Let’s face it: you’ll get hundreds and thousands of applications whenever you post a job to recruit a team member for a vacant position. However, you will be surprised to see so much interest, but how will you identify the right fit for your organization?

Every organization strives to hire the top talent to boost the business’s overall productivity, and hiring a candidate based on their wordy resume is a bad practice. This is where screening assessments come into play.

Screening assessments help recruiters get a clear picture of the candidate to easily identify whether the candidate is the right fit for the culture. As a recruiter, you must create a screening test that will help you filter out unqualified candidates. Hence, it will help you save time, money, and effort you put into interviewing candidates.

Candidate screening is a powerful recruiting tool that allows recruiters to review job applications.

Screening assessments will help you get a closer look into the candidate’s application and identify whether the candidate matches your job requirements. Even with modern tools and technologies, it takes 23 hours on average to screen a candidate’s application.

Remember, the best talent in the market stays for up to 10 days. In today’s competitive job market, it is essential to structure screening assessments to attract the best talent as soon as possible.

Resume Screening

A resume is a traditional way to showcase creativity, skills, and experience. Resume screening gives you a deep insight into the candidate’s experience, skills, work history, educational qualification, etc.

However, this doesn’t make the candidate a right fit for your organization. Most resumes claim incorrect/inaccurate information. This is where screening comes into play. You can evaluate the candidate’s skills using an assessment tool.

Cover Letter Screening

Most candidates also include cover letters in their applications. You can figure out the following about the candidate through his cover letter:

• Clear structure
• Future goals
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Passion for the role

Phone Screening

Resume screening has some restrictions. If you want to know more about a candidate, ask for a cover letter in their application. It is the best way to screen candidates, and you’ll get the basic information such as current location, salary expectations, educational qualifications, communication skills, etc.

Now you have a glimpse of the different types of screening, let’s discuss how to structure screening assessment to get a clear picture of the candidates.

Leverage The Power Of AI

With modern technologies, AI for recruiting has become the most precious HR technology work model.

AI allows recruiters to use their Applicant Tracking System (ATS) better, provide the ability to hire more efficiently, and screen candidates effectively.

AI will change the recruiter role through automation, making recruiters more proactive in their hiring and encouraging better relations with the hiring manager. According to Ideal, 96% of talent acquisition leaders say that AI can improve talent acquisition and employee retention rate.

Using The Right Screening Assessment Tool

Leveraging the right screening tool is the key to success.

For example, suppose you’re looking to hire a technical team in your organization. In that case, you can conduct a coding assessment which is also a part of pre-employment and screening assessments. It helps you assess the candidate’s technical skills effectively.

Most recruiters prefer to use Intervue, a coding assessment tool that comes with audio and video call functionality. It uses an auto-grading system that eliminates unqualified candidates. As a result, you can save time and money interviewing those candidates and focus more on the selected ones.

Check References

Being a traditional screening technique, it plays a crucial role in screening and helps you make informed hiring decisions.

According to The Balance Careers, 9 out of 10 recruiters conduct reference checks, and they consider it a powerful recruitment tool. That said, here are some tips while checking references of the candidate:

• Be patient: When you are on a call with a former employer, give them some time to respond to your questions.
• Ask relevant questions: Ask the former employer about the candidate’s performance, behavior, and weakest points.

Check Online

Researching online is the best way to understand the candidates before making a hiring decision. By searching on Google, you will find detailed information about the candidate’s websites, social media profiles, portfolio on online platforms, etc.

Most employers say that social media platforms are the best way to practice background screening of a candidate. By visiting a candidate’s social media profile, you can’t assess their skills, but you can get a real sense of how a person is.

Video Interviews

Before video interviews, phone screening and interviews were the primary sources of communication with the potential candidates. But with the introduction of modern technologies, video interviews have replaced phone interviews. However, some companies still leverage phone interviews, but most of them have embraced video interviews.

With the availability of video interview tools, such as Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, etc., you can schedule online interviews with the candidates easily. Here are some of the benefits of video interviews for screening:

• Candidate’s presentation skills: Video interviews are the best to assess a candidate’s soft skills. What is the body language of the candidate during screening? Do they smile a lot? Are they confident? How did the candidate behave throughout the interview?
• Mind the environment: Did the candidate choose the right place for the interview? Are there any background noises? In a video interview, candidates are supposed to choose a quiet place with minimum or no distraction.

Among the vast talent pool, it is challenging to screen all the candidates at once.

As we live in a world full of modern technologies, it’s high time to reap its benefits. It means that you must leverage AI, use the right assessment tools, video interview tools, etc.

It is essential to properly organize and structure the process with candidate screening and selection processes, creating a positive employer brand and hiring the top talent.