The recruitment process often feels lengthy and complex, encompassing everything from crafting the perfect job advertisement to sifting through applications, interviewing candidates, and ultimately selecting the right fit for your role. In today’s competitive job market in Ireland, recruiters must adopt strategic measures that not only expedite the process but also ensure the selection of top-tier candidates while filtering out those who aren’t the best match.
Here are some practical tips to help you identify the ideal candidates for interviews and streamline the entire hiring process upon reviewing a jobseeker’s CV.
What to look out for in a candidate’s CV:
Must-Haves
You’ve written your job description and have a view of your ideal candidate, but be sure to take the time to outline the skills, competencies, or qualifications that you simply cannot do without and keep these at hand when reviewing CVs.
Being able to quickly decipher and understand relevant experience is a definite must-have on a CV, ensuring that you can efficiently screen candidates and identify those who meet the essential criteria for the role, and those who don’t.
If you’re drawing up your shortlist on a computer, you can even search documents using CTRL+F to find specific words and save time finding the best-fitting candidates.
Job-Hopping
Many recruiters are suspicious of “job-hoppers”, and there’s a reason. If a candidate seemingly changes roles every few months, this could indicate that they don’t settle well with employers, their team, or an increased responsibility.
Ambition is, of course, a factor, but if alarm bells ring when you read their work history, perhaps you should listen. In the circumstance of an employee leaving a new role within the first 6-12 months of joining, employers must consider their cost per hire and their reputation and try to limit the chance of a short-term hire.
Career Changers
Equally, consider doubting the sticking power of a serial career changer. Career changes can be a positive thing, as employees can transfer experience and skills across industries and function in the search for their calling. They can help remedy skills shortages, and improve the overall output of the workforce. However, if someone is a prolific career changer, it can also indicate they are hasty and unlikely to be in your organisation long-term.
Too many career changes suggest a lack of commitment, or impulsiveness that you may want to avoid. So, perhaps they have been making ends meet, but one alarm bell may be related to courses and professional qualifications. For example, they may be an accountant now, but if they also have qualifications in social media marketing or human resources, you may have a flighty candidate on your hands.
Evidence
With plenty of applicants showcasing a range of great skills, one differentiating factor could be the actual evidence of what is presented on a candidate’s CV.
Once you have an initial shortlist of candidates, check through their CVs and read between the lines. For example, if they have acted as a team leader – how did the team perform? Or if they have built entire websites – where are the links?
A good candidate will share their success as well as their skills – and this could be a key tool for helping to separate anyone who walks the walk, as well as talking the talk.
Once you’ve found the candidates you would like to progress with to interview, remember the benefits of acknowledging all applicants, whether or not they were successful. Someone may not be right for your company now, but in two years time, they could be perfect. This boost to your employer brand could be vital for getting them in the door when the moment is right.
