| Business goal for creating this content: | Educate the readers about how recruiters and HR Teams can master resume screening. |
| Target persona(s): | HR teams, Training Team, etc. |
| Voice/tone: | Informative, clear, they like lists. |
Finding the best match for the open position in your company can be quite challenging, especially when you have thousands of applications. The biggest challenge reported by 24% of recruiters is that there are too many candidates for open positions. Thus, opting for resume screening can help streamline and speed up the entire process.
Career development plays a significant role in both the candidate’s and the employer’s perspective during hiring. A well-screened resume not only reflects the applicant’s past achievements but also provides insight into their potential career trajectory and growth within the company. This helps recruiters align the job requirements with candidates who are not just looking for any job, but a meaningful career path.
Resume screening is the primary stage of the hiring process and can contribute significantly to quality hiring. The main goal of resume screening is to find an ideal match for a particular open position.
While manual resume screening can be tough, automating recruitment with the help of AI can help reduce a lot of unwanted procedures, thereby improving productivity and ensuring the right selection of candidates.
Let’s dive into understanding how to use resume screening thoroughly as an HR professional.
Importance of Having a Clear-Cut Resume Screening Process
Having a clear-cut resume screening process ensures that the best candidate is selected for the particular position. Screening the resumes using AI can be very time-saving as it helps to select the right candidate on the first go.
Moreover, it helps to reduce the cost of hiring by selecting the right talent from a pool of candidates with varied experiences, qualifications, and backgrounds.
What are the Important Factors in Resume Screening?
From the experience of the candidate to relevant skills, there is a wide range of factors to consider during resume screening. Some of the most relevant ones include the following:
1. Job Experience
It is always important to look into the professional experience of the candidates to evaluate how they match your company’s position. You must closely analyze the companies they have worked for and their duration at each company.
Recruiters may pay special attention to job hopping or gaps in resumes. Many candidates have gaps in their resumes because of caregiving responsibilities and health issues. Always be open to discussing potential details with the candidates, but keep an eye out for any red flags.
2. Educational Qualification
Educational qualification has a vital role to play in understanding whether the candidate would be a right fit or not. Thus, when you’re hiring for technical roles, it is important to check relevant certificates and degrees.
However, never assume that anyone who excels in their academics will also excel in the job, and vice versa. There may be instances where their professional experience outperforms their education. For example, someone who has successfully managed a content calendar or led projects in a professional setting may bring more practical value than what their academic record alone suggests. So, do not stress out on educational qualifications too much if the position does not call for it.
3. Relevant Skills
While screening the resume, always ask yourself if the candidate has the right set of skills for the position they’re applying for. Many candidates tend to mention their achievements and skills separately in their resumes to make the screening process easier. For client-facing or leadership roles, evaluating presentation skills can also be important, as these demonstrate how well a candidate conveys information and engages with others in high-stakes settings.
For example, for a call center agent, you should look for skills such as excellent communication, problem-solving abilities, and experience with customer service software.
However, it is important to note that the bulleted list does not always mean that it would suit your requirements. If any particular skill mentioned does not meet your requirements, you may prepare follow-up questions. On the other hand, if none of the mentioned skills are relevant to the position, avoid the particular candidate.
4. Personality and Values
Businesses usually mention the traits that they’re looking for in a candidate in the job description. However, it can be quite hard to detect the same from the resume itself. Personality and values determine how the particular candidate will fit into the company culture.
Recruiters often gather insights into a candidate’s personality by reviewing the hobbies and interests mentioned in their resume. Additionally, some recruiters prefer to assess a candidate’s suitability for a particular position by examining their public social media profiles and observing their behavior during interviews.
The Challenges Recruiters Face While Screening Resumes
Sometimes, the wrong candidate may be selected, hampering the entire interview process. It is for this reason that businesses must focus on hiring the right candidate. Some of the major challenges that recruiters face during resume screening include the following:
- Too many resumes: Many resumes can make it difficult to select the right candidate. On average, an open position receives around 250 resumes, out of which only 4 to 6 are interviewed. The recruiter has to spend more time filtering the right candidates, which is time-consuming.
- False information on a resume: It may be shocking, but around 58% of candidates lie in their resume. While some candidates do flaunt their achievements on their resumes, some of them completely mention false information. Recruiters may have to take extra time to scan and filter such candidates.
- Quality of hire: A recruiter will manually need to go through the submitted resumes to understand the candidate’s potential. While it is important to streamline the process with software, it is only with human intervention that the right candidate can be selected.
- Filtering out the aesthetics: Different candidates submit different kinds of resumes; while some may be normal, others may have a creative touch. Thus, it is important to choose resumes that stand out from the others because it may indicate their ‘think-out-of-the-box’ quality.
- Limited information: A major challenge that recruiters are likely to face in resumes is the lack of information. Resumes are usually one to two pages long, which can make it difficult for the candidate to present all the information in a streamlined manner. Thus, the resume itself may not be able to highlight the actual qualities and potential of the candidate.
Resume Screening: Its Place in the Hiring Process
Resume screening for recruiters is one of the most important aspects of hiring, which is why it is important to focus on the following aspects:
- Always check the educational qualifications of the candidate.
- Assess the professional experience of the candidate to check for resume gaps and job hopping.
- Check if the particular candidate has the right set of skills for the position.
How does AI Aid in Screening Resumes?
Leveraging AI in the resume screening process can be pivotal in optimizing the entire procedure. Implementing AI can significantly expedite the screening process, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness.
- 44% of recruiters claimed that one of the primary reasons for integrating AI into hiring was time savings. AI speeds up the hiring process by removing mundane tasks and screening hundreds of resumes within a few minutes, ensuring easy employee onboarding.
- AI can be a great source for authenticating the candidate’s claims as it examines and analyzes all public data available about the candidate.
- Poor candidate experience can lead to a negative impact on the hiring process. However, AI helps address the challenges virtually, providing a better candidate experience, as stated by 95% of HR professionals.
- AI automates several tasks, such as interview scheduling, candidate reachout, and more, which helps to improve the productivity of the recruiter.
Conclusion
The meticulous screening of resumes is a critical element in selecting the ideal candidate for your business. Throughout this procedure, it is crucial to observe even the minute details to identify the most suitable candidate. Using AI in resume screening will help you speed up the process and allow you to hire the finest candidates. Thus, get over the traditional hiring approach and select modern methods to streamline the entire process.
Author’s Bio: Ankita is an outreach specialist at SaaSifypro.com. With more than four years of experience along with communication skills, she develops and implements effective outreach strategies that deliver goal-oriented results.
Email ID: [email protected]
