How Can Recruiters Fulfill Their Roles As Trusted Gatekeepers?

It is times like these that the greatest innovations come into being.  That's what happened when the executive search industry was born during the Great Depression.  At the time there were too few jobs and way too many people applying for those jobs, many of them unqualified.  As any recruiter knows, sloshing through a pile of resumes from unqualified candidates can be a huge time waster.  Because of the huge number of resumes recruiters receive, some of the most qualified candidates may find themselves overlooked, especially if they happen to be near the back of the pile.  That's why using technology that can identify the most qualified candidates without you going through each individual resume is so important.  For those who don't have access to the screening technology or find that it's not enough here are a few tips for rapidly decreasing your time spent reading resumes:

1.    When working with the employer to create the job description, find out what the "must haves" are for the position. For example:  An employer may require "five years experience" without exception. Once you identify the "must haves" include the information in the job posting and request that candidates to mention in their cover letter/resume if they meet the "must have" requirements.  Once you receive the cover letter/resume, immediately scan for the "must haves."  If the candidates meet the "must have" test then spend the time to review their information more closely.

2.    You may want to consider using a "deadline" for resumes received.  In other words, if you posted an ad on June 7th you may consider giving your full attention to resumes received within the first 3 days after the job was posted.  If you find qualified candidates in that 3-day pile, then reviewing the other resumes may be unnecessary.  However, you should consider having an assistant send a short thank you note via email to the candidates who did send in resumes.

3.    And finally, you may want to have an assistant do a preliminary review of resumes to pull out those who meet the requirements, minimizing your time spent on the task and freeing you to take care of more important things in your business..