Regardless of where you find candidates, it is important to be aware of the power behind a Resume or these days, the candidates’ Digital Identity.
How can you best utilize the digital identity and or resume to your advantage?
In the early days of Conscious Hiring we had a Resume Red Flag check list. While many elements of that check list still matter, the way we interpret those elements needed to shift to reflect the new world we are living in.
It starts with creating a match checklist before you begin screening resumes. Help yourself out by proactively detailing out “what right looks like” so by the time you have your short list it contains candidates with the right stuff.
Top Line Resume Quick Screening
I teach my new recruiters to Screen candidates resumes or digital profiles for 8 elements:
Work History: Geography, Aesthetics, Continuity “Theme”. Past Jobs, Core Functions, Skills, Accomplishments and Education.
The initial screen is a once over quick screen, and for the experienced eye takes about 45-60 seconds to review. Those resumes or digital identities need to be categorized into pile 1 & 2. The 1’s get a more thorough evaluation and the 2’s only get attention if there are not enough 1’s.
Profiles that do not make the 1 or 2 pile are not worth spending any time with because they are littered with typos, have no real information on them, the work history has no logical progression to it, is or they are so unqualified that it would take an act of transformation and embellishment to turn them into something appropriate for the role.
Work History-Dive Resume Evaluation and Scoring
Whether you are reviewing a Digital Identity profile like Follr.com or Linked in or you are reviewing the good old-fashioned resume; it is important to discern a match score for what the candidate has done and how it compares what you need them to do.
How long has the candidate actually been doing a job where they use comparable skills and competencies required in your job?
Is exact experience really required or can you train a person who has similar skills and competencies in another environment?
Breaking it down further I have the recruiter look at each element of the digital profile / resume for specific evaluation in each element:
Past Employment (job title, type of work) – 30 points
Core functions – 20 points
Skills – 20 points
Accomplishments – 20 points
Education – 10 points
Total Possible Work History Score = 100
Once you are clear what you need and what you want then you can allocate a scoring methodology that makes sense.
Red flags
As part of your scoring formula it is important to highlight areas for further questions, if and when the candidate makes it to phone screen.
Long periods of unemployment between jobs
Changing careers on an annual basis for multiple years in a row
Multiple full time employers in multiple disciplines every year, contracting or free agent is one thing; jumping in and out of roles multiple times per year however reduce a person’s ability to become proficient at anything.
The checklist also needs to include a good amount of detail so that anyone doing the screening located internally or externally (whether it be San Jose, Salt Lake City or Bangalore) can screen and score resumes.