SME recruitment: How to screen candidates

What is candidate screening?

Companies use a screening process to evaluate a candidate's background and qualifications, and eliminate unqualified candidates from the pool of applicants. An effective screening process allows companies to save both time and money by ensuring they minimise the amount of in-person interviews they conduct.

Screening candidates will include conducting background checks, sending applicants follow-up questions to answer, a brief phone screen, or other assessments to test an applicant's qualifications.

A screening process will depend on the size of your company and the type of role for which you're hiring, but it should include a few critical steps. Here, we'll cover how you can run an effective screening process to ensure your strategy is as efficient and unbiased as possible.

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How to screen job applicants

1. Write a clear job description that attracts the right candidates in the first place

Writing a good job description can save you a ton of time when it comes to screening job applicants. Clear and compelling job descriptions are particularly important for small businesses that don’t have the resources or capacity to sort through thousands of CVs.

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Ultimately, it's critical you ensure your job description allows you to correctly identify qualified candidates from the start, while enabling you to attract the widest pool of applicants possible.

2. Look out for red flags in candidate CVs

Screening candidate CVs effectively is essential. It’s important to spot any red flags that might indicate a bad candidate:

• Watch out for spelling, formatting and presentation mistakes. Although not essential for all roles, good spelling and grammar indicate a good education.

• Check how many times the candidate has changed jobs in the last year. Candidates who change jobs regularly are unlikely to stay long with your company, resulting in the need to replace and retrain.

• Beware candidates with long unexplained gaps in their work history - always ask why there was a long gap.

• Be cautious of candidates who have been out of work for more than six months without a good explanation. The longer someone is out of work, the harder it is for them to adapt to a working environment.

• Avoid candidates who don’t provide references.

• Make sure you get at least two references (that are not the friends of the candidate)

• When talking to references, don’t trust any who can’t say what the candidate’s areas for improvement are. A genuine reference who knows the candidate will always be able to say what their weaknesses are.

• Don’t overlook first time jobseekers - they may not have experience but if their CV shows a strong desire to work in your field of business, consider taking them on as an intern for three months. South Africa has a major youth employment crisis, yet most businesses insist on candidates having work experience.

  Small businesses are best positioned to take on first-time jobseekers as the hands-on training and small company size can help upskill first-time jobseekers quickly. Giraffe is offering its service for free to exempted micro-enterprises that are willing the take on first-time jobseekers.

• Don't let the lack of a matric put you off. Many South Africans are unable to get a matric but that does not mean they are unable to work. These candidates are often the most willing to be given a chance to prove themselves.

3. Use screening tools to do the job for you

Your screening process should allow you to filter out candidates that do not meet the necessary criteria for the role. This task can be very labour intensive. We suggest using software tools that will help you reduce the administratively intensive part of sorting through CVs.

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For instance, Giraffe's job board automatically screens candidates as they apply. This way employers can easily filter out applicants that don’t meet the minimum criteria for the role.

4. Conduct phone interviews

By conducting phone interviews in the early phase of the interviewing process, you can save time and money that would otherwise be wasted on meeting unsuitable candidates face to face. Phone interviews also helps you significantly cut down on the recruiting costs. Even better, use tools that do the phone interview for you.

For example, Giraffe effectively does the first round phone interview for you - by asking candidates to submit a voice note when they apply for a new role. This gives the employer a much more nuanced view of the candidate before they decide to shortlist them. Using technology like this can significantly reduce time wasted on irrelevant candidates and help streamline your recruitment process.

Using these four tactics will help you effectively screen candidates. Find the best staff for your business. It will also reduce the time and money you spend on recruitment, while ensuring you hire the best applicants.