What is resume screening?

Resume screening is the process of assessing resumes and job applications to see if an applicant meets the requirements for a certain position in terms of education, training, and experience. Reviewing resumes to find the most qualified applicants for a position is often the first stage in the hiring process.

The recruiter or hiring manager often scans resumes for terms and phrases that correspond to the job description and the requirements for the position. Evaluation of the applicant's educational history, professional experience, accomplishments, and any other pertinent data included in the résumé or application may also be part of the screening process.

The purpose of resume screening is to find the best candidates and weed out those who don't fulfill the position's basic standards. Lowering the number of candidates who need to be interviewed, streamlines the hiring process and helps both the recruiter and the candidates save time and resources.

Reasons for using automated resume screening software

1. Automatic resume screening speeds up the hiring process

One of the most crucial aspects of a recruiter's day-to-day is time-to-fill. It's a KPI that has an effect on companywide best practices, initiatives for improvement, and frequent individual evaluations. In other words, speeding up the hiring process is essential if you're a recruiter.

Yet, balancing quality and time constraints is not always possible. It requires time to be meticulous. It's challenging to be thorough if you want to go quickly. Recruiters may find the most promising candidates far quicker using automated resume screening software than with manual screening techniques, saving time and money on the application review process. Also, it makes it possible for recruiters to move applicants along the hiring process more quickly and effectively, which can help them land top talent before rival businesses do.

Overall, automated resume screening can speed up the recruiting process, which can be crucial for businesses with huge volumes of recruitment campaigns or those that need to swiftly fill positions. The average time to fill out the 864 samples studied in the 2017 SHRM Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report was 36 days.

2. Separation of qualified and unqualified candidates

By searching resumes and applications for particular keywords, abilities, and credentials that are necessary for the position, automated screening software may distinguish between qualified and unqualified individuals. Recruiters can then prioritize the most qualified applicants by using software like Ducknowl to rate the resumes according to how closely they meet the job specifications.

The automated screening program will check resumes for specific qualities, such as a bachelor's degree, familiarity with a certain piece of software, and good communication skills if these requirements are listed in a job offer. Only resumes that satisfy the criteria will be sent to the recruiter for further consideration after being filtered out if they don't fulfill these minimal requirements.

Instead of having to manually go through a huge number of resumes, this division of qualified and unqualified prospects enables recruiters to save time and resources by concentrating solely on the most promising individuals. This can speed up the hiring process and guarantee that the best applicants are found promptly and effectively.

The ability to distinguish between qualified and unqualified candidates using automated screening software can help employers make better hiring decisions and have a more effective workforce.

3. Automatic resume screening drives you to improve your HR procedures.

Automatic resume screening can motivate businesses to enhance their HR practices, yes. The hiring process can be made more efficient by using automated screening tools, which can also point to areas that need improvement. For instance, if the program repeatedly notes a lack of competent candidates, it can mean that the job description needs to be changed in order to draw in more qualified individuals. Similar to the previous example, it may indicate that a requirement needs to be changed if a large number of unqualified individuals pass the screening process.

Automated screening can also offer insightful information about the hiring process and use data. Companies can more effectively customize their job postings and recruitment efforts to draw in the most qualified people by keeping track of which keywords, skills, and qualifications are more frequently present in successful candidates.

Moreover, automated screening can increase the fairness and consistency of the employment process. Automated screening uses the same criteria for every applicant, unlike human screening, which could be influenced by personal prejudices. This makes sure that every applicant is assessed in accordance with the same standards.

4. Enhanced face-to-face interviews

Face-to-face interviews can be improved in a number of ways by automated resume screening technologies. Initially, it may help to reduce the number of applicants to just the best ones, saving time and money on the interviewing process. As a result, recruiters will have more time to speak with each applicant, probe deeper into their backgrounds, and determine whether they are a good fit for the position. Additionally, the information gathered during the automated screening procedure can be used to prepare for and direct the interviewing procedure. For instance, the program can draw attention to particular skills or experience an applicant has, enabling the interviewer to concentrate on these and get a more in-depth understanding of the individual's knowledge.

Bias in the interview process can also be reduced with the aid of automated screening technologies. The program makes sure that all candidates are assessed in accordance with the same standards by applying objective criteria to filter applicants. This can help to ensure that the most qualified individuals, rather than those who might have been chosen based on personal prejudices or subjective beliefs, are picked for the interview process. Automated resume screening software can improve in-person interviews by reducing the number of candidates, providing information to guide the interview process, and removing bias from the selection procedure. This may result in a hiring process that is more productive and efficient and, ultimately, better hiring judgments.

Also read: Technology in Talent Acquisition