• Free shortlisting guide

    A guide to shortlisting your talent pool and selecting the right candidate

Due to the high number of people entering the job market, organisations are receiving more applications than they can handle and are having a hard time filtering, selecting and interviewing the best candidates.

This step-by-step guide (containing digital solutions for social distancing regulations) will give you the knowledge you need for identifying top candidates in your talent pool and selecting the right candidate. Make confident hiring decisions and facilitate excellent candidate care (something candidates are relying on from employers during this time).

If you’re facing this challenge, we want to ensure you don’t miss out on the best talent. There’s more to selecting the right candidate for your role than screening resumes and conducting interviews. Your shortlisting and selection process should be multi-layered to gain deep insights about your candidates.

This guide will take you through the full spectrum of our best-practice process for shortlisting your candidates to ensure you select the right person for your vacancy. Our guide also includes our top candidate care tips, because now, more than ever, candidate care is critical to your brand perception. 

Navigate to: 

The 4 stages to effective shortlisting
How to screen candidates
How to conduct interviews and shortlisting
The best way to conduct testing and checks
Making an offer and delivering feedback
Summary

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The 4 stages to effective shortlisting

Each stage gives you great insights into candidates’ ability to perform in the job. The final stages, testing and checks, give you key information – but often, this is skipped by hiring managers! It’s important to work through these four stages to ensure you can make the most accurate hiring decision.

Let’s take a look at each of the four levels in turn.

1. Use efficient screening methods

Let’s face it. the first stage of shortlisting and selection, screening, can be the least exciting and the most time-consuming part of the process. Deciding which candidates to interview can be tough, but the right knowledge, processes and tools will set you up for success.

Here’s how to speed up screening and ensure you’re making fast, accurate decisions.

Conduct a thorough job analysis

Accurately determine key selection criteria and competencies by conducting a thorough job analysis. This not only enables you to write effective recruitment advertisements, but conduct a better shortlisting process.

Include all relevant members of your team (i.e., future manager, HR team, recruiter) so every decision maker is on the same page about key selection criteria before you start screening candidates.

Refer to your position description and gain additional input from your team. Decide on “must-have” versus “nice-to-have” requirements, in relation to their experience, qualifications, and behavioural attributes. This will help you screen with more efficiency, give you greater clarity and a better chance of finding the right person for the role.

Tip 1

Knowing your key selection criteria will also help you determine the right interview questions to ask.

Tip 2

Did you know Employment Office offers Job Definition Surveys, helping you understand the ideal behavioural attributes for a person to perform well in a role?

Request information from applicants

Once you’ve conducted your job analysis, determined your key selection criteria (“must-have” and “nice-to-have”) and all your key stakeholders are on the same page, it’s time to determine the information you need to request from candidates.

Seek written communication in the form of resumes and screening questions.

(Depending on your brand, the tools you have in place and the preferences of your hiring team, video applications can be another interesting way to request information from candidates.)

Resumes – Look for relevant qualifications, education, training and experience which were outlined as critical (“must-haves”) in the job analysis.

Tip 3

In recent years, with the increase of online application systems, cover letters have arguably become less of a necessity. Candidates use stock-standard templates and they can be time-consuming for you to review. Not requesting a cover letter can speed up candidate application times, and therefore, reduce drop-off rates and increase the quantity of applications you receive.

There’s a solution! Use screening questions that target your key considerations, and use these in place of cover letters.

Video applications (optional) – Look for one or two key takeaways about candidates’ interest in the role, and what they think makes them suitable for the role.

Video applications are rising in popularity. Organisations typically request short videos (1-2minutes) from candidates asking them to share their interest in the role and what they think makes them a great fit.

Depending on your target talent demographic, it can be a great way to improve the candidate experience and increase engagement.

But note, be careful of bias.

Screening questions – Assess your candidates’ communication skills and how they compare to your key selection criteria.

If you’ve ever wanted a better solution to screening resumes, screening questions are your best bet. Opening and reading through resumes and cover letters can typically take up to five minutes per application. If you have 300 applications for a graduate role, that’s a huge time investment…25 hours to be exact!

Screening questions can help you dramatically cut down that initial time investment and help you identify your top people to progress with quicker.

If your company has a Candidate Management System for your recruitment, it’s likely that you’ll be able to ask application questions as part of the process. If you’re collecting resumes via email or through job boards such as Seek, there may not be the option to include those questions formally, however you certainly can ask as part of your advertisement for candidates to address your questions in a cover letter – thereby still giving you the information you need to make your assessment.

