What can you expect from the Beacon Hill candidate screening process?

Candidate screening is the foundation for success in the world of recruiting. A strong screening process helps everyone involved by:

• Connecting employers with candidates who match the requirements of the job description, have relevant experience and can quickly become productive employees.
• Streamlining the job search process for candidates, enabling recruiters to only offer relevant positions in line with the candidate's career goals and professional interests.
• Building relationships between recruiters and candidates, allowing these professionals to provide more targeted support and guidance during a job search.

At Beacon Hill, we take a unique approach to candidate screening to ensure our recruiting process keeps the best interests of everyone — the candidate, employer and recruiter — in sharp focus.

The importance of the first step in screening: The conversation

"The first conversation is the foundation of a long-term partnership between candidate and recruiter."

The Beacon Hill screening process generally begins with a recruiter reaching out, likely over LinkedIn, email or the phone, to set up a meeting. This in-depth conversation, usually lasting for 20-25 minutes, is critical. While it's not the approach taken by most other recruiting firms, the professionals at Beacon Hill have found it to be extraordinarily valuable in both building relationships with candidates and sharing only the most relevant opportunities with them. Instead of starting off by sharing job descriptions that may only slightly align with your career plans, we take the time to get to know you first.

The discussion helps your recruiter understand not only the type of work you are interested in, but your skills, experience, education, professional areas of interest and other key factors as well. Our recruiters make sure they understand everything from desired compensation, travel and relocation limits, to the concept of your ideal job and how broad or narrow you want your search to be.

With a wealth of valuable information informing their efforts, your recruiter can capably sort through potentially relevant open job postings and filter them based on your unique traits, skills and goals. That includes positions in your local area as well as national job searches, which are growing more common as telecommuting becomes increasingly accepted in the business world.

The screening process for candidates, explained

The screening process kicks off with initial contact from your recruiter and the in-depth conversation. From there, we request two references from current or past managers along with an updated resume. Having these assets on-hand helps us stay agile, allowing for quick action on our part when the right opportunity for your career appears. Additionally, we recognize that not everyone is a professional when it comes to resume writing. Our free resume formatting service helps you construct an accurate and engaging resume that properly reflects your past experiences and current duties.

When we receive a job opening that aligns with your search, your recruiter will reach out again. Because of the relationship we build with each candidate, it's that much easier for our recruiters to highlight important areas in job descriptions. Your recruiter will say why they think the position is a good fit and call out key considerations, such as the salary range strongly aligning with your expectations or noting a slightly longer commute than you had previously agreed to.

If you like what's offered and agree to send your resume to the prospective employer, and the company then agrees to an interview, the team at Beacon Hill moves into a career coach role. We help with all sorts of considerations, from what to wear to technical troubleshooting with video quality and the virtual interviewing process. With our support, you can focus more on the role and how your expertise and experience apply to it and worry less about the technical and etiquette details.

If the employer decides to move forward, our team gets to work handling many aspects of the onboarding process. We send you the offer letter for you to sign and return, as well as talk through details of the first day and make sure you have access to necessary systems at the company. Beacon Hill also handles I9 verification, tax details, potential background checks and drug screening and other parts of the workflow to help you quickly move into your new role. Your recruiter will keep checking in and sharing relevant information after your role starts, such as the possibility of moving to a permanent role in a contract-to-hire position.

If the employer decides to go in a different direction, your recruiter will stay in touch and keep presenting you with relevant opportunities. We build recruiter-candidate relationships for the long haul, not around a specific open position.

Beacon Hill is here to assist you in the job search process, providing support not only for identifying job openings, but during the interviewing and onboarding processes as well. Our experienced, career-track recruiters extend your reach in your career hunt and help you present the best possible professional image. To learn more, get in touch with us today.