Handling Applicant Overload

The economy is still struggling, right? So when you posted your job opening you probably expected to get plenty of qualified respondents. Were you surprised with how many respondents you actually received? We recently received a tip from one of our members, Mary Ann Holloway from Comprehensive Business Consulting & Training, about a simple way to weed out the applicants who are poor with communication, persistence or interest.

Mary Ann suggests, “When you encounter a resume worthy of your response, send an email to the potential new hire with a situational question for them to answer. A large percentage of people will not respond.” Not only will this suggestion help you reduce the number of applicants, but it will also give you an idea of the person’s writing and communication style.

Depending on the type of position you are hiring for, you could also ask the applicant for a sample of their work. For example, if you are hiring a graphic designer, ask them to create a print ad for a fictitious special event. Only those who are truly motivated will do the work. It also has the added benefit of letting you see the applicants true capabilities before you waste any time conducting interviews.

Something else you should be aware of when hiring during a down economy is that you are going to find some very qualified - sometimes overqualified – applicants who have been out of work for so long that they will take any position just to have some kind of income. The danger with hiring these applicants is that they may get bored easily and will leave as soon as the economy picks up again or will become a negative force within the organization.

To determine whether you are hiring someone who is taking your position out of desperation or because they truly want the position, invest in behavioral assessment tests. These tests not only give you an idea of how the applicant views him/her self, but also how they view the outside world, what their energy level is, how good at multi-tasking they are, whether they are introverted or extroverted and so much more.

You’ll also want to understand what type of personality will best fit the position. If you have someone who has been successful in that role for at least one year, have them take the assessments and use their results to compare against. Try to match up the results as closely as possible to find someone who will excel in that position.

If the behavioral assessments are used in conjunction with asking the applicant to answer a situational question and asking them to give a sample of their work, you will reduce your applicant pool to only those who are truly qualified and interested in your position. As a result, the interview process should become more simply and less time intensive.