How to screen jobseekers

Okay, the ad is pulling resumes. Now you need to decide what to do with them.

1. Don't let HR departments handle high-skilled jobseekers — They are incompetent for hiring high-skilled workers. They would rather leave a job undone than fill it with someone who is "overqualified". Have the resumes go directly to the manager who has the greatest stake in the job getting done.
2. Learn skill synonyms — Don't reject a resume because it doesn't contain a keyword, when it contains language that covers the same skills in other terms. A person with a long history is likely to condense his skills into more general terms to keep the resume short.
3. Don't measure experience in years using a tool skill — Experience is useful for knowledge of a business, but tool skills can be learned quickly by talented people. Don't ask for five years using a tool that has only existed for six months.
4. Don't expect all workers to be equally productive — High tech workers such as computer programmers can differ in productivity by a factor of 50. It is worth whatever it takes to get a superworker.
5. Don't reject workers for being "overqualified" — It is a myth that "overqualified" workers won't stick around as long. The fact is that "nonoverqualified" workers aren't likely to stick around much longer. Focus on getting the job done.
6. Don't reject workers on personality or cosmetic factors — Personality might be important in a sales job, but is probably irrelevant to technical work. Workers don't have to like each other, or be comfortable with each other. They just have to get the work done.
7. Consider contractors — Some work is inherently contract work, such as a project with a completion point, and is best done by contractors. Most computer software development should be done by contractors.