Do you need the help of these guys to hire your next staff?
If you are looking for guidelines on virtual applicant screening for assembling a high-quality virtual bench, here is a process that can significantly affect the real world of screening applicants for your small business.
- List Your Ad
You can list your ad on a service like oDesk, vWorker, or JobStreet in as broad or specific terms as you’d like. It is a good idea to include three unique questions at the bottom of the ad, which you can then use to screen out those who have not paid enough attention and have ignored the questions.
- Collect Resumes
You then collect the applications and resumes that people send you in response. If your ad has been written outlining several positive aspects, like it being a full-time, long-term position, you will likely get many reactions from which you can choose.
- Pre-screen applicants and send a Questionnaire
If some applications have ignored your questions, you can discard them. Others may put themselves out of the running by answering in poor English. Those whom you have left should be sent a questionnaire.
- Collect Returned Questionnaires
Some applicants will state that their salary expectations far exceed what you are prepared to pay. These can be excluded. Next, determine how well the rest of the questions have been answered and choose the best.
- Assign Tasks and Set Up Trial.
The tasks you assign to narrow the field can be relatively simple. Give the candidates a chance to shine and give them some ‘underhand throws.’ An external service, such as ExpertRating, can manage these trials if you don’t want to do this yourself.
These tasks will help you discover your prospective employee’s real-world capabilities. In screening applicants, it won’t tell you everything you need to know, as more will be found if they get through to the interview stage. However, if they say they have, let’s say good copywriting skills, you will be able to find out by reading the articles they produce for you whether they are competent and can make good work in a timely fashion. You should be left with approximately four to five people who have completed the tasks.
- Conduct Interviews
Now is your chance actually to meet with your last few chosen candidates. Style your interview along the lines laid down by Brad Smart in his book Topgrading. He gives some great suggestions for pertinent questions and how the interview should be run. These interviews would usually be held using Skype. They should be recorded for your further consideration, especially when you ask for employment background screening companies to help you know more about them.
- Hire!
Discovering who will perform the best for your company should be a fairly easy process. The people you don’t choose could be placed on a virtual bench to be assigned one-off tasks that come up from time to time.
Go through this process of screening applicants whenever you need a new employee, and you should always find A players.
