned and what you need to know.

But First…What Is AI Recruiting?

AI recruiting is the process of using artificial intelligence to facilitate steps in your hiring process. It may sound foreign, but chances are you’re already using some of it. For example, If you’ve ever looked at a suggested candidate on Indeed, you were paired up based on the specific words and phrases in their resume and your job posting. We’ve gotten used to using this basic algorithm that analyzes text between the two listings, but new AI tools go much farther in mimicking human intelligence.

Not only does AI match candidates on paper, but it can book interviews, call and administer a phone interview, record and analyze the answers, and upload them into your applicant tracking system. If you haven’t already experienced an AI “recruiter,” it’s worth checking out. The software sounds and responds like a human on the phone, with the potential to save countless hours and costs associated with initial applicant screenings.

Is AI Recruiting Here to Stay?

You might be thinking…can I trust a machine? Well, the answer is yes. But only to a certain extent. The hardest part of hiring a new employee is trying to find them in the first place! Going through a large number of resumes day after day isn’t just tiring; it’s inefficient. Recruiters and talent acquisition teams are no longer required to sort through stacks of resumes, hoping to find a match. Instead, the matches come right to them.

The use of artificial intelligence in hiring is not going away. In fact, it’s rapidly picking up steam. According to Workable’s 2024 AI in Hiring Survey, nearly two out of three recruiters have used some form of AI in hiring within the last year. Nine out of ten say AI has expedited their hiring, while 78% say it has saved them money. 

How Recruiters Are Currently Using AI

The use cases for AI in a recruiting capacity are multifaceted. Machine learning technology has the power to automate tasks, assess candidate aptitude with a high degree of accuracy, and even intelligently predict when certain professionals are likely to be job searching. 

Here are just a few of the top ways recruiters are leveraging AI:

• Screening applications. It can scan resumes and job applications, matching candidates’ qualifications with job criteria.
• Identifying strong-fitting candidates. AI can analyze job descriptions and comb through candidate databases to identify individuals who are a likely fit. 
• Scheduling interviews. The manual tasks associated with finding and selecting a suitable interview time can be largely eliminated. 
• Developing interview questions. Machine learning tools can develop highly tailored interview questions by using the job description and other inputs as a guide.
• Analyzing interviews. Natural language processing and facial analysis tools can help identify soft skills and assess candidates’ personalities. 
• Handling candidate communications. From automated email messaging to chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, AI can help keep candidates engaged at every stage of the hiring process.
• Conducting pre-employment assessments. It keeps the hiring process moving by distributing and administering skills tests and other forms of pre-employment assessments.
• Initiating background and reference checks. AI technology can integrate seamlessly with other hiring tools, like reference and background check software, to complete all the necessary pre-hire steps. 
• Analyzing recruitment data. Recruitment produces a wealth of data that AI can help analyze to uncover opportunities to reduce costs, accelerate hiring, tap into new talent pools, make more compelling job offers, and much more.

But is AI right for you…at least right now?

Let’s look deeper into its advantages and disadvantages in recruiting to help you decide.

The Benefits of Using AI in Recruitment

Saves time

The traditional hiring process takes days – if not months. Professional positions can take as long as 60 days to fill, and hiring managers spend valuable hours searching through resumes, pre-screening candidates, doing interviews, and more. Automating tasks saves you time, which, in turn, can save you money.

Related: Ways to Reduce Your Average Time to Hire

Improves hiring accuracy

Since only about 50% of hires are successful, being able to hire better should always be a priority. It costs money and time to onboard someone, and if they leave within the first year, that’s money down the drain. AI recruitment software can improve the chances of hiring success.

Related: Is ChatGPT the Future of the Workforce?

Reduces bias

AI-powered screening processes can reduce human bias by filtering candidates based on the aspects that matter for success, like skills and prior experience, rather than forming impressions based on factors like gender, ethnicity, or age. 

Frees up human capacity

Tasks like sending emails back and forth to schedule and remind candidates of interviews are not the best use of recruiters’ time. By using AI to manage repetitive, time-consuming tasks, recruiters can focus more on activities like speaking with candidates and brainstorming creative ways to reach new talent.  

Promotes consistency 

One of the more challenging parts of hiring, especially at scale, is providing a consistent experience from one candidate to the next. AI can help streamline processes and ensure equity, which creates a better, more consistent candidate experience. 

Simplifies planning

AI’s unmatched predictive capabilities allow companies to project which roles they’ll need to hire for intelligently and when. This enables more proactive hiring and simpler succession planning, strengthening an organization’s stability. 

Disadvantages of Using AI Tools in Recruiting

Though working with AI has many advantages, we have also encountered many disadvantages. Here is what we have found:

Lack of human touch

Despite the incredible advancements in recent years, the software doesn’t screen candidates as effectively as humans do. At least not yet.

Plus, a resume and an initial interview only scratch the surface of who a candidate truly is. While hiring for skills is necessary, ensuring there’s a match when it comes to things like culture, work environment, and personality (to name a few) is equally important. AI can’t assess much beyond technical abilities, so human screening is best when you want someone who will fit in and thrive with the team.

For example, imagine you’re hiring for a role that requires technical expertise and a strong alignment with your company’s collaborative culture. AI might filter resumes for keywords like “JavaScript” or “project management,” but it won’t detect a candidate’s soft skills, adaptability, or enthusiasm for teamwork.

I experienced this firsthand when our AI-powered recruitment tool flagged a candidate as a perfect technical fit for a project lead position. However, after a personal interview, it became clear that while the candidate had the right qualifications based on their resume, they lacked the interpersonal qualities crucial for thriving in our client’s highly collaborative environment. This was something AI couldn’t catch—and it reinforced the importance of blending technology with human intuition.

Related: Reasons Why Culture Fit is Important for Your Hiring Strategy

Resistance to change

Though AI is becoming a more popular recruiting tool, it’s not as easy as it may sound. Not only is there a large deal of skepticism amongst HR managers who may have to switch from traditional recruitment to AI recruitment, but this software can be difficult to navigate and understand.

Implementation costs

Though AI can potentially reduce hiring costs in the long run, its systems can come with sizable up-front costs. This is especially true for custom-built systems. Small- to medium-sized businesses may find it financially prohibitive to adopt AI recruiting technologies. 

Data security concerns

AI recruiting systems process massive amounts of candidate data, some of which is sensitive and all of which must be securely stored, managed, and accessed. If companies fail to handle data securely, it could lead to a breach and result in legal trouble. 

Potential to alienate diverse candidates

Though AI algorithms are getting more advanced by the day, they still tend to prioritize candidates with traditional, direct career paths. This can potentially exclude candidates who are just as capable of performing the job, but who have taken a less direct path to get to where they are in their career or have had more obscure job titles.

We encountered this recently when recruiting for a marketing leadership role. One candidate, who had years of valuable experience running successful marketing campaigns, had a background as a “Brand Storyteller” and later as a “Customer Engagement Strategist”—titles that didn’t perfectly match the traditional marketing ladder. While AI might have filtered out this candidate due to non-standard job titles, our team recognized their strategic thinking, creative vision, and leadership qualities. After a personal interview, it became clear they were qualified and a standout candidate who brought a fresh perspective to the role.

We Believe Recruiting Still Needs a Human Touch

When you hire someone new, you want them to be the perfect fit—someone who not only excels at the job but also aligns with your company’s values and culture. After all, hiring is an investment in time and resources, and it’s crucial to get it right. While AI can assist with certain aspects of recruitment, only 7% of hiring managers believe that AI can fully replicate what they do.

At 4 Corner, we have purposely built our business around a personal touch because we know that finding the right employee is about much more than just ticking boxes on a resume. It’s about understanding your company’s unique needs, culture, and long-term goals. Our personalized approach allows us to dive deep into what makes your company stand out, and we tailor our recruitment strategies accordingly. That’s why we’re known as one of the top recruiting and staffing firms in the nation—we don’t just help you fill a role; we help you find an employee who will stay, thrive, and grow with your business.

By combining our industry expertise with a focus on human connection, we ensure your company attracts the right talent, standing out in the crowded hiring landscape. When you work with us, you’re not just getting candidates—you’re getting the perfect fit, every time.

Contact us today to see how our expert team of recruiters can help you.

What Is Recruitment Automation?

Recruitment automation is the process of using technology to tackle talent acquisition and hiring tasks automatically. Companies use recruitment automation to save time, hire faster, increase recruiter productivity, and reduce hiring expenses. It can also lead to a better candidate experience, which contributes to the larger goal of hiring the best talent available. 

In a world where employees–recruiting staff included–are being asked to do more with less, recruitment automation helps keep your talent pipeline moving while ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. 

Recruitment automation might sound advanced, but modern applications make it easily accessible for pretty much any recruiter with a computer and an internet connection to take advantage of. You might even have some automation tools already available to you in your existing applicant tracking system. 

How Do You Automate Recruiting?

The best way to automate your recruiting processes is to think about your overall talent pipeline. Break it into phases–what steps does every candidate go through before (and even after) being hired? 

For each phase, assess the activities that happen on the recruiter’s end, along with activities that require action from other team members. This can be helpful to think of in terms of cause and effect. For example:

Application comes in → Recruiter opens and reviews it

Candidate passes initial screening → Recruiter reaches out to schedule interview

Candidate moves to second interview → Recruiter sends skills assessment

For each of these cause-effect scenarios, there’s a task that can be automated, removing it from the recruiter’s to-do list while keeping the hiring process moving smoothly. 

Related: Can You Trust AI to Handle Recruitment?

Here are some useful examples of how you can automate recruiting processes. 

Post job openings

Posting to multiple job boards is incredibly time-consuming. Use a tool that integrates with your human resource information system (HRIS) software to automatically pull required fields from approved requisitions and post them to all of the major job platforms, like Indeed and LinkedIn. 

Screen for qualified applicants

AI is a powerful solution for tackling the heavy lifting of initial screening. Learning models can compare candidate applications against the criteria within the job posting and determine whether a candidate meets the minimum requirements. If so, it can forward the application to human hiring managers. If not, it can trigger a sequence of events like sending a rejection notification and updating the candidate’s status in your ATS. 

Ask for employee referrals

One of the most functional ways to automate recruitment processes is to leverage team communication platforms where employees spend a lot of time, like Slack. Set up an automation so that as soon as a new opening is approved by HR or added to your careers page, a message is sent out on your team-wide Slack channel prompting employees to refer people who would be a good fit. 

Schedule interviews

One of the easiest and most impactful recruitment automations you can implement is scheduling interviews with qualified candidates automatically. Once a candidate’s status has been updated in your ATS, you can leverage an integration with your team’s calendar tool to find appropriate times for each interviewer and email the applicant an invitation. 

Send reminders

Use automation to send timely reminders about important steps in the hiring process, like interviews. For example, you can greatly reduce missed appointments by sending a reminder to both the interviewer and the interviewee 24 hours in advance. You can also use reminders to accelerate hiring and promote accuracy by prompting hiring managers to complete candidate scoring sheets immediately after an interview ends.  

Check off pre-hire requirements

The great thing about automation is that it allows the disparate tools you already use for your hiring processes to work together seamlessly. One such integration can happen with pre-hire processes like skills assessments and background checks. Once a candidate has been given a certain status in your ATS, you can automatically trigger a platform like Checkr to complete a background check or TestGorilla to administer a skills assessment. 

Collect candidate feedback

Candidate feedback surveys can dramatically improve your hiring efforts. Use automation to send them at a preselected interval, like seven days after a hiring decision has been made. 

Benefits of Automating Recruiting Tasks

Save time

If it’s a task recruiting staffers do five or more times a day, chances are it can and should be automated. Repetitive tasks eat up minutes here and there that could be better spent on higher-value activities, like having one-on-one conversations with candidates. 

Accelerate hiring

When you’re juggling multiple candidates for multiple open positions, it’s easy to lose track of where everyone stands in the hiring process. These days, good candidates are snatched up fast, so a delay of even a day or two could cost you a great hire. Recruitment automation keeps up the forward momentum and automates the process of following up with candidates, so you’re never the bottleneck in your pipeline. 

Lower costs

Hiring faster contributes to lower hiring costs. And, because you’re merely using technology to automate tasks rather than eliminating steps to cut corners, there’s no corresponding drop in the quality of candidates.

Increase productivity

When recruiters have fewer tedious tasks to deal with, they have more energy for tasks that require heavier lifting, mentally speaking. They can get more done in the same number of hours–and are happier, too. 

Handle surges in applications

When unemployment is high, sorting through the mountain of applications for each open position can be overwhelming. Recruitment automation can help put order to the chaos and ensure qualified candidates aren’t overlooked. 

Reduce bias

The more humans involved in a process, the more bias is inherently involved. Removing some of the human element from your hiring tasks can help reduce bias that can unintentionally creep in. 

Related: Beware of These Subconscious Hiring Biases

Streamline the hiring process

Recruitment automation ensures that each step in the hiring process flows smoothly into the next, like clockwork. These are the kinds of small details top candidates pick up on, and they contribute to a better overall candidate experience.

Examples of Automated Recruitment Tools

Automation is everywhere. You may already be taking advantage of some of these tools without even realizing it. Here are a few examples:

• Applicant tracking systems, which automatically track candidate and recruiter activity throughout the hiring process. These are one of the most widely used automation tools, offering useful features to help recruiters stay on top of tasks. 
• AI-powered chatbots on a company’s careers page that answer frequently asked questions about jobs and gather basic information from prospective candidates.
• Social media publishing tools help companies push out regularly scheduled content that strengthens their employer brand.
• Interview scheduling tools that automatically contact desired candidates. Candidates are shown available time frames and can choose the one that suits them best, eliminating back-and-forth with one or more interviewers. 
• Email nurturing sequences that follow up with candidates after they’ve submitted an application or signed up to receive job alerts.
• Text message alerts that prompt candidates to finish submitting application materials or complete skills assessments.
• Programmatic advertising, which automates the process of buying and publishing job listing ads.

These are just a few of the many ways forward-thinking recruiters can leverage automation to enhance their efforts. 

Related: The Pros and Cons of Applicant Tracking Systems

How to Start Using Recruitment Automation 

Assess your recruiting activities

As we touched on earlier, assessing the activities that take place during each stage of your hiring process is a crucial first step. A time-tracking tool can be useful for quantifying the amount of time dedicated to different tasks. What are recruiters spending the most time on? Which of these tasks are good candidates for automation?

Start small

You don’t need to build an automated recruitment machine overnight. Instead, pick one or two of the most time-consuming yet low-level tasks to automate first, then build from there. This can make a dramatic impact over several months. 

Leverage existing technology

Before investing in a suite of fancy new software, analyze the technology already available to you. Your ATS likely offers at least some automation features. Are you using them all to their full potential? If you’re unsure, a consultation with your ATS provider is likely in order. 

Common Misconceptions of Recruitment Automation

Automation is time-consuming and expensive

If you’re not currently using recruitment automation on a widespread scale, it might be because you’re wary of the expense or the initial time investment it will take to get started. However, modern automation tools are simple and lightweight. Many of them are free and can be implemented in literal minutes. 

Remember, automation isn’t all or nothing. You can start by automating a single process and build from there as your team adapts to the adjusted workflow. 

Automation is only for big companies

On the contrary, we’d argue that small companies with limited resources stand to gain the most from recruitment automation. Even if hiring is managed by just one or two people, automation can help them offload routine tasks and free up more time to spend interfacing with candidates. 

Automation will replace human recruiters

While automation can do a lot, it can’t replace the human touch required to select and hire excellent employees. What it can do is tackle the tasks that don’t require human input so that recruiters can spend their time on recruitment strategy, messaging, and face-to-face interactions. Human oversight is also required to ensure systems are working as intended, like fine-tuning the training of AI models used to select the right candidates. 

Candidates dislike an automated experience

It’s important to differentiate between canned, generic auto-response emails (which are the type of thing candidates hate) and well-executed automation strategies. One major pain point in the candidate experience is long lapses of time between updates on the position. Automation can easily resolve this issue by sending regular status updates, keeping candidates informed, and improving their experience. It’s all about tailoring your automation so that it’s not just time-saving but personal and relevant to the candidate involved. 

Enlist Expert Help

If you’re a large company, you might have the bandwidth to set up recruitment automation on your own. If not, you can reap the benefits of automation while also having the advantage of a personal, expert touch by working with a team of recruiting experts like the staffing professionals at 4 Corner Resources. 

We help companies of all sizes deploy hiring strategies to find better candidates and hire the best fit for the job. Because hiring is our core competency, we’re proficient with the most cutting-edge recruiting technology and help our clients use it to hire faster, smarter, and at a lower cost. 

Get in touch to discuss your hiring needs by contacting us now!

Here, we’ll share a structured, strategic approach for evaluating interview candidates and discuss why such an approach is so important in today’s market. 

The Importance of an Effective Candidate Evaluation Process

Speed

Scheduling and conducting interviews is one of the most time-consuming parts of hiring, with recruiters allocating a whopping two-thirds of their time to it. At the same time, competitive candidates expect a near-instant response to their application and consistent, timely follow-up throughout the hiring process. This means time is of the essence. 

A streamlined candidate evaluation process allows you to move through interviews quickly, so you don’t miss out on top candidates who are likely in the running for positions at multiple companies. 

