Play 6/10: These 7 pre-employment screening tips help to speed up hiring without compromising on quality

HR teams juggle multiple responsibilities, and screening applicants might compete with other tasks. That’s why recruiters take an average of 6 seconds to scan a resume. But is that enough to avoid hiring blindspots?

Pre-employment screening has a lot of bottlenecks. In the article, we’ll discuss how AI, social media background checks, and ATS could save you some hours (or even days) in hiring without losing quality hires.

Scenario 1: Screening at a higher speed

- When screening applicants for volume-hiring.

- When hiring for a completely new position in a company.?

- When you don't have advanced screening tools.

Actions

1) Eliminate unnecessary steps?

- Are cover letters still relevant when screening candidates? Usually, recruiters can get a good sense of someone from their resume and LinkedIn profile.?

- Interviews and reading applications already take up a lot of time. So basically you can skip the cover letter part.?

- But when you're undecided about someone and need a bit more insight, a cover letter can really come in handy.

2) Improve candidate shortlist, scanning CVs against keywords?

Use ATS: Some companies use ATS to scan applications for relevant keywords and shortlist qualified candidates for interviews. Here you can try this feature out for free.?

Use AI: If you don’t have special tools, no probs. ChatGPT can be of use. There are two ways to apply it: assess the resume with job-related keywords or compare a CV with a job description.?

Evaluate the resume using job-specific keywords

- Find keywords using Chat GPT

Prompt: "Act like a researcher. Give me a list of keywords for a job description I will provide you with that so I can use it to find a candidate for the position. Act like an expert in this field, and include additional keywords that may not be in the job description."

- Check the resume against this list?

Prompt: “Scan this resume against the keywords provided for the job description and this list: [list of keywords].”

Assess candidates against a job description

Prompts: "I will give you a candidate's resume and a job brief. Assess the candidate’s suitability for the job with a list of 10 pros and cons."

3) Automate note-taking in phone/video screening?

- Paid tools like Metaview or BrightHire can streamline our process.?

- If on a budget, simple audio/video recordings of an interview can do the trick. Just remember to ask the candidate for permission to record it.

6) Between screening stages: accelerate workflow

- Ensure you don’t waste time searching for resumes in your LinkedIn inbox or Gmail account. An ATS is your best friend here. It helps store all resumes and candidate contacts, eliminating the need to search for them later.

- With an ATS, you can track milestones, keeping everyone in the loop at every stage:?

Schedule screening call;

Complete screening interviews;

Debrief as a hiring team;

Narrow down your top candidates.

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Scenario 2: Screening for quality

- When you want to reduce bias in the hiring process.

- When you lack time to screen a candidate's soft skills.

- When you're undecided about a candidate.

Actions

1) Reduce unconscious bias in pre-employment screening

We all know the importance of DEI, but how can we ensure our candidate pipeline reflects that??

- Try to maintain a balanced mix of genders across various roles, from engineering to marketing to sales. Consider hiring 50% men and 50% women.?

- Special software can assist with this. Tools like Entelo Diversity can filter search results to highlight candidates from underrepresented groups.

2) Social media background checks

When hiring through social media, it's important to avoid unconscious bias. Yet, 54% of employers have found reasons on social media to reject candidates, such as discriminatory comments, false qualifications, criminal behavior, or sharing confidential info from previous jobs.?

However, be mindful to avoid privacy invasions and discrimination during pre-employment screening. Steer clear of sensitive topics like race, religion, disability, gender, age, or skin color.

How to reduce bias during social media screening:

- Let HR handle it. They know the dos and don'ts better than hiring managers.

- Don't just check just one candidate's social media, consider the profiles of all candidates.

- Instead of focusing on what others say about the candidate, concentrate on the posts a talent creates themselves.

3) Screen a candidate's soft skills?

- Look beyond qualifications. Consider soft skills and abilities that lead to success in the position instead of looking for the perfect candidate by default. It can make all the difference in the long run.

- It’s also beneficial for a recruiter to hear how well a candidate explains things. This quick test reveals how effectively they communicate and understand tasks at work.

Expected results:

- Reducing manual workload and ensuring consistent evaluation criteria.

- Balancing diversity goals with finding the best candidate.