It is becoming more difficult for companies and businesses to hire dedicated and qualified graduates to fill certain positions. This has been compounded by out dated recruitment processes that are a real drain on a company’s resources.

Step 1 - Create the Job Advert

To hire a qualified graduate for your firm or company, creating an advert is likely the first step you will take. Your company job advert is one way you can attract quality graduates and at the same time also have the opportunity to advertise your company and the job position.

It’s important that career opportunities are detailed but at the same time attracting the right type of candidate. This might also be achieved through attending careers fairs at local universities.

Step 2 – Review the Applications

Once your advert has been positively received by candidates and applications are flooding in, you will want to consider the most effective way to identify the top graduates/candidates. With this in mind, you may consider filtering by expected degree classification, relevant work experience, interests or even A-level / GCSE results.

This ‘short-list’ may not be as short as you’d like when it comes to the number of interviews and the time commitment this requires, which leads us onto the assessment stage.

Step 3: Test Candidates

Online psychometric testing is an increasingly common solution to the problem of filtering candidates for interview. The process of interviewing candidates for interview can be time consuming, as can be the process of shortlisting candidates from step 2 to a reasonable number of candidates to interview.

There are a wide range of important reasons for using recruitment tests and online assessments which can be found in our article: 5 Reasons You should be using Psychometric and Aptitude Testing.

Some employers prefer to test candidates remotely whereas others use assessment centers, using the opportunity to test the candidate under ‘exam conditions’. Candidates can then be ranked based on their performance in these tests and the best candidates can then proceed to the interview stage.

Where you need the recruitment process to be accelerated, you could also take successful candidates to interview immediately after they have passed the aptitude tests.

Step 4: Interview

So, if all has gone to plan, you should now have a shortlist of candidates that you can take to interview. This is usually quite a daunting process for many graduates but those who can handle themselves under questioning should make excellent recruits! You’ll need to think about the questions that you / the interviewer will ask. These should challenge the way the candidate thinks but also allow them to demonstrate that they are a good fit for the team. Consider involving another member of the team to take notes, this would allow you to concentrate on the conversation rather than taking notes. Be sure to let the candidate know why they are there.