You spent time writing the perfect job ad that clearly lists the essential criteria of the role. You’re sure it’s enough to deter candidates without these skills from applying. But does it? Nope. Within days you’re wading through your inbox discarding applications that don’t make the first base. It’s one of the biggest frustrations with recruitment but how can you stop it from occurring?

What is Essential Selection Criteria?

The essential selection criteria are the skills, experience or attributes candidates must have to progress to an interview. They are the ‘not negotiables’. Without these attributes, they aren’t considered for the job. An organisation may lift the essential selection criteria from the job description document.

The essential criteria may contain:

• education requirement such as a degree qualification
• minimum length of time working in the industry
• a level of skill such as well-developed written communication
• an ability to use equipment or software
• industry qualification or certification
• membership to an industry body.

Junk Applications are Avoidable

As crystal clear as the selection criteria in the job ad is, you will still get applications from people that don’t have what you need. They may be desperate for a job and are applying for any job they see (spray and pray). Some aren’t even eligible to work in Australia. They are applying for so many that they don’t bother answering the criteria in the cover letter or CV ad.

Others may really want the advertised job and use the cover letter to explain that what they lack in selection criteria they make up for in enthusiasm. Either way, you don’t want to waste your time with these applications. You want to cut to the chase and spend time reviewing applications that are what you’re looking for.

Removing Applicants from the Process

If your job ad attracts hundreds of applications, the long list of CVs is daunting to review. Rather than let junk applications fall into the same basket as legitimate ones, you need a system to remove them.

This allows you the time and mental space to sift through the applications that count. You know that every application you open is a legitimate candidate.

Using job requirements filtering software means applicants without the essential criteria move into one list while those applicants that do, appear in another list. If you’ve received plenty of worthy applications, there is no need to look at the rejected ones. But if you’re curious, the rejected applications are on the system available for viewing.

Not Just Categorising But Ranking Applicants Too

The Matchd system isn’t just categorising based on the essential criteria, it also assesses and ranks each candidate. In minutes not hours the system will review applicants’ strengths and weaknesses on essential and desirable attributes and rank them. This allows recruiters to start with the highest performing candidate and work their way down the list to help decide who to interview. If you are sick of wasting your time opening applications that are not the right fit, check out how Matchd can change the way you recruit. Visit matchd.com for more information.