The Future of Screening CVs and Vetting Resumes

The issue of compliance and verification is a huge concern. Companies are facing mounting pressure to ensure that they not only receive sufficient ROI for their employee acquisition efforts but also that they safeguard their brand image and reputation. The human resource function has been under increasing pressure to change yet it still faces many of the same old problems when faced with acquiring suitable talent; the classic challenges involved in strategic recruitment from attracting, screening, and shortlisting candidates in today’s candidate-driven talent marketplace. “A greater impediment to hiring can be found in an astounding 52% of human resource leaders reporting that the most difficult aspect of recruitment remains anchored in recognizing the most viable candidates from a large applicant pool.” – Glassdoor for employers Top HR Statistics At present, modern recruitment tools and algorithms have made sourcing talent much more comprehensive. The sourcing and initial filtering of talent issues have essentially been solved through modern recruitment digital automation and marketing practices such as developing a strong talent brand, nurturing talent communities, and paying sector competitive wages. But screening, vetting, and shortlisting talent quickly and efficiently still remains a challenge to be creatively overcome. Screening and shortlisting candidates previously have meant a major consumption of labour hours. <h2>Technological Innovation</h2> In today’s job market a public job opening receives anywhere from 150 – 500 resumes on average, which can take up to a full workday per hire spent simply screening resumes, rate each candidate against a scorecard, just to determine the candidate shortlist. According to current industry stats, there is a depressingly high amount of applicants that are either unqualified for the job they have applied for or are not strong enough as a candidate to advance through the hiring process with any chance of successful acquisition. Technological innovation has taken a lot of the heavy lifting out of the time-consuming process of screening; the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) was invented to do just that. And it seems to be working in drastically humanizing the overall hiring practice. But the process can be problematic in many ways; there are specific shortcomings inherent in the current evolution of candidate tracking such as: concluding false positives results – mistakenly moving forward candidates due to keyword stuffing and false negatives results – screening out good candidates with strong qualifications due to keyword filtering. A valuable component of talent acquisition today is the creation of applicant shortlist scorecards. The scorecard can be a vital piece when considering the potential time savings they offer in narrowing the talent pool down to the most desirable people. Shortlisting essentially describes the desirable criteria needed for a candidate to do the job at the very minimum level. The criteria that make up the shortlist should be related to on-the-job performance and ideally should be captured in the job description. The shortlist criteria should be based on the qualities, traits, and aspirations of the top-performing employees currently occupying the role. Using criteria that are correlated with job performance helps avoid legal and discrimination issues. The criteria should be applied dependably, fairly, and objectively across all candidates. Such standards can and should include education, work experience, personality traits, competencies, skills and knowledge. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="835" height="402" src="https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/Intelligent-Shortlisting.jpg" alt="screening CVs Resumes" class="wp-image-9981" title="screening CVs Resumes" srcset="https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/Intelligent-Shortlisting.jpg 835w, https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/Intelligent-Shortlisting-300x144.jpg 300w, https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/Intelligent-Shortlisting-768x370.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 835px) 100vw, 835px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Screening and shortlisting candidates previously have meant a major consumption of labour hours.</figcaption></figure> <h2>Intelligent Shortlisting</h2> Intelligent shortlisting is a data analytics technology allowing for an AI (Natural Language Programming) automated digital solution that delivers the most desirable ROI of any acquisition tool. It does the following: 1. Replaces the manual process of creating shortlist criteria by learning what they are from your resume database. 2. Ensures the criteria that the software uses to shortlist candidates is correlated with the job by using data from your existing employees. 3. Ensures the objective and consistent application of the criteria across all candidates reducing problems related to compliance and discrimination. 4. Reduces false positives and false negatives because candidates can’t trick the ATS nor do qualified candidates slip through the cracks. 5. Potential integration or leverage of Primary Source Verification (PSV): PSV is the verification from the original source of a specific credential (education, training, skills, certifications, and licensure) to determine the accuracy of the qualifications. No one knows exactly what the future will bring. The human resource function is relying more and more on automation and technological innovation to reduce costs associated with laborious document screening and processing tasks. Individuals skilled enough or with access to resources such as the Photoshop, Adobe Suite, or the financial ability to purchase false documents from a number of illegal Diploma mills will continue to cross paths creating problems that advanced technology can’t necessarily catch. At this intersection of man and machine there could be an impasse with more deviant and desperate candidates willing to go to any length to fabricate their identity and credentials. In the end no matter how savvy the technology becomes nothing will beat Primary Source Verification (PSV) to determine the authenticity of documentation. “Intelligent automated shortlisting has the potential to save 23 hours per hire, reduce turnover by 40%, and increase performance by 25%.” -UpToWork.com <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="877" height="350" src="https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/uptowork.com-screenshot.jpg" alt="screening CVs Resumes" class="wp-image-9984" title="screening CVs Resumes" srcset="https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/uptowork.com-screenshot.jpg 877w, https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/uptowork.com-screenshot-300x120.jpg 300w, https://production-prod-trueprofile-blogassets-origin.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/uptowork.com-screenshot-768x306.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 877px) 100vw, 877px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 1. <a href="https://zety.com/blog/hr-statistics#most-popular" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zety 2020 HR Statistics: Job Search, Hiring, Recruiting & Interviews</a></figcaption></figure>