Compare apples with apples by asking standardised screening questions (assessing candidates across “like-for-like” questions). Ask questions relevant to the information you need to assess knowledge, skills, training, education and experience. Screening questions reveal a candidate’s motivation and level of interest in the position (i.e., someone who answers thoughtfully with examples and insights would appear more interested and motivated by the position than someone who answers briefly).

Design the questions around your key selection criteria and ask for examples. For example, screening questions for a supervisor position might include:

  • “Detail your supervisory experience and describe your leadership style.”
  • “Describe a time when you have been responsible for implementing a new policy or procedure.”

Tip 4

There’s no hard and fast rule about how many screening questions you should use. At Employment Office, we recommend 2-4 radio-button questions (e.g., “Do you have the right to live and work in Australia?”, Yes/No) and 4-6 long-form questions (e.g., “Describe your leadership style”) to target key information, without impacting application drop off rates.

You don’t want to deter candidates from applying by requiring too much time investment at the first step of the process, but you do want key information to help you screen quicker and more effectively. Just be mindful that the more hoops you ask a candidate to jump through the harder it is for them to apply. You want a good combination of qualitative and quantitative data.

Tip 5

Think of this first round of screening like a “first date”. You want to know enough about them to know if you would like to see them again, but not interrogate them for their life story before you’re sure you want a second date.

Assessing applications

After you’ve established your criteria and determine the communication you need from candidates to move forward, it’s time to start assessing applications. Depending on your role, brand and industry, you may receive a few (or a lot!) of applications. You may like to check in every day or second day to assess candidates and determine the effectiveness of your recruitment advertisement.

When assessing applications, keep your key selection criteria front of mind.

Tip 6

The right technology and screening tools, such as a Candidate Management System (CMS), can work wonders in reducing your screening time. A CMS allows you to set up automations to include/exclude applications based on set criteria. For example, you can automatically exclude candidates who don’t have the right to live and work in Australia.

Talk to Employment Office for recommendations about cost-effective screening tools, a CMS, or some extra support with shortlisting.

Tip 7

Facilitate great candidate care by issuing feedback at the 2-3 week mark to let candidates know you’re still assessing applications and that all candidates should expect to hear within a set timeframe.

Use consistent communication to invite top candidates to the next stage of your recruitment process: interviews.

Candidate care tips

Send personalised automated messages to candidates after they submit their application.

Let them know when they can expect to hear back from you and the next steps in the process.

2. Conduct interviews and create a shortlist

The next stage in your recruitment process is a really great opportunity for you to get to know your top candidates better and to be able to assess further who will be the best fit for your role. Interviews can help you assess whether candidates can actually perform in the role, taking into account their knowledge, skills, training, education, experience and behavioural attributes. There are many options when it comes to your first interview stage. Here are the pros and cons of some of these options and our recommendations to save time.

Face-to-face interviews

Due to the recent pandemic, many organisations are reducing face-to-face contact. To assist you in complying with social distancing recommendations, we recommend skipping to the following interview options: phone and video interviews. 

Moving from screening straight to face-to-face interviews is an older style of recruitment, however, plenty of candidates and hiring managers alike share the benefits of meeting in person.

Pros: This style of interview gives you the opportunity to observe your candidates, including their verbal communication, how they build rapport, how they present themselves and the non-verbal communication they exhibit.

Cons: With this process you’re outlaying a large amount of time to make an assessment. We’re sure many recruiters have seen a great application and resume, only to be let down during the interview. That’s why we strongly suggest making small time investments for initial interviews.

Phone interviews vs. video interviews

Like our best-practice processes at Employment Office, many organisations opt for phone or video interviews as the first step after screening. These are typically short in duration, usually 10-20 minutes depending on the level of experience and skills required for the role.

They’re useful in determining and verifying the information you’ve received in applications and allow you to delve deeper into assessing the soft skills necessary for the role. Both phone and video interviews can be conducted anywhere (so you could interview a candidate from the other side of Australia… or the world!) and save time and money in the process.

What’s the difference between phone and video interviews and does it matter?

Phone interviews

Pros: With a phone interview, you can ask key questions, it’s easy to connect anywhere, any time with little notice, and you can take notes throughout the conversation.

Cons: While you do still get to ask the same questions, you’ll miss out on a key element of their response over the phone – their non-verbal communication, which can be really important in determining their suitability. It’s also much harder to build rapport over the phone (anyone in a phone-based sales role can tell you that) which adds an extra barrier for candidates to gain a level of comfort and showcase themselves in the best light.

