Candidate screening is in the initial step in your selection process. Screening tools are used to efficiently remove candidates with the lowest likelihood of success, streamlining the process to ensure later steps in your candidate screening process are more effective and efficient as you can focus on more promising candidates. Whereas, employee selection refers to the entire talent acquisition process for what occurs between candidate attraction and onboarding.
A volume hiring process (or high-volume recruitment) refers to a selection process that receives large numbers of applications and/or has many roles to fill. It can range from hundreds to thousands of applications for a similar or lower number of roles. Examples of volume hiring roles may include any entry-level workers, contact center workers, retail associates, or production roles.
Where there are many applications for roles, organizations set up their volume volume hiring processes in multiple stages. These stages are also known as ‘hurdles’, and they are meant to sift out unsuitable applicants and progress candidates who show the best fit to the role’s needs and requirements. When you’re processing many more candidates than you have roles to fill, efficiency and seamless process design are what determine success.
The candidate screening process usually includes several stages for candidates to complete, which help organizations to find the best person for the job.
There are many ways to narrow the pool of candidates, and organizations can use a variety of methods or tools, such as:
The process of recruitment stages using different tools or methods to sift candidates into smaller numbers is also known as a ‘recruitment funnel’, (see image)
A large number of candidates may start the process in stage one (e.g. the application form), and this number is reduced by passing or rejecting a percentage of candidates at each stage. It is the aim of every selection process to progress candidates that are best suited to the role and organization and sift out other candidates who do not meet key requirements, skills, or characteristics.
It is important to set up a robust and fair candidate screensing process. This can be achieved through using multiple stages and tools that have been scientifically proven to work effectively.
It’s important to consider what the job involves and what an organization is looking for in a candidate. Conducting a job analysis will identify the behaviours and competencies required in the role. The job analysis process should serve as the foundation of your selection system. The job analysis identifies the key characteristics or skills needed to succeed in the role, these attributes are what your candidate selection process should measure at every stage in the hiring process.
Once this is complete, it is important to choose how many stages and what types of tools are going to be used for screening candidates. To set up a successful candidate selection process, the following should be considered:
Initial interview questions for screening candidates in a recruitment process are focused on that candidate’s eligibility to work. For example, do they meet an organization’s basic role requirements or qualifications? These questions should be:
1. Objective: Either they are eligible or they are not – there is no gray area
2. Non-comparative: These questions wouldn’t be used to compare candidates to see who is ‘better’; they are must haves for everyone
3. Job-related: Any question you ask should have a clear link to the requirements of the job.
If pre-screening questions are used at the start of an organization’s recruitment process, They are designed to remove ineligible candidates from the process early. For compliance reasons, these are often focused on basic qualifications needed for the job, such as:
1. Do you have the right to work in that country?
2. Are you legally allowed to work (i.e., are you over a certain age)?
3. Can you work certain days or hours?
Candidates who answer these types of questions incorrectly are rejected at this pre-screening stage.
It’s important to keep candidates interested and engaged in your candidate selection process, as well as to hire them quickly to avoid losing them to competitors. Having a lengthy, complicated, or inefficient process is one of the most common reasons that candidates withdraw their application, resulting in organisations missing out on talented individuals. Some ways to hire quickly and effectively are:
Learn how to maintain a positive candidate experience during high-volume recruitment.
Gain a competitive edge when recruiting by keeping your candidate screening process simple. Use Capture, our personality and values assessment, to evaluate how well candidates’ values align with the values of your organization.
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