In recruiting, there are largely two different camps of recruiters, so to speak: those who screen-in, and those who screen-out.
Both have reasonable rationale, but becoming a screen-in recruiter can benefit your metrics, your company, and present so many more opportunities to individuals who may come from non-traditional backgrounds.
Being a screen-in recruiter doesn’t necessarily mean that your quality is going to drop.
The capacity to screen-in allows you to have a large pipeline of candidates, and if your metrics stay the same (onsite to offer percentage, for example), you will hire that many more people!
It is important to note with “screening-in”, you will still need to be strategic about who you move forward with, and who you do not. This is not a free-for-all.
It is important to note with “screening-in”, you will still need to be strategic about who you move forward with, and who you do not.
This is not a free-for-all – you must continue to identify experience in candidates that makes sense for your stage company, but loosen up on some previous “requirement” that may open you up to a brand-new set of candidates.
Many folks hiring for tech roles want to see some type of degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science, etc. Adding an extra layer to that, many recruiters and hiring managers hope to see candidates from top tier universities with one of the degrees listed above.
Unfortunately, being a screen-out recruiter in this case and having education as a hard requirement can not only hurt your pipeline, but it can hurt your ability to hire candidates from diverse backgrounds and thought. Opening your mind, and company, up to those from non-traditional educational backgrounds or those with no college degree can provide you with a talent pool of quality, high-performers, that you would not have seen otherwise.
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So, how do you do this?
The screen-in recruiter vs the screen-out recruiter asks why a candidate is a good fit for the position when they are reviewing the candidate’s resume.
The screen-in recruiter will do everything to get a potential candidate on the phone, to check the good signs they saw, and see if there is a good potential for a match.
Screen-in recruiters will ask why a candidate might be a good fit for the position, look for good signs on the resume rather than signs for why the candidate might not be good for the position and why interviewing them might waste time.
If fulfilling head-count and hiring candidates from diverse backgrounds doesn’t strike a chord with you, think of all the ways you could change someone’s life by screening-in vs screening-out.
Many recruiters are in the role they are in now because they want to help: they want to help their company, the people in it, and they want to help others who are deserving get in. As our field expert Hadas Weiss notes:
Unfortunately, being a screen-out recruiter in this case and having education as a hard requirement can not only hurt your pipeline, but it can hurt your ability to hire candidates from diverse backgrounds
When I worked at Facebook, there was one recruiter that was very professional.
She understood technology very well, and had a very high motivation, however, she didn’t meet her KPIs and didn’t hire enough engineers.
She was a screen-out recruiter. She used to over analyze resumes, and deep dive into the details when she was talking to candidates. Most of the times she concluded that the candidate wasn’t a perfect fit for the position.
As a result she rarely scheduled technical phone interviews with the technical hiring manager.
This recruiter was trying to find a perfect match to the job description. She was reviewing resumes and most of the time she found why the candidate was not a good fit for the position.
It should come as no surprise that being a screen-in recruiter takes time and effort, but the results of hiring more individuals and filling your company with employees from diverse backgrounds will be more than worth the time.
Good luck, recruiters and hiring managers! Screening-in can work to make the company, and the world, a better place.
