Recruitment and Selection

How to conduct a good preselection of candidates

The pre-selection of candidates is an essential process to meet the needs of your company. On our blog, you will learn about its stages. Visit us!

consultor

Isabel García

HR Consultant

preselection candidates

11 of March, 2025

It’s not necessary to interview all the people who believe they have the necessary skills to perform the job offered. Your company can and should perform a preselection of candidates.

To do this, you should analyze the resumes submitted by the candidates and their level of match with the position and the company’s philosophy.

How should this recruitment process be? What should be taken into account? We dive into the waters of attracting and selecting talent.

What is the preselection of candidates

The preselection phase is the first step of your hiring process. In this phase, the key points of this process are defined.

To do this, your human resources department must conduct preliminary research to identify the company’s personnel needs. What type of talent and experience do you need for your company?

Hiring is a time-consuming activity, but the use of recruitment tools will save you a lot of time.

The use of our solutions for selection and preselection processes will help you send the correct message to potential candidates. It will also reduce your workload by automating part of the process.

Factors for a successful preselection of candidates

The preselection phase of candidates for a company needs to consider a number of elements or factors:

  • You need to see if the person who applied for your offer meets all the minimum requirements of training, languages, and experience.
  • The resume must be structured and presented according to certain parameters, so it doesn’t appear disorganized.
  • Spelling mistakes are a warning sign. You don’t need to have excellent spelling to apply. However, a resume with spelling mistakes conveys a lack of seriousness and attention to detail.

Understanding the needs

Even though we like to believe that the selection process is an objective effort, it isn’t. And that’s alright.

The truth is that, in the end, it’s people who make these decisions.

The most critical part of the application process is knowing what you’re looking for.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that they have to look for something specific in a candidate, like a degree or specific certification. But it’s not about that.

Most importantly, understand the needs of your organization and then find someone who can satisfy them.

Stages of a preselection process of candidates

Preselection of personnel is the starting point of the candidate search process to cover a job or a specific role.

This is a critical stage, as you can prepare for success here. If you have a good preselection process, your job will be easier, particularly when it comes to making the final decisions on who will be hired and who won’t.

Identify your needs

When filling a position, it is vital to identify the skills necessary for it.

This includes identifying what tasks have been left undone and what type of workers will best cover them, as well as determining whether a full-time job or freelance work would be better.

What profile are you looking for

Once the needs of your company are defined, you can ascertain what qualities are expected from your ideal worker. You will have to consider aspects such as:

  • Training.
  • Skills.
  • Qualities.
  • Availability.
  • Responsibility.
  • Salary.

Negative selection or signs that the candidate should not pass the preselection process

During the preselection of candidates, you can also identify red flags that automatically eliminate candidates from consideration.

For example, you might need an employee with a very high level of English for this position, because it involves communicating with international customers.

You might also require someone with specific work experience or knowledge of certain indispensable tools that must be known beforehand.

During the preselection of candidates, you can review previous recruitment processes to learn from mistakes and successes. This review allows you to improve your recruitment practices.

Base your next preselection processes on data

A good way to save time and money is to use a management system. This system should automatically include and eliminate candidates based on their qualifications.

This is especially relevant when it comes to hiring staff. You should make sure you only attract the best people for your company.

Filtering the candidates

Using an automated inclusion and elimination system will expedite the filtering process. You will be able to swiftly establish the fundamental requirements that the candidate must meet to participate in the selection process.

Those who do not match the required qualities and training are automatically removed from the system.

In conclusion, these types of tools for staff selection help you automate processes and optimize tasks.

The workflow system is designed to simplify the selection process as much as possible, from the initial preselection process to the decision-making about hiring or rejection.

You can’t afford to make a bad hire. Every decision you make has the power to affect the company’s results. Even the smallest mistake can have huge repercussions.

That’s why it’s so important to choose candidates carefully, and staff preselection is an essential part of this process. If you are meticulous in preselection, the hiring process will be coherent and exhaustive, allowing you to hire only the best for the team.

Did you find this information useful? We hope so. To learn more about human resources software and digital processes, continue on our blog.

Cristina Martin

People and Talent Director | LinkedIn | | Web | +post

Professional with over 20 years of extensive experience in various areas of Human Resources (Recruitment, Training, Occupational Risk Prevention, and Personnel Management). Experience in the Management Department: Broad understanding of the company and HR.

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