Looking to hire some new members of staff? If so, you need to learn a few tips on identifying the top candidates and speeding up the process.

Hiring new employees can be a big task nowadays. Thanks to online job postings, it’s common to receive hundreds of resumes for each opening.

All this does is make the recruitment process harder and make you feel like you’re drowning in applications. But it doesn’t have to be so difficult.

In this article, we’ll share four tips for screening and evaluating candidates so you can separate the good from the bad.

Read on for more information.

1. Ignore Applicants With Minimal Experience

Unless you’re hiring for an entry role, you want to hire somebody with a wealth of experience. So, if you have a high number of applicants, you can afford to be fussy.

Decide on the duration of experience candidates must have before moving forward.

This is often a quick way to narrow down candidates and start making a shortlist. You also know you have the most suitable applicants left.

2. Remove Applications With No Cover Letter

Thanks to online job websites, people can apply for dozens of roles within a few minutes. These people are often unhappy in their current roles and are looking for a quick way out.

As a result, you want to avoid these candidates as they’re likely to want to move on again shortly.

To ensure you steer clear of them, remove all resumes without a cover letter. If somebody really wants a job, they’ll usually write a cover letter.

This is so they can outline their experience in more detail and show why they’re suited to the role.

3. Conduct Telephone Interviews

It’s not always necessary to conduct face-to-face interviews, especially if you still have many candidates to choose from.

So, to speed up the screening and selection process, carry out telephone interviews. They only have to be a few minutes, but they’ll help to identify stronger applicants.

It would help if you looked to ask some basic questions such as:

• What are your salary expectations?
• Why do you want to leave your current job?

The answers to these questions can often tell you all you need to know about a candidate.

For example, if their salary is already higher than the one being offered, they’re unlikely to want the job. In this case, you can remove them from your shortlist.

4. Look For Motivated Candidates

Somebody applying for a new job should be energetic and motivated. If you interview someone who is the opposite, then don’t move forward with them.

They’re often not going to make good employees and may leave soon after starting. Plus, do you really want someone like that in the office?

Finally, if you need more help with hiring employees, then look for recruitment agencies. They can take the responsibility off your shoulders, and they have the best candidate screening tools.

Tips on Screening and Evaluating Candidates

As you can see, there are many ways you can make the hiring process easier.

Screening and evaluating candidates doesn’t have to be difficult. Implement some of the things we’ve mentioned, and you should hire a great new employee.

Finally, check out our blog for more useful business tips.