Scalability

When you’re a small company hiring for just a handful of positions a year, you might be able to manage without having a methodical evaluation framework. Once you begin to grow beyond that, however, you need a more systematic approach. 

Following a candidate selection process that’s the same every time conserves resources and ensures that the process can be duplicated, whether you’re making dozens or thousands of hires. 

Objectivity

Interview bias leads to more homogenous teams, which is detrimental to creativity and innovation. An objective candidate evaluation process helps you assess candidates equally while minimizing personal biases that can lead to hiring mistakes. 

Related: Beware of These Subconscious Hiring Mistakes

Accuracy

At the end of the day, you need to select a candidate with the skills and qualifications to do the job. A thorough evaluation process ensures that you get the right person on the first try so that you don’t have to waste time and money repeating the hiring process all over again. 

How to Evaluate Interview Candidates

Skills

This is one of the most important assessment criteria and one of the most straightforward to evaluate: Do they have the skills necessary to do the job? 

Assess hard and soft skills, as these play into a candidate’s fit for a role. Consider using skills assessments to supplement your interview questions and judge a candidate’s abilities more accurately. 

Relevance of background

Look at the positions the candidate has held prior to this one. Did they employ similar skill sets? Do they serve as a strong foundation for the candidate to build upon? What were they able to achieve in these roles?

Examine their background holistically, not just the most recent one or two jobs, to understand how their total experience might serve them in this new position. 

Education and training 

For some jobs, like positions in finance or healthcare, specialized training may be a minimum requirement to complete the duties of the job. Other positions may be more flexible with the acceptable type and level of education. 

Look at their education basics, like degree completion and major, as well as details like specific coursework and additional technical credentials.

Career objectives

While this criterion isn’t typically specified in the job description, it can play a big role in a candidate’s success or failure in a position. Do their professional goals align with your organizational mission? Are they on a path that sets them up for a successful future at your company?

For example, let’s say a software QA candidate comes in with all the right technical qualifications. When asked about their career goals, they say they want to move into a leadership role in CX management someday. If your company is a third-party QA vendor, however, customer experience roles probably aren’t available, which could mean the candidate will be dissatisfied with their advancement opportunities. 

While this alone isn’t a reason to disqualify a candidate, it does merit further consideration, so it’s a topic worth covering in the evaluation process. 

Culture fit

Culture fit is notoriously one of the most challenging hiring criteria to uncover. It’s also frequently mischaracterized as an evaluation of the candidate’s personality–i.e., whether or not they’re similar to other members of the team–but this isn’t an accurate predictor of new hire success. 

Instead, culture fit criteria should be based on whether the candidate aligns with how your company operates. Ask questions that will shed light on their values, work style, and communication preferences. Do they prefer to work alone or on a team? Do they prefer to address problems head-on or handle them with a softer touch?

Though these criteria have nothing to do with skills, they can make or break whether a candidate is the right fit to succeed on a particular team. 

Related: Reasons Why Culture Fit is Important for Your Hiring Strategy

General impressions

While it’s important to weed out personal bias from the evaluation process, the interviewer’s general impressions of a candidate still have a place, as they can help you draw conclusions about their broader fit for the role.

Take the candidate’s attitude, for example. Did they come in with a warm smile and a strong handshake, or did they seem indifferent and cold? If they’re interviewing for a customer-facing role, the latter probably isn’t a good sign. 

How the candidate presents themselves, such as whether they seem prepared for the interview, whether they came dressed in appropriate attire, and their body language, can also serve as useful data points in your evaluation. 

Salary expectations

Asking about salary expectations is necessary to determine whether you can afford a candidate. If you need to expand your budget to acquire a top pick, this is good information to know during the evaluation process. 

Weaknesses 

You’re not just assessing candidates on the skills they possess; it’s also important to ascertain which criteria they lack. Allocate space in your assessment metric to note areas of weakness, like a lack of leadership experience or a missing technical credential, that could tip the scales in who you hire. 

Get a second opinion

For many roles, two (or more) heads are better than one in evaluating interview candidates. Consider using interview techniques like panels and job auditions to bring more decision-makers into the hiring process and sharpen your evaluations.

Tips for Evaluating Candidates in an Interview Effectively

Follow these tips for successful candidate evaluation. 

1. Review the role and the candidate in advance

A firm understanding of the job requirements is, first and foremost, important to be able to evaluate interviewees effectively. Review the job description, noting the key duties and minimum qualifications. Next, review the candidate’s resume, cover letter, and any other application materials, even if you’ve seen them before. This will help tailor your questioning and ensure you don’t skip over anything important, like getting more information about an employment gap. 

2. Ask strategic questions

Coming up with strategic questions ahead of time is crucial for an accurate evaluation. Using the job description as a guide, develop a list of questions that cover the candidate’s background, technical skills, soft skills, and cultural fit, along with behavioral and situational questions to understand their work habits. Ask every candidate the same questions to ensure fairness. 

3. Take notes

Spend the bulk of the interview actively listening. Don’t rely on your memory; take notes to help you keep track of candidates’ responses and your impressions of them.

4. Ask follow-up questions

While having a pre-set list of questions is recommended, it’s not ironclad. Go off script and ask further questions if you need clarification or if a candidate mentions something that piques your interest. 

5. Use role-playing scenarios

It’s a great strategy for certain roles to make interviews more interactive with role-playing scenarios where the candidate demonstrates how they might behave in an on-the-job situation. For example, if you’re hiring for a tech support role, you might pose a hypothetical problem and ask the interviewee to help you troubleshoot it. 

6. Use a standardized scoring system

A standardized scoring system gives structure to your assessment and ensures candidates are being compared on a consistent scale. You might rate answers with a numeric score of 1 to 5, use a list of qualifications, and check yes, no, or maybe to indicate the candidate’s aptitude, or any other system that makes sense for your hiring criteria. 

Related: Interview Scoring Sheets

7. Verify the information

Use background checks, reference checks, and skills assessments to get third-party verification of the information you learn during interviews. This will further help avoid hiring mistakes. 

What Not to Do When Evaluating Job Candidates

Beware of these common mistakes interviewers often make. 

1. Being too informal

While a casual vibe can help interviewees feel more relaxed, too little structure makes comparing candidates objectively and fairly impossible. Determining questions ahead of time and sticking to a standard scoring system will allow you to have conversations that are similar but distinct, which makes it easier to compare candidates against one another. 

2. Jumping to conclusions 

First impressions are strong, but they’re not always right. Beware of the halo effect, which lets one positive attribute influence your entire perception of a candidate, and its opposite, the horn effect, where one negative quality completely shades an interviewer’s evaluation. Make a thorough assessment, weighing all aspects of a candidate and minimizing personal biases. 

3. Talking too much

It’s easy to get overzealous and spend too much time talking up why the candidate should want the job. This is a mistake and negates the whole purpose of the interview, which is to hear from the candidate. Spend 25% of the time talking and 75% listening. Be sure to leave time at the end for a candidate to ask any of their own questions; that’s the appropriate time for you to elaborate. 

4. Overemphasizing skills

There’s no denying that technical skills are important. However, they’re not the be-all, end-all of a successful hire. Soft skills like communication and cultural elements like work style and values can play an even bigger role in whether a new hire will work out. Be careful not to rely too heavily on hard skills and avoid throwing out an otherwise great candidate because they’re missing a single technical qualification. 

5. Relying on one person’s opinion

Single-person hiring decisions are much more prone to bias and mistakes. Incorporating multiple decision-makers allows you to gain diverse perspectives that can strengthen your hiring accuracy. 

6. Skipping reference checks

Remember, a great interview is not indicative of past performance. While checking references takes a lot of time, it’s the only way to verify a candidate’s prior experience and get the full picture of their professional track record. 

Let Us Help You Streamline Your Interview Evaluation Process

Interviewing, like any skill, takes time to master. Entrusting your candidate evaluations to the seasoned experts at 4 Corner Resources can save you time and avoid faulty hiring. Our team of recruiting professionals can streamline your application sourcing, screening, and interviewing, providing you with skilled and vetted candidates who fit your company culture and budgetary requirements. Simplify your hiring by contacting us today to get started. 

If you want to boost your acceptance rate, maximize the ROI of your recruiting efforts, and ensure a positive employer brand, every aspect of the candidate experience matters. We’ll explain how candidate experience surveys can help you set goals, measure your progress toward providing a stellar recruiting experience, and share some great questions to ask in your surveys.  

What Is a Candidate Experience Survey?

A candidate experience survey is a brief survey sent to candidates by HR or recruiters at various points during the hiring process. The goal of candidate experience surveys is to improve the hiring process for applicants while optimizing the company’s recruiting efforts.

Candidate experience surveys are brief, usually just a few questions, and ideally include a mix of fixed-answer and open-ended queries. 

Why Are Candidate Experience Surveys Important?

Surveys are essential to improving your candidate experience. Just as you need to talk to actual customers to learn about the pros and cons of your products and services, you need to talk to actual candidates to learn where there’s room for improvement in your hiring process. 

Candidate experience surveys give you first-hand feedback about many elements of the application process that can be hard to ascertain when you’re on the inside–what the communication looks like on the candidate’s end, for example, or how your messaging comes across. These surveys can yield rich details about what it’s like for someone applying to work for you and the overall impression the process leaves with them. 

On a broader level, candidate experience surveys can help you spot trends that indicate larger problems or holes in your recruiting strategy. 

Related: Candidate Experience Best Practices and Why You Should Follow Them

Benefits of Conducting Candidate Experience Surveys

Increase acceptance rate

Getting more qualified candidates into open positions is priority number one for many companies that are struggling to hire. Candidate experience surveys can help you provide a better candidate experience, which increases the likelihood of getting a ‘yes’ to more of your offers. 

Strengthen your employer brand

Your employer brand is the reputation you have among current, former, and prospective employees. What do people think it’s like to work for you? Would they want to apply based on what they’ve heard?

When you have a positive employer brand, it’s easier to get talented workers to hand in applications–and it requires less effort and financial investment. For example, applicants who do not receive a job offer are 80% more likely to apply with you again if they already had a positive impression of the company when they first applied.

Related: How to Elevate Your Employer Branding to Attract Top Talent

Reveal holes in your recruiting strategy

How candidates view their experience can sometimes be wildly different from how companies view it. For example, 78% of employers think they do a good job setting expectations and communicating during the hiring process, but only 47% of candidates agree. 

Candidate experience surveys can help you pinpoint these discrepancies so you can continuously improve your recruiting strategy, providing a better, more streamlined experience for applicants. 

Gain and retain customers

Candidates aren’t one-dimensional. They’re consumers in addition to being job applicants, and they may have an opportunity to purchase your product or service in the future. If they had a great experience interviewing with you, they’re more likely to feel happy spending their money with you than if they had a poor experience. So, candidate experience surveys have the secondary benefit of helping you protect your financial interests. 

How to Design a Candidate Experience Survey

1. Choose your weapon

Begin by selecting a survey tool that fits your needs. If you have a small survey audience and only need to distribute a few dozen surveys a year, a simplistic survey app with a link embedded into an email might do the trick. However, if you want to survey and compile results for hundreds of applicants, you’ll need a more robust platform. 

2. Identify audience segments

Different groups of candidates can give you different insights about your hiring process, so you’ll want to segment your audience into groups. For example, you might distribute three different surveys to three distinct groups: applicants who dropped out of the process before being interviewed, applicants who were interviewed but not hired, and applicants who were ultimately hired. Your survey questions will differ for each group, depending on what you hope to learn. 

3. Pinpoint key data points

For each audience segment, determine two or three data points you’re hoping to learn about, for example, friction points in your application or their reasons for declining your offer. Don’t get too ambitious; the survey needs to be short in order to get completed. Focus your questions around these data points. 

4. Ensure anonymity

Make sure you’re using a platform that allows for anonymous responses, and let recipients know that’s the case. Survey respondents will be much more forthcoming with their answers when they know their identifying details will not be associated with their responses. 

5. Craft survey messaging

Once you’ve designed the survey, you must create a message asking candidates to take it. Again, short and sweet works best. Communicate the purpose of the survey (to improve your hiring process, to better understand what applicants want, etc.), let them know feedback is anonymous, and share an estimate of how long it will take to compete. Saying, “It’s only three questions!” will greatly improve your response rate. 

6. Consider an incentive

Another surefire way to gather more input is to offer an incentive for completing the survey. Something nominal, like a $10 Starbucks gift card, goes a long way toward boosting responses. 

The Best Candidate Experience Survey Questions to Ask

For best results, use a mix of rating scales (on a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate X), agree/disagree, and open-ended questions. Here is a selection of strong questions in each of those categories.

Rating scale

How would you rate…

• The communication you received during the application process?
• The recruiter’s responsiveness to your inquiries?
• The ease of submitting an application?
• The speed of the recruiting process?
• Your understanding of the role after the recruiting process?
• Your understanding of the highlights of working for [company]?
• The preparedness of your interviewer?
• The salary range for this position?
• The company’s benefits package?
• Your overall satisfaction with the recruiting process at [company]?
• The likelihood of recommending [company] as an employer?

Agree and disagree

• The careers page was helpful
• The careers page was appealing
• The job description was thorough
• It was easy to fill out an application
• I knew what to expect from the hiring process
• The recruiter was knowledgeable
• The recruiter was professional
• The recruiter clearly described the job and its requirements
• The recruiter was able to answer my questions
• The recruiter responded to my inquiries promptly
• The recruiter clearly explained next steps
• The recruiter kept me informed about the status of the job and my candidacy
• The interview was conducted fairly
• The interviewer asked questions that were relevant to the position
• The interviewer asked questions that were relevant to my background
• I had a positive experience interviewing with [company]
• I would recommend applying at [company] to others

Open-ended

• Describe how you feel about the recruiting process at [company]. 
• How well did you understand the requirements of the job you were applying for?
• What did you like about the recruiting process?
• What did you dislike about the recruiting process?
• What could we do to improve our careers page?
• What could we do to improve upon the application process?
• What could we do to improve our interview process?
• Was there any information you wanted to know, but weren’t given?
• How likely are you to apply at [company] again? Why?
• Would you recommend [company] to other applicants? Why?

Want a Free Sample?

Downloadable candidate experience survey

How to Measure and Use the Results From a Candidate Experience Survey

1. Evaluate the responses

After allowing sufficient time for recipients to complete their surveys, aggregate and review the data. Look for trends and patterns where multiple candidates shared similar feedback. Connect these findings to the corresponding steps in your recruiting process. For example, if multiple candidates shared that they had an unpleasant interview experience, better interviewer training or more thorough preparation may be in order. 

2. Outline action items

Map out what you’ll do to address the pain points identified by your survey. Change can’t happen all at once, so you’ll need to do some prioritizing based on your recruiting needs. For instance, if you’re struggling to attract applicants, you might focus first on removing friction from the application process before you move on to fine-tuning your candidate communications and so on. 

3. Communicate your plan

It’s always a great idea to make it known when you’re taking steps to improve your candidate experience. Use internal communications like emails and external communications like social media posts to showcase your actions and make your hiring process simpler or more enjoyable for candidates. 

4. Measure progress

Track your progress against the action items you outlined. Repeat the survey process every three to six months to understand your impact and continue optimizing. 

Tips for Conducting an Effective Candidate Experience Survey

1. Conduct them in a timely manner

Candidate experience surveys should be designed to gauge a particular phase in the hiring process (application, interview, etc.) and should be sent immediately after that phase. This ensures the experience is fresh in the candidate’s mind so you can get the most accurate, detailed responses. 

2. Send surveys after important touchpoints

While it’s fine to send a general candidate experience survey at the end of the process once you’ve either made an offer or rejected a candidate, it’s also a good idea to do them at key points during the hiring process. Viewing your careers page, submitting an application, speaking with a recruiter, and completing an interview are all good touchpoints around which to send surveys.

Also, be sure to send surveys to candidates to whom you make offers and those you reject. While it’s presumed that rejected candidates may have some feelings of bitterness, they offer a unique perspective from which you can learn and grow from. Ultimately, your goal should be for great candidates to come back to interview again, even if they weren’t hired the first time around.

3. Optimize surveys for a smartphone

Candidates are most likely to use a smartphone when they receive your invitation to complete a survey. So, optimize the experience for mobile devices to make it quick and painless for them to follow through on your request. They shouldn’t have to download an app or wait until they’re at a desktop for the survey to work properly. 

4. Leverage automation

These days, there’s a wealth of technology that can help you automate the sending and collecting of candidate experience surveys. Automation ensures surveys are sent promptly and can help you follow up to maximize the completion rate. 

Use the tactics and sample questions above to create insight-generating candidate experience surveys that will continuously improve your recruiting process and, ultimately, increase the number of great hires. 

Related: What is Recruitment Automation and How Can You Use it to Hire Smarter?

What is a Pre-Employment Personality Test?

A personality test is a technique for measuring various human characteristics and behavior patterns. Its origins date back to the 18th century when a method called phrenology was used to link personality traits to a person’s skull shape. 

Thankfully, today, you won’t see an employer running their hands over a candidate’s head to learn whether the person is a hard worker. But you might see them give a pre-employment personality test. In hiring, a personality test is meant to give a quantifiable value to traits that are usually hard to measure, like customer service aptitude or level of patience. 

