Decide the criteria before you open a resume
Sit with the hiring manager for fifteen minutes and agree two lists. Knock-outs are the three or four things a candidate must have or you cannot hire them at all. Scored criteria are the four or five things that separate a good candidate from an adequate one. Take a customer support executive for a Jaipur office. Knock-outs: graduate, fluent in Hindi and English, willing to work rotational shifts. Scored: relevant support experience, stability in past jobs, typing or CRM use, and clarity of the resume itself.
The two-pass method
Pass one looks only at knock-outs and takes about thirty seconds a resume. Each one goes into yes, no or maybe. Pass two takes three or four minutes and applies the scoring sheet to the yes and maybe piles. In a worked example, 180 applications come in for four support roles. Pass one leaves 60. Pass two scores those 60 and the top 16 go to a phone screen, which is four candidates for each opening. The recruiter spends about a day and a half instead of a week, and every rejection has a stated reason.
- Relevant experience: 0 none, 1 related field, 2 same work, 3 same work in a similar business
- Stability: 0 several short stints without reason, 1 mixed, 2 steady tenure
- Tools and skills named in the job description: 0 to 3 based on how many appear
- Location or relocation fit: 0 unlikely, 1 possible, 2 local or willing
- Add the scores and set a cut-off before you start, not after
The ten-minute phone screen
A short call removes candidates who look right on paper but cannot join. Ask the same questions of everyone and note the answers in one place. Keep it to ten minutes and tell the candidate at the end when they will hear back.
- What do you do day to day in your current role?
- What is your notice period, and can any of it be bought out?
- What is your current monthly gross and what are you expecting?
- Why are you looking for a change now?
- Are you comfortable with the location, shifts and travel in this role?
- One quick skill question tied to the main duty
Screening mistakes to avoid
Speed brings its own errors. The biggest is rejecting on a reflex that has nothing to do with the job. Watch for these patterns in your own screening and in your recruiters'. A quick monthly check helps: pull ten rejected resumes at random and ask whether each rejection reason still holds when you read the resume again slowly.
- Rejecting career gaps without asking. Many are maternity, caregiving or study, and the person may be the strongest applicant.
- Over-weighting college or employer brand names instead of the work actually done.
- Pure keyword matching that misses people who describe the same work in different words.
- Letting resumes sit unread for a week, by which time good candidates have accepted elsewhere.
- Not recording why a resume was rejected, which makes decisions impossible to review later.
Step by step
- Agree knock-outs and scored criteria. Fix three or four knock-outs and four or five scored criteria with the hiring manager before screening starts. Write them at the top of the screening sheet.
- Build a one-page scoring sheet. Give each scored criterion a simple 0 to 2 or 0 to 3 scale with a line describing each score. Set the cut-off for the phone screen before you read any resume.
- Run pass one on every resume. Check knock-outs only and sort into yes, no and maybe. In ZeniaHR, each application arrives with a resume match score and a breakdown by skills, experience, role fit and education, which helps you order the queue, though every resume should still be read before rejection.
- Score the shortlist in pass two. Apply the scoring sheet to the yes and maybe piles. Rank by total score and pick about three to five candidates per opening for the phone screen.
- Phone screen the top candidates. Use the same six questions for every call and note the answers. Drop candidates whose notice period, pay expectation or location cannot work.
- Record notes and move candidates on. Write a two-line note for each decision. In ZeniaHR, add screening notes and move candidates on the pipeline board from New to Screening to Interview, so the hiring manager sees the same picture.
- Close the loop with everyone else. Send a short regret message to candidates who did not make it, within a week of applying. It protects your employer reputation and keeps the door open for future roles.
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How long should it take to screen a resume?
With agreed criteria, a first pass takes about thirty seconds per resume because you only check knock-outs such as qualification, language and location. A second, scored pass on the shortlist takes three or four minutes each. Without agreed criteria, screening takes much longer and decisions vary from one reviewer to the next.
What are knock-out criteria in recruitment?
Knock-out criteria are the few requirements a candidate must meet to be considered at all, such as a required qualification, a licence, a language or willingness to work night shifts. They are checked first and answered yes or no. Keep them to three or four, and make sure each one is truly needed for the job.
Should I reject resumes with a career gap?
No, not without asking. Gaps often come from maternity, caring for a parent, illness, higher studies or a family business. Ask about the gap in the phone screen and judge the candidate on their skills and recent work. Rejecting gaps by reflex removes capable people, especially women returning to work.
What should I ask in a phone screening call?
Ask what the candidate does day to day, their notice period, current and expected pay, why they want to move, whether the location, shifts and travel suit them, and one short question on the main skill. Ask every candidate the same questions and keep the call to about ten minutes.