Sifting through piles of CVs? Here’s how to test your candidates and find the best person for your business.
By Craig Falck for Africa Report
Photograph: © Ljupco Smokovski | Dreamstime.com
Okay, so you’ve built a great business and now you’ve got a post to fill. Thing is, every Tom, Dick and Harry has sent in their CVs. It’s up to you to find the cream of the crop to take up a post at your business. Here’s how to do this by keeping your future business needs in mind, all the time.
Print out the CVs, grab a cup of tea or coffee or whatever you need to get you through the next few hours… Put the CVs in a pile in front of you and make two piles in front of you: “yes” and “no”. Now, start reading… Obviously you have a strong idea in your head about what you’re looking for, be it education-wise, experience-wise or anything else that you want from employees. Go through the pile in front of you and separate them into their respective piles. Whatever you don’t like or doesn’t meet your needs, put into the ‘no’ pile, and whatever you like goes into the yes pile. Don’t throw the no pile away – send them a generic email to inform them that they haven’t been successful but keep their CVs in a file (you never know when you will have a post open that will be perfect for someone from there). That is, if you have the capacity to do so. Sometimes, being tough and sending no reply is acceptable, but it does help to keep people in the loop so they know the status of their applications.
Once you’ve got all the CVs you like, make another two piles: “maybe” and “definitely”. Now separate the pile into the ones who you think are good candidates and the ones who are great. It’s time to scrutinise the best of the best and pit them against each other. Chances are you’ll have a handful that you will have a “feeling” about (believe it or not, gut instinct is still an amazingly good way to make decisions) – then contact their references and have a chat. You’ll more or less be able to pick up on when people are embellishing or whether they’re telling the truth. Put them in order now, with the person you want most on top. Contact them and invite them for an interview.
By now, you will already know that these short-listed people have what it takes on paper and you’re going to see if they have what it takes in person to work for you. We’re talking appearance, personality, professionalism, that sort of thing. You will have a number of questions prepared for your applicants, so ask them and make a mental note (or even on their CVs) of what you like and don’t like, and if you have any tests for them (some companies will set tests for their job applicants just to make sure that they haven’t lied on their CVs and are actually able to do what they claim), let them do it. Once they’ve completed the interview, go through your notes and choose the one that best suits your needs and make them an offer. Hopefully you’ll get the answer you want.
Finding the perfect employee to fill a position in your business isn’t a simple process. You need to be patient and go through a lot of bad to find the good that will meet your needs. Choose wisely, because this is someone who you’re trusting with the long-term growth of your business.