Employers tend to be split on whether personality tests are helpful in hiring–some sing their praises, while others are quick to point out their potential shortcomings. However, appropriately incorporating personality tests into your hiring process can be a worthwhile tool to predict a candidate’s propensity for success. Think of them as one more weapon in your overall strategy to be as competitive and accurate as possible in your recruiting efforts. 

Why are Personality Tests Included in the Hiring Process?

Since recruiting and training new employees is expensive for companies, attracting the right candidates for specific opportunities is important for an organization’s productivity and bottom line. Personality tests are valuable tools for recruiting, hiring, and retaining exceptional talent. Personality is a proven indicator of job performance; therefore, assessing a candidate’s behavioral tendencies in the workplace helps recruiters and headhunters determine if he or she will thrive in the open job and fit into the employer’s company culture.

Personality tests in recruitment offer insight into important yet intangible information about prospects, such as their characteristics, values, and work preferences. Research shows that when employees are placed in positions that do not match their respective personalities, this often leads to discontent, which results in low productivity and high turnover.

With the current unemployment rate and the talent shortage in most industries, it is understandable why companies want to do everything possible to increase the chances that new hires become valuable, long-term team members.

Pre-employment job personality tests are typically delivered online and processed immediately. Results are verified and compared with other candidates. This accelerates the hiring process and increases the likelihood that prospects are compatible with the specific opportunity and the company.

A typical interview may not give recruiters enough insight into a candidate’s personality. Behavioral assessments offer a deeper dive to discover a prospect’s strengths, weaknesses, and predilections.

Related: How to Use Pre-Employment Assessments to Make Better Hires

How Many Employers Use Personality Tests When Hiring?

Personality tests are fairly common, especially when hiring for leadership roles. The Society for Human Resource Management reports that 32 percent of HR professionals use personality tests to assess prospective executives, while 28% use them when hiring for middle-management positions. Eighty percent of Fortune 500 companies use personality tests to identify employee coaching and development opportunities.

When used alone, personality and behavioral assessments may not effectively project a candidate’s potential performance. Combined with other data and tools, they can serve as a powerful resource for recruiters.

Pros of Personality Tests for Hiring

Culture fit

Personality tests can be a good way to determine whether a candidate is compatible with a company’s culture. A strong culture fit is linked with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover. 

Team dynamics

Personality assessments can give hiring managers a more comprehensive understanding of a candidate’s traits, which allows them to fill gaps and build teams with complementary skills.

Objectivity

Personality is hard to assess objectively. Humans are prone to judge someone based on whether we like them rather than taking a bias-free look at their characteristics. Personality tests help assess traits with an objective measuring stick rather than relying on personal analysis. 

Predictive insights

With the added features of artificial intelligence, personality tests can accurately predict job performance. For example, someone who scores highly in attentiveness will likely perform well in a detail-oriented role like office administration or project management.

Related: Is Predictive Analytics the Future of Hiring?

Development opportunities

Personality assessments can highlight areas where additional development could improve a candidate’s capabilities. This can be useful if you really like someone for a job but they’re lacking a few key skills.  

Cons of Using Personality Tests When Recruiting

Accuracy

Not all personality tests are backed by science. Relying on poorly designed tests can lead to inaccurate assessments and hiring mistakes.

Potential for bias

Though personality tests are designed to reduce bias, the quality of the test and the data used in modeling are crucial. If a test is designed using data that favors one personality or type of candidate over others, it can skew the results. 

Overemphasis on personality

While personality is an essential factor in job success, it may not be the most important one. Recruiters must avoid emphasizing personality over other influential factors like a candidate’s skills and experience. 

Candidate reluctance

Though awareness is growing about the usefulness of personality assessments, they still have a stigma. Some candidates may view them as bunk science, while others may have concerns about how their data will be used. 

Compliance concerns

Administering personality assessments requires careful attention to legal and ethical guidelines. It’s crucial to clearly communicate what data will be gathered, how the data will be used, and what will be done to keep it secure. 

Common Career Personality Tests

The Caliper Profile

This test measures how a candidate’s personality traits correspond to his or her job performance. TopResume.com reports that the Caliper Profile differs from other assessments because it studies positive and negative qualities, which is intended to offer a full picture of the prospect.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Most Fortune 100 companies use the MBTI as part of their hiring process, according to CPI, which is the test’s publisher. The MBTI is designed to determine if a job seeker’s personality is more geared to one of two tendencies in the following groupings: “Extraversion vs. Introversion,” “Intuition vs. Sensing,” “Thinking vs. Feeling,” and “Judging vs. Perceiving.” Candidates who take the MBTI fall into one of 16 personality types. There is a website called 16Personalities.com that offers free assessments as personal development tools. The MBTI is frequently implemented to see if a prospect would be an effective cultural fit for an organization.

The SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire

This assessment provides firms with an indication of how certain behaviors impact a prospect’s work performance. Candidates are evaluated in three areas: “Relationship with People,” “Thinking Style and Feelings,” and “Emotions.” They are given four statements and must select which statement best and least describes them.

The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)

This test has been validated on more than 200 occupations, according to TopResume.com, which further described the HPI as a consistent and reliable tool to evaluate a person’s temperament and how that temperament matches the requirements of a specific role. The test studies seven primary scales and six occupational scales (“Service Orientation,” “Stress Tolerance,” “Reliability,” “Clerical Potential,” “Sales Potential,” and “Managerial Potential”) along with 42 subscales.

The DiSC Behavior Inventory

This model has existed since the era of Hippocrates, around 400 B.C., and it is available in multiple versions. The four basic DiSC factors are “Dominant (D),” “Influential (I),” “Steady (S),” and “Compliant (C).” Companies use the DiSC to learn about a prospect’s professional behavior style and ability to work as part of a team. Like the MBTI, the DiSC is a popular assessment many companies use.

Tips for Using Personality Tests When Hiring

Avoid labels

One of the biggest criticisms of pre-employment personality tests is that they unfairly force people into predetermined boxes. After all, candidates are complex humans that a single list of questions can’t define. Avoid using personality tests to broadly assign labels to candidates (like’ extroverted’ or ‘introverted’) and instead focus on tendencies (‘this candidate is likely to prefer working closely with others rather than working alone’). 

Use data

The best tests are those that are designed with a specific role, team, or company in mind. Draw upon your historical data to learn what traits or tendencies make candidates most likely to succeed, and then focus on questions that will help you identify those characteristics. 

Related: How to Leverage Data to Improve Your Recruitment Process

Get the timing right

The right time to administer a personality test during the hiring process will vary based on your goals. If you want to rule out ill-fitting candidates and create a tighter shortlist for interviewing, administering the test during the screening phase is ideal. If you’re using a more lengthy test to drill down into the nuances between your top finalists, giving the test as one of the last steps before you make a decision may be more appropriate. 

Also consider the length of your chosen assessment. If it’s too long, giving the test early in the hiring process may deter busy applicants. 

Don’t rely on the test alone

Pre-employment personality tests shouldn’t be graded on a pass-or-fail scale. Instead, they should be just one factor out of many considered in the hiring process, not the deciding factor determining who you’ll ultimately select. 

Make Informed, Accurate Hiring Decisions

We are an experienced and innovative staffing and recruiting firm that helps companies like yours find skilled and qualified team members for their vacant positions. Our recruitment specialties include marketing and creative, legal, IT, non-clinical healthcare, call center, and customer service, as well as finance and accounting.

We offer staffing solutions for businesses of all sizes – from startups to SMBs and large corporations throughout the United States. Our knowledge and passion for what we do, and our flexible terms and conditions, set us apart in the world of headhunting and recruiting.  We welcome the opportunity to connect if you need help identifying the right candidates for your vacancies! Our team of headhunters is on standby to help you transform your workforce and find the ideal candidate today!

What Is Background Check Software?

Background check software is a pre-employment screening tool that employers can use to verify a candidate’s details and discover potential red flags before hiring. It can access and corroborate various aspects of a candidate’s background, including their identity, employment history, education, criminal record, credit history, professional credentials, and more. 

In addition to confirming the accuracy of a candidate’s application materials, background check software can help employers uncover potentially problematic and even dangerous information about a candidate. Armed with comprehensive background information, organizations can make more informed hiring decisions, confirm candidates are a strong match, and reduce the risk of hiring mistakes. 

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Background Check Software

Pricing

The cost of background check software depends on the number of checks being performed and the depth of each check. More comprehensive assessments, like background checks that include verification of previous employment and education credentials, cost more than basic criminal records checks. 

Software companies typically offer volume discounts for companies performing a high number of background checks per year; once you reach a certain threshold, i.e. 100 or 500 checks per year, the cost per check decreases. 

Speed

As you’re probably aware, speed is a critical factor in hiring the best candidates. Choosing background software that prioritizes time to hire will help optimize your recruiting metrics. The average background check takes a few business days, but with the right software, some types of checks can be performed within minutes. 

Visibility

Background checks are typically one of the last steps a recruiter must complete before making a successful hire. Staying on top of the process is key to ensuring there are no unnecessary delays in onboarding your selected candidate. Look for a tool that enables you to easily see the status of each background check, understand which items are still pending, and identify any bottlenecks holding up the process.  

Automation

Automation saves recruiters time and keeps the hiring process moving along smoothly. Your chosen background check software should facilitate automation, like instantly initiating the next step in the process based on a candidate’s screening results. 

Customization

A background check software with configurable workflows can accelerate your screening process and make work easier for your recruiting team. Some software enables companies to implement custom rules based on unique business needs. In contrast, others let users build their own screening packages based on the elements of a candidate’s background that matter most to the organization.

Integration

Maximize efficiency by ensuring that your selected background check tool integrates with the rest of your recruiting tech stack. Many applicant tracking systems have built-in background check capabilities. Still, there are also plenty of third-party background check applicants that can work in tandem with the tools you’re already using. 

Related: The Best Recruitment Software to Make Hiring Easier

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Security

When you’re dealing with candidates’ sensitive personal information, you’re under a strict obligation to store and manage that information with care. Choosing a reputable background check provider with a strong security track record will mitigate the risk of any unwanted data incidents. 

Compliance

Conducting background checks comes with numerous legal requirements, like obtaining proper consent from the people you’re looking into and complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. You’ll also need to abide by any relevant state regulations, like some that govern the information you’re required to share with a candidate if you’re declining to hire them based on criminal history. Your background check software should make it easy to comply with these rules. 

Credibility 

Select a background check provider that holds itself to a high professional standard and strives for continuous improvement. One way to verify a firm’s legitimacy is to check for membership in the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA), an industry group that sets standards for background check agencies. 

Additional features

Added background check features like continuous monitoring, reference checking, drug testing, and the ability to search internationally can enhance your pre-hire screening. 

10 Best Background Check Software for Employers

Checkr

Checkr employs advanced technology to provide fast and reliable background checks on criminal records, employment history, and more. It’s incredibly user-friendly, making it easy to see what steps have already been completed and what’s still pending for each candidate. The software’s automation capabilities and efficient features have made it a popular choice for businesses seeking a simple and expeditious way to conduct background checks. 

Hireology

Hireology is comprehensive background check software designed to streamline the hiring process for businesses. It offers an integrated platform that includes applicant tracking and onboarding in addition to background screening, making it the platform of choice for many medium—to large organizations. The software features analytics and reporting capabilities that inform data-driven hiring and allow for continuous hiring process improvement. 

Certn

Certn is a cutting-edge background check software that caters to employers seeking robust screening solutions. Certn utilizes artificial intelligence and data analytics to deliver swift and accurate results while complying with all industry regulations. The platform covers various aspects of a candidate’s history, including criminal records, credit history, and identity verification. If you’re dealing with international candidates, Certn is a great choice, since its assessment capabilities span more than 200 countries. 

Hireright

Hireright has been around for over 30 years and is used by some of the largest companies in the country. This prominent background check software prioritizes quick turnaround times, user-friendly solutions, and customizability. Hireright is ATS-friendly and integrates with most of the top applicant tracking platforms, including iCIMS, Workday, Bullhorn, Jobdiva, Greenhouse, Taleo, UltiPro, and more. 

Zinc

Zinc is a comprehensive applicant tracking system that includes background checks, among its many features. The software provides swift and accurate results for 190 countries, enhancing efficiency in candidate evaluation. Zinc’s user-friendly interface creates a positive experience for candidates, enabling them to easily upload documents and keeping them informed with prompt status notifications. It’s highly rated for having a user interface that functions well on any device, which is always a plus for recruiters and candidates on the go. 

AccusourceHR

Launched over two decades ago, AccusourceHR is a longstanding screening service specializing in criminal records, employment verification, and drug testing. It provides a robust candidate profile that facilitates informed hiring decisions. A convenient applicant portal eliminates the tedious task of data entry for recruiters. At the same time, a continuous criminal monitoring service keeps employers abreast of any noteworthy changes that happen after an employee is onboarded. 

Sterling

Created in 1975, Sterling is one of the business’s most established background check firms. Its extensive screening solutions are driven by cutting-edge technology and are trusted by 50% of Fortune 100 companies. Sterling’s user-friendly interface and customizable options make it a reliable choice for businesses seeking thorough and efficient background checks to build trustworthy and compliant teams.

AssureHire

AssureHire makes the hiring process faster and more reliable for HR teams with automated background checks that quickly verify a candidate’s previous employment, education, and criminal record. Its continuous monitoring capabilities screen workers throughout the duration of their tenure, so companies can be rapidly alerted if any issues arise that jeopardize their employment. With 98% of background checks completed in under 24 hours, AssureHire helps companies speedily assemble reliable teams. 

Good Egg

Good Egg combines automated and manual processes to thoroughly vet candidates, layering on machine learning capabilities to help detect possible fraud. It allows you to tailor the depth of the background check to suit your needs, with the option to choose between self-service checks to facilitate speed and manual researcher checks to prioritize precision. In addition to integrating with many of the top ATSs, Good Egg is compatible with several human capital management (HCM) systems like Oracle and Paycor. 

Checkmate

Checkmate is a top pick if you’re a recruiter for an enterprise-level organization that requires background checks for a high volume of roles. A series of innovative features like bulk uploads allow you to quickly move through many candidate actions. In contrast, an intuitive candidate interface allows applicants to complete their required steps in as little as six minutes. Advanced reporting capabilities let organizations drill down into dozens of KPIs to continuously improve the hiring process. 

The above options (and the many others available on the market) offer a range of features to suit organizations of all sizes. Selecting a background check software that aligns with your most important goals–speed, comprehensiveness, security, etc.–’ll create a favorable candidate experience while verifying that you’re hiring qualified and trustworthy people to join your team.

As a professional staffing and recruiting firm, knowing precisely what matters on a resume and what to look for in a potential candidate is essential to what we do. Our team at 4 Corner Resources (4CR) is dedicated to helping large and small businesses find the best candidates to be valuable resources and partners for our clients. Because of our years of experience and the knowledge we’ve learned over the past 16 years, we put together this article about what to look for in a resume.

What Matters on a Resume 

Education and qualifications

The first thing you should look for in a resume is the candidate’s education and qualifications. Though this may seem obvious, and not all jobs require a degree or certain qualifications, it should be the first thing you run through. Look at the type of qualifications that your potential candidate may list. Are there any special certifications that they have? Have they desired to continue their education through online programs or other education? Someone who has undergone special training, especially within your industry, is often better and more of a go-getter than someone who hasn’t tried to continue their education.

Experience 

This is where you’ll probably focus the bulk of your attention. A candidate’s prior experience is a strong indicator of their preparedness for your role and their ability to succeed. In the experience section, you’re looking for a few things. 

First, is the candidate’s experience relevant to this job? Previous tenure in similar job titles is great but not necessarily a requirement. The key is that the skills they’ve had to use and the duties they’ve performed are applicable to the job for which they’re applying. 

Next, look for quantifiable achievements. The strongest candidates are those who can demonstrate a proven track record. Performance numbers, customer satisfaction ratings, positive client feedback, and successful leadership experience tell you that this person can achieve results. 

Finally, you want to scan for advancement. The perfect experience section makes envisioning a candidate’s career trajectory easy. For example, maybe they moved from marketing coordinator to account executive to account manager. This shows clear progression. You won’t always find such a clear-cut path of advancement, but you at least want to make sure they haven’t been stagnant. If their resume makes it hard to understand the path they’ve taken, this is something worth asking about in an interview.

Skills

Skills are among the most influential factors in a new hire’s success. You need someone who either A) already has the skills you require or B) is capable of learning them. Either way, the resume will give you clues. 

Before you begin scanning resumes, refer back to the job description to refresh your understanding of the core skill requirements. Most roles have three to five minimum qualifications. To get the green light, a candidate’s resume should either explicitly list these skills (like in a dedicated skills section) or show the roles within their experience section that they possess these capabilities. Make a note of any skills that are missing so you can inquire about them in an interview. If a candidate seems over-qualified in terms of their skill set, that may also be worth asking about. 

Also, keep an eye out for soft skills that will add value to this position. For example, maybe being organized isn’t a core requirement but would greatly benefit the person in the role. 

