Too Many Unqualified Applicants?

The Internet has clearly changed the dynamics of recruiting. One change, which has frustrated employers, is posting a position online and receiving hundreds of applications, many from unqualified applicants. It can take a lot of time to review these online submissions. It's inevitable that a less than thorough review process is required when sorting through a large stack of online applications. Many employers admit to an unsettling feeling that as they cull large quantities of unqualified applicants, some good ones get inadvertently get tossed as well.

At the same time, one natural response is to write job postings that are akin to "no trespassing" signs, to scare off unqualified applicants. The problem here is that the best candidates will take one look at unfriendly job postings and click away. Only the desperate (and therefore often unqualified) job seekers will persist, ignoring even the most clear cut job requirements they fail to meet.

Seems like a pretty bad situation.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution: pre-screening questions. (On MilwaukeeJobs.com and our national network of employment Web sites, these are part of our enhanced Applicant Question System.)

This feature solves both problems. It enables you to 1) create compelling job postings while 2) effectively stopping unqualified candidates from applying. It sounds too good to be true!

Consider this example -- you wish to hire a CSR (Customer Service Rep) who speaks Spanish. The traditional approach is to spell this out in the job posting: APPLICANTS MUST SPEAK SPANISH! And traditionally, you would still get a large percentage of applicants who ignored this requirement.

Here's how pre-screening questions solve this problem. You create a questionnaire (easy to do) asking applicants to respond to the most basic requirements. So, you create a question that says "This position requires fluent Spanish. Describe your written and verbal Spanish skills." Very few applicants will flat-out lie. Furthermore, you can take your "stack" of online submissions and start by sorting through the answers to these questions, and then review only those who meet your basic requirements. (In fact, you can setup scores for the answers, and only review candidates who reach a certain threshold.)

At the same time, you can take the job posting and turn it into what it should be in this era of brutal recruiting competition: a compelling ad, promoting the position. Sure, this may "open the floodgates," but let the pre-screening questions filter out the unqualified.

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