How to Weed Out Unqualified Candidates in 3 Simple Steps

Some studies estimate that up to 75 percent of the applications recruiters receive are from candidates who are unqualified for the job. And even jobseekers themselves admit to only spending a measly 76 seconds reviewing a job posting to determine if it’s worth applying to, a practice that understandably can result in applying to a job that’s not a good fit.

So what’s a recruiter to do to separate the wheat from the chaff?

In advance of our highly anticipated webinar, Master Your Matchmaking Skills: Find Your Job’s Perfect Match! (February, 13 2017) with hiring expert Tanya Bourque, founder of OpExpert and COO/co-founder of Untappt, MightyRecruiter would like to offer three simple steps that can help you weed out unqualified candidates quickly and make your job easier from the get-go.

1. Start with a Standout Job Description

The key to a killer job description? Details, details and more details. The more specific you can be about the role and its corresponding responsibilities, the more likely you are to receive resumes from qualified candidates. Don’t have a job description yet? MightyRecruiter has 200+ optimized job description templates you can use as-is or customize to fit your needs.

Regardless of how you generate your job description, you’ll want it to appeal to the best and the brightest applicants, so consider abiding by the following best practices:

• Add keyword descriptors to your job title. Using words like “senior” or “experienced” can help deter inexperienced applicants from throwing their hats into the ring for a more senior role. Additionally, words that more aptly describe the industry or nature of the role – such as, “inside sales rep” or “medical sales rep” will let applicants know some important specifics about the role at a glance.

• Paint a picture of a typical workday. Giving applicants an idea of what an average workday might look like could dissuade unsuitable applicants from applying. As much as possible, explain the role’s duties and responsibilities and outline what a day in the life of this employee might look like.

• Clearly state all required qualifications. Be sure all of your “must-haves” are listed in the job post, as well as any “nice-to-have” qualities you are looking for in candidates.

• Promote your employer brand in your job description. Has your company been named a top employer by Forbes? Have you recently captured an important client? Do you offer attractive perks? Jobseekers want to know as much about your company and its accomplishments / values as possible, so don’t be afraid to toot your own horn in your job post.

2. Use “Knockout” Prescreening Questionnaires

Prescreening questions can help eliminate those jobseekers who’ve scanned your job description too quickly and who clearly don’t meet even your base expectations. These are also called knockout questions, or questions that will thin the herd of applicants down to only those who meet a minimum requirement.

Prescreening questions can range from simple to more complicated. Regardless of the questions you choose, these brief prescreening questions can both dissuade unqualified candidates from applying and help the most qualified candidates stand out.

Here some examples of some simple prescreening questions:

• 1. Check all software applications in which you are proficient
• 2. How many years of experience do you have in [field]?
• 3. What is your highest level of education completed?
• 4. Indicate the days and times you are available to work

Furthermore, knockout questions can tell you instantly which applicants possess essential qualifications, whether they are willing to submit to skills testing, and whether they agree to a background check down the line. Those who don’t answer correctly get ‘knocked out,’ or taken out of the running for future consideration.

3. Leverage MightyRecruiter’s Vector-Matching Technology

You’ve written a terrific job description and created some knockout questions, but there is one more step you can take to ensure an onslaught of great candidates for your job. Step three in the trifecta is MightyRecruiter’s new vector space matching technology, which uses machine learning to make the laborious process of sifting through job applications quicker and easier.

The technology uses AI developed by our data science team to determine which candidates are the best fit for your positions, automatically sorting candidates based on their relevance to a job description. The technology shaves hours of time off the typical candidate review process by analyzing applicants’ resumes for certain words and phrases and then drawing inferences from them. For example, it can figure out how many years of experience a candidate may have or how proficient they are with a certain technology. The feature then uses this information to present the candidates most relevant to your job description.

Don’t forget to sign up for Tanya Bourque’s webinar, Master Your Matchmaking Skills: Find Your Job’s Perfect Match!, on Monday, February 13 2017 to learn more about how you can quickly and easily filter out unqualified candidates and find that perfect fit!