Are you in the process of hiring again? Do you want to bring some new talent into your team without having to trawl through thousands of applications? Then read on:
When looking for new staff, you'll want to advertise in the best places. Your jobs are guaranteed to get the right level of attention in these places. So, make sure your candidate attraction strategy is suitable for the job. Then, hope the applications start coming in!
Many recruiters judge the success of their adverts by the number of applications they receive from different sources, but sadly not the quality of those applications. In this instance, we are more interested in attracting higher-quality candidates and not having to sift through thousands of low-quality applications.
This can be difficult to achieve with the ease of applying for jobs online these days but we have a few valuable tips to make sure your candidates are all of the right quality for your job:
- Firstly, make it clear in your advert who you are looking for - the skills, qualifications and experience they need for your job.
- Secondly, make it just as clear that candidates who don't meet those essential criteria will not be considered for the job. This helps discourage some of the people who lack even the most basic qualifications for the job. Although it sounds harsh, it is necessary to thin out the applications so you are left with only those which are relevant.
- Then, let your candidates know you want their CVs so that you can consider their applications. A cover letter alone isn’t enough to go on. This will filter out some of the people just applying for everything remotely relevant to them, as it requires more than the bare minimum to apply. Some job portals allow for just a cover letter, or a simple few words to express an interest in a job. We don't see that as an actual application and like to be able to consider more in-depth information.
- Be firm if you are also looking for a cover letter - not one line of text, but a professionally written letter which reflects a candidate's reasons for applying and what they can bring to the party. This is a good way of establishing the applicants' writing skills and their standard of written English and is another hurdle for those who may not be of the calibre that you are looking to employ.
- Finally, have a clear statement in your advert (especially if it's online) confirming you won't consider anyone for the job who doesn't have the right to live and work in the UK.
All UK job boards are currently receiving applications from overseas / non-EU candidates for jobs they shouldn't be applying for - the earlier you can weed them out, the smoother the overall process will go. You won't have to waste effort dealing with so many irrelevant applications from people who have no right to work in the UK.
