Whether you’re looking for a great leader, a skilled HR or Accounts professional or an entry level appointment, you’ll need to sift through a number of candidates to find the right individual. Depending on the level of the role you could find you have many applications to go through, so here are our tips on how to effectively shortlist candidates:
Choosing the Stakeholders
It can be helpful when shortlisting to involve the relevant stakeholders as well as a member of the HR team. Each individual will bring something very different to the table and offer a different perspective on the process. Ensure that each member involved has the time to commit to the process to ensure it all runs smoothly.
Essential vs Desirable
Before you start looking through applications you need to decide on your criteria. What are the essential skills and experience you need the applicants to have and what is simply desirable? Are there any real deal breakers? If you decide on this upfront then the shortlisting process will be much more straightforward and you’ll end up creating a list of people for interview that meet your brief.
Creating a Candidate Scoring System
Creating a scoring system can really help when you’re going through the shortlisting process, especially if you’re looking at graduates for example, who may have a limited level of experience. The scoring system might involve setting benchmarks for grades, years of experience or key achievements.
Implementing Further Screening
Sometimes when you have a large number of applicants you might opt to do further screening. This could be in the form of an exercise or test to see the level of their abilities. Further screening can really help to identify the people who are serious about the role and enable you to learn more about them prior to their interview.
Reviewing all Applications
To make the process as fair as possible you should really take the time to look at each application in detail. This will help you identify any issues early on, for example unexplained gaps in employment or spelling and grammar errors that could be an issue within your business. Taking the time to do this upfront saves you inviting an unsuitable candidate for interview.
Deciding on an Interview Type
Once you have your applications and begin shortlisting you need to start thinking about the type of interview you’ll choose and the process you’ll follow if you haven’t already thought about it. If you have a high number of applications then you might opt to do a telephone interview first to shortlist further or perhaps a group interview if you want to see how applicants stack up against each other.
Notifying Unsuccessful Candidates
It’s really important that you take the time to notify the unsuccessful candidates. Though they might not be right for this role, they might be perfect for another role in the future so it’s important that you leave them with a positive view of your business. Similarly if they ask for feedback then try and take the time to provide it.
Choosing a Recruitment Partner
To save yourself all the hassle of shortlisting you could instead choose to work with a recruitment partner. If you choose a specialist recruitment agency, for example if you’re recruiting for an accounting role, then they will have the knowledge and experience to understand your job description and criteria enough to shortlist the candidates. They’ll then present you with a select number for interview that will meet your needs.
We recruit for the full spectrum of roles within Accountancy, Finance and Human Resources. Whether you’re looking for a temporary, interim or permanent role across Yorkshire, we can help you to find the opportunity you’re looking for. Call 01904 208065 or email admin@optimumrecruitment.co.uk
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