Improving Your Applicant Screening Process
The growth and success of your company will depend on a few key criteria. While most companies are focusing on innovating products and services, it’s imperative to also review your current methods for screening new candidates. Your applicant screening process plays a pivotal role in whether or not you’re able to hire the staff you need to grow and scale.
Today’s applicants have different expectations and preferences, too. And below are steps that you can consider to ensure your applicant screening process is adapting with those potential top-talent candidates.
Evaluating Your Company’s Current Applicant Screening Process
You can’t make changes to your process without first evaluating its current effectiveness. Consider sitting down with your hiring teams and walking through every stage in the applicant screening process. Review how you craft job descriptions and where you find the most interactions online.
Scrutinize the timelines from application submission to first contact, and from resume evaluation to interview determinations. Look at your current methods of communicating with potential candidates, too. And rely on the feedback of past applicants and human resources hiring staff to help you identify what areas could be improved.
Look for Ways to Improve Efficiencies
Another area of improvement for application screening involves your standard processes. How much time is your team spending reviewing applications? Are they sorting through CVs, and sending individualized correspondence? Are applicants falling through the cracks before they can engage? Are your hiring managers burning out on tedious organizational tasks? Evaluating the step-by-step procedures in place is imperative to spotting inefficiencies.
One of the most exhausting and resource-consuming processes is interviewing. You can make leaps and bounds improvements when you focus on streamlining your applicant interviewing techniques. Being more selective about which candidates make it to the interview phase is a great first step. Additionally you can also explore other interview aspects, like:
- Length and Duration of the Interview
- Number of Interviews Needed
- Number of Interviewers in Each Engagement
- Times and Dates Interviews Are Conducted
- Scope and Line of Questioning
Automating and Simplifying Your Applicant Screening Process
With that list of inefficiencies in mind, you can move forward to leverage automated hiring solutions to help simplify those time-consuming tasks. Incorporating just a few automated responses or calculations in your applicant screening process can save hours of time and thousands of dollars.
However, not all apps and hiring solutions will be conducive to your candidate’s experience. So, be selective about choosing those automations that simplify your process, but also bring value or improvement to how your candidates experience your hiring process.
Effective Applicant Tracking Software
One core solution worth exploring is the effectiveness of your current applicant tracking software. If your ATS doesn’t offer these benefits, it’s likely time for an upgrade.
- Robust Advertising Options for Job Postings
- Mobile Recruiting Solutions
- Customizable Application Options
- Background Check Tools
- Candidate Skills Assessment
- HR Compliance and Administration Resources
- Applicant Communication Solutions
- Integrated Onboarding Tools
- Custom Reporting and Analytics
Better Evaluation of Applicant Skills
Screening potential candidates can be another tedious process, subject to personal interpretation, which can lead to inconsistencies in your hiring practices. Consider looking for ways to improve how your team evaluates applicant skills and requirements by leveraging better assessment tools.
Additionally, for many company leaders, it may be time to redefine the skills that matter most to each role. Today’s applicants bring degrees and endorsements, bu they also bring soft skills and experiences that can be equally valuable to your company. Look for ways to level the playing field and make resume comparisons more of an apples-to-apples approach for your hiring managers and recruiters. Create lists of valuable skills to look for, tangible and intangible, to improve how candidates are evaluated in the process.
Communication Strategy Improvements
Keeping applicants engaged, informed, and enticed is paramount if you want to hire today’s top talent (because you can’t screen applicants that leave your process). So if every other aspect of your applicant screening process is buttoned-up and streamlined, you can almost always find additional improvements within your candidate communication efforts.
Consider re-evaluating your communication channels and messaging, and look for better tools and methods of communication. The best-fit candidates will choose to work with a company that over-communicates versus the brand that ghosts them or seems unresponsive, every time.
The ExactHire Difference
As you seek to spot improvements in your applicant screening process, it can pay big dividends to bring in a professional partner. When you work with ExactHire, you can effectively change your entire approach to hiring. With ongoing metrics and resources to help you improve your applicant tracking and hiring outcomes, you and your teams can remain confident in your processes.
Contact our team to explore our hiring solutions today! Your company can’t grow without the right people in the right roles. And ExactHire can ensure you find, engage, and hire the people you need to maintain your growth and scaling.
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