Two-way video interviews

Pros: inviting your candidates to a two-way video interview, you’re giving them the chance to “meet you”, and see and talk to a real person to talk to. This delivers a better candidate experience, ultimately leading to a more relaxed and informative interview, for both you and your candidate.

You can also record these video interviews and share them with key decision makers, facilitating a very simple way to review and assess candidates before investing time to meet them in-person. That way, everyone has the same information, and you’re not asking candidate for the same information twice.

Cons: these will often rely on the candidate’s internet connection, so technical difficulties may arise. To mitigate this, it’s best to provide each candidate with plenty of information on how to best prepare for the interview to ensure it is a success.

We recommend that you use two-way video interviews for your first round of interviews. It saves you time, as you can allocate 10-20 minutes per candidate, you can interview from anywhere and it provides you with extra information to help make your hiring decision.

Following this first round of in-depth interviewing, you should be able to identify your top applicants for the role and progress to the face-to-face interview stage, ensuring you’re able to make the best use of your time and can swiftly move to the offer stage.

An alternative approach: Group Interview and Information Days

Due to the current pandemic, face-to-face Group Interviews may no longer be an option for your organisation. Skip this section to learn how to progress to second-stage interviews. 

Group Interview and Information Days are a fun and informative process for you, your team and your candidates. However, they definitely require a substantial time investment in the planning and screening stage to make them effective.

Group Interview and Information Days are the most effective when you’re looking to recruit a number of candidates for the same or similar role in a limited time frame. They work really well for roles that require entry or middle-level qualifications where you need to assess key behaviours.

Tip 8

Use Group Interview and Information Days to enhance your process, shortlist your top candidates all in one place and/or make multiple hires.

They’re often the most effective if you can complete pre-screening interviews prior to the day to ensure that you’re inviting the best candidates and that they meet the basic requirements of your position.

On the day, it is best if you have good representation of the key decision makers across your business to be able to help assess and interact with the candidates.

Ideally you want it to be a fun, interactive day where the activities you ask candidates to perform assess the ideal soft skills you’re looking for in the role. In selecting the right candidate, the skills you assess could include teamwork (e.g. through a group prioritisation task), conflict resolution (e.g. through a customer role play), safety mind set (e.g. safety scenarios), or even a technical activity for them to work through.

It to be very clear to all candidates what the activity is about and what you’re looking for. You don’t want to “deceive” candidates about what you’re assessing for, as you want them to engage completely with each task and give their best.

Pros: running these days means you can assess candidates in context. You can see real-life interactions and assess them throughout the day, as opposed to one-on-one formats where candidates present their considered responses to questions.

Cons: these days require a larger time investment for preparation. Which is why you should only choose this option for certain positions.

Tip 9

Did you know the Shortlisting & Selection Team at Employment Office can help you plan and run Group Interview and Information Days? For more information or to enquire, contact our Specialists on 1300 366 573 or email info@employmentoffice.com.au.

Conduct second-round interviews with your shortlisted candidates

Conduct second round of interviews if necessary. Many roles warrant second-round interviews.

Create a smooth recruitment process and great candidate experience by asking different questions to drill into areas you haven’t asked previously. (Asking candidates the same questions that you’ve asked previously can make them feel like they have not been heard, that your processes are disorganised and inefficient, and become disengaged with your organisation and the role.)

Again, structure and standardise your second-stage interviews, so all interviewees are asked questions in the same format, which will help you in selecting the right candidate.

Use phone or video as your second-round interview platform to comply with social distancing regulations. We recommend video interviews, which are a better way to build rapport with candidates. 

Tip 10

Having more than one interviewer can reduce bias and allow you to make a more informed decision. Ideally, each interviewer should be responsible for assessing the candidates against one or two key criteria.

Ask the right questions. Behavioural and situational interview questions, based on your key selection criteria, work best. Ask candidates to provide an example of when they have had to perform a task in the past, or describe what they would do in a given situation. How candidates respond to these types of questions can allow you to predict their future performance over generalist questions such as, “tell me about your experience” or “what are your strengths and weaknesses”.

In selecting the right candidate, rate candidates “like for like”. For example, rate the responses on a scale of 1 – 5 or 1 – 10 so you can make a fair and accurate comparison between candidates. Interview standardisation allows you to objectively compare your top candidates.

Interviews are clearly important, but it would be a mistake to hire solely based on first impressions. It seems obvious that a deeper level of insight is needed, yet many interviewers fall into the trap of being swayed by a candidate’s presence and interview ability and forget the next critical stages of shortlisting and selection!

Many experienced recruiters have experienced the disappointment when unsuccessful new hires leave after they were, “so impressive during their interview.” Therefore, effective shortlisting and selection is more than identifying that they appear to suit the role, and gives greater weight to the next part of the process.

