How To Screen Out Time Wasters From Your Talent Pool

Decreasing the cost and time to hire is one of the biggest challenges for a hiring team, and these factors are usually the most measured when it comes to recruitment performance - so how should you improve your processes?

One way that has been shown to work in many situations is to have a well-considered talent pool, full of pre-qualified candidates that can be headhunted for roles when they come up.

However, talent pools can have too many candidates in them - and those that are time wasters could become a problem if recruitment teams do not have the right criteria in place.

What are time wasters?

Time wasters in talent pools can come in many guises. Some are just not qualified for the position that they have applied for, while others might have unrealistic expectations of things like salary or working conditions.

However, time wasters in the talent pool can dilute it, and make it that much more difficult to find the right applicant to select for further assessment.

A good talent pool needs to have not only basic (and up-to-date) contact information about a candidate, but also more relevant details about things like education and experience, career goals and suitable roles, and even some idea of culture fit.

Without these systems in place, the talent pool could be taken up with candidates who lack the necessary qualifications or experience, or who would be a poor fit for the workplace culture.

Not motivated to leave their current role

Candidates who would be considered time wasters in the recruitment process include applicants who are not really motivated to leave a role; they might be relatively content in the role that they are in currently and not ready to move.

These candidates are likely to accept a counteroffer from their current role if one comes up. In the worst-case scenario, they might be actively seeking to use their application (and job offer) to renegotiate at their current role, maybe for a salary increase or some other benefit.

Underqualified for the role

Other candidates that might be considered to be time wasters are ones who are completely underqualified for the role. These candidates might have an overinflated view of their own abilities, or think that they can ‘fake it until they make it’, but in fact, they are lacking in even the basic education or experience requirements.

Candidates like this might be chancing their arm in applying, or they might just want to get their foot in the door with the company, especially if it is a well-known name in the industry, offers above-average salaries, or has a great company culture.

Unrealistic salary expectations

Another type of time waster is the applicant who has completely unrealistic salary expectations, and these can leave it until the offer stages to become known. Candidates like this might not have any idea how much the role pays on average, or they might have just pulled a number out of their own head to begin negotiations.

Why is it important to screen out time wasters?

With this in mind, a clean and well-screened talent pool is the way to go - but it isn't always that simple.

In an ideal world, your talent pool will be a detailed database of ready-to-go candidates, easily searchable and simple to use to find the right person for a role when it becomes available. The talent pool will be funneled into using different sources, including:

• Previous candidates and employees

• Employee referrals

• Interested applicants where a role isn't currently available

• Second-choice applicants

While these sources might mean getting some pre-qualified candidates, not all of them will be suitable, which is why there needs to be an effective screening process. Screening means that those candidates who are unsuitable for whatever reason are not involved in the selection process, making it easier to find the right ones.

If time wasters are not screened out, the time to hire will increase - there will be more candidates to look through, more steps in the recruitment process, and more manpower needed to qualify candidates.

How to screen out time wasters

Finding the best ways to screen out the time wasters in the talent pool is not easy. There are different strategies and technologies that can be implemented, and the right combination will depend on the company and the business needs at the time - it should be a developmental idea that grows as more data is needed.

1. Define and communicate clear job requirements

This is an important part of any recruitment process, not just for filtering out unsuitable candidates in the talent pool.

As a recruiter, if you know what the requirements are for the role you are advertising, you will know what a candidate has to be able to demonstrate to be selected. These can include the necessary qualifications or level of experience, as well as certain soft skills, competencies, and even professional certifications.

2. Set clear expectations for the recruitment process

Other expectations that need to be set include those for the recruitment process.

Any workflow needs to be evaluated to make sure it is effective, and the recruitment process is no different.

The metrics used to measure the success of the recruitment process are things like time to hire and cost per hire - and with the right recruitment funnel in place, the metrics should show that the process is successful.

The recruitment funnel should have clear steps and stages, which makes the expectations of the hiring process obvious.

3. Use pre-employment assessments and tests

Pre-employment assessments and tests are often one of the earliest stages in the recruitment process, and they are a fast, effective, and efficient way to filter out candidates who are unsuitable.

Tests like verbal and numerical reasoning evaluate candidates on their inherent literacy and numeracy, while soft skills tests look at their judgment, communication and teamwork. Other tests can be skill specific, like programming or using a particular piece of software.

Tests like these can be used to pre-qualify candidates for a place in the talent pool, and take some of the steps out of the recruitment funnel.

4. Conduct effective phone and video interviews

The interview process is about getting to know more about a candidate, and even after they have been through the screening process and completed the relevant tests, you might still need to ask more questions.

Effective interviews should ask questions that will highlight whether a candidate that seems good on paper is as good in person - and don't forget, the questions they ask at the end could give more details on this.

5. Use behavioral and situational questions

The types of questions asked in the interview are important. Behavioral questions will allow candidates to describe events and times where they have used some of the essential soft skills for the role, and can show you that they are able to deal with different situations in a way that matches both the needs of the role and the culture of the workplace.

6. Check references and conduct background checks

Not all roles will need a full background check, but it is always a good idea to collect references from potential employees.

A good reference will give you more information about what that candidate was like at their previous employment, and give you an idea of what you can expect if you were to take them on yourself.

7. Use applicant tracking systems to filter candidates

Screening all the way through the recruitment funnel is tough, but when you are looking to remove time wasters from your talent pool, a good Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can make all the difference.

Not only can they be used to store details about the applicants and candidates for a specific role, but they are also an excellent way to maintain the talent pool - and the ATS will usually have tools available that can help you screen more effectively, including keyword-searching algorithms and collation of aptitude test results.

8. Incorporate timed tasks or exercises

If you really want to see how well a potential candidate would perform in the workplace, then completing a job-specific task or exercise will give you a good idea.

These can include tests like those on programming languages, or they might be a situational judgment test which is based on work-related scenarios.

However the job simulation is formatted, making sure they are timed (to add relevant pressure) will give the best results.

Final thoughts

It is not simple and straightforward to screen out time wasters - some are not as obvious as others.

However, with more pressure to perform when it comes to hiring, and the risk of losing high-value applicants with a process that takes too long, having a well-structured talent pool that offers pre-screened, qualified candidates can make all the difference.

If you haven't got a screening process in place, the best candidates could be lost among all the other options, and it can add time and effort to the hiring process that could be costly in the long run.