Organization, functionality, and formatting

An amazing resume should effectively tell a narrative of the candidate’s professional history and experience. According to a CareerBuilder¹ survey, job candidates frequently have less than one minute to grab a hiring manager’s attention. The survey reports that two in five spend less than one minute reading a resume, and 19% of hiring managers spend less than 30 seconds doing so. This means that a job seeker’s resume needs to be written in a way that communicates the most relevant information quickly without making the hiring manager search for it.

A resume showcasing how a candidate knows how to write a resume that effectively presents their narrative is a strong indicator of a potentially valuable employee who can advocate for your company.

When reviewing resumes as a hiring manager, ask yourself:

• Is each candidate’s resume organized and coherent?
• Do they tell an engaging story?
• Does the candidate provide an executive summary instead of an objective statement?
• Is the content scannable? Do they use bulleted lists instead of massive paragraphs?
• Is the content concise and honest, or is it full of fluff?
• Is the content readable, or is it riddled with typos and misspellings?
• Does the applicant use engaging action verbs?
• Is everything crammed together on a page, or does it include sufficient white space?
• Do they provide up-to-date contact information?

Results and achievements

While showcasing all of their skills, experience, and expertise is essential, a candidate needs to go beyond including a simple laundry list of responsibilities and skills. They also need to demonstrate success and achievements through examples of their work initiatives. Not only does this mean they should have ample experience in the field they’re applying for, but it also means that they should be successful in the field. They don’t need to have tons of awards, but a few simple stats while doing their past jobs can help to really set them apart. For example:

• A marketing manager who provides statistics of successful campaign outcomes that resulted in increased customer engagement, leads, and conversions demonstrates the value they can bring to your business.
• A chief financial officer (CFO) who demonstrates how they increased their company’s profitability — such as including an example of how they increased profitability by X% due to reducing operating costs by X% — will be significantly more attractive than one who only provides general statements about their work.

These numbers and statistics help to paint a more vivid picture of a candidate’s abilities and value than a simple list of skills and responsibilities ever could. Knowing what makes a good resume can help you separate top-tier candidates from run-of-the-mill applicants.

Tailored resume to your industry

When reviewing resumes, pay attention to how they are written. For example, when looking at a specific resume, does the applicant come across as generic in their approach — writing content that could have been written for various companies or jobs — or do they use language and examples specific to your organization or position? Do they use industry-related keywords or key phrases from your job description? And, do they speak to your organization’s goals, needs, and culture?

Though many resumes will look similar when an applicant applies, an amazing resume is tailored to each specific job application. It should demonstrate that the applicant took the time to research and learn about your company. As a hiring manager, look for specific keywords within their resume that could relate to your industry.

Related: How to Write a Job Description to Attract Top Candidates

No red flags

Carefully reviewing a resume is more than knowing what makes a good resume; it’s also essential for you to “read between the lines” of the provided information to identify any worrisome (or missing) information.

Related: The Top Resume Red Flags

A few of the biggest red flags to keep an eye out for are egregious spelling and grammar errors,  unexplained employment gaps, and multiple short stints at different companies back to back. Pay attention to anything that jumps out as especially strange, like the use of images.   

Relevant information

Does the job applicant include information that is irrelevant to the position? This could be citing “captain of the high school volleyball team” as one of their accomplishments when they are in their mid-30s. If a candidate does not have any recent accolades or achievements, that is a major red flag.

Appropriate contact information

Email is an essential method of communication in the business world. How applicants present themselves is exceedingly important because they will represent your business if you hire them. If they use an email address such as “ironmanwannabe@gmail.com” or “partyanimal@yahoo.com,” it is a warning sign that they may not be the candidate you want representing your company.

Personality

This component is the trickiest of all to identify with a candidate’s resume alone. After all, there’s a reason we conduct interviews instead of merely relying on a piece of paper to judge applicants. Still, you can gain some clues about a candidate’s personal characteristics and values from their resume.

Look at their word choices. Are they bold or subtle? Complex or simple? What about the tone–does it read as confident and enthusiastic, or is it dull and unexciting? As an example, consider these two lines from a resume detailing a candidate’s experience:

• Performed administrative duties, including communicating with customers, scheduling meetings, and organizing files

• Excelled at administrative tasks by providing thorough customer communications, managing calendars for a 12-person team, and instituting a user-friendly filing system

These two lines describe essentially the same duties, but the candidates come across much differently. Use the resume to help you decide whether a candidate might have the personality traits and enthusiasm level that are aligned with your culture.  

Work With Recruiters Who Know What to Look for on a Resume

As part of an award-winning staffing and recruiting firm, our team is dedicated to connecting our clients with the best candidates and vice versa. When reviewing resumes, we evaluate everything from each applicant’s specific knowledge and skills, to their level of experience and career progression, to how their values align with each client’s company culture. With each job candidate, our technical recruiters provide job candidate feedback to help them learn and grow as professionals.

With a 92% client retention rate after placing more than 5,200 candidates with our clients, we have a proven record of success helping businesses of all sizes, including Fortune 500 companies. This can help you rest assured that your company’s recruiting and staffing needs are in the best hands with our staffing professionals.

To speak with one of our technical recruiters by contacting us today!

Excellent customer service also plays a significant role in building brand loyalty and retaining existing customers. Seven in ten Americans (70%) say they are willing to spend an average of 13% more with companies that deliver excellent customer service. With this in mind, businesses simply cannot afford to provide subpar services to their clients, and the first step to ensuring this is hiring professional reps with the right skills and enthusiasm for the job.

Customer Service Soft Skills and Traits to Look For

Businesses can no longer view customer service as an optional investment. Instead, this is now a core business process that allows brands to differentiate themselves and successfully compete in today’s environment. Despite numerous technological advancements, customer service is still largely the domain of human interactions. However, vague and generic traits like ‘being friendly’ are insufficient when discussing customer service skills. While such personality traits are important, many more skills should be considered.

We have compiled some specific skills and traits businesses, and professional staffing agencies should look for when hiring customer service staff.

Emotional intelligence

The job of a CSR requires constant interaction with countless people and personality types. Each interaction is riddled with different emotional wavelengths and frequencies. EI determines how employees manage their behavior and social interaction and the personal decisions they will make along the way.

Research has consistently posited EQ as the secret weapon for success in business and life. In fact, according to TalentSmart, 58% of success in all types of jobs is the direct result of emotional intelligence.

According to Psychology Today, emotional intelligence includes three skills:

• Emotional awareness (the ability to identify emotions – yours and others’)
• Emotional regulation (the ability to regulate emotions – yours and others’ – this is particularly useful when trying to calm a disgruntled customer)
• Critical thinking and problem-solving

All these skills are crucial in service staff and explain why EI is predicted to be one of the top 10 job skills in 2024.

According to People Metrics, an emotionally intelligent service professional understands the customer’s emotional needs – and, as such, tries to make appropriate suggestions assertively (instead of aggressively).

Communication skills

A candidate must have effective communication skills. Some people think this is simply the ability to speak clearly and be understood – however, there are other equally important facets, such as the ability to listen and empathize. Research has shown that active listening can make both participants in a conversation feel better. Applying this to customer service, a good rep needs to be a good listener and understand the customer’s needs, wants, and concerns – particularly when dealing with impatient and short-tempered clients.

Another critical point to note here is that service reps must effectively communicate information about the business’s products and services. Research has shown that 62% of customers claim that the representative’s knowledge and ability to communicate clearly helped them find viable solutions to their problems.

Time management skills

Nearly half of all consumers expect a company to respond to their emails in four hours or less, and 90% view a swift response as either crucial or very important to their customer experience. And yet, only some companies actually provide this level of responsiveness.  This means businesses need to rethink how they approach great service and how their CSRs prioritize customer responses. Efficient time management skills can solve these challenges. An ideal candidate should display good organizational and multitasking skills to ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Hence, it really goes without saying that the best customer service representative needs to display excellent time management skills – and juggle multiple roles at the same time, from attending meetings, gathering information about the business’s products and services, making phone calls, and reaching out to leads and existing clients. All of these activities require resourcefulness and some serious organizational skills.

Conflict resolution

Dealing with customers daily can be hard, especially since they can be highly unpredictable.  This is why professional customer service representatives need to be creative in conflict resolution; research also shows that such skills can help them increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, 85% of employees admit that such skills help them become more proactive and confident – thereby, leading to better service and customer experience.

In the long run, evidence suggests that these skills also have many benefits for the employees, such as:

•  Successful stress management
•  Regulating emotions
•  Effective communication

Adaptability

Dealing with consumers is demanding, and service reps must be adaptable and flexible enough to meet their demands. Adaptability means adjusting to changing circumstances and customer requests and handling several interactions simultaneously.

An easily adaptable representative will be comfortable with an unpredictable work schedule and willing to learn new processes and technologies. The best candidate is tech-savvy and can adapt to the changing nature of excellent customer service technology, especially since the introduction of real-time messaging, chatbots, and artificial intelligence has brought about significant changes in client relations. For instance, businesses are now becoming more mobile, so the best candidates are those who can prove their ability to provide services on the go. This also explains why adaptability can help companies achieve a competitive advantage, as professionals integrate with and adjust quickly to new approaches and technologies.

Work ethic

Customer support also plays a vital role in building robust relationships, as customer service representatives are usually the first point of contact between a business and clients. A long-lasting relationship can only be built by service staff professionals with a strong work ethic: in the long run, candidates must have relevant work experience, or they won’t be an asset to your company until they can demonstrate diligence and strong determination. This also explains why research has drawn positive correlations between work ethic and employee performance.

According to the Glossary of Human Resource Terms, dedication, commitment, and motivation are all key indicators of a good work ethic. In other words, businesses need individuals who respond positively to constructive feedback, don’t take discouragement seriously, and can bounce back quickly from setbacks. With 33% of Americans instantly switching companies after a single instance of poor customer service, a strong work ethic is the most valuable trait to look out for when hiring customer service employees.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in other people’s shoes and analyze a problem from their perspective. In customer service professionals, empathy allows individuals to interact with each other with increased compassion and understanding. Being empathetic doesn’t always mean that you are in complete agreement; it simply refers to the ability to view the same situation from different perspectives. It is a crucial trait for service reps to be able to talk to clients effectively and provide viable solutions. Research has shown, for instance, that empathy can mitigate conflicts and engender positive responses from consumers.

Similarly, empathetic communication, such as actively listening to customers and identifying with their feelings, can increase consumer satisfaction and perceived service quality.

This is particularly beneficial since most adults (66%) feel that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do when providing an online customer experience.

Customer Service Hard Skills to Look For

Help desk software

Service representatives who help customers troubleshoot problems spend most of their day working within a help desk or ticketing system. These systems allow representatives to prioritize customer inquiries, keep track of support conversations, and work on multiple tickets simultaneously over various channels like voice and chat. If a candidate is already proficient with the system you use or a similar one, it will save a lot of training time. Look for resumes demonstrating experience with help desk software like HelpScout or Zendesk. 

CRM experience

A CRM, or customer relationship manager, stores the entire history of a customer’s relationship with your company and helps you manage that relationship effectively. It’s key to achieving all the benefits of a positive customer experience we’ve discussed thus far. A strong customer service candidate will have experience using one or more CRMs like Salesforce or Hubspot to track and manage customer data. 

POS experience

Knowledge of POS systems is essential for customer service staff who handle point-of-sale transactions, like cashiers. POS systems allow your business to accept payments, manage cash, and provide receipts. Look for candidates comfortable using various modern POS applications, including mobile, touchscreen, and cloud-based systems.

Product knowledge

Even the strongest communicator or the most engaged listener won’t get very far as a customer service rep without a thorough understanding of the company’s product or products. Product knowledge empowers the CSR to provide effective technical support and enables them to empathize with the customer’s pain points and know where to turn if additional support is required. While not every candidate will come in with preexisting knowledge of your product suite, anyone who does will have an automatic leg up. At the minimum, they should be eager and ready to learn quickly. 

Cross-selling and upselling

Some of the most highly skilled CSRs are also excellent salespeople. But these aren’t the pushy, aggressive sellers found in outbound call centers; rather, they’re clever and subtle enough to work tailored product and service suggestions seamlessly into their support conversations. Candidates with experience in cross-selling and upselling can increase customer satisfaction while driving revenue. 

How to Assess the Right Fit for Your Customer Service Role

The best customer service representatives have a “special something” that goes beyond the hard and soft skills we outlined above. What is it, exactly, and is it something you can identify in the hiring customer service employees process?

First, be sure to consider cultural fit. Sometimes, we’re so focused on how a customer service candidate will interact with our customers that we can neglect to consider how they’ll fit in on the internal team. So, ask questions to help you identify whether your culture will promote their satisfaction, like ‘what type of work environment do you prefer’ and ‘how would you describe your ideal coworkers?’  

Next, consider a candidate’s potential. At the end of the day, customer service is about relationships, which supersedes any technical experience a candidate may or may not have. If you find someone with a winning personality and a strong work ethic, you can always train them on a specific piece of software or expand their communication skills with sales scripts. You can’t manufacture a completely different personality. So, balance experience with potential when assessing candidates. 

The Final Word

A fundamental way that all companies, irrespective of size, can stand out is by ensuring a personal one-on-one connection with the customer – which hinges on good quality service.

Companies must dedicate their resources to elevating your employer brand and robust customer experience. Even a moderate service quality increase can generate an average revenue increase of $823 million over three years for a company with $1 billion in annual revenues.

Not all businesses, however, have the resources or the tools to find the right candidates. In this case, they should seek the help of professional staffing agencies to identify and shortlist candidates. A professional staffing agency can help businesses overcome common recruitment challenges and inefficiencies in the hiring process.

As Kristin Smaby highlighted in Being Human is Good Business, “In an era when companies see online support as a way to shield themselves from ‘costly’ interactions with their customers, it’s time to consider an entirely different approach: building human-centric customer service through great people and clever technology. So, get to know your customers. Humanize them. Humanize yourself. It’s worth it.”

Need Help Hiring Customer Service Employees? Our Recruiters Can Help!

Hiring customer service staff professionals is one of our specialties. A customer service representative should embody the skills and characteristics that allow them to form excellent customer relationships. If you have difficulty identifying candidates with these qualities, consider partnering with a customer service staffing agency.

We find the best-fit candidate for your hiring needs. Our services include direct-hire heading, contract-to-hire recruiting, and contract staffing. We know exactly what to look for when recruiting a new customer service employee. Our job is to present you with qualified candidates and a culture fit. Therefore, our services can eliminate your sourcing process. You can then proceed to the next step- interviewing.

To learn more about what we do, contact one of our recruiting experts today!

What Is a Video Screening Interview?

A video screening interview is a virtual form of pre-interview screening that takes place over a video conferencing platform. It allows employers to verify a candidate’s skill set before conducting a live interview. It allows candidates to demonstrate their qualifications to advance in the hiring process. 

Video screening interviews are an alternative to the traditional screening process, which is completed over the phone or is done via resume alone. The addition of video adds nuance and context that’s difficult to gain with a paper resume or a voice-only conversation. 

Types of Video Screening Interviews

Video screening interviews can take several different formats:

One-way

A one-way screening is a type of pre-recorded interview in which a candidate is prompted with questions and given the opportunity to record their answers. There is no live interviewer; the questions are provided in written form or are delivered via a recording of the interviewer speaking on camera. Candidates have a set amount of time to respond to each question, typically a few minutes.

Two-way

A two-way screening is a video conversation with a live interviewer. It’s just like a phone screen, with the interviewer asking a series of questions, only conducted over a video calling platform versus over the phone. A two-way screening typically takes around 15 minutes to complete. 

Application video

An application video is a free-form video recording that candidates are asked to submit with their resume and application materials. Instead of a series of questions, candidates may be given a general prompt like ‘Tell us why you’re a good candidate for the job.’ Hiring managers can use application videos as an assessment tool to narrow down the pool of candidates who are worthy of interviewing. 

7 Reasons to Use Video Screening Interviews

Video screening interviews offer several benefits to employers and candidates alike. Here are the most significant upsides.

Convenience

Video interviews are generally easier to schedule and attend than in-person interviews. If you use a one-way screening format where there is no live interviewer, it eliminates the need for scheduling altogether. The candidate can view the questions and record their responses at a time that works within their schedule, and the recruiter can review the submissions at their convenience. 

Efficiency

With video screenings, it’s easy for a recruiter to review multiple candidates in a dedicated block of time rather than spacing out several screenings over several days or weeks. Video screenings are quickly recorded, which means they can be played back at any time. 

Collaboration

Recordings can be shared among team members without the need for all of the individuals to be available at the same time. This makes it easier for multiple decision-makers to share input on candidates, which can increase hiring accuracy. 

Consistency

Video screening interviews help employers provide a consistent experience from one candidate to the next. Instead of using multiple recruiters who each have a different screening style or even using a single recruiter whose energy level may vary from one day to the next, video screenings ensure all candidates receive the same questions in the same format regardless of when they apply. 

Branding

Using questions recorded by the hiring manager or even the company’s owner can make the experience feel more personal, even more so than a live screening that takes place over the phone. Also, the added convenience of a video screening can create a favorable impression for candidates.

Context

With video, a recruiter can get a much stronger sense of a candidate’s personality than if they were merely reviewing their resume or speaking on the phone. This can aid in identifying culture fit and hiring for roles where personality plays a big part in performance, like sales jobs. 