Candidate care tips

  • Ensure all your hiring managers are prepared for their interviews; they should be familiar with candidates resumes and know the questions they need to ask.
  • For secondary interviews, ensure you’re not asking candidates the same questions twice!
  • After each interview, give candidates an approximate date range (for example 1-2 weeks) for when they can expect to hear back from you, and tell them about the next steps in your recruitment process.
  • Follow through on what you promise! Even if you have no news to deliver at the end of the timeframe, email candidates anyways to let them know you’ll take a little longer to get back to them.
  • For candidates you have not progressed with to the interview stage, and who won’t be progressing further, deliver unsuccessful feedback now, instead of waiting until you’ve made a hire.

3. Conduct testing and checks

At this point in the process, you should have a smaller pool of candidates to make your selection choice. Now it’s time to do your due diligence to check people have the skills, education and experience they claim to have and there are no glaring issues.

It’s important to add this important additional layer to your recruitment process to give you enough information to adequately inform your hiring decision. Unfortunately, this critical step is routinely skipped by employers, to their detriment. When this level is overlooked, you aren’t able to gain an accurate impression of a candidate’s motivations and temperament, which may only reveal itself when it’s too late.

Your candidates may have aced their interviews, but their attitudes and beliefs might not align with your organisation. We recommend the following tests and checks.

Behavioural testing

Behavioural testing type provides another level of understanding into your candidate pool. At Employment Office, we use McQuaig Behavioural Testing, designed specifically for recruitment. This tool facilitates great recruitment and helps hiring managers get the best out of their new team. Results facilitate accurate predictions for performance, as well as insights into strengths and areas for development.

McQuaig testing measures professional temperament by evaluating how a candidate perceives they are seen by colleagues (and therefore, how they behave in their position) and how they really are, which illustrates if individuals are naturally predisposed to the job. This powerful information and important measures ensures you to select the right person with the most suitable temperament, your new team member is satisfied in their role your organisation benefits from reduced turnover (from a satisfied, aligned workforce).

With McQuaig testing, you can set benchmarks for desired candidate profiles that best suits the role, and measure candidate results.

Sample McQuaig Behavioural Survey

The above results are from a sample McQuaig Behavioural Survey. The results reveal which way the candidate leans across the four behavioural scales and is supported by a full report outlining potential assets, developmental considerations, tailored interview questions, leadership profile, motivating factors and coaching strategies. This allows you to make an informed hiring decision through key behavioural insights, and better support your new employee over the long term.

Pre-employment checks

Pre-employment checks include police checks, education verification checks, bankruptcy checks, health and medical checks, visa checks and more. E.g. youth social workers require police check, while senior finance positions may require financial checks, such as a bankruptcy check.

Skills testing

Determine whether the candidate has the skills required of the role by administering skills testing. These can take the form of MS Office testing, typing, numeracy and literacy, attention to detail, technical writing and business communication tests.

The results can help to differentiate between candidates and highlight strengths and weaknesses that can be helpful to determine the candidate with the relevant skills at the level required, and provide developmental benefits when the candidate is in the role.

Psychometric testing (optional)

Psychometric testing provides an even deeper level of insights into your talent pool about predicted performance, suitability, strengths and areas for development. It gives you measurable, objective data to compare candidates and a way to differentiate between candidates with similar experience and qualifications.

Personality tests (optional)

Personality testing gives you the ability to predict candidates will respond to different circumstances on the job. This type of testing uncovers if candidates are motivated and enthusiastic about the role, if they’ll fit in add to your existing culture, their working style and their professional attitude.

While you shouldn’t make your hiring decision based solely on these results, they paint a bigger picture and allow you to assess candidates who will foster team cohesion and productivity. Some examples of personality tests include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and DISC assessment.

Reference checks

Reference checks are a common step in recruitment, but they’re not always performed correctly. Reference checks are more than just checking if people recommend your candidate or not (although common sense dictates candidates only includes referees who will provide a favourable review). Instead, they’re a valuable opportunity to discover past performance, how to get the best out of them and whether their experience matches the information they have provided.

  • Source two professional referees (minimum)
  • Ensure the referee is as relevant and recent as possible
  • Book a time with your referee – you’ll get more out of them if they aren’t rushing to get off the phone
  • Conduct checks in a timely manner – quality candidates may accept a competing job offer if you take too long)
  • Ensure referees are people the candidate reported to in previous roles – they will provide the most accurate information about their on-the-job performance
  • Determine your questions in advance – tailor questions to your candidate.

