We just screened over a thousand applications for a client firm and I want to share some useful tips that can benefit recruiters and candidates alike.

1. It was sad to see some applicants disqualified from the very beginning due to wrongly inputing their email addresses. So even though they were shortlisted they never got our emails as they bounced. We tried to correct some of them but when you are dealing with 1000s of applicants there’s only so much you can do. Please pay attention to the accuracy of your contact details when filling applications.

2. We prescreened by sending a questionnaire with qualifying questions. Again the jobs were advertised with clear JDs and qualification requirements. However, many unqualified people still applied. With the help of our recruiting tool we were able to disqualify applicants who shouldn’t have applied in the first place. Please save yourself and the recruiter time and money by only applying for jobs you are eligible for. Especially when there are qualifying criteria like educational level, years of experience or certification.

3. Following the prescreening, we assessed candidates using aptitude tests. I know many people don’t believe in them, but in terms of validity and reliability aptitude tests score highly. If you require candidates with aptitude in areas such as critical thinking, attention to detail and verbal or numerical reasoning, then  aptitude tests are worth it. We even added a personality test to our assessment bundle. We created a 90 minute assessment which was a mix of selected aptitude tests. All tests were administered online so we saved everyone the trouble of transporting themselves to a test venue.  Our online assessment tool allowed candidates take breaks between tests and it also had anti cheat features, so we were quite comfortable with the convenience and integrity it afforded us. Some candidates didn’t bother attempting the aptitude tests and a few others started and didn’t finish. All in all about 80% of those who were invited to take the assessment completed it and that for us was good news.

4. Interviews were quick. We scheduled 25 candidates for the first day. We used speed interviewing technique which borrows its name and process from ‘speed dating.’ This, I tell you, was one of the best decisions we ever made. We set up 4 stations each with 1 interviewer, so there were 4 interviewers in total. Each interviewer had their own questions which they asked  to every candidate. The time alloted to each interviewer was 5 minutes. This allowed us to see 4 candidates in 20 minutes as opposed to traditional interviews which could take 45 minutes per candidate and thus take the whole day. We were done in three and a half hours, and this included time spent briefing candidates about the client and role and we even had time for a thirty minute break. Plus since we had the afternoon free we could attend to other business.

To be continued…