How to Narrow Down Job Candidates

Whether you’re looking for writers, programmers, web developers, internet marketers, SEO specialists, graphic artists, or virtual assistants, there is no shortage of talented Online Filipino Specialists (OFS) here.

Let’s be real, though. No matter how many skillful candidates there are, it’s just not easy to find the right fit. Hiring is tedious. Trimming your list of potential workers can be a pain.

Let’s discuss a few ways to narrow things down a bit.

Use your intuition

When you review a profile, resume, or email responses, you often get a sense of whether a candidate is the right fit for your business.

Maybe it’s a feeling of ease — something tells you you’ve found the right person for that certain role in your business.

Or if something simply feels wrong about the candidate, there probably is. Don’t dismiss uneasy or nervous feelings. Remember, there are plenty of people to choose from. If someone doesn’t feel or look right to you, concentrate on other candidates.

Tap into your intuition AND use common sense. There’s a reason why these feelings are there (and they’re usually right), even if we can’t explain it entirely.

Watch out for inconsistencies in the resume vs. emails

Pay close attention to what your prospective worker writes in emails.

Compare their responses to what is written in their profiles and resumes. It’s not uncommon for stated skills and experience to be slightly different from what is listed on their OnlineJobs.ph profile. It’s possible that their profile or resume isn’t up to date.

But if there’s too much of a difference, this would be a red flag.

Are they working for other people?
One of the questions you should ask in your follow-up emails is whether your candidate is or is going to be working for someone else.

Ideally, your OFS will only work for you. It’s very difficult to get the most out of someone when they are juggling two jobs.

On the other hand, you might find someone who works for someone else but is an absolute rock star. Someone who is just too good to pass up. If this happens, don’t shy away from hiring this person. Just tell them up front that you want them to work only for you.

Great grammar vs. OK grammar

With some positions, a candidate’s grammar will have little importance in their duties.

But if you’re hiring a copywriter, social media expert, or a similar position, good grammar is essential. Pay close attention to candidates’ skills in this area.

If you hire someone with excellent grammar, you can assign more challenging projects and give them additional work.

Slow communication

If you and your OFS don’t keep the same schedule, some delay in responding to your emails and messages is to be expected.

However, there is a distinction between understandable delays due to the time zone difference and simply being unresponsive. If a candidate takes more than 24 hours to reply to an email, it can be frustrating, upsetting, and simply unprofessional.

As you narrow down candidates, take note of those who are slower to respond to your initial emails. Give more consideration to those who respond promptly.

Too many skills

We would all love to find a VA who’s an expert at everything. But that’s very unlikely.

A candidate who is an expert in every possible skill you need would seem to be too good to be true. That’s because they probably are.

Most people can excel in 1 or 2 things. Many can be great at 3 or more.

If they’re an expert in too many things, there’s a good chance they’re exaggerating and they’ve embellished their resume.

There is a chance they could be overqualified, but that is extremely rare.

In any case, be on the lookout. Verify and confirm that the candidate does indeed have the talents and expertise they’re claiming to have.

Worked for many clients

Personally, this bothers me. A worker with a long list of employers in a short amount of time often means they bounced around from one employer to another.

When someone has been hired and let go by a large number of different employers, it’s a pretty clear signal that the worker has some flaws. Maybe they’re not hard workers. Perhaps they are poor communicators. Maybe they’ve worked for more than one employer and were spread too thin.

That much turnover would be bad for business.

I’d rather hire someone who has worked for the same people or business for years. This tells me that they are loyal, know how to maintain a good working relationship, and possess valuable skills that make them worth keeping for a long time.

Overstated their skills
This can be a tough one. Some people underestimate their own talents and skills. While others overestimate what they can do.

As you email candidates back and forth, pay close attention to this. The last thing you want to do is hire someone with the expectation that they can do awesome work—because they told you they could—when it turns out they can’t.

Ask for work samples

This is where you find out someone’s resume is just for show. If a person’s samples don’t match up with what they’re saying, then you know they’ve overstated their skills.

On the other hand, solid samples will verify that the candidate can produce and possesses the abilities you’re looking for. Comparing samples of a few candidates can be a significant deciding factor when making a hiring choice.

How does it feel?

Like I said, intuition. If it doesn’t feel good, it probably isn’t. As you send a few emails to different candidates, pay attention to the whole process. After you’ve gone through all of these steps we’ve outlined, take one last inventory of how it all feels to you.

In my experience, I’ve passed on people that just didn’t seem right to me. When I do this, I’ll go back a few days later and recruit someone else who works out just fine.

Conclusion

There are tons of Filipinos waiting to be hired on OnlineJobs.ph. There are plenty of qualified candidates who would do a wonderful job for you. Selecting the right person is key. It isn’t always easy. Following these steps will lessen the headaches and frustrations that often come with recruiting.

Good luck and happy hunting!

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About John Jonas

John Jonas is a long-time outsourcing expert and the creator of OnlineJobs.ph.

Since 2005, John has taught hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs how to profitably delegate to VAs in the Philippines (and get their lives back in the process).

With help from his own VAs based in the Philippines, John has created an outsourcing empire that allows him to work 17 hours/week and to spend most of his time with his wife and 5 kids.

Find John at JohnJonas.com and Facebook.

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