Simplicity

Nowadays, most people in the workforce have at least some level of experience with video conferencing. It’s easy to do and requires no special technology beyond a computer or the average smartphone. The low barrier to entry and high ease of use make this medium an ideal choice for completing candidate screening. 

Potential Downsides of Video Screening Interviews

Despite their many benefits, video screening interviews have a few drawbacks.

Accessibility

Video screening interviews could put some candidates at an unintended disadvantage, like hearing-impaired individuals or people who have difficulty working with specific applications on screens. 

Comfort level

Some people just don’t like being on camera. A candidate who’s excellent in person might not come across the same way when they’re faced with a bit of red light letting them know they’re being recorded. 

Margin for technical error

From WiFi connectivity issues to hardware malfunctions, video screening interviews have an inherent level of technical risk. This could create unwanted delays in the screening process. 

Tips for Implementing Video Screening Interviews

Follow these tips to incorporate video screening into your hiring process. 

1. Choose the right technology

On a small scale, you can carry out video screening interviews on your own using a series of apps, like Zoom and a standard email client. However, if you’re hiring for more than a few roles a year, your best bet is to use a dedicated video interview platform. Many applicant tracking systems (ATSs) have this functionality built in. 

You want the technology to be something the candidate doesn’t even have to think about–for example, opening the interview app should be as simple as clicking a link in an email–rather than an additional hurdle they must overcome in an already stressful job search process. 

2. Provide sufficient training for staff

All team members administering and reviewing video interviews should be given ample training. This includes training on how to use the technology and how the candidates’ responses should be assessed.

3. Set candidate expectations

Candidates value a clear and straightforward hiring process. Promote transparency and reduce pre-interview jitters by letting candidates know what to expect and how their footage will be used. Provide thorough instructions for using the screening tool and what the candidate should do if they run into trouble. 

Ideally, you should also offer an alternative screening option for those who can’t or don’t wish to participate in a video screening. 

4. Use strategic video screen interview questions

Develop screening questions that are tied to the job requirements and use the same questions for every screening. Here are some examples of effective video interview questions for an initial screening: 

• Tell me about your background.
• What interests you about this position?
• What past experience do you have that makes you a good fit for the role?
• What are your biggest strengths?
• Why are you looking for a new job?
• Why do you want to work for this company?

5. Develop scoring criteria

All recruiters should use the same scoring system to ensure an objective and consistent hiring process. This could be a series of yes/no questions, a rating scale from 1 to 5, or any system your hiring team considers most fitting. The important thing is that it’s used the same way each time. 

Interview score sheets are a great tool to facilitate fair and streamlined candidate assessments. Check out our complete guide to interview scoring sheets here.

6. Be proactive in taking the next steps

One of the worst outcomes of a video screening is for a candidate to upload their video and never hear back. At best, they’ll wonder if you ever received their responses, and at worst, they’ll view you as a disorganized and unresponsive employer. 

Establish a protocol for following up with candidates after their screening. For example, you might send two follow-up emails:

Email 1: Let the candidate know their video was received and share information about your hiring timeline 

Email 2: Schedule the next interview OR let the candidate know you’ve chosen to move forward with other candidates 

You can automate this follow-up within your ATS or candidate relationship manager (CRM).

In addition to making life easier for recruiters, Incorporating video screening into your hiring process shows applicants that you’re a forward-thinking, tech-savvy organization that values candidates’ time. 

What is an Applicant Tracking System?

An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is a software application that helps organizations manage recruitment workflows. Just as a customer relationship management (CRM) system helps companies track and optimize customer interactions, an ATS does the same with candidates.

An ATS provides functionality for job posting, application intake, filtering, screening, messaging, interview scheduling, and feedback. It also acts as a database for housing all your hiring-related information and retaining candidate records for the future.

Applicant tracking systems vary greatly in size and scope. Enterprise-level organizations have traditionally used them with a need to manage large numbers of candidates. However, more and more small- and medium-sized businesses are adopting them to help simplify their hiring funnel. In a GetApp survey of 400 staffing professionals, 45% said they use an ATS to help manage their recruitment efforts.

Related: Can You Trust AI to Handle Recruitment?

Benefits of an Applicant Tracking System

The benefits of applicant tracking systems are that they can make life easier, save time, and reduce costs when used effectively. Here are some of the biggest upsides to using an ATS.

Saves time by automating repetitive tasks

With so many steps in the hiring process—sourcing, screening, interviewing, doing due diligence—the devil is in the details. Small, seemingly minor tasks like sending check-in emails take up exponentially more time as the volume of candidates increases.

Applicant tracking systems can save you significant time with features like one-click publishing to top job boards. If you usually go to each job website and post your listing manually, this capability alone could save you hours of administrative time on each position.

Other tasks that can be automated with an ATS include scheduling interviews, sending follow-up emails, and reminding candidates of preliminary steps in the application process, like screening questionnaires or submitting references. This reduces labor hours and allows you to focus your energy on the most meaningful tasks, like conducting interviews.

Screens for minimum requirements

An applicant tracking system can be a godsend for turning that pile of 200 resumes into a much more manageable 20. With an ATS resume screening tool, you can set the minimum threshold for skills, education, or experience required for your job and weed out candidates who don’t meet them.

Facilitates collaboration

If your hiring process involves multiple recruiters or if several stakeholders will weigh in on the best candidate, you’ll love the way an ATS facilitates collaboration. With a team account, multiple users can access each candidate’s profile and make notes, leave ratings, or check where they are in the pipeline.

Many ATS programs also have scorecards and rating systems that help standardize feedback on a candidate from multiple parties, something that’s tough to do if you’re collecting notes from each person and trying to weigh them objectively against each other.

Accelerates your hiring funnel 

A slow-moving hiring process can kill even the strongest talent acquisition program. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 66% of job seekers said they’d wait less than two weeks to hear back from an employer before considering it a lost cause and moving on to other opportunities. An applicant tracking system can help keep things moving along expeditiously. 86% of recruiters who use an ATS say it has increased the speed at which they hire.

Improves the candidate experience

Maintaining consistent touchpoints with your candidates is always a good thing. An ATS helps close gaps in your communication with prospects between your top picks and those who have been eliminated.

As a job seeker, nothing gives a worse impression than applying for a position and hearing nothing but crickets. Even if you don’t intend to hire a candidate, you owe them the courtesy of a response – it’s a best practice and reflects positively on your employer brand.

Develop a talent pipeline

Another benefit of an applicant tracking system is that all your candidates’ data and activity history with your company is within easy reach. Maybe an otherwise strong candidate wasn’t quite right for the first position they applied for, but they would be a great fit for something that opens up two months from now. Your ATS database means you don’t have to start from scratch; it’s easy to return and pick up where you left off.

Posts jobs on multiple job boards

One of the greatest strengths of an ATS is its ability to expand your reach across multiple job boards with just a few clicks. Candidates will search for opportunities across various platforms for the best job. An ATS considers this, allowing you to quickly post job vacancies across chosen platforms. This multi-channel approach doesn’t just help with visibility but also provides a single dashboard to track engagement metrics.

With an ATS, you can also access niche job boards popular among specialized professionals. Instead of limiting your reach to general sites, you can target the right professionals in their technical environments. By working more efficiently, you can maximize your chances of attracting the best fit for your open roles.

Avoids hiring biases

Combating unconscious biases becomes crucial when businesses work to build a diverse and inclusive workforce. An ATS can be an essential tool in this respect, helping to neutralize hiring biases by focusing on relevant skills and experiences rather than personal details.

An ATS achieves this by automatically sorting based on relevant skills while ignoring identifying features like names, photos, or addresses. A benefit of an applicant tracking system is that recruiters can design a structured process where each candidate is assessed on the same set of criteria, thus further promoting fairness and equality in the hiring process.

Streamlines onboarding

An applicant tracking system doesn’t stop with the recruiting process; it’s also an excellent benefit for onboarding. With an ATS, you can automate paperwork, first-day schedules, and initial training, significantly reducing manual effort. Digital signing features are frequently included, allowing new hires to complete formalities remotely.

Working within an ATS lets you share role responsibilities, initial projects, and goals, providing a roadmap to new hires from day one. Completing onboarding tasks in an ATS gives your new hires a smooth and solid start, ensuring they can hit the ground running.

Provides powerful analytics

One ATS feature that, in our opinion, doesn’t get its fair share of credit is the analytics capabilities. Measuring and analyzing your recruitment metrics regularly is crucial to improve your hiring funnel continuously—and avoid falling behind your competitors.

You should always seek opportunities to improve things like time to hire, cost per hire, and acceptance rate, and an ATS can help you handle this.

Related: How to Leverage Data to Improve Your Recruitment Process

Disadvantages of an Applicant Tracking System

Unsurprisingly, the primary downfalls of applicant tracking systems mirror those of any technology: they’re not entirely a replacement for a human doing the same job. Here are some of the cons to consider when choosing an ATS.

Computerized screening can eliminate good candidates

For the most part, an ATS will stick within your boundaries when screening resumes. This means some great candidates might get eliminated from the running because they only have four of the five skills you listed as requirements or are one year shy of the years of experience you requested. Automatic screening can also make it challenging for nontraditional candidates like those switching fields or returning to the workforce after taking time off.

They’re not immune to technical difficulties

Have you ever used a printer that, for some reason, decides not to print (who hasn’t)? Sometimes, ATS systems experience similar frustrating technical issues. Applications can be rejected, for example, if the scanner doesn’t read them fully. Some users report problems with resumes formatted a certain way or even being rejected because the computer can’t read a specific font.

There’s a learning curve

Like any new program, there will be an adjustment period to ramp up your staff to full proficiency, especially if you’re switching over from a legacy system or currently don’t have any system. You may experience pushback from team members who are perfectly happy doing things the old way or don’t have time to learn a new system.

They might require shifts in other technology use

Most applicant tracking systems integrate with the user’s digital calendar to facilitate interview scheduling. But, if your whole team doesn’t already use their virtual calendar consistently, this could be an additional hurdle to adopting an ATS program. The same goes for integrating with other software you currently use in your recruiting efforts, like your email platform.

They’re an investment

Most applicant tracking systems use one of two pricing models: pay per user or position. The more robust a system you need, the more it will cost.

According to software review guide Better Buys, ATS programs typically range from $25 per month on the low end to $500 and up per month on the high end. You can also expect to pay more for premium features, like batching tools or hands-on training.

The bottom line is that an applicant tracking system is never a replacement for a living, breathing recruiter. Instead, the best ATS supplements your efforts, automating tasks, saving you time, and streamlining the workflows involved in hiring. With the right system, you can hire more qualified candidates faster and provide a better overall candidate experience.

Top ATS Software

For staffing agencies

• Bullhorn
• Avionte
• JobDiva
• Zoho Recruit
• Jobvite
• JazzHR

For corporate recruiters

• BambooHR
• iCIMS Recruit
• Taleo
• PeopleFluent
• BreezyHR
• Workday
• Workable

Strengthen Your Recruiting By Enlisting An Ally 

Do you use an applicant tracking system but need help getting more qualified candidates into your hiring pipeline? While there are many benefits of applicant tracking systems, using one may not be feasible for your organization, but you still want to strengthen your recruiting efforts. The staffing professionals at 4 Corner Resources can help.

Whether you’re looking for one all-star candidate or have dozens of positions to fill, we can create a recruiting strategy that meets your needs and budget. We’ll act as your staffing partner, helping attract and recruit candidates to advance your goals and make a lasting contribution to your company. Get started today by requesting a free consultation.

In nearly every case, there are clues hidden throughout a resume that will give you a read on whether a candidate is a great fit for your company or a terrible one. When sourcing candidates for your new job opening, watch out for these common resume red flags our team of recruiters put together that can improve your selection methods, helping you decide who to pass on and who should make the cut.

13 Resume Red Flags

1. Typos

It goes without saying that a resume should be free from errors, yet we still come across too many with glaring typos and spelling errors. The occasional typo happens to the best of us and can be overlooked in an email or text message, but in the age of spellcheck, there’s no excuse for these mistakes to exist on a document as important as a resume.

While you don’t want to rule out an otherwise stellar candidate because of a typo, it may indicate a lack of attention to detail. If the candidate makes it to the interview stage, it’s worthwhile to ask a few questions that will give you a better feel for their level of conscientiousness.

2. Formatting issues

We get it—resumes can be tricky to format, even for the word processor-savvy among us. But if the formatting on a resume is so messy that it makes the content hard for a recruiter or headhunter to follow, it might be one to toss in your virtual trashcan.

A poorly formatted resume may indicate the candidate isn’t serious about the position enough to put the effort into it. Clean resume formatting is essential when hiring for positions that require meticulousness, like a software developer, or where word processing is a major part of the job, like a copywriter. 

3. Missing (or incorrect) contact information

No job seeker would forget to include their current contact information on a resume…right? Wrong. We see it constantly: Disconnected or old phone numbers and defunct email addresses show up on resumes with surprising regularity. 

There are many reasons for contact information to be missing from a resume, but none are good. This misstep is easily avoidable by every job seeker and leaves the recruiter wondering whether the effort of chasing down the candidate is worth it. With many job openings receiving hundreds and sometimes thousands of resumes, odds are it isn’t. 

Now that we’ve covered a few items related to resume presentation, let’s talk about content.

4. Employment gaps

Regarding the actual work history on a candidate’s resume, lengthy gaps between jobs are one of the biggest resume red flags that recruiters and hiring managers will immediately notice. A single gap in employment isn’t that unusual these days, especially after Covid, and with a growing number of people taking career sabbaticals to travel or start a family. It’s something you can give a qualified candidate a chance to explain during an interview, and a good candidate will be prepared and happy to do so. But if there are multiple gaps or gaps that seem out of place, your guard should be up.

Breaks in employment raise red flags because they could have a range of negative implications, from the fairly innocuous (the candidate’s skills are rusty from not working) to the concerning (they were fired or quit unexpectedly) to the alarming (serving a prison sentence for a felony). There are exceptions, of course, but most high performers don’t have gaping holes in their employment history.

Take careful note of the dates on resumes, too, as some gaps aren’t so easy to spot; sometimes, candidates will try to conceal gaps in employment by using years rather than months for their start and end dates.

5. Overlapping dates

Overlapping dates are, perhaps, even worse than gaps, as the recruiter is left wondering whether it’s a mistake or intentional. A busy recruiter doesn’t have time to sort through a confusing or conflicting work history. It can be an indication of someone who is unreliable or who is trying to hide something, either of which could be a warning sign. It could also be a sign that the candidate is dishonest about their work history, which is a major red flag. 

It’s important to note that overlapping dates may be due to the candidate working part-time, freelance, or balancing a job while attending school. If the resume looks great otherwise, it may be worth taking the time to clarify.  

6. Job hopping

With pensions rapidly becoming a thing of the past and relocation becoming more commonplace, professionals are now switching jobs more frequently than ever in modern work history. Nevertheless, multiple employer changes within two years are something to watch out for on a resume.

People change jobs and careers for all kinds of reasons—increased pay, improved benefits, and better work-life balance.  A candidate might have perfectly legitimate explanations behind his or her job hopping. The problem for you as an employer isn’t as much with the candidate’s character as it is with recouping your investment in hiring them. Two years with an organization typically isn’t enough time to become truly proficient in a role, let alone make meaningful contributions to the company’s larger success.

It’s in your best financial interest to seek out new hires who are invested in sticking around; for at least more than a couple of years.

7. No customization

The average open position attracts 250 resumes. That’s a whole lot of job candidates for talent acquisition professionals and hiring managers! As an employer, you can make hiring much easier by singling out the applicants who take the time to tailor their cover letter and resume to the job you’re hiring for.

A lack of customization can be a red flag that a candidate is blasting out resumes to any company with an open position and may not be qualified for the role you’re looking to fill. You should easily be able to identify transferable skills from their previous job history to the position they are applying to. On the other hand, a customized resume and cover letter lend major credibility to the candidate’s understanding of the role and what it takes to succeed.

8. Lack of achievements

A truly standout candidate uses his or her resume to show you, the hiring manager or recruiter, how they’ve shined in their current and previous roles. A resume that fails to identify professional achievements – listing generic job duties as bullet points instead – should raise red flags.

You may have heard the statistic that recruiters look at resumes for, on average, less than eight seconds before deciding whether to keep it or toss it. While it may seem harsh, there’s a good reason behind the extremely quick period of judgment. Suppose a candidate can’t make their accomplishments clear in a resume, which they’ve presumably taken time to craft and edit. In that case, it’s unlikely they will be able to provide meaningful on-the-spot answers during the interview phase.

Look for resumes that show clear, results-oriented accomplishments for each role.

9. Failure to showcase data

When a resume doesn’t include data or specific examples to back up the candidate’s accomplishments, it might indicate that they are embellishing their role or responsibilities. Quality candidates should be able to quantify their results and demonstrate their impact using specific numbers or percentages.  For example, “increased sales by 25% in the second quarter” is more informative and impactful than simply stating, “responsible for increasing sales.” 

The absence of such data on a resume may indicate that the applicant isn’t performance-driven, unable to measure their success, or hasn’t been effective in their previous roles. 

