Are We Having Trouble Hiring Because We’re Too Darn Picky?

In a recent survey of HR professionals conducted by us (Nexxt), we learned that HR Pros said that it is harder to find qualified candidates today than it was six months ago.

Is it harder to find candidates because we’re slowly accepting that it’s now a candidates’ market? Or is it that we’re too darn picky? Are we disqualifying great candidates too early in the hiring process for forgivable mistakes? I know…I have a lot of questions.

According to our survey, the number one reason a recruiter disqualifies a candidate for a job is for a spelling error on their resume and the second most popular reason is a grammatical one.

When employers had their pick of the litter of candidates any little reason to disqualify someone was needed to narrow the pool, but with hiring becoming more challenging, is a grammatical error on the resume of a software engineer really such a crime?

According to HR Pros it is—along with these four other offenses. Let us know if you agree.

  1. Resumes with any spelling errors: According to HR Pros that participated in our survey, this is the biggest offense a candidate can make on their resume. So, basically think of the most offensive thing you can…whoa that was dark…and that’s basically what a candidate just did on their resume. Let’s agree that their misspelling of “management” kills us all a little inside, but no one is perfect—even if they were to say they were if you asked them what their biggest weakness is.
  2. Resumes with any grammar errors: This is the second biggest crime, according to HR Pros, but let’s face it, grammar is tricky and sometimes subjective, so let’s agree to cut these candidates some slack. I get it if you’re hiring a copy editor, but otherwise, we need to let it go. You could be missing out on an amazing registered nurse whose lack of commas won’t influence their day-to-day work.
  3. Resumes that don’t list the specific skills desired up-front: If a candidate’s resume isn’t customized to the job they’re applying for we typically trash them immediately. But, one thing we need to keep in mind is that 83% of job seekers search for jobs from a mobile device and we all know that mobile devices sometimes limit our capabilities—so their resume might not be customized to match your job because they were out and about, saw your job on their phone and applied immediately. And as a result, they might have all the skills you’re looking for but they’re just not laid out for you on a silver platter. But keep reading their resume they might be just what you’re looking for.
  4. Resumes that don’t have the exact experience or education required: Since when do we discount transferable skills? For example, some of our best sales people at Beyond are actually former recruiters. True there’s a sales-like element to recruiting, but it’s not exactly the same. So while we say we want to hire someone that can hit the ground running, 73% of the HR Pros actually said that they would hire someone that needs some training for a lower salary than someone that costs a lot of money but has a lot of experience. So when evaluating a resume consider the costs your organization will save if you hire someone that needs a little training.
  5. Resumes with a last job title that is unrelated to the company’s search: What this says to me is that we’re anti-career changers. But can we really afford to be? Did you not just read this blog post about how it’s harder to hire now than it was six months ago (scroll up!)? Plus, can we all agree that job titles don’t really mean all that much?

Nexxt is a recruitment media company that uses today’s most effective marketing tactics to reach the full spectrum of talent – from active to passive, and everything in between. Learn more about hiring with Nexxt.

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