Human resource managers are often faced with a huge volume of applications for every job opening at their company. This is of a course a good news/bad news situation as more choices means you are more likely to find an ideal candidate, but it also means you have a lot of work sorting through all those applications. Fortunately, there are a few techniques you can use to make assessing these applications easier and faster, and at the same time ensure you do not miss any promising candidates.

Make a checklist based on the detailed job description of the position. Make sure the checklist includes both the required education/skills and the preferred education/skills. Remember the more criteria on the checklist, the more the candidate is likely to fit your needs.

Compare your checklist to the candidates' resumes. Do not let the format or style of the resume influence your decision much at this point, but obvious typos or large work history gaps in a resume should be considered when ranking applications.

Rank the applications based on your checklist and establish a "to interview" pile, a "maybe" pile and a "no" pile. Your time constraints in filling the position should be your guide on what criteria lead to a "maybe" score, and whether some of these candidates will be interviewed or will only be considered further if the "to interview" candidates do not pan out.

Choose candidates to interview based on the above steps. If you have too many applications in the "to interview" pile for your time constraints, you can further narrow your search by also considering additional experience, skills or certifications that the candidates bring to the job.

Warning

Note that according to federal law, employers cannot make hiring decisions on the basis of race, gender or age.