7. Set up a system to grade the resumes based on qualifications, education, skills, similar experience, etc.
If you have more than 25 resumes to review, you’ll need a system to keep track of the candidates’ qualification. I recommend you set up a rating system to determine which candidates are the most qualified for your particular position. A rating system also allows you to defend your decision if a candidate asks why he or she was not selected–you’ll be able to say, “The hiring decision was based on a fair and equitable system applied to all candidates based on qualifications.”
There are a number of rating systems, but I suggest two for your consideration:
- The point system is pretty straightforward. Let’s say for the job in question reqiores that a Bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement and a Master’s degree is the preferred requirement in the education category. Assign 1 point for education for all candidates who have a Bachelor’s degree and 2 points for those with a Master’s degree.
- Do the same for all the specific job qualifications for the position in question: skills, level of experience, experience in your industry. Assign candidates points for their appropriate experience in the field, for working in similar organizations, for having specific talents or skills (such as balancing the general ledger or handling Workers’ Compensation).
- The ABC system is similar to the grades we all received in school. Assign candidates a “grade” based on their overall qualifications for the job: education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities. This method is more subjective–like when we were in school, each rater has his or her own bias to what merits an A, B or C. This is a method used by seasoned resume screeners since they have years of experience.
