Chances are, you’ve correctly navigated a stoplight recently. That means you’ve got the basic concept of red, yellow, and green nailed. (If not…well, this post will be a useful tool for you in two ways!)

Did you know: you can use the same method to quickly review and rank candidates? Yep. It’s all part of a handy little recruitment process system called RYG.

Why RYG? Why, Red, Yellow, Green of course!

Green (heck yes!) – Awesome candidate, you want to reach out to them ASAP.

Yellow (caution) – Not sure….they have good and bad aspects.

Red (STOP) – For some reason they aren’t a fit.

Here’s how it works:

Almost every recruitment process involves reviewing resumes.  So, as you’re going through  reviewing responses to your job ad, you'll want to determine how you want to identify your Green, Yellow, and Red applicants.   If you use Outlook you should be able to change the subject line of the email to include the job opening and color ranking next to the candidate’s name.  But, if you're a gmail user you'll likely need to create and add labels or use the colored star feature for easy sorting. 

By creating a system that works with your brain and email system, you'll be able to sort your responses, and focus on the “green” candidates first. The idea is to free you up to focus on the prospective hires that are the closest match to your ideal hire profile.

Ideally, you'll have enough “green” candidates that you can invite them to interview, and choose your best candidate from the mix. But unfortunately… that doesn't always happen. Because of that potential gap, it’s good to have your list of “yellow” candidates available to see if anyone else is worth interviewing. 

Pro tip: If you’re investing in a paid job board like Indeed, Monster or Careerbuilder, you have the option of including a list of  qualifying questions you can customize with your job ad. They’ll be scored and the results sent to you electronically. Always verify any written answer by following up on it during the first interview. Be aware that the more steps you ask applicants to go you risk losing great candidates because they don't have (or want to spend) 10 minutes applying for your job opening.

That’s it!

Simple as it may seem, RYG is guaranteed to save you a ton of time in your recruitment process. It's just one tip that's included in my Hiring Hacks ebook. You can get it instantly for Free by clicking the image below!

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