Recruitment isn’t easy and there are multiple stages to go through. From promoting your job opportunity to extending an offer letter to the right candidate. There are many stages when you will have multiple candidates to evaluate and put through to the next part of the process. But how do you know how to do this? And is it the same as choosing the right candidate?

We’ve got three tips for evaluating candidates. These are broad tips that you can apply to all stages of the recruitment process. We’ll be writing more advice pieces on each stage over the next few months but for now would say that if you can evaluate your candidates it should result in you having the right candidates to choose from.

Review your job description

A good, clear job description will make evaluation that much easier. Try and refine the responsibilities so that it can act as a natural filter for you. Add in any qualifications you require or types of experience to help the right candidates apply for your role. We’ve spoken previously about your employer brand and this could also be included in your job description.

Create a checklist or criteria

It can feel as if you’re missing out on candidates by creating a checklist but this isn’t the case. Creating a checklist or criteria to review CVs or interviews against, ensures that you evaluate your company’s purpose as well as the role itself. It will enable you to assess each CV consistently and with more speed than reading each one with no criteria in mind. If you’re worried you might be missing out on candidates by doing this you can always ask other team members to also review all applicants against the criteria. If their evaluation meets yours, you know that the candidate is right for the next stage.

Will they fit in with your company’s culture?

This might be the hardest criteria to evaluate against but the most important. Our advice is to keep your mission, vision and values in mind alongside what you feel to be key to be a success in your business. Ask yourself if you can say yes to the following when evaluating a candidate:

• Do their values match your values?
• Can you see them growing in your business?
• Will they be happy to come to work each day?
• Will they work well with other members of your team?
• Do they have the skills needed to do the job well?

Finding good eggs

Hopefully, you can say yes to those final questions when evaluating candidates. These tips should help you find several ‘right’ candidates or ‘good eggs’. You could end up in the enviable position of choosing between two candidates that are right for your business. That is a different prospect all together and one that we’ll talk about more in the future! If you’re struggling to find the right candidates now, or choose between two right candidates, chat to Nicola at nicola@goodeggrecruitment.com or Annette at annette@goodeggrecruitment.com for help and advice.