10. Unusual add-ons

People include weird things on resumes and cover letters, like themed headshots and astrological profiles. While these may make you chuckle and can certainly break up the monotony of going through a stack of applications, they’re a sign that you should probably move on to the next resume.

A candidate’s ability to discern what is appropriate to include on a resume gives a hint of their professional judgment – something that will last well beyond hiring and onboarding. As a recruiter, you must ensure that such add-ons contribute value to their application rather than serving as a distraction.

11. Lack of relevant experience

While transferrable skills can be valuable for many roles, a significant lack of direct, relevant experience is a resume red flag, especially for senior or specialized roles. This may suggest that the candidate does not fully understand the position’s requirements or that they’re indiscriminately applying to job openings.

Sometimes, it may be a positive signal of their ambition or willingness to learn, but you need someone to hit the ground running in most situations. Therefore, a lack of relevant experience should prompt careful consideration of the candidate’s fit for the role.

12. Use of gimmicks

From the candidate who sent a hiring manager a box with a shoe in it to “get a foot in the door” to the new grad who put his resume on a beer bottle, our team of headhunters and recruiters has witnessed our fair share of stunts that applicants have pulled to get employers’ attention. Though they may pique your curiosity, there’s a fine line between clever and cringe-worthy when it comes to new job-hunting gimmicks. In some cases, they’re a resume red flag.

If you’re ever so lucky to find yourself on the receiving end of a job application stunt, consider a few things:

• The role in question. Is the gimmick purely that—a gimmick? Or is there an intention behind it that ties directly to the role? Regarding the beer resume mentioned above, the candidate was applying for a creative position with a marketing agency. The imaginative resume was a great way to showcase his superb package design skills.
• The company culture. Is your organization a place where employees march to the beat of their own drum, or would a ploy like this illicit eye-rolls from the ranks? It’s probably not a good cultural fit if it’s the latter.
• The candidate’s qualifications. Don’t let a gimmick overshadow what you’re really looking to find out: are they or are they not qualified? If the resume isn’t one you’d have noticed without the big gesture, consider it a red flag and move on to other candidates.

13. Failure to follow directions

While the interview phase is your chance to dive deep with potential candidates, you can screen applicants up front for red flags, like the inability to follow instructions, before things even progress to that stage. If you included specific stipulations—a request for professional references or no phone calls, for example—in your job description, pay careful attention to whether a candidate complies.

If they ignore the instructions, it’s, at best, an oversight and, at worst, an indicator that they have trouble taking direction.

Related: How to Write a Job Description

Take the Headache Out Of Hiring

Overwhelmed and frustrated with the hiring process? We’re here to help. 4 Corner Resources offers professional staffing services to reduce the noise and find the perfect candidate for your open position. We offer direct hire recruiting, contract staffing, and payrolling services, and we will even conduct background checks upon a candidate’s hire! Every project is customized to suit your timeline, budget, and talent needs.

We’re eager to learn what kind of candidate you’re looking for. Contact us today to set a time to connect and browse our blog for more hiring and employment resources. If you are job searching, check out our job openings.

FAQs

What is a Psychometric Test?

The word ‘psychometric’ is a combination of the terms psycho (pertaining to the mind) and metric (referring to measurement). A psychometric test is a standardized assessment designed to measure different aspects of a person’s mind: their knowledge, cognitive abilities, personality traits, and more.

Purpose of Psychometric Testing

In the context of recruitment, psychometric testing is designed to measure a candidate’s aptitude for the job they’re interviewing for. Psychometric tests may be given to assess a candidate on the required skills, to gauge their likely behavior in various scenarios, to understand their reasoning, and to analyze their potential for success. 

Psychometric testing is useful during the screening phase to ensure that only qualified candidates move on to the interview round. It can also help screen out underqualified candidates or those who are likely to be a poor cultural fit. 

When administered correctly, psychometric testing can help hiring managers compare candidates on an equal scale and minimize the interference of personal bias. 

Benefits of Psychometric Tests in Recruitment

Objective scoring

Psychometric tests are standardized, which means they deliver reliable, unbiased results. Instead of relying upon a hiring manager’s subjective assessment of a candidate’s qualifications, which can be fallible, the test provides an objective, numeric score that’s free of personal bias. 

Equalized comparison

When you judge candidates based on your impression of them, it can be hard to compare them fairly against one another. For example, if you found one candidate highly qualified but standoffish and another less qualified but extremely likable, you might have difficulty deciding who wins out. 

Psychometric testing weighs every candidate on the same equal scale, which makes for simpler side-by-side comparisons and promotes a fairer hiring process. 

Predictive of performance

Psychometric tests are grounded in research and carefully developed to provide precise results. Thus, they’re a highly accurate predictor of likely job success. More accurate hiring means lower turnover and fewer unnecessary costs. 

Supports team productivity

The most effective teams are those where team members can collaborate effectively. Psychometric tests can help you build more dynamic, well-balanced teams, which helps optimize productivity and minimizes conflict. 

Tailored training and development

Psychometric tests pinpoint a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, which is useful in hiring. Beyond that, however, they can help you identify employee-specific training needs and design customized development plans that help boost staff performance and engagement. 

Types of Psychometric Tests in Recruitment

1. Skill tests

These tests measure a candidate’s technical abilities and knowledge in a specific area. For example, can the candidate code a web page? Translate a selection of text from English to Chinese? Create a pivot table? 

Skills tests are often given as part of the screening process, requiring the candidate to obtain a minimum score to advance to the next round. 

2. Aptitude tests

Aptitude tests are similar to skills tests, but they’re more focused on predicting success in a role. They measure a candidate’s ability to learn new skills, adapt to a new role, and become effective in their prospective position. 

3. Personality tests

Personality tests measure characteristics separate from hard skills, like introversion vs. extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeability, and openness to change. They can also help you understand how a candidate is likely to react in certain scenarios, like how they handle pressure and what they do when faced with a tough decision.

Related: Should You Use Personality Tests For Hiring?

4. Emotional intelligence tests

These tests assess a candidate’s ability to recognize, understand and manage their emotions and the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence, also called EQ, is an important factor in how a candidate will interact on a team, like their communication style and how they respond to conflict. 

Most Popular Psychometric Tests

Just as there are a range of software applications that can help you track applicants or manage candidate communications, there are various psychometric test providers to choose from. 

Here are a few of the most widely used tests:

• Predictive Index: measures a person’s behavioral drives and professional preferences
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: a popular test used to categorize psychological preferences and decision-making styles
• Identity Personality Assessment: analyzes important workplace behaviors like communication, focus, and judgment 
• SHL Situational Judgment Test: presents a series of workplace-related scenarios and asks candidates to choose how they’d respond
• OPQ Leadership Report: measures a candidate’s aptitude for a leadership role

Best Practices for Using Psychometric Tests in Recruitment

Select the appropriate test

Psychometric tests are only effective if they’re directly tied to the job’s requirements and the team’s dynamic. If you have a mathematics assessment of candidates for a customer service role, you will screen out a whole swath of great applicants lacking strong math skills, even though those skills have no bearing on the job in the first place. 

So, clearly outline the job requirements and select an assessment that zeroes in on those particular qualifications. 

Standardize the testing process

To ensure fairness and consistency, give the same test to every candidate for a given role and administer it similarly. For example, you might give the test to candidates in your office on the same day as their interview, or you might utilize a remote testing platform that all candidates must use. 

Practice transparency and security

Let candidates know beforehand that testing will be part of the hiring process and obtain their consent. Ensure that candidate privacy is protected in accordance with all data security protocols. 

Provide proper training

Ensure that all recruiters and hiring managers who will be administering and interpreting the tests are properly trained. This will ensure consistent, accurate evaluations and help minimize misinterpretations. 

See the whole picture

Psychometric tests should be part of the bigger picture when assessing candidates rather than the whole picture itself. They can’t measure everything and don’t provide the uniquely human “gut feeling” that can help you discover all-star talent and identify potential red flags. 

What’s more, some people aren’t good test takers. Being anxious can skew the results. So, take psychometric tests with a grain of salt and use them in combination with other hiring tools to make an informed decision. 

Review and update periodically

Psychometric test results should be tracked and analyzed like any part of your hiring process. Regularly review the success of your hires and the role testing plays in your recruitment process, making updates as needed based on the data.

Related: How to Use Pre-Employment Assessments to Make Better Hires

The cost of a bad hire is probably more than you think. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the resources required to recruit, hire, and onboard a new employee can be as much as $240,000. If you make the wrong selection, not only is that money down the drain, but you’ll likely have to spend at least some of it all over again to get someone new in the role.

Always do your reference checks to catch red flags before making a bad hire and assess fit before making an offer. The process doesn’t have to be painful. Here, we’ll discuss the usefulness of employment reference check questions in finding the perfect candidate. We’ll also give you sample reference check questions for your next interview round.

Reference Checks vs. Background Checks

When sorting through applications, there are many different ways to vet potential hires, but background checks and reference checks are two important pieces of this puzzle. Understanding their differences is important, and not assuming one will provide all the necessary information. 

A background check verifies some essential information about the employee data. It typically involves a criminal check and ensures that the applicant is who they say they are. These checks might verify professional licenses and required education or verify identity, but they are common in almost any job hunt.

Reference checks will help ensure the employee is properly fit for the company. It’s more comprehensive than typical background checks. Most reference checks include conversations with an applicant’s personal and professional references, where you can ask questions about performance and get more in-depth information. It’s good to do both checks to get the most information about a candidate. 

Why Should You Check References?

During the early interview stages, you only have a candidate’s word to go on. Checking references, however, gives you objective third-party input that’s valuable in a process that can be highly subjective and emotionally charged.

Even with interview questions like ‘Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses,’ candidates rarely assess themselves accurately. Some will exaggerate their accomplishments, while others will avoid tooting their own horn. Talking with past managers and colleagues will give you a clearer assessment of what a candidate can realistically bring to your organization.

References can help fill gaps you didn’t cover during the interview. If any major red flags slip through the cracks, you increase your chance of learning about them by talking to references.

Finally, thoughtful employment reference check questions can help uncover new information you might not have asked about. For example, the candidate might have a past achievement that dovetails with a project you’re working on or may have relevant skills they didn’t think to cite on their resume.

Pros of Checking References

Get a third-party perspective on the candidate’s performance and skills

Reference checks allow you to speak with someone that knows the candidate and can give you more insight. You will find out more about the candidate they forgot to share or left out of the conversation and be able to ask questions about specific topics you want to learn more about. 

Help assess whether a candidate fits into the company culture

Learn more about candidates’ ability to adapt and how they might fit into your current company culture and structure. References have different perspectives and can share past experiences with them and how they work with different people. 

Learn and ask more about candidates’ strengths and weaknesses

There will be some things that a candidate omits from their interview. By talking to references and asking a few more questions, you might discover some strengths and weaknesses you didn’t know about. You can also validate conversations you had with the candidate and ask for examples of certain qualifications you are looking for.

Discover any red flags missed during interviews and screening

Talking to references may help uncover red flags that didn’t come up during the interview or screening process. Candidates may have an attendance issue or something their previous employer could share with you that they would not have brought up on their own during the interviews. It’s a limited amount of time, and there are just situations and things that won’t make the cut you could find out about when speaking to the references. 

Cons of Checking References

References may be biased

Candidates provide the list of references to the hiring manager, so you will likely not get the information for anyone who would say anything negative. Typically, candidates will list people they had a pleasant experience with or believe will have the most positive feedback to report. 

The process is time-consuming

Contacting references can be extremely time-consuming. It’s hard to get a hold of people sometimes, and you might play some phone tag or take a while to connect with the references. If you are in a rush to get someone hired, it’s important to be realistic about timelines and not skip over these important steps.

Some companies or references may not disclose certain information

Not all companies allow their employees to provide references for previous employees. It’s possible that the most they can do are verify employment for a certain time period. Candidates should know that information when asking permission to include references on their application, but you might run into dead ends when reaching out.

Best Practices for Reference Checks

When conducting reference checks, you should follow a few best practices to ensure the process is fair and transparent for the candidate and the contacts you’re speaking with.

Always ask before checking references

Candidates should go into the interview process prepared for you to contact their references, but it’s still common courtesy to let them know when you plan on reaching out to the colleagues they’ve provided.

Don’t go through backchannels

While it may be tempting to use your LinkedIn prowess to track down a candidate’s past colleagues (and many do this), it’s bad business to reach out to anyone without your candidate’s express consent. The exception will be if you have an established relationship with someone who has previously worked with your candidate. Even then, you should let the candidate know you plan to contact your shared contact for input.

Give references proper context

When you make contact with a reference, begin by sharing some background about your company and the role the candidate is in the running for. This will give them the necessary context to answer your questions thoroughly and accurately.

Ask open-ended questions

The best questions to ask references are open-ended ones. Phrasing questions like “Tell me about X” or “Describe X” will yield more helpful responses than those with a simple yes/no answer.

Avoid questions that could prompt discrimination

Aside from possibly triggering unintentional bias, asking questions about age, ethnicity, marital status, and sexuality could result in a lawsuit. Click here for the best and worst interview questions to ask candidates.

Sample Reference Check Questions

Once you’ve got a reference on the phone (finally!), it’s time to get down to business. Here are eight great questions to ask references.

1. What can you tell me about working with/managing [candidate]?

This gives the reference a chance to ease into things and allows you to learn the nature of their working relationship with your candidate, which provides context for their answers. Did they manage your candidate? Were they peers? This is also a good time to verify the information on the candidate’s resume, like the dates of their employment and any promotions during that time.

2. Tell me about [candidate’s] strengths.

This is an obvious question to learn where the candidate excels, but it will also help you gauge whether you got an accurate read during your interview. Cross-referencing the reference’s answers with those the candidate gave can help you assess the candidate’s self-awareness (or lack thereof).

3. In which areas did [candidate] need more development when you worked together?

This is a nice way of asking about the candidate’s weaknesses; a good reference will be candid with you here. Still, you’ll need to read between the lines to glean where there might be more to the story than what’s explicitly said.

As you listen to the reference’s answer, aim to differentiate between weaknesses that can be addressed on the job (i.e., weak presentation skills you can strengthen through practice and coaching) and ingrained weaknesses (a bad temper, chronic lateness, etc.).

If anything in their answer gives you pause, ask follow-up questions for more clarity. Remember, one negative review shouldn’t take a candidate out of the running. Rather, it’s just a piece of information in the full data set you’ll use to make your hiring decision.

4. What type of workplace would this employee thrive in?

Sometimes a great candidate winds up in a position or workplace that’s just a bad fit, so this answer can be illuminating. Moreover, if your candidate looks great on paper, but the reference’s answer sounds completely different from your organization, it might be time for serious second thoughts.

5. Was [candidate] promoted while working with you? Why or why not?

If the candidate worked for this organization for a considerable amount of time, it’s great to see advancement in their job title or duties. If you don’t, though, it’s important to understand why.

Were they considered for promotions but passed up? Or are there few opportunities for advancement? Were they happy in their current role? While a drive to climb the ranks may or may not be important in the position you’re looking to fill, these answers will give you helpful insight into the candidate’s prospects for a future with your organization.

6. I wanted to check in with you about X.

Use this opportunity to cross-check information the candidate shared during his or her interview, both good and bad. If they cited a major accomplishment, get their reference’s take. If one of their answers seemed murky, look for further details.

You can also double-check the basics, like why the candidate left the company. Some employers may have a policy not to share this information, but it’s worthwhile to ask.

7. Is there anyone else that would be good for me to speak with?

If you’re speaking with a candidate’s former manager, talking with a former peer might also be beneficial, and vice versa. Also, since checking references involves a lot of phone tags, it’s always useful to have a backup in case you can’t nail down another of the provided references. Of course, be sure to inform the candidate before contacting someone who wasn’t on their reference list.

8. Is there anything else I should know to help me make the right decision?

It’s just like they say at weddings: speak now or forever hold your peace.

Wrapping up with this question allows the reference to bring up any topics you may not have already discussed. In fact, this is one of our favorite questions because even if you’ve covered a lot of ground, almost everyone will rattle off a bit more information when you ask it. Because it’s so open-ended, the responses are often the most candid of the whole interview and some of the most helpful in making a decision.

This question also opens the door for the reference to disclose any misgivings they might have been holding back about hiring the candidate.

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FAQs

Do pre-employment assessments have a place in your hiring process, and if so, which ones should you use? Knowing the benefits of candidate assessments and seeing some of the most common pre-employment testing examples is helpful to aid in your decision.

Benefits of Using Candidate Assessments

1. Reduces hiring bias

It’s a known fact that personal bias can creep into the hiring process, even when we have the best of intentions about the remaining objective. Personal bias can skew our opinion of candidates based on our experiences, our affinity for people who are similar to us, and even factors we’re unaware of. This can make it impossible to hire the candidate who’s objectively best for the job. 

Pre-employment assessments of candidates help level the playing field, giving us a standard, non-subjective measurement system on which to gauge all candidates equally.

Related: Beware of These Subconscious Hiring Biases

2. Weeds out unqualified candidates

Pre-employment assessments are useful in an employer’s market when companies see a higher-than-average volume of applicants for every role. Volume is a constant challenge for recruiters, who must find ways to zero in on the best candidates without getting bogged down by those applying to every open job they see. 

