Four checks every candidate clears before their name reaches you. Nothing here is a promise about how the market behaves. It is a description of what happens on my desk, in order.
The film is not up yet. Every word of it is written out below, so this page works with the video and without it.
Tickets and quals sighted, not taken on faith.
A licence number on a resume is a claim. I look at the card, the certificate or the register entry, and I check the expiry while I am there.
I go through their own account of the work, job by job, against what you actually need.
Not a keyword match on a resume and not a job title. I ask them what the work actually involved at each employer, then hold that against the brief you gave me.
Gaps and patterns explained before they meet you.
If there is a gap, a short stint or a run of them, I ask about it first, so you are not the one working it out in an interview.
The rate on the shortlist is the rate. No surprises at offer.
The number next to a name has already been agreed with that candidate, so what you read is what they will accept.
If one step fails, the name never reaches you.
Where references actually sit
Everyone you see is screened against your brief first, and references are checked at the final stage, just before the hire, to confirm you are taking on a good person.
References are not called before you see a shortlist. They sit after you have decided, not before, and they answer a different question from the four steps above. The four steps establish whether someone can do the work. A reference tells you what they are like to work with, and that only matters once you want them.
It also means a candidate's current employer is not being rung about a job they may never be offered.
Hiring, and want names that have been through this?
SEE AN EXAMPLE SHORTLIST GET MY SHORTLISTI answer. 0485 853 926
Four checks every candidate clears before their name reaches you: licences verified, screened against your brief, history checked, rate locked. If one step fails, the name never reaches you.
At the final stage, just before the hire, to confirm you are taking on a good person. References are not called before you see a shortlist.
A reference answers what someone is like to work with, and that question only lands once you have decided you want them. Ringing round a candidate's old supervisors while they are still one name on a list is not something I will do to them.
I go through their own account of the work, job by job, against what you actually need. Not a keyword match on a resume, and not their job titles.
They do not go on the shortlist. You never see the name, and you are never asked to weigh up whether a missing ticket matters.
The rate next to a name has already been agreed with that candidate before you read it, so what is on the shortlist is what they will accept.