Many factors will help you identify suitable candidates for a position and it’s useful to have a checklist of questions when assessing their applications. Rating the importance of each skill or attribute is a simple yet effective method of establishing a candidate’s suitability for the job. In turn, scoring an applicant on a scale of one to five will also help you sort the wanna-bes from the can-dos.

Key skills & achievements
- How would the applicant’s skills benefit you?
- Has the applicant shown that he/she can set and achieve goals?
- Has the applicant completed extra courses?
- Are the applicant’s key skills relevant to the job?

What makes the applicant unique?

Qualifications & education
- Does the applicant have the level of education to complete the job?
- Has the applicant done other courses to develop their skills?

Are their results consistent? Have they exemplified a professional standard in their studies?
- How long has the applicant worked for each employer?
- Has the applicant worked for a variety of different employers? Consider company or organisation size and structure/systems, team size, location and nature of the business
- What was the applicant’s position and who did he/she report to?
- What client portfolios has the applicant worked on?
- Has the applicant implemented any initiatives?
- Did the applicant receive any promotions?
- What were the applicant’s responsibilities?
- What were the applicant’s achievements?
- Has the applicant been unemployed for a long duration?
- Has the applicant travelled or gained worldly experience?
- Has the applicant worked from the bottom up? Does he/she have any grounding or administrative skills that would help him/her in the position?
- If a graduate, was the applicant capable of working and studying at the same time? What is the applicant’s work experience? Did he/she win any work placements?

Has the applicant given a reason for leaving their current position?

Hobbies & interests
- What are the applicant’s interests?
- Is the applicant a team player or does he/she have solo pursuits

What character do their hobbies and interests suggest?

Naturally, these questions will vary depending on the position being advertised but they provide a basic guide to helping recruiters wade through large piles of job applications.

Christine Young (aka Young Writer) is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne , Australia and founder of Meap Careers premier human resources service for the Media, Entertainment, Arts, Public Relations and Publishing industries.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/