Hiring managers can use pre-employment assessments to set “dealbreaker” questions, which clearly indicate whether a candidate is qualified for a role. This helps ensure that only candidates who are truly equipped for the job make it through to the next round. 

3. Compares two or more top contenders

Sometimes, you’ll run into a scenario where you have more than one qualified candidate for a job. This is a great problem to have, but it can make selecting your final hire tough. Candidate assessments give hiring managers an additional data point to go on when comparing candidates who otherwise seem equally matched. This can be a helpful “tiebreaker” if you’re stuck between two excellent choices.

Related: How to Decide Between Two Candidates

4. Sheds light on blind spots

When hiring, there’s a danger that lies in the unknown—niche skills you can’t personally assess, for example, or behavioral quirks that will make it hard for a candidate to fit in with your culture. It’s impossible to cover all of these unknowns in a job interview because, as they say, you don’t know what you don’t know. 

Pre-employment assessments can help illuminate these potential unknowns, giving you additional context to use during interviews and bringing up topics you may want to follow up on before making a final hire.  

Disadvantages of Using Pre-Employment Assessments

1. Consistency

Not all tests are reliable. If a candidate took the same test two weeks apart and could get a wildly different score, it’s not a good pre-employment assessment because it lacks any consistency. Any tests your company is considering using for new candidates should be tested multiple times to ensure reliable results. 

2. It doesn’t capture the whole picture

Any pre-employment assessments will only capture a small portion of a candidate’s knowledge and skill set. It can be a helpful tool, but it shouldn’t be the decision-maker. These tests only measure a handful of traits. Measuring someone’s ability to learn new tasks and communicate is hard through tests. If the results are used to measure specific job skills, they can be one tool in the process. 

3. Could violate state and federal laws

There have been some discrimination lawsuits in the past on different hiring practices. You must choose pre-employment assessments that will not cause any problems for your company. Tests must meet the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirements and Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures (UGESP). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also prohibits any pre-hiring tests or evaluations that are considered medical exams. Be cautious with your chosen tests, and ensure they are completely relevant to your open position.

4. Adds time to the hiring process

The average timeline for the hiring process ranges from three to six weeks in the United States. If you include pre-employment assessments in your process, your process will likely be on the longer side of the range. Each company will need to weigh the benefits of the pre-employment assessments and see if they can manage with a longer timeline to fill job openings.

Different Types of Pre-Employment Assessments

Job knowledge tests

Job knowledge pre-employment assessments measure specific job skills a candidate would need for the role. The subject matter includes either technical or theoretical. For example, an IT help desk position may test applicants on their technical knowledge of hardware equipment. 

These tests are common with roles that require a certain level of expertise or mastery before taking the job. These tests aren’t good for situations where there will be training once the position is filled, but it measures someone’s ability to do the skills that are required to step into the role. Job knowledge tests are good for accounting principles, computer programming, and specific knowledge of legal guidelines. 

Personality tests

When used correctly, personality tests can help employers assess whether a candidate’s characteristics will mesh well with the requirements of a role, like identifying empathy in customer service candidates or resilience in prospective healthcare workers. 

Using personality as a candidate assessment tool, however, isn’t without controversy. Personality tests can unintentionally weed out candidates who, from a skills perspective, are fully qualified for a job, and some studies have shown they’re not a strong predictor of on-the-job performance. 

Personality assessments often rely on test-takers to gauge themselves (i.e., “rate your work ethic on a scale of 1 to 5”), which can result in the candidate responding based on what they think the employer wants to hear versus their actual assessment of themself. Finally, personality tests come with legal risks an employer must consider. Candidates may claim they discriminate against applicants with an illness, for example. 

When hiring, personality tests shouldn’t be used to arrive at a hard ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ in the application process. Rather, they’re best used as an informational tool for assessing culture fit and identifying a candidate’s potential for career progression within the organization, like whether their learning style is aligned with the development opportunities you offer, and so on.

Related: Are Personality Tests Beneficial as Part of The Hiring Process?

Cognitive ability tests

Some cognitive skills can be tested during a pre-employment assessment. Measure an applicant’s attention, reading comprehension, and problem-solving skills using a cognitive test. These tests are great indicators of future job performance, and companies that implement these see high success in correctly predicting a candidate’s abilities. 

Various cognitive assessments include numerical reasoning, spatial ability, and verbal reasoning. Some focus on one area, while others cover a more general overview. The tests are common in many industries and roles because they are easy to administer, and the results can easily be added to the applicant files. 

Behavioral assessments

Unlike personality tests, which assess a candidate based on broad traits, behavioral assessments aim to predict how a candidate would respond in specific job-related scenarios. The thinking is that past behavior is generally an accurate predictor of future behavior. Behavioral assessments can be more effective than personality tests because they use questions tailored to a specific role. 

Behavioral candidate assessments are useful for discovering a candidate’s drives and work style preferences, like the level of stability they prefer in a role or whether their communication style is more formal or casual. This information can be useful when determining culture fit and, if the candidate is ultimately hired, can help managers coach the new hire most effectively. 

For the best results, the questions in a behavioral assessment should be tailored to your workplace and the behaviors you’re looking for in the right candidate for a particular role.

Skills tests

A skills test assesses a candidate’s ability to perform the technical duties of a job. In a skills test, a candidate is assigned one or more tasks that are typical of the role, then judged based on their performance. This can be incredibly useful if you’re hiring for a highly-skilled role, like a technical position, or one where prior experience in a certain type of project is essential. 

In addition to verifying a candidate’s abilities, skills tests help ensure you’re hiring on merit rather than based on a candidate’s background or connections. Since they’re often scored using a points system, skills tests can also give hiring managers a good way to compare two similar candidates side by side. 

Integrity tests

Integrity tests can help companies avoid hiring people who might be dishonest or a bad fit for the organization’s values. Typically, integrity tests would be part of the interview with at least one or two questions regarding a candidate’s ethics. You can also utilize the more general personality tests to get an idea of the integrity of applicants.

Integrity can provide insights into job performance. It can help avoid any possibilities of theft on the job or disciplinary problems. Integrity tests can’t capture all potential issues because applicants may be dishonest with their answers. Still, they are typically unbiased and incredibly standard in the hiring process.

Emotional intelligence tests

Emotional intelligence (EI) measures how well a person can build relationships and read someone’s emotions. Having the ability to persuade others and interpret their nonverbal cues and emotions effectively can be very beneficial for many professions. Companies may run candidates through emotional intelligence pre-employment assessments to see how well they will fit into the company. 

The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test is one of the most popular tests and can be completed in under 45 minutes. It will help you assess the candidate’s reading abilities and understanding of human emotions. By using these tests, you can better understand how people can contribute or lead a team and how they will get along with others. 

Physical ability tests

For positions that require a certain level of physical fitness, there may be some physical ability tests to conduct to ensure candidates have the strength and stamina to perform that job tasks. These tests require your HR department’s guidance to ensure you aren’t doing anything resembling a medical examination, which is prohibited under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

It’s important to perform these tests when they are relevant to reduce the accidents that can happen in the workplace and worker’s compensation claims. Muscular tension tests measure the ability to push, pull, and lift, and muscular power tests require individuals to overcome resistance. Endurance tests measure cardiovascular and muscular endurance to see if the applicant can perform a task repeatedly without losing steam. Flexibility and balance tests are the other common assessments if there will be a lot of bending, twisting, or even balancing on a ladder. The proper tests are determined by the tasks assigned to the potential employee. 

Best Practices for Pre-Employment Assessments

Regardless of which of these pre-employment testing examples you’re considering using, these best practices will help you get the most out of your candidate assessment process. 

1. Complete an analysis of the job opening

Before determining anything about the pre-employment assessments, complete a full review of the job description for the open position. It’s important to understand what qualifications you’re looking for and what job duties the employee will perform. Having a complete picture of the role will allow you to select the relevant and appropriate tests to run with candidates. 

2. Define the criteria you’ll be measuring

What kind of test results are you looking to see from a strong candidate? What benchmarks will you use to measure these things? Whether it’s a numerical score or a certain long-form answer to a question, defining success gives you a baseline against which to measure the candidates who participate in the assessment. 

3. Set a standard for all candidates 

For a pre-employment assessment system to be truly objective, all candidates must be tested the same way, at the same point in the hiring process, with the same test. Suppose you only test certain candidates or give different applicants different assessments. In that case, it’s impossible to maintain a fair and objective hiring process (not to mention that you’d be setting yourself up for legal action). 

Set a single testing standard to be used with all candidates so you’re comparing apples to apples with every hiring decision. 

4. Examine the candidate holistically 

In addition to comparing candidates’ results against one another, you’ll also want to weigh their assessment results against the rest of the information you have on them, like their resume and interview. 

Pre-employment assessments don’t exist in a vacuum. There are all kinds of reasons an otherwise stellar candidate might fall short of your testing expectations—they’re not a good test taker, they have a disability that made the test format challenging for them, they got bad news the morning of the test, and so on. Thus, candidate assessments shouldn’t be used as a make-or-break hiring factor. Rather, they’re just one piece of the overall picture of a candidate’s performance in a role. 

5. Measure assessment effectiveness

As we repeatedly preach, every part of your hiring process should be regularly measured and assessed for ROI. This includes your pre-employment screenings. 

Periodically examine your new hire data to see whether candidates scoring highly on assessments perform well in their new roles. Additionally, look at metrics like time to productivity and turnover, both of which can be tied to the effectiveness of your pre-employment assessments.

How Much Should Pre-Employment Test Count?

Pre-employment assessments will impact your hiring decisions, but the weight of these tests will depend on the job opening you are filling. A job with incredibly specific skills required may rely a lot more on the results of the pre-employment assessments to make their decisions and ensure they choose a candidate who is capable of doing the job. For jobs with a lot of training once filled, pre-employment assessments will have less weight, and decisions should rely on the interview process and the candidate who fits with the company culture and has the drive to learn. 

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FAQs

Not only does it give a leg up to someone who’s done an excellent job working for you, it also helps your fellow managers of the world select the right candidates and avoid hiring mistakes. 

A letter of recommendation might be used when applying to a college or university; applying to a job, internship, or volunteer opportunity; or when seeking membership into a selective professional organization. Its purpose is to vouch for the professional credibility of the letter’s subject and give further details about their specific skills. 

Writing an effective letter of recommendation takes time, but it can go a long way toward helping the subject advance in their career. If someone has put forth a strong effort when working with you, writing them a letter of recommendation is a nice way to reciprocate and show your appreciation for a job well done. 

Check out these tips for how to write a letter of recommendation, then use our template below and customize it for your needs. 

Recommendation Letter Tips

Confirm you can give a positive review

First things first: did you actually have a good experience working with this person? You should only agree to write a letter of recommendation if the answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ A letter that’s anything less than glowing could do more harm than good.

Remember, by endorsing this person, you’re also connecting your reputation to them. So before confirming that you’ll recommend someone, make sure that you’ve worked closely with them and can speak accurately and positively about their skills. 

Write a new letter for each recommendation

Avoid the shortcut of copying and pasting a previous letter, even if it was a fantastic one. At best it’ll come off sounding canned, and at worst you risk accidentally leaving in some of the wrong details. Your best bet is to start fresh for every recommendation letter you write. 

Learn the details

A great recommendation letter is tailored to the specific role the person is hoping to win. So, before you start writing, take some time to learn the details of the position and think about how the person’s capabilities are tied to it. If you can get a copy of the job description, even better. 

If it’s been some time since you’ve worked together, it can be helpful to have a quick chat to learn what’s changed in the person’s professional life. Ask for a copy of their updated resume so you have a full understanding of their most current skills. 

Make sure your relationship is recent enough

When it comes to recommendation letters, there is an expiration date. If you managed someone as an intern five years ago, it’s probably been too long for you to speak accurately about their capabilities several years into their career. Plus, outdated references can reflect poorly on a candidate. 

While there’s no hard time frame that makes a reference “too old,” a few years is generally a good window. 

Ask for guidance

Is there something specific the subject of your letter is hoping to emphasize? Ask! Especially if they’re gathering multiple letters of recommendation from different people, it can be helpful to have each letter writer touch on a different aspect of their skill set. 

What To Include In A Letter Of Recommendation

An introduction

Begin with a warm introduction and a brief overview of who you are and your relationship with the person you’re writing about. Share the nature of your relationship and give some context on your time working together. For example: 

‘My name is Maria Smith and I’m the director of widget engineering at Acme Corporation. I’m writing to recommend Stanley Miller for your masters in engineering program. Stan was my direct report for two years at Acme, where he worked as an associate widget engineer.’

Overview of strengths

Give a broad overview of the person’s positive characteristics, specifically those that pertain to the role they’re seeking. This is where it’s helpful to have a copy of the job description or application criteria, so you can cite some of the exact words and phrases that are listed in the requirements. 

Give specifics

This is the meat of your letter. Just as a great resume gives examples of specific accomplishments rather than listing generic skills, a winning letter of recommendation offers a detailed personal anecdote that helps the reader see the person’s capabilities in action. You might describe a time they exceeded expectations or went above and beyond to get the job done.

If possible, work in numbers or other quantifying details that demonstrate results. For example: 

‘Part of Stan’s role was widget optimization, helping us balance performance with costs. The changes Stan recommended in his most recent report helped us reduce our supply costs by 25%.’

Cite their potential

Your colleague may be applying for a role that will give them room to grow. As such, it might mean they’re managing people for the first time or taking on a new level of responsibility–things they don’t have specific experience with yet. That’s okay. Use your letter of recommendation to help the reader envision their potential. For example:

‘Stan is highly organized and a great communicator, skills which would serve him well as a manager. I have no doubt he’d excel at helping his team achieve their quarterly targets, which is something he did regularly during his tenure at Acme.’

Closing statement

Finish strong with a final statement that reiterates your endorsement and leaves the door open in case the reader has any follow-up questions. 

Letter Of Recommendation Example

Mr. Williams, 

It’s a pleasure to recommend Carol White for acceptance into Carnegie Mellon’s MBA program. As the chief marketing officer of Acme Corporation, I oversaw Carol in her role as a market research analyst for two years. 

Carol has an innate ability to distill meaning from numbers, oftentimes in ways others have missed. Her work interpreting customer feedback surveys helped us implement software updates that reduced our transaction times by an average of 40 seconds–a major time and cost savings in our field. 

In addition to being a talented research analyst, Carol is an asset in a team environment. Her positive demeanor and willingness to collaborate were appreciated by her peers and managers alike. I’m confident her enthusiasm for learning new skills will serve her well in your rigorous academic program, and it’s without hesitation that I recommend her for a spot.

If I can be of further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me at (321) 555-5555.

Yours truly,

John Mitchell

Letter Of Recommendation Template

[RECIPIENT NAME],

My name is [SENDER NAME], and I’m the [POSITION] at [COMPANY]. I’m writing to enthusiastically recommend [NAME] for [POSITION THEY’RE APPLYING FOR]. [NAME] and I worked together at [COMPANY] for [LENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP]. 

During our time as colleagues, I came to depend on [NAME] for their expertise in [EXPERTISE]. Their skills in [SKILL AREA] served us well when we were working on [PROJECT], where [NAME] helped us [RESULT]. 

Along with their skills in [SKILL AREA], [NAME] was always a pleasure to work with. They were a genuine team player and always willing to lend a hand to colleagues. They were punctual, professional and acted with the utmost integrity for the entirety of our time working together.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to recommend [NAME] for the position. I know they’d be a valuable asset to [COMPANY]. 

Please feel free to contact me at [CONTACT INFO] with any additional questions. 

Sincerely, 

[SENDER NAME]

Job requirements are no doubt an important part of job listings as they help narrow down your pool of candidates and prevent people who are vastly unqualified from applying. However, there is some disparity in the way employers and candidates view these requirements that can cause problems on both sides. 

Employers typically approach job requirements as a “wish list” of sorts, so they include any and all qualifications that would be ideal in the perfect candidate. Applicants, on the other hand, tend to view the job qualifications list as a be-all, end-all assessment of their fitness for the job. Unfortunately, this can prevent some great candidates from applying, especially if they are reading the job listing very diligently (on the flip side, you may still get just as many less diligent candidates because they are not reading the requirements closely). It is a lose-lose situation. 

For this reason, we are making the case for rethinking a few common requirements we often see in job listings. In 2020, we are dealing with a very different economic landscape than we were even just a year ago. It would serve both employers and candidates to reconsider these limiting job qualifications. 

Why Should You Rethink Your Job Qualifications?

It can be tempting to copy and paste canned job listings, especially if there are certain positions you hire for on a rolling basis. Doing this, however, can hurt your chances of finding a great candidate. You should update your job listings regularly for a number of reasons. 

First, editing and updating your job listing every time you post it keeps things from feeling stale. Candidates might have seen a similar role you posted previously, for example, and if it is exactly the same listing, they might assume you are having trouble hiring.

Refreshing your job listing keeps you from unintentionally limiting your candidate pool. If you continue to advertise a niche position with the requirement for, say, five years of experience, you risk alienating a whole group of otherwise qualified individuals who have only four years under their belt. 

