11 Best Practices for Screening IT Candidates

July 14, 2023

Whether seeking IT professional for permanent roles or temporary staffing assignments, screening IT candidates effectively is crucial. In this article, we will explore how you can improve their IT hiring process, ensuring you identify candidates with the necessary technical skills and cultural alignment to contribute to your team's success.

Use a Resume Screening Tool

Manually reviewing candidate resumes can be very time consuming. Screening IT candidates is particularly challenging as they often contain a lot of information about technical skills and past projects. Using resume screening tools can help recruiters identify the best-qualified candidates faster, improve hiring quality, and reduce time-to-hire. More advanced AI-powered tools can learn more about your company's hiring preferences and help identify inaccurate or exaggerated information in candidate resumes.
Applicant Tracking System

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are software systems used to manage the recruitment process. They provide a central place to track all interactions with every candidate from screening to initial assessments to onboarding. Modern ATS systems can be integrated into bulletin boards automatic filtering of candidate resumes and automation of communication with candidates.
Cover Letters

Cover letters can demonstrate an applicant's written communication skills as well as their understanding and interest in the position. Many IT candidates hardly make any effort to write a a cover letter. Therefore, if you put too much emphasis on cover letters, you can lose candidates who would otherwise be perfect.
Social Media Screening

Viewing candidate profiles on social media can provide useful insight into a candidate's personality, work experience and skills. platforms like LinkedIn can be a great way to review a candidate's work history as part of candidate screening. It's also worth a look at social media posts and materials created by candidates who "like" and "share" to learn more about their personality and potential cultural fit with your organization.
Asynchronous Screening Interviews

With the busy schedules of candidates currently working, asynchronous interviews are becoming increasingly popular due to the convenience they offer. In their simplest form, they consist of emailing the candidate a series of questions and giving them the opportunity to respond as they see fit. More advanced modules can be offered online, interactive voice calling or other technology.
Phone Screening

Despite the advent of various technologies, phone screening remains an invaluable tool for selecting IT candidates. The phone verification should aim to reassure candidates, gather all the necessary information (e.g., salary requirements, availability, acceptance of any specific job requirements, etc.) and attempt to identify specific skills and experience, fundamental to the selection process.
Video Interviews

During the pandemic, most of the recruiting industry switched to video calls instead of face-to-face meetings. Because of the convenience and effectiveness of video calls, they will continue to be used as the primary method of evaluating candidates for the foreseeable future. With consent, interviews can be recorded for later identity verification during the course distribution process.
Skills Testing

There is no better way to assess a candidate’s computer skills than by taking an appropriate proficiency test. Some providers specialize in testing technical skills and offer a variety of assessments covering multiple technologies and seniority levels. Assessment exercises can be conducted on site or as homework. Third-party tests may also include rating services to speed up the selection process.
Paid Trial Projects

Another way to assess an IT candidate's skills is to include them in a paid testing project. Because it can be difficult to identify small projects on a scale large enough for a candidate to graduate without significant effort and still demonstrate competency, most organizations prefer skill tests and assignments.
Personality Testing

Personality tests are commonly used to assess a candidate's cultural fit. Behavioral assessments can provide reliable information about a candidate working style, communication, ability to work effectively in a team and alone etc. Many recognized personality tests can be licensed which have proven to be very effective for this purpose.
Formal Background Investigation

Many organizations have chosen to use formal background check services to verify an applicant’s qualifications and work history prior to hiring. Background checks can include education and employment checks, specialized background checks, and even drug testing, which some industries may require.