Interview Screening

What is interview screening?

That search for a new employee begins by casting the net wide, then filtering out the candidates who don’t match up. The aim of course is to find “the one”, that candidate who best fits the bill. The process of whittling the candidate numbers down is often referred to as interview screening.

The cost in time of money and recruitment dictates that the screening process takes place as efficiently as possible. Let’s imagine a job advertisement received 100 applications. It would be very costly to interview all 100 people for the one position. The screening process is designed to make sure that resources are used on only the best candidates. Recruiters tend to adopt a zero tolerance approach, where one false move will rule a candidate out.

Their aim is to find just a select few who match the job description. Here’s how they do it:

CV/Resume screening

This can be brutal! Recruiters tend to adopt a zero tolerance approach, where one false move will rule a candidate out. They will be looking through your resume for certain keywords, indicating important skills and experiences. Don’t have them? The resume is likely to end up in the dustbin.

So it’s up to you to make sure they see what they are looking for. How? Know your role. If you do your homework you will find there are many clues as to what they are looking for. Study the job advertisement. What are the keywords they use to describe the ideal candidate? Can you use some of them in your resume?

For more advice on how to use your resume – click here The phone interview

This is a very popular method of interview screening because of its convenience for employers. It’s usually the last hurdle before you are invited in for a face to face interview. You are close, but not quite there. To impress in a phone interview you need to be aware of the specific challenges it presents, and know how you will deal with them. That takes preparation, and an understanding of how the phone interview works.

For more on the telephone interview – click here Group interviews and assessment centres

A group interview allows screening to reduce the many to a few. They are particularly popular for graduate level positions. In these cases, where candidates tend to have very similar experience (usually limited), group tasks and assessments are all about discovering who has the right type of personality traits for the position.

Of course a group interview is ultimately about comparison between candidates. Your job is to arouse their interest in you so that they feel the need to find out more about you, and invite you to interview.

To learn more about a group interview and what you can expect – click here In the end the whole interview process is about screening. Every moment from the second you arrive is an opportunity for you to rule yourself in or out. The better you understand your role and what it takes to perform in the interview, the more successful yo will be. Explore this site, work on your interview preparation and focus on what the employer is looking for, and you'll be just fine.

Learn more about the different types of interview you may face

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