Candidate care tips

  • Ensure all your hiring managers are prepared for their interviews; they should be familiar with candidates resumes and know the questions they need to ask.
  • For secondary interviews, ensure you’re not asking candidates the same questions twice!
  • After each interview, give candidates an approximate date range (for example 1-2 weeks) for when they can expect to hear back from you, and tell them about the next steps in your recruitment process.
  • Follow through on what you promise! Even if you have no news to deliver at the end of the timeframe, email candidates anyways to let them know you’ll take a little longer to get back to them.
  • For candidates you have not progressed with to the interview stage, and who won’t be progressing further, deliver unsuccessful feedback now, instead of waiting until you’ve made a hire.

4. Make an offer and provide feedback to all applicants

Making an offer

Congratulations! You’ve found the right candidate/s for your role and you’re ready to make an offer. Phone them to extend their offer, express your enthusiasm and make them feel excited about the role. Follow up with an email with their letter of offer and give them a timeframe in which to accept and respond. Obtain a verbal yes if possible.

After you’ve received their signed acceptance, they may have a few weeks or a month until their start date. Can you think of any unique touch points between now and then to keep them excited and engaged? You might like to connect with them on LinkedIn or invite them to an (optional) event, such as awards nights, team building or Christmas parties for them to get to know the people they’ll be working with.

Delivering feedback

While making an offer is exciting, don’t forget about the rest of your talent pool! Deliver feedback to all candidates, not just your successful candidate.

Tip 11

The right technology and screening tools, such as a Candidate Management System (CMS), makes sending communication to multiple candidate simple and efficient.

Talk to Employment Office for recommendations about cost-effective recruitment technology, a CMS, or some extra support with shortlisting on 1300 366 573 or at info@employmentoffice.com.au.

Deliver feedback to unsuccessful candidates (who were not interviewed or shortlisted) first.

After you’ve received a signed acceptance from your chosen candidate, then deliver unsuccessful feedback to the remainder of your shortlisted candidates over the phone (and follow up with an email if you weren’t able to reach them).

Unsuccessful candidates

You may like to create a branded, standardised email template to send communication to multiple candidates. (Use a Candidate Management System to email multiple candidates at once and personalise emails with candidate names. Don’t cc all candidates or use unattractive automated emails, starting with “Dear candidate.” Keep your candidate experience front of mind, keep it warm and personal so you create a positive impression of your employer brand.

Shortlisted candidates

For your top shortlisted candidates who progressed through to first-round and second-round interviews, we recommend personalised phone calls to deliver unsuccessful feedback, instead of generic, impersonal emails. They have taken the time to demonstrate interest and undergo an interview with you, therefore, they deserve communication that is more personalises.

Talking to them over the phone or leaving a voicemail message, and following up with a warm personal email, thanking them for their time is best practice.

Tip 12

For your strongest, shortlisted candidates, why not invite them to join your talent community, or stay in touch with your organisation by connecting with your organisation on social media? Who knows, they may become brand enthusiasts and apply for another role in the future.

Candidate care tips

  • Call candidates to deliver feedback over the phone for candidates who have taken the time to interview with you. If you can’t reach them over the phone, leave a voicemail message, and follow up with an email.
  • Give as much detail as possible. E.g. “We progressed with a candidate with more experience in [area of experience].”
  • After you’ve made your offer, double check and confirm every candidate has been given feedback.
  • For candidates who were unsuccessful, but very close, keep them warm for future opportunities. E.g. asking them to connect with you on social media or join your talent community.

Talk to Employment Office for assistance designing a talent pooling solution.

Summary

Use digital shortlisting strategies to comply with social distancing regulations and protect your people and candidates.

Select the right candidate for your vacancy by establishing strong processes and obtaining deep insights about candidate. Don’t rely on interviews alone to determine whether or not someone is suitable for your role. Rather, place greater importance behavioural insights, testing and checks to get the most out of your shortlisting and selection process.

4 stages to effective shortlisting 2

This guide was produced by the Shortlisting & Selection Specialists at Employment Office. We can help you shortlist, select and secure your ideal candidates easily, efficiently and effectively. Our rigorous, professional selection process, delivered by experts in the field, saves you time and ensures that you make the right hire.

We can deliver a full end-to-end selection process or specific services, including: candidate screening, video interviews, behavioural and skills testing, and pre-employment checks – and Group Interview and Information Days. If you prefer to conduct your shortlisting process in-house, talk to us about recruitment software to establish a fast, efficient screening process.

Talk to our specialists about your recruitment needs today by calling 1300 366 573 or emailing info@employmentoffice.com.au

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