CV Filtering

TL;DR: Filtering candidates by their résumés is passing on talent while not getting any benefits in return. Companies that eliminated this step saw immediate improvement. Jump to recommendations

Using CV Filtering in the hiring loop

CV Filtering is eliminating the candidates out of the hiring loop based on the contents of their résumés. The usual approach is to read the CV and compare the candidate's skills to the job requirements. The better the correlation, the more likely the candidate is to proceed to the next step. The intention is to predict if the candidate could be successful at the position using only their CV.

CV Filtering is attractive as a cheap initial step of the hiring loop. There is no need for engineering time to carry out a pattern matching between CV and job description. The recruiter can do it when the candidates apply for the first time and only reach out to people who pass it.

CV Filtering: is it unbiased?

No.

It is prone to false-negative errors as it discards applicants before even giving them a chance.

Both the candidate's CV and the job description are often inaccurate. To put their best foot forward, candidates often inflate their achievements in the CV. Job descriptions do not always reflect the exact company expectations either. Both get obsolete very fast and drift from the present needs. Yet, the outcome needs to be a concrete binary decision of whether to proceed with the interview or not. In such circumstances, our brains rely on our implicit biases to help us fill in the gaps. The shortage of information makes our decision-making process favor non-essential details. Does the candidate come from a famous company? Do they have the relevant education, or are they self-taught? Do I like the tone and style of their CV? None of these are indicators of talent, yet all these impact recruiter's verdict in an instant.

CV Filtering: is it low-stress for your candidates?

Yes.

The filtering happens without the candidate's participation.

If the company is ghosting them or taking too long to reply, they may get nervous or annoyed. But there is no direct stress to the candidate caused by the screening process.

CV Filtering: is it real work?

No.

Résumés are only about getting the recruiter's attention through pattern matching.

Once the candidate starts working at the company, they never bring them up again.

CV Filtering: is it a good predictor of future performance?

No.

There is no performance evaluation in the keyword pattern matching.

That's why hiring loops using it as a screening try to test the candidate's skills later.

CV Filtering: how to improve your hiring loop

We recommend demoting the résumé reading to the end of your hiring process or outright eliminating it.

The earliest filter of the hiring loop determines the input for all the latter filters. It has the highest impact on the diversity of your candidates and hires. Putting the cheapest and fastest filter first hinders the whole hiring loop. Instead, the first step should focus on your hiring goals and use the right metrics. If you want an unbiased decision, never make it on the résumé. Let the candidate prove that they can do the work first.

AutoIterative Job Interviews to the rescue!

AutoIterative Job Interviews help you overcome the fear of hiring the wrong person.

One of the biggest fears of any hiring manager is to hire an impostor, a candidate who can't do the work. That can be an expensive mistake for the company. Using CV Filtering and weeding out the suspicious CVs is a desperate attempt to prevent it. Companies do it because their hiring loop can not measure whether the candidate can do the work.

AutoIterative Job Interviews focus on measuring that directly.

The platform gives each candidate a real-life problem and a dedicated production environment. To solve the problem, the candidate needs to do the same thing they would do when hired: ship a working solution. By definition, people who can do it are not impostors. We identify them, so you can focus on their personality traits and whether you can work together.

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Want a second opinion?

Here is what other people say about CV Filtering:

Recruiters will spend no more than 5-10 seconds looking at your CV.
The only thing that matters in a CV is the amount of typos.
What happens when you stop relying on resumes.
Not just software engineering industry: automated hiring rejects millions of viable workers.
Amazon scraps efforts for an AI CV Filtering tool because it taught itself to prefer male candidates.