10 Step Guide To Shortlisting Candidates For An Interview

The most essential part of the recruitment process is ensuring that you have selected the most talented candidate that can become a powerful asset to your company. Industry research reports that over 52% of Talent Acquisition Leaders find screening to be the hardest element within the recruitment process. As a result, Human Resource departments and professionals are continually looking for ways to refine their hiring process to ensure they are recruiting the right candidates.

Companies should look towards optimising their shortlisting methods in order to increase the efficiency of the hiring process. A primary shortlisting method is to use online screening tools or software such as psychometric or aptitude testing to easily identify key candidates.

Shortlisting is a crucial stage within the hiring process involving the employer identifying the candidate from the applicant pool who best meets the essential and desirable criteria for the advertised role.

In the recruitment process, shortlisting comes after sourcing and before interviewing or further assessment. Screening and shortlisting therefore occurs simultaneously, as you screen CVs or applications from candidates and shortlist those that best meet the specified criteria.

Shortlisting can ultimately help you identify how you are progressing in finding the ideal candidate for the specified role. It also sets standards for your talent acquisition team to look at in determining who the right candidates are or should be.

Step 1: Determine your shortlist criteria

In order to decide which applicants, qualify for your shortlist, you need to develop a set of criteria that you are looking for. These are essential and desirable criteria needed to fulfil the role, and the minimum that the candidate should have. The shortlist criteria should be related to on-the-job performance and placed within the job description.

It is important to develop the right criteria. There should be a balance between standards that are high enough to ensure that good quality candidates move forward in the recruitment process, but not too rigid that they result in unnecessarily screening out qualified candidates.

Shortlist criteria should be based on;

• Qualities and traits of top performing employees that are currently in the role

Shortlist criteria should not be based on;

• Personal opinion guesses of what the criteria should be
• Personal similarities of the candidates with recruiters or current employees

Shortlist criteria can, and should, include;

• Education & Work Experience
• Skills and Knowledge
• Personality traits
• Core Competencies

Differences between essential and desirable criteria

Essential criteria are considered to be qualities or skills that the candidate should have in order to be able to fulfil the advertised role. For example, essential criteria may include the Right To Work in the UK. This criteria type is often regarded as a ‘knockout’ question because either the candidate has it and can progress through to the next stage of the recruitment process, or they don’t and are immediately screened out.

The difference between essential and desirable criteria often gets blurred. For example, if a hiring manager desires a minimum of three years experience to fulfil a role and the majority of applicants have at least three years of experience, the criterion becomes essential by default.

Step 2: Decide on the maximum number for your Shortlist

When it comes to shortlisting candidates, most recruitment managers already have a number in mind. It is important to keep the number or percentage of successful applicants small in order to ensure the recruitment process is time-effective and optimal.

The best way to determine the maximum number for your shortlist is to work backwards from the average conversion rate of previous recruitment processes. If you do not have this data, it may be useful to refer to industry statistics.

Currently, industry average for application to interview is 12%, interview to offer conversion rate is 17% and the offer to accepted conversion rate is 89%.

Step 3: Screen CVs to shortlist candidates

According to industry statistics, 75% of candidates are not qualified for the specified job role and 88% are not strong enough to progress to the interview stage.

The screening and shortlisting element to the recruitment process is therefore the most time consuming. Traditionally, recruitment managers manually shortlisted and screened candidates, which later became impossible due to the volume of applicants.

Today, on average, a job attracts over 250 applicants. As a result, recruiters have adopted Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). ATS can improve the hiring process for a number of reasons including the following;

• Automate CV screening through knockout questions
• Rank candidates through keyword matches
• Organise all applications in an easy-to-read format
• Track recruitment metrics including application-to-interview ratio

Unfortunately, it has now become common knowledge that most ATS software systems use keyword matches to screen CVs. This had led to candidates ‘cheating the system’ through keyword stuffing in order to pass through the screening stage. However, due to continued technological advances, Applicant Tracking Systems are improving and bringing forth a new generation of candidate shortlisting.

Step 4: Try blind applicant screening

Blind screening removes all demographic data from CVs or applications. By focusing on relevant criteria, you can reduce hiring bias and prevent it from creeping into the overall recruitment process.

Throughout the recruitment process, you may feel a natural pull towards some applicants. This subconscious bias is common but must be avoided in order to ensure a fair selection process. If you are considering applicants for anything other than the criteria established, you may end up with the wrong candidate.

Step 5: Screen candidates in, not out

Rather than looking for candidates that don’t fit what you are looking for, identify which applicants have transferable skills. You should look at your group of candidates holistically and consider if some applicants are similar to others. This can aid in creating a diverse candidate pool and a stronger pool of interviewees.

Step 6: Conduct assessments during the initial application phase

Typically, assessments are conducted later in the recruitment process. However, including them in the early stages of the application process can help further screen potential candidates. Such assessments can include psychometric and aptitude testing to determine a candidate's mental capabilities and personality traits.

The introduction of assessments during the initial application phase can also help narrow your candidate pool if you are experiencing a high volume of applications.

There are a number of psychometric tests available online which can be tailored to be industry-specific. You can view our test library here.

Step 7: Conduct a screening interview

Screening interviews are often conducted over-the-phone. Telephone interviews are considered to be effective for low-volume interviews however this may not be necessary or applicable for roles that attract a high volume of applicants.

Alternatively, many companies utilise video interviews which involve the candidate responding to a series of questions and recording their answers. This allows the hiring manager to hear from a large number of applicants without investing time to independently screen them all.

Step 8: Score your candidates

It is important to identify your strongest candidates by giving them a score. You should score your candidates using the M.E.P. system (Mandatory, Essential and Preferred).

How to use the M.E.P system

• Rank your list of criteria or qualifications as Mandatory (minimum requirement), Essential (an integral skill to have), and Preferred (not essential but desirable to have)
• Going through your candidates, score 1 point to every M, 2 for every E, and 3 for every P that each candidate has
• Allocate a total score for each candidate

The candidates with the highest scores should be regarded as your strongest candidates.

Step 9: Check your candidate’s references

Gaining an opinion or perspective from an additional source on your candidate’s work ethic is helpful to decide if they are the right fit for your company. Reference checks also allow you to identify if your candidate has lied about their current position or where they have previously worked.

Step 10: Inform your candidates if they are successful

It is important to let candidates know if you are moving forward with them and if not, why they didn’t meet the criteria or pass through the screening process. This can be done via email or telephone depending on the number of applicants in your hiring round.

Leaving the relationship on good terms can also encourage them to apply again in future or at the very least, leave them with a good impression of your brand.

In summary, it is important to appropriately shortlist your candidates during the recruitment process. This can be done by following the steps mentioned above;

1. Determine your shortlist criteria
2. Decide on the maximum number for your Shortlist
3. Screen CVs to shortlist candidates
4. Try blind applicant screening
5. Screen candidates in, not out
6. Conduct assessments during the initial application phase
7. Conduct a screening interview
8. Score your candidates
9. Check your candidate’s references
10. Inform your candidates if they are successful