Applicant Screening: Steps to Finding the Perfect Candidate

Applicant screening is the process of initially reviewing job applications and resumes, conducting pre-interviews, and performing reference and background checks. This is done to determine which individuals are qualified to move to the next phase of the recruitment process. It involves finding candidates that most closely match the qualifications, experience, and skill sets outlined in the job description and eliminating applicants that are poorly suited to the position.

Step 1: Review Resumes & Applications

One of the best applicant screening methods is reviewing each resume or application manually. There are many things to learn about a candidate from their resume. Take into consideration the following:

Resume length. How much work experience does your applicant have, and how skilled are they at conveying large concepts succinctly?
Grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. How detailed is the applicant, and are they willing to go the extra step to conduct a spelling or grammar scan of their resume and cover letter?
Personality. What does the resume tell you about the personality of the applicant? Especially in creative or design roles, the cover letter and resume could be an accurate reflection of the applicant’s work product.

When reviewing resumes, make sure your determinations are directly aligned to the responsibilities and expectations of the role and not a reflection of personal preference. You might also consider implementing a blind hiring process by having all names, gender, ethnicity, etc., removed from the application before the review.

An easy way to eliminate under-qualified candidates even before seeing their application is to use an applicant tracking system to auto-reject applications based upon predetermined criteria. A good ATS, like Freshteam, can help you efficiently monitor the applicant screening process by automatically populating candidate profiles based on the information on their resumes.

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Screen Resumes

For some small businesses, a manual review of every resume can be very time-consuming. We recommend using software, such as ZipRecruiter, with AI to scan resumes for specific keywords and job titles. This can save time and resources while still getting a sense of the applicant pool.

There are many different AI tools available to employers, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Some common abilities of AI resume screening tools include:

Reading and understanding natural language
Identifying key skills and qualifications
Comparing candidates side-by-side

While AI resume screening can be a helpful tool for employers, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not perfect. There may be some false positives or negatives, and it’s important to supplement AI screening with other methods such as human review.

Step 2: Conduct Pre-interviews

Pre-interviewing allows insight into the candidate’s personality, working style, and experience with very little pressure if there is no desire to move the candidate along to the next steps in the process. These can be conducted either by a video interview or phone screen interview.

One-way video interviews, different from traditional video interviews, are sometimes called asynchronous interviews because only one person, the job candidate, is present and talking. These types of interviews are typically conducted after an initial application review to get a bit more familiar with the job seeker.

The predetermined interview questions are presented in a text or pre-recorded video form. The candidate will have an opportunity to answer the interview questions via video, which will be uploaded and sent to the hiring team. The hiring team can limit (or not) how many attempts a candidate will have at answering any particular question and can determine a deadline for when the final recorded video interview is due.

Another common way to weed out unqualified candidates is to conduct phone screenings.

A phone screen interview is used to narrow down the candidate pool by learning more about an applicant and assessing how suitable the candidate is for a role. This step in the process usually occurs after a hiring manager has manually looked at a resume and cover letter and before an in-person interview is scheduled. Although generally conducted over the phone, having a phone screen via video has become more common.

Phone screens usually last anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes, and within that time, common topics of conversation include:

Employment history: What has been the applicant’s experience/career progression?
Skills: Applicant’s possession of specific skills, certifications, degrees necessary for the position.
Role description: General description of the role and the team that the role will closely work with.
Salary expectations: You can provide a pay range or ask the candidate what salary they expect.
Candidate’s job search: If the applicant is actively searching for a role and how far along the applicant is in that process.
Any next steps: What happens after the screening? When and how will the candidate be notified that they made it to the next stage?

Phone screenings allow an applicant to learn more about the company, role, and team that they would possibly join. Although typically shorter than an in-person or final interview, phone screenings should still be approached with the same professionalism as other interviewing techniques.

Step 3: Implement Pre-employment Testing

It is not uncommon to encounter resumes and applicants that are full of impressive skills and experience. It is also, unfortunately, common for some applicants to exaggerate their level of expertise and skill.

To avoid unpleasant surprises, many organizations have made it standard practice to assess candidates’ skills through tools like pre-employment Excel skill tests and personality assessments before hiring a candidate. Skill tests can range from typing (typical for administrative positions) to copywriting (common for positions that require writing) and code writing (mostly for software developers). These can serve as an excellent way to see a candidate’s skills in real time.

Avoid unnecessary legal woes—be sure that every candidate for the role is given the test at the same point in the recruiting process.

Step 4: Perform Reference Checks

A reference check is when an employer contacts a candidate’s previous employers, peers, and other sources to learn more about their on-the-job performance, employment history, and qualifications for a job. The contacted parties are generally provided by the prospective employee, and reference checks can be conducted via email or telephone through a series of relevant questions about the experience had with the candidate.

Reference checking can provide insight into a candidate’s work ethic, scope of past work, and ability to build and maintain relationships. Because references are reflections of experiences had with the candidate by individuals in various roles, they should be considered. However, hiring decisions should not be made solely on a candidate’s reference check.

Step 5: Conduct a Background Check

A background check is a great tool to help confirm you made the right decision about a candidate. It can include details about a candidate’s criminal history, driving violations, credit review, and so forth. These checks can also include a verification of employment listed on a resume, and employers typically hire a third party to perform them.

Keep in mind that if you look into a candidate’s social media when doing a background check, there are laws in place that prohibit what you can and can’t use. If you need help conducting background checks, consider ShareAble for Hires. It helps verify resumes, performs credit checks, and screens for criminal history. You’ll only pay for background checks you request, and results will show in minutes.

Why Applicant Screening Is Important

Applicant screening should be the first step in the hiring process because it is vital to review candidates for their education and experience before bringing them in to work for your company. Additionally, this is where you will thoroughly read through and assess their qualifications before deciding if they should move on in the hiring pipeline to a more formal interview.

It is important to make sure you are following guidelines and laws during this process. Give your full attention to applications and resumes, and do not dismiss a candidate based on a protected class of people (age, race, gender, etc.). Additionally, do not ask illegal interview questions during the application and pre-interview portions of the screening.


PROS	CONS
Review each application or resume for hidden qualifications. Not all candidates word their experience in the same way.	Dismiss a candidate for a reason associated with a protected class (i.e., age, sex, race, and gender).
Use an ATS to weed out unqualified candidates efficiently.	Rely solely on candidate resumes without performing reference and background checks.
Conduct brief pre-interviews to learn candidate credentials.	Ask illegal interview questions.
Assess candidate skills and personalities.	Consider a candidate’s social media heavily when conducting background checks.

Bottom Line

Conducting efficient candidate screening is a critical step in the process of finding a great hire. Whether your organization decides to review each resume with a scrutinizing eye, utilize skill tests to make sure that only highly skilled candidates are considered, check references to verify your prospective new hire’s reputation, or use some combination of the above methods, thoroughly screening and eliminating unqualified applicants is the first step in curating a powerhouse team.

Applicant Screening: Steps to Finding the Perfect Candidate

Need Help Hiring?