by Sara R. Bradley

Created on: August 06, 2008   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

Once the resumes begin pouring in for an opening, managers with an already overwhelming schedule tend to get incredibly stressed. How in the world can anyone fit in all these interviews and find the best candidate for the position with a tight schedule? Before you consider hiding in the bathroom or calling in sick during the interview process, read the below tips for a smoother and more effective method for conducting an interview.

When the Resumes Start Rolling In
As the resumes come in, take a few minutes each day to go over them. If you look at the resumes daily, you will be able to eliminate having to spend a full day going over the large quantities of resumes that are likely to come in. Make three separate folders:
1. Qualified- the applicant has the experience and all of the qualifications that are needed for the open position. For example, if you really need someone who has experience with meeting the compliance expectations of CE mark or 501K and one of the applicants has this experience-then that resume needs to be in this folder.
2. Possible- the applicant has some, but not all, of the experience and/or qualifications. If the resume peaks your interest and the applicant is impressive on paper, you may want to consider interviewing this person. Sometimes the best employees turn out to be the ones that needed a little extra training. Remember, there is always some form of training needed with any new hire. Every company has different procedures and guidelines that they follow.
3. Not Qualified- the applicant does not have any of the qualifications and/or the experience requested in the advertisement. There are going to be more of these than you would suspect. Many applicants simply send their resumes everywhere. Whether it is desperation or simply wanting companies to realize that they are available, who can say? The point is that they are not qualified for the position that you are interviewing for and their resume needs to go into this folder. End of story.

After you have sorted the resumes, read over each one in the qualified and possible folders. A handy tip: rate the resumes with the numbers 1-3. 1 representing the best candidate for the job and 3 being mediocre. After reading through the resumes, you may want to move some resumes to another folder. Keep it organized. Remember, the resumes represent the person. If the resume is sloppy and appears hastily put together, you can probably expect that same type of work from that person.

Now, it is time for

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