How to Evaluate Job Applicants

4 of 11 in Series: The Essentials of Hiring Employees

No set rules exist for evaluating job applicants — other than common sense. But your business needs some kind of applicant-evaluation system or protocol in place before resumés or applications begin to arrive.

No matter who is in charge of the process — an HR specialist, a manager, or the business owner — it should include a set of hard criteria to use as the basis for decisions. Otherwise, there’s a good chance you’ll end up making choices based on factors that may have no bearing on desired work performance, such as courses taken at a university you admire or a particularly impressive skill that would be virtually useless in tackling the responsibilities of your job opening. You need to keep in mind the following three key questions at all times:

What are the prerequisites for the position? These should track with the qualifications listed in the job description, as long as your description is targeted and carefully thought through.
What are the special requirements in your organization, such as certifications or special education? If you own a public accounting firm, for example, you would most likely consider only applicants with a valid CPA credential.
What qualifications and attributes are critical to high performance in this particular position? Identify those attributes that you feel will produce superior performance in functions critical to your company’s competitive strength and look for these attributes in prospective employees.

If you haven’t answered these three questions, you’re not ready to start.

When you start collecting job applications, here's an overview of the process you should go through:

Scan applications or resumes first for basic qualifications.

Some applicants apply to virtually any job opening, whether they’re qualified or not. Their attitude is “Hey, you never know.”
Look for key criteria.

Focus on specific hiring criteria, such as good organizational skills, supervisory experience, or good driving record. Don't rush this step. Some resumés clearly reflect the skills and experience you’re looking for; others may come close but just don’t do the trick.
Set up a process to flag and identify your top candidates.

At this point, you probably want to separate the wheat from the chaff, which means establishing a separate file for each of the applicants who pass the initial review.
Extend an invitation.

Your next move depends on how many applicants remain. If you have only a few, you may want to invite them all to come in for an interview. If you have more applicants than you can handle, you may want to add yet another level of evaluation.