It can be a blessing to be overwhelmed with candidates for your job posting — or it can be a curse. Somewhere in that pile of resumes, you know you’ll find your ideal candidate. But you also know it’s going to take forever to sort through each resume. And what if you breeze by a great candidate because you simply didn’t have enough time to dedicate to the sorting process?
Here are a few ideas to successfully hire when you have numerous applicants.
Look within
This may sound like hippy-dippy advice, but it’s much more practical than all that. When you have a position to fill, instead of sorting through mountains of resumes, first look within your organization to see if there may be qualified candidates. Internal position hiring is much easier and less time consuming than hiring externally.
Give clear and concise instructions
Ask applicants to follow a very specific set of instructions to help make their applications more uniform. If someone doesn’t follow instructions, they may not be the best candidate anyway. So that alone may narrow your list.
With the remaining resumes, you’ll be able to sort through the resumes faster and easier. You may ask for a specific resume or cover letter format, or you may add a questionnaire to the application process that will help you make quick decisions.
Automate the process
There are apps and services that will help you sort through candidates by looking for specific qualifications. If you can use a service to help narrow down the list of candidates, your time will be spent more wisely, and you’ll find it much easier to find that needle in a haystack.
If you can’t find the right app or service, you can always hire an intern or task an assistant with sorting through resumes, or you could just outsource the entire process. The downside is that you don’t get to look at the nuances of each one and the process may not be perfect, but the saved time may just be worthwhile.
Limit interviews
Set a limit on the number of interviews you’ll conduct for this position. This may be related to the value of the job.
So, if you’re hiring for a data entry clerk, you may limit interviews to two. And if you’re hiring a director of product development, you’ll probably spend more time interviewing candidates. But once you set that limit, it’ll be easier to go through resumes and release the applicants who simply don’t fit.
You may have to go through a few passes, but it’s faster than interviewing each one of those candidates. You can always change your mind and squeeze in another interview for the right candidate, but it’s helpful to start with a benchmark.
The hiring process isn’t always fun, but it’s incredibly important. And as with most things, an ounce of preparation can save you a lot of hassle in the long run.
