Did you know that in a poll surveying 1000 employers, 67% turned to social media screening to assess their potential candidates? Candidate screening is an excellent way to get an idea of how well someone’s skill set would match the duties of the roles you have open.
This process helps measure proficiency for certain readiness skills and saves time during the recruitment process. To enhance your hiring approach, keep reading as we lay out methods for screening candidates to help you decide which option makes the most sense for what you need.
What Is Candidate Screening?
Candidate screening is how companies evaluate potential candidates for jobs they need to fill. Essentially, it’s a way to vet the people that you’re looking at hiring before you offer them the job. Candidate screening is a way to save time during the hiring process and also save money down the line.
The actual process of screening and evaluating candidatesinvolves reviewing job applications and cover letters and works as a first line of defence for all companies. Screening a potential candidate involves much more than looking at a resume or a cover letter. For some positions, it’s necessary to verify their skills and experience before moving them along through the hiring process, and that’s the point of the concept.
Skills Testing; What Is It?
A skills test is a useful asset when hiring new employees. It’s a type of assessment used to validate candidates’ abilities to perform the duties that will be required of them within a specific role.
An advantage of this is that it will give you an unbiased way to test their skills and takes the manpower out of doing so. More often than not, this will fall within an automated hiring system and can be done right from the candidate’s computer. At least 82% of companies are using pre-employment assessment tests right now to verify the skills of potential candidates.
Many companies might want to know when skills tests should be used and when they shouldn’t. The best answer is that it would depend on the skills the job requires. Keep in mind that it won’t ever hurt to give a skills test regardless of the job.
However, for those that require technical skills, it should be a requirement. This could apply to jobs that call for the use of Excel or graphic design. This could also include proofreading or coding. While these testing methods could be used at any time, there are times when a skills test could be skipped.
This applies to times when you have more than enough information on the candidate’s resume to validate their skills. This doesn’t mean the surface level of the resume, though. The only time this will be helpful is if there are links to the candidate’s website or portfolio that demonstrate the skills you want to verify.
However, having them complete a test administered by your company will limit the chances of getting plagiarised work submitted as samples. So, in a way, it is also a security measure for companies.
Phone Screening
Phone screenings are good options if you want a quick initial interview before the real thing happens. Something you should consider is automated hiring systems that allow you to administer phone screening directly online without a recruiter doing it.
This saves man hours and allows companies to allocate their resources to more lead generation and headhunting. It could be simple to do this through a variety of professional platforms.
When doing so, it will often be presented to candidates through a link. That link may take them to another window that asks them to answer questions with an AI-based interviewer on the other line.
It could also ask them to leave a recording answering questions you’ve outlined beforehand. Their audio responses can later be reviewed by the recruiter instead of having to do it in real time.
On average, it can take a recruiter anywhere from three to six days to respond to a phone interview. Use phone vetting options for screening methods in your hiring process to reduce the time between vetting and offering a candidate an offer letter. Overall, the best time to use phone screening would be in the initial phases of the hiring process, but as mentioned, you can allocate that type of process to AI.
Video Interview
At least 53% of job employers use different assessment tests when hiring. A lot of these methods are through video interviewing. Video screening offers a variety of benefits even though there are more quick ways to vet candidates. Some of those advantages are that it;
- Minimises the need for phone screening
- Reduces the time it takes to hire candidates
- Saves on travel costs
Virtual interviewing through video will always be more efficient than interviewing in person and can work well at any point in your hiring process.
This form of interviewing also allows you to see the candidates face-to-face. You will have the advantage of hearing their voice and have a short time to interact with them as well. This can be beneficial when deciding between candidates.
The reason for this is that you will have an idea of how they respond to questions and how they interact in real conversations. This method could be highly beneficial for client-facing roles.
Social Media Screening
Social media background screening is a popular method for evaluating potential hires. When screening candidates through this method, you are strictly using social media platforms to research them. Examples of this could be using Facebook, Instagram, or even LinkedIn.
Using social media in your hiring processes can enhance efficiency and ease your search. You don’t only get a view of the potential candidate’s professional experience and skill set. You actually get a view of their interests and personality, which gives you a look into their behaviour, and all of these are advantages for recruiters and hiring teams.
Automated Screening
A few examples of automation software for recruiting could be using certain versions of professional platforms or, like most companies that want to truly automate their processes, smartAI is the superior option given the solutions it offers, such as automated hiring process and automated candidate screening, in addition to shortlisting and scheduling.
Automated screening is as it sounds, and it’s a way to measure the compatibility of a candidate and a vacant job that your company has. The best time to use this type of screening method could be at any point during the hiring process.
When it comes to streamlining the recruitment process, candidate screening software plays a vital role, especially when combined with effective candidate screening questions. Many companies are opting for candidate screening software to automate and enhance their hiring procedures, leveraging its capabilities to efficiently evaluate and shortlist potential candidates.
Conclusion
The type of candidate screening that makes the most sense for your company will be what matches your internal workflows, and your company’s needs the best. If you need to assemble a team quickly, you will want to go with some more efficient options like video interviewing or automating the entire process.
To make things even easier, using a tool like smartAI can remove all the groundwork from your recruiting team, allowing you to allocate those resources more appropriately. To learn more, book a demo with smartAI today.
