Weed Out Non-Starters Early In Your Recruitment

The Gotcha Guide To Pre-Qualifying Your Applicants

You’ve been through two rounds of interviews and sat through a presentation. Everyone in the team has – finally – agreed on who’s perfect for the job. You have even gone so far as to verbally offer the job to your preferred candidate. All was going swimmingly until they saw the contract:

“I have a phobia of flying, sorry. I can’t travel.”

Sometimes, the real show-stoppers to recruitment are not the little things you’ve worked so hard to identify, they’re the big, obvious things that it’s so easy to take for granted. “What do you mean you don’t want to move to Scotland – didn’t you notice that’s where our office is?”

The Gotcha Guide to pre-qualifying your applicants

(or, things to ask early on when you don’t have time to waste.)

Here’s our list of basic information you should seek – pre-interview – before you spend your valuable time assessing the finer details of your candidates.

Salary. People like to stall on this one. But in reality if your expectation is much lower than theirs, everyone’s time is wasted.
Location. Make sure your applicant is willing to work where you need them to. If you have more than one office, be clear where they’ll be spending their time. Don’t forget working from home – is it allowed or not?
Willingness to travel. If they have to travel with their job, then make that clear. Are they prepared to spend time away from home to travel abroad?
Access to own transport. If you need them to drive to visit customers or make deliveries, do they have the right licence and their own car?
Are they legally able to work? If they are in the country illegally and you employ them then you’re at fault. A photocopy of a passport or birth certificate should do it.
Do they have the right qualifications? Again, ask them to submit photocopies of certificates with their application.
Do they possess the right professional skills and certifications? If membership of an association or a pass in a professional qualification is required, ensure they have what you’ve specified.
Are they prepared to work your hours? If overtime and weekend working is part of the deal, then be upfront about it. If shift work is involved then make sure your candidate is happy with the idea.

Most of these you can put in the job description and the candidates should self-qualify. But it makes sense to double check. You’d be surprised at how many people simply don’t read the spec properly or assume once they’re in they’ll be able to bend the rules.