Tips on how to shortlist candidates for your job vacancies.

So you’ve advertised a position within your business and you’ve received stacks of applications. Where do you go from here?

Shortlisting candidates is one of the most successful ways to optimise the recruitment process. Not only does it improve the candidate experience but it also cuts down the amount of time to hire and leads you to the best possible person for the job advertised. So how should you shortlist candidates effectively?
 

Establish your hiring criteria

Firstly, your hiring criteria should be based on the most up-to-date version of the job description. The job description should be double-checked by a direct manager to that role, as well as someone in that existing role to make sure that it is asking for the correct qualifications. Once you have figured this out, it should be separated into three different sections: mandatory, preferable, and desirable.

mandatory.
The mandatory criteria should include qualifications and life skills that the candidate should have, such as minimum education level, language fluency, and approved background checks if required.

preferable.
The preferable criteria could include previous experience in the industry, a working knowledge of relevant tools/systems required for the job, and any professional certifications.

desirable.
The desirable criteria could consist of values that give the candidate bonus points, such as working well in a team environment, being independent when required and values that align with the company’s values.
 

Decide how many candidates you want to interview

After establishing your hiring criteria it is important to decide how many candidates your business has the capacity to interview, how long the vacancy will be open for, and how much money will be invested.

We recommend you look at the history of the hiring process and use this relevant data to see how long this process could take, and potentially look at ways to refine/improve it. Whatever number of candidates you decide to interview, try and stick to it as much as possible, with the obvious exceptions for exceptional candidates that crop up after the target is reached.
 

Be human and holistic

As much as technology automation can help this process, your team needs diversity. Rather than relying on automation to screen through all of the applications, make sure someone reads through them – otherwise you could miss out on top candidates that have transferable skills that otherwise would not have cropped up if simply filtered by keywords.
 

The takeaway

In summary it is important to remember that your shortlist criteria shouldn’t be based on personal opinion. Any gut feeling related to what managers think should also be avoided. Recruited candidates should be a good fit for the existing team, but should also bring new insight and skills that can help your team grow further.
 
 
We can help if recruitment is on your 2023 to-do list. Our multi-platform recruitment solutions will amplify the reach of your job ads and attract the right people.

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Sources: BrightHR 2023, One Education 2022, Recruitee 2022.