Pre-employment screening serves two purposes. First, it allows you to reduce the number of applicants to a more manageable group. Second, it starts the process of adding the critical data necessary to make quality hiring decisions.
Once you start your employee recruiting , you are presented with a flow of candidates. Most likely you generate more candidates than you can realistically interview. The challenge is to get to reduce the number of candidates without losing any of the good people.
Think of your screening process as running the candidates through a filter. Each step will refine your group until you are left with the best. The people left at the end of the screening process are those you want to interview face to face.
So what are the steps of a good pre employment screening process?
It starts by choosing the right recruiting sources . Put your ad or posting on the right sites and you get better people. Also, your ad copy will dictate the quality of the people you attract. Focused, well-written ads attract the best people.
Next, reading resumes with an eye towards screening candidates will both reduce your numbers and start you on the road to gathering the critical data. The secret to reading resumes effectively is to “screen in – not out”. Look to add data to your pot instead of reasons to eliminate the person.
See the article on how to read a resume for more on the subject.
The last step is to conduct a phone interview. ou can spend 10-15 minutes with a candidate and gather lots of information. Just ask 4-6 effective questions and you should get enough information to move to the next step.
See the article on phone interview questions for a complete discussion of the questions you should ask during a phone interview.
A good phone interview serves one purpose – – it gets you enough data to determine if you want to continue the process.
See the article on phone interview tips for a complete discussion of phone interviews.
In conclusion, a good pre employment screening process lets you reduce the number of candidates and gets the information to determine who to pursue. It is important to view the time and effort spent screening as an investment instead of an expenditure. There is nothing worse than wasting a lot of time and resources on people who have very little chance of getting your job.
