- January 29, 2009
- 2 Comments
CareerBuilder.com Screeners: Saving You Time and Sanity
You know the drill. Sign into your e-mail account. Sharp intake of breath. Moment of dread. Screen pops up. Eyes roll. Hundreds of e-mails sit there, waiting for you. Are you really motivated to go through them – and furthermore, actually answer any? Probably not, unless you love torturing yourself have an unlimited amount of time on your hands. Which none of us really do.
As more employees transition to job seekers, the influx of candidates interested in your job opportunity can be overwhelming. For you as an actively hiring employer, a strong number of quality candidates is a good thing. But a mass of unorganized emails is similar to a mass of unorganized applicants to your job: massively unhelpful if you don’t have a way to organize them.
The dish: CareerBuilder.com Screeners
The gist: Screeners allow you to create a personalized questionnaire for job seekers to fill out as part of your application process. You see every applicant’s score after they apply to your job, as well as a breakdown of applicants’ answers in your “My Applications” section.
Also known as: The fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt of CareerBuilder.com Free Tools.
Why: With Screeners, you can cut right through unqualified résumés to get to the good stuff: those fruit-at-the-bottom candidates. Stellar candidates may make up a smaller portion of applicants, but they are worth seeking out.
How to get it: Screeners are easy to set up. Simply log into “My CareerBuilder.com” and go to “Screeners” under the “Manage Candidates” drop-down.
Simple steps to create:
- Name your Screener
- Determine who will have access to the Screener
- Select the Screener level (Job-level, Account-level, or EEO)
- Write a brief intro (if you like).
From there, you can create free-form or multiple choice questions for a particular posting, save it, and activate it.
Edit or inactivate Screeners at any time.
Pairs best with: A killer job posting that not only nails down the specifics of the job further but also gives applicants insight into your company culture. The candidates who meet or exceed your expectations on the Screener and still apply to your position are not only pre-qualified but also interested. Now it’s your job to keep them that way. Tell them what makes your company unique, challenging, and worth working for. Sell them on it.
Why job seekers love it: If your company takes the steps to put Screeners into place, job seekers will see that your company is serious about finding good workers. It’s obvious that you care about the quality of your employees and want those interested in your position to know your expectations up front.
Why you need it: In addition to managing the sheer number of applicants, Screeners allow you to weed out unqualified candidates who apply to your job even though you totallysaidfiveyearsofexperiencewasrequired. By pre-qualifying your applicants, you’re saving yourself a lot of wasted time.
You can also define who has the “nice to haves” you may have asked about through Screener questions and who does not — making it a point to delve further for specifics during the interview.
Satisfy your appetite: All that time normally reserved for yelling at your computer screen can now be used for more productive things. Like catching up on your fave episodes of “30 Rock.” Or, you know, spending time with your friends and family!
Big tip: Be brief. We recommend asking 3-5 Screener questions. Candidates are likely applying to many jobs, even though it’s nice to think you’re the “only one.” Don’t write a novel, or you’ll likely experience a drop-off in applicants.
Late-night craving: You can also use a saved Screener again and again if you post similar jobs frequently. Tweak it whenever necessary.
Oh, and check out the white paper, Getting the Most from Online Pre-Screening Questions (PDF), for best practices.
Don’t forget — Screeners are FREE with your Job Postings. Enjoy.
- Have a response? Join the discussion.
- Categories: Employee Attraction, Free Tools You Can Use, Generational Hiring, Survey Results
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Fabulous article-great ideas. I do not do the hiring/interviewing but will recommend this article to my co-workers who do.
[...] the company costs associated with lost production and turnover (and remember that screeners are free if you’re a CareerBuilder client…That doesn’t suck, [...]