What is Resume Screening

Resume screening software (also known as resume parsing software) enables you to have a hassle-free candidate screening and hiring process. It collects and synchronizes resumes received from different sources and sorts them as per the role so that you can prioritize resumes as per your requirement. It finds the best candidate for the keyword search results or answers to specific questions. It can also be a part of your applicant tracking system (ATS).

Benefits of Using Resume Screening Software

1. Save hiring time

It saves your manual effort in going through a long list of resumes through an improved algorithm.

2. Pick top candidates

No hassle of getting trapped by false-positive and false-negative keyword biases.

3. Candidate satisfaction

Every candidate gets a fair chance.

4. Save budget

It automates the screening process to save time and effort. Moreover, it enables you to collaborate with recruitment teams of any size.

Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Though using this AI-driven software is beneficial, you must be careful about three major aspects as discussed below.

1. Reliability

Being AI tools, these may have several inconsistencies and flaws, as the technology is still in its beta stage. It might fail to separate the wheat from the chaff, as you might expect.

For example, it may reject resumes because of font issues if the scanner fails to recognize an unusual format, page orientation, or picture placement. It can also reject applicants for not being active on social media if your screening process includes a social media activity as part of the interview process.

You can address the issue by feeding more data to the tool for it to analyze and understand the pattern.

2. Biases

The primary reason behind using an AI recruitment tool is to reduce human biases (intentional and unintentional) such as age, gender, nationality, and more while selecting candidates.

AI-based recruitment gets better with time as it keeps learning and improving through analyzing old patterns. For example, if you feed the last 10 years of recruitment data of your company, then the AI will compile that data to create new information and form a pattern.

Remember, not all systems are full-proof. Sometimes they fail to acknowledge personal biases and may even introduce new biases into the system. So, the result might depend upon the data you enter as well as the quality of the AI.

3. Language Barriers:

There was a time when the AI only used to recognize the commands while completely failing to comprehend the in-depth meaning behind words. However, things are looking good in the new era of Natural Language Processing (NLP). This revolutionary technology can help in interpreting human emotions and language to a whole new level.

How to make the best use of your resume screening software

Building an optimized and personalized resume screening tool shouldn’t have to be a daunting task. A few simple types of research from trusted service providers can help you find the right features befitting your organization’s unique demands. For example, you can refer to some reliable and widely used service providers like LinkedIn, SmartRecruiters, Greenhouse, Ducknowl, etc.

All the above companies provide packaged resume screen tools within their ATS. So, you can check the features they offer in their packages and ensure they cover everything you need. Otherwise, you may end up paying for features that you may never use in the future.

It would be better to subscribe to their trial plans as it will give you enough time to check how it all works and whether it is the right fit for your business needs. Besides, most companies are looking for acquiring new clients, so you will most probably get a good deal with flexible payment schemes.

How to determine what is best for your company

If you are still unsure whether to invest in a resume screen tool, then here is something that can help.

First, you need to identify the gaps in your current hiring process.

Measure the time and money you invest in your interview processes. Calculate how much time it typically consumes to select a candidate (analyzing candidate experience and the time consumed in the interview process) manually.

Now compare the time and money invested in hiring a candidate manually and through a resume screen tool. There are several identifiable gaps involved in a manual hiring process, such as time, money, quality of talents, etc.

Once you identify the key issues, you can select the features you need in an ATS and see whether a resume screening tool is a healthy investment for your organization or not.

Alternatives to candidate screening software

If you want to quickly sort out potential candidates out of a mass, it is better to go for online skills assessments. Sometimes, you miss the potential candidates in the early phase of screening just because it’s too late or you’re too hired to find them from a pile of applications. Even if you make use of a resume scanning tool, you miss these gems as some candidates know how to get picked up by your resume scanning software.

Final thoughts

It is imperative to identify useful tools and software for your hiring process. Do thoughtful research and analyze the cost factor with different modes of the hiring process. In this way, you can rest assured of making the right choice for your organization.