Changing up your job requirements encourages diversity, especially among female candidates. One commonly cited statistic is that women only apply for jobs when they meet 100% of the qualifications, whereas the threshold among male candidates is closer to about 60%. Subsequent studies show that women are less likely to put themselves in the running for positions where they feel as if not meeting the requirements. You can remove this barrier to entry by reconsidering the laundry list of stipulations you include with your job postings. 

Finally, revising your job requirements is useful for A/B testing purposes. As with every step of your hiring funnel, it is a good idea to be consistently optimizing and revising your job listings for maximum effectiveness. Testing out different styles of language and tone along with the list of skills and qualifications you use can help you refine your listing until you’re confident you are attracting the strongest possible candidate pool. 

Job Requirements to Change in 2020

1. GPA

With the exception of those still in school and in some cases, new graduates, we generally advise candidates to leave their GPA off their resume. Yet, some employers still list a GPA above a certain number as a job requirement, most commonly for entry-level positions. 

Presumably, when you post a job listing, you are looking for the person who is the most capable to do the job. In the real world, this is often quite different from the person who’s best at academics. While logic tells us that people with a high GPA obtained it through some combination of intelligence and skill, using this number as a job qualification is problematic for many reasons. 

For starters, it is impossible to standardize it among educational institutions. A 3.0 at a community college, for example, might not equate to the same level of academic rigor as a similar score at an Ivy League university.

Then there is the fact that some people just are not book learners. Some people do poorly in formal testing situations, despite having a proven familiarity with the material in other settings. 

Laszlo Bock, who was then Google’s senior vice president of people operations, summed it up in an interview with the New York Times: “Another reason [we do not look at GPA or test scores when hiring] is that I think academic environments are artificial environments. People who succeed there are sort of finely trained, they are conditioned to succeed in that environment.”

Instead, Bock suggested focusing on candidates’ ability to solve problems when there is not an obvious answer, which is a much more useful skill in the real world than being a good test-taker. 

2. Specific college degree

For employers, a specific college degree (business, chemistry, hospitality, etc)  has become a shortcut of sorts for identifying candidates with a well-rounded skill set. The problem with this is that it eliminates an entire segment of the population that might otherwise be perfectly competent for the requirements of a role. 

Some jobs, by necessity, require the specialized technical skills that come with a specific college degree. For others, however, consider using skills-based assessments and other tools to qualify candidates rather than relying on a certain college degree as a blanket requirement. 

3. Years of experience

Asking for a certain number of years of experience is a near-universal convention in every job qualifications list. It is so widespread that it is becoming an often-satirized catch-22, particularly among young candidates—i.e. a job billed as “entry-level” that lists 3 to 5 years experience as a requirement. 

While employers typically use this information as a ballpark to help them gauge candidates’ preparedness for a role, applicants often view it as a rigid must-have in order to be considered (and, to be sure, some hiring managers approach it this way, too). The main problem with the years-of-experience requirement is how dramatically it can limit your talent pool while having little corresponding impact on a candidate’s overall competence.

Consider, for example, the relative difference between a candidate with eight years experience and one with ten. What quantitative difference do those two additional years actually make? If their job titles and career progression are otherwise comparable, the answer usually is, not much. The candidates are likely going to have a similar on-the-job background, skill sets, and leadership experience. The candidate with eight years on the job may actually be stronger in other ways, like culture fit. 

Also, consider the changing norms of professional life in general. Millennials, who are now the largest segment of the U.S. labor force, are more likely to switch jobs than any other generation, while mid-life career changes have become more common among all Americans. With modern candidates spending less time in any given role than they did a decade or two ago, the number of applicants with a high number of years in their position dwindles—as we said above, reducing the size of your talent pool. 

While this is not a case for throwing out the years-of-experience requirement entirely, consider including language that makes it clear the range is a guideline rather than a hard-and-fast rule. Be sure to set the parameters on any resume screening systems you use accordingly so qualified candidates do not get filtered out for having too few years on the job. 

Build A Stronger Talent Pool With Help From 4 Corner Resources

The perfect candidate for any role is not defined by just one job requirement; rather, they bring a mix of skills, experience, and personality that make them the right fit for your job. 4 Corner Resources can help you identify a pool of talent with the technical skills that meet your needs and the personality to succeed within your company’s culture. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation with our team of staffing experts.

Hiring personnel are faced with a tall order: they still have to perform all of the essential tasks associated with hiring, like recruitment and candidate screening, in addition to fulfilling a slew of new responsibilities surrounding employee and candidate safety. 

Maintaining forward momentum in your hiring funnel is essential to keep key positions filled and ensure that your business continues to meet the needs of its customers. There are new considerations from both a health and legal perspective that you will need to incorporate into your pre-employment screening activities. 

Three Areas Where The Screening Process For Hiring Will Change 

Screening goes contactless

Phone and video calls have replaced the in-person interview as the screening method of choice for thousands of employers. In fact, we’ have seen many candidates directly request this option. 

It is a smart path to minimize exposure for both your staff and your candidates, especially in cases where candidates may be interviewing with multiple companies. If your line of work necessitates in-person interviews, it is your prerogative to make them a requirement. However, know that this may cause some candidates to drop out of the running for the job, which is never ideal. 

If you are one of the many employers that have switched to video screenings, there are some legal obligations you will need to keep in mind.

First, the laws on recording conversations vary by state. In general, states are either “one-party” states (where only one party needs to consent to the recording) or “two-party” states (where all parties must consent to be recorded). When parties are talking across state lines, the rules can become muddled. If you plan on recording your video screenings, stay on the safe side of the law by notifying the candidate and getting their permission to be recorded in writing ahead of time. 

Next, make sure you are providing adequate accommodations for candidates with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities may experience technology access challenges that hinder their ability to participate in a video interview or that put them at a significant disadvantage to other candidates. Comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by granting reasonable alternatives to video screenings that better suit these individuals. 

Finally, consider how a candidate’s environment may contribute to hiring bias. Video interviews give hiring managers additional context about a candidate that they would not get from an in-person interview—for example, the décor in the room or a surprise appearance by a child—and this can be problematic. 

To minimize subconscious bias, consider asking candidates to use one of the many ‘virtual background’ options available on most video conferencing platforms. 

Related: Beware Of These Subconscious Hiring Mistakes

Employers tackle testing

Are employers responsible for testing new hires for coronavirus? Is that even legal to do? 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently released guidance on the topic. In it, the organization advises that companies are within their rights to test candidates after they have made a conditional offer. The key stipulation is that this must be done for all new hires entering the same type of job, not just some. These results are considered medical records and as such, must be kept confidential. 

So if a new hire tests positive, then what? Employment law experts say there are a few options that are within your rights as an employer. These include:

• Making adjustments to a new hire’s start date or work location based on coronavirus test results
• Delaying the start date of a new hire that tests positive or shows symptoms
• Withdrawing a job offer from someone who tests positive if your work necessitates a new hire starting immediately
• Requiring a new hire to undergo a period of quarantine before starting the job
• Requiring a new hire to work from home for a set period of time or indefinitely

Many candidates are asking the question, am I required to come into work if it puts me at risk for getting sick? The most basic answer is yes—companies are within their rights to require employees to work at an onsite location. However, employers should be wary of this kind of mandate. 

Many states and municipalities are still under guidelines that all non-essential business should be conducted from home. What is more, under certain circumstances, an employee’s request to work remotely rather than onsite could be considered a reasonable accommodation request under the Americans with Disabilities Act and could land you in hot water if you deny it.

Tread carefully and enlist the help of your legal counsel when making these determinations. 

Drug tests, background checks and credential verifications

What were once routine parts of the pre-employment screening process have been slowed down by office closures and staffing cutbacks. Plan for delays and strategize temporary shifts to the way you conduct drug tests, background checks, and credential verifications. 

When it comes to drug testing, clinics may be closed to non-essential tests or candidates may be reluctant to visit such a busy public place. In some industries like trucking and bus driving where drug testing is a necessity, you will simply need to plan for delays and adjust your hiring timeline as needed. In other industries, an alternative drug testing solution may be sufficient. 

Can you forego drug tests on a temporary basis? Use a mobile collection service that comes to a candidate’s home? Do an oral swab test over video chat? Another option to keep your candidate screening process moving is to make candidates conditional job offers that are dependent on the results of testing at some date in the future. 

Next, let us talk about background checks. These have become complicated by limited hours and closures at the government offices that conduct the checks, some of which require you to visit in person to obtain results. Some jurisdictions are advising public records checks to be done online, but this poses problems. 

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, background check vendors are obligated to ensure the information they provide is “complete and up to date.” Some information obtained via online or automated systems can be out of date or incomplete, and checking this is difficult without a court clerk’s help. 

Once again, you may need to shift your timeline expectations to allow for more time for background checks to be completed. Alternatively, consider temporarily scaling back screening to cover only the must-haves, like flagging sex offenders or reporting violent crimes.

Educational institutions like colleges and universities have been particularly hard hit by the virus, with many schools scaling back their administrative operations to the bare minimum. This may make it tough to obtain certification for things like course credits and degrees, but do not neglect this important part of pre-employment screening. 

The same goes for work history records and reference checks—though they may take a little longer to gather right now, they are a valuable component in helping you get the full picture of a candidate and verify that they have been truthful in their application. 

Communicate openly

The most frustrating part of the job search for many candidates right now is the uncertainty. The pre-employment screening and interview process looks different than it ever has before, and applicants cannot prepare properly if they do not know what to expect. 

Ease frustration and help the process go more smoothly by communicating your company’s new policies from the start. This might be as simple as adding a page to your online application that outlines what is new or sending an automated follow-up email after the receipt of all applications detailing what the next steps will look like.

Even if your screening process for hiring is in flux, communicating that openly and updating candidates whenever possible will keep them engaged, keep you out of legal trouble and prevent headaches down the road. 

Accelerate Your Pre-Employment Screening with 4 Corner Resources

The average time-to-fill across all industries is 36 days, with candidate screening accounting for nearly 20% of that time. Reference checks, interviews and skills assessments all are time-intensive processes, but they’re among the top tactics used by employers to vet new talent. Add the new Covid-related considerations we outlined above to the mix, and you’ve got a recipe for prolonged timelines and ballooning costs. 

Streamline your screening process for hiring with help from the staffing experts at 4 Corner Resources. From phone and video interviews to behavioral and skills assessments, we can take the tedious and time-consuming hiring tasks off your plate so you can spend more time keeping your business running smoothly. 

We specialize in finding hiring solutions that fit your budget, so whether you’re a small business that needs seasonal help or a large firm scaling to the next level, we can assist you in crafting a staffing strategy that facilitates growth while being mindful of costs. Use our handy contact form to set up a conversation with a member of our recruiting team today.

With so much at stake, there’s a very slim margin of error for mistakes in selecting the right candidate for the job. That’s why a comprehensive selection strategy should be a key piece of your recruitment puzzle. Having predefined employee selection methods to use and follow with every open role creates consistency among your recruiting efforts and allows you to fine-tune your selection process with time, so you get better and better at offering the job to the right person the first time around. This not only breeds more productive, satisfied employees, but cuts down on your hiring time and costs.

Read on to learn how to create an effective candidate selection strategy to choose the best talent for your marketing roles.

Step to Create an Effective Marketing Strategy

1. Define the process

The first step in building a marketing candidate selection strategy is to outline the process your recruitment team will follow each time you’re making a new hire. You likely already have an idea of the steps this entails; recording them in an official plan ensures no steps are missed and the process is done the same way each time.

As part of this step, you should also define the objectives you’re aiming to fulfill. While the qualities you’re looking for in a candidate may vary by role, you should have an overarching mission that guides your employee selection methods regardless of the position. It might be to hire candidates who live your brand values, win talent that’s going to grow with you as the company grows, or whatever else it is that makes a candidate a perfect fit in your eyes. Defining exactly what that is will make it easier to identify who fits the bill—and who doesn’t—when you’re comparing a pool of candidates.

2. Outline clear selection criteria

Now that you’ve defined the steps in your recruitment and selection process that will be used for all open marketing positions, it’s time to get specific about the individual position. Your selection criteria are the qualities and skills that serve as the ruler by which you measure applicants. These might be practical skills, like ‘expert-level proficiency in Photoshop,’ or more conceptual qualities like ‘has the ability to help opposing parties find mutually agreeable solutions.’

As you can see, some of the selection criteria will mirror what’s listed in the job description, but it will also include those less-tangible qualities that are ascertained through interviews and assessments.

3. Enlist the right people 

Have you ever hired a candidate to tackle a certain challenge, only to discover later that they lacked the skills to get the job done? This is less the fault of the candidate and more the fault of having the wrong decision makers in the room when selecting them. Whatever qualities you defined in step two, you need decision makers who can actually identify those qualities involved in the hiring process.

Let’s say you’re looking for a digital marketing manager with deep analytics knowledge. If you rely solely on HR to narrow down candidates, you risk misidentifying candidates’ skills in this important technical area. Instead, you can do one of three things: involve someone with analytics knowledge in the selection process, train your selection committee on how to identify analytics skills, or incorporate tools like skills tests to assess candidates in this area (or use some combination of all three of these tactics).

It’s important to think this through in the early stages of hiring to ensure that individuals with the appropriate expertise are included in the selection process.

4. Use selection tools 

Assessment tools like personality tests, skills tests, and sample assignments can all shed light on a candidate’s fit for the job. Building on the groundwork from steps 1-3, identify what, if any, selection tools you’ll use to gain additional knowledge to aid in your decision.

5. Consider conjunctive vs. compensatory employee selection methods

Candidate selection strategies typically follow either a conjunctive or compensatory model. While the steps in them are the same, they differ in the way candidates move through the steps.

In a conjunctive employee selection model, candidates move sequentially from one phase of the hiring process to the next. If they do poorly in any phase, they’re eliminated from the running before moving on to the next phase. For example, if a candidate didn’t wow the hiring manager during the interview phase, he’d be taken out of the running before moving on to a sample assignment.

In a compensatory selection model, all candidates go through all phases of the hiring process with a score assigned at each phase. The final selection is made by comparing all candidates’ cumulative scores. In this model, a candidate who excelled during her interviews but performed poorly on a skills test might beat out a candidate who was mediocre in both areas.

There are pros and cons to each of these employee selection methods; the one that works best for you will be unique to your organization and the structure of your hiring department.

6. Maintain consistency

To be effective, your recruitment and selection process should be consistent across locations and team members. This ensures that it can be duplicated each time you need to make a new hire and that it doesn’t hinge on any one person or department’s involvement.

Let’s say your marketing agency has branches in New York and Los Angeles. You need your team members to be able to collaborate between the two branches, work together when traveling, provide the same level of service when working with clients, and so on. It wouldn’t make sense, then, to hire your Los Angeles art director using one set of criteria and your New York art director using a different set. Though each branch might have a unique set of needs and culture norms, the core candidate selection strategy used between them should be the same.

7. Be objective

The strongest employers prioritize objectivity and diversity in their employee selection strategy. In a survey of more than 1,300 CEOs, respondents said talent diversity and inclusiveness in the hiring process were core components of competitive organizations.

Your employee selection strategy, then, should actively work to eliminate bias and provide an even playing field for all applicants. 

Related: How To Hire For Diversity 

8. Utilize strong record keeping practices

How will you track each phase of your hiring process? Conducting strong record keeping at every stage of the hiring funnel ensures all stakeholders have the proper evidence to use in the decision-making process. This is especially necessary if you have a long time-to-hire and several weeks or months might pass between meetings with different candidates.

An applicant tracking system can be highly useful here. With an ATS, you’ll be prompted to record pertinent information at every juncture of your selection process. Records are easily accessible for future review and for sharing by all parties involved in the hiring process.

Related: The Pros and Cons of Applicant Tracking Systems

It’s also worthwhile to note that some recordkeeping is required by law, both at the federal level and at varying degrees by state. Failing to keep detailed, securely stored records of a candidate’s pre-employment activities with your company could open you up to a potential lawsuit. Limiting your liability is just one more benefit of thorough recordkeeping.

9. Undergo continuous improvement 

Like your broader recruitment strategy, your employee selection process is dynamic and ever-evolving. You can and should take steps to continuously examine and improve it.

One way to do this is by taking stock of pertinent hiring metrics on a regular basis. Retention rate, hiring manager satisfaction, time-to-productivity and job performance are all good recruitment metrics that can shed light on whether your selection process is yielding the right candidate for the job the majority of the time.

Outsource Your Marketing Candidate Selection 

As you can see, there’s more to an employee selection strategy than meets the eye. Approaching each new hire on a case-by-case basis is neither sustainable nor efficient; for long-term hiring success, you need a scalable, replicable system for identifying the best candidate every time you have an open position.

4 Corner Resources takes the uncertainty out of the recruitment and selection process. We’ll source marketing candidates that offer the right mix of skills and experience to lead your company to success. Then, we’ll combine your input with our proprietary screening methods to narrow down the pool of candidates and deliver the top contenders. Whether you need to fill a leadership role like a marketing director, an entry-level position like an account coordinator or a niche technical role like a data scientist, our marketing staffing professionals have the knowledge and expertise to identify the perfect fit.

Get started by booking a consultation with our marketing and advertising hiring experts today.