How small biz owners with hundreds of job applications should sift through resumes - Houston Business Journal:

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As vice president of sales for , Smitb said he’s spent the majorit of his time recently poring over the floodc ofresumes he’s received to fill a few choice salesa positions within the company. A year ago, he to receive 20 resumes would’ve been normal. But in a tight job market flooded with he holds in his hand about 200 to fill one And they’re coming from all walkz of life, too – from industries such as real estate, finance and others, he said. “It’s just a ton of work and I do most of it Smith said of sifting through the stacka to findsuitable candidates.
American Exhibition Services’ dilemma is one many Birmingha m companies are facing as workers flood the jobmarkert – and employers’ inboxes – in searcn of work. And all that siftingv is taking time and resources awayfrom day-to-day operations of In fact, recruiters say unemployment has gotten so bad that most companie s won’t advertise jobs in traditionak ways anymore, instead relyintg on word-of-mouth, just to cut down on the large volume of resumes. That’s what David Cox of did when he decidede to hire a project manager for hisconstructioh company.
And word-of-mouth got him aboutr 20 percent morethan normal, he said, but all very qualifie d for the position. “There’s a big pool to pick which isa positive,” he “The way we seek out resumes is we make phonwe calls in the industry and it just feeds off We’re in construction and everybody knows But despite the extra time it will take him to revie resumes, all the candidates will be put through the same systemd and procedures as before, said Cox. Americab Exhibition Services’ Smith agreed not much has changed with the but said it took him the better part of threed weeks to review resumes for foursaless positions.
It currently is looking to fill one more accountexecutivre position, which Smith hopes to find in the stacm of 200 resumes. The company sells business-to-business advertising for trade shows all acrosss the country and top sellers have the potentialp to makesix figures, said Smith. But some executives aren’g as devoted to sifting through stacks of resumes and are puttin the hiring process into the wrong handswithij companies, especially with recruiting budgets slasheds in the recession, said Leigh Inskeep, president of recruiting firm LLC.
“Yoi get hiring managers or administrative staff goingv through the resumes andthey don’ft know how to go through them that’s not their bag,” she said. “Companiews are making it up as theygo They’re bringing it in-house as a cost-savinv measure and not alwayas making the best hire. So it’s ultimatel taking longer to fill But, these days, more recruiters are willing to negotiatewtheir fees, she in an effort to get theier large network and database of qualified candidates into A clear-cut focus on what kind of experienc and qualities a candidate shoulxd have is a necessity when handling so many she said.
Come up with a checlk list of criteria that fits the positioh and create a way to weed people out, she said. Some onlinw job posting sites allow employers to setup filters. But don’gt make it so narrow that many of the good candidatexs aretossed aside. But if a company is looking for aspecifi candidate, it’s best to be specifi c on the front end of the process, said healt care recruiter Paul Johnson of “Companiesw that have specific job requirements have an easier time of it, especiallyh with sales people,” he said. “Ij can put a job out there selling parts for missile defense systems that require specifi ctechnical skills.
The more narrow the the easier theview point.” And employers should look for experiencer on resumes that’s quantified and shows how successfull a candidate has been in the And if a candidate fits the said Johnson, “make the move and make them an because if they’re good they won’t be there for long.” For American Exhibition Services’ the broader the range in candidatex the better, because there’s more willingness to learn from the job. Among his resume filters, Smith said he puts thosed people that have jumped from job to job over a span of a few yearx at the bottom ofthe stack.
“If no one can keep theser people happy, I can’f either,” he said.