Once you have advertised a job role, particularly if you have listed in on a job website, you may find that very quickly you are inundated with hundreds of CVs. Many of these will probably not be suitable candidates and it would take an age to thoroughly go through each CV so you need a few ways to reduce the numbers. Firstly I would look through for any CV’s that have lots of errors, this shows a lack of care and attention as even with poor spelling these can easily be corrected using a computer spell checker.

Next I would look for any large unexplained gaps in employment or for people who seem to change jobs very frequently as this shows that they may not stay in this role very long either.

I would then look at relevant work experience as often finding transferable skills can be beneficial for a new role.

Finally I’d check that references have been provided to show that they are happy for you to contact their previous employers. This would indicate that they left the job on good terms.

Reading the personal statement will also give you an impression of what the person may be like on a social level too as this is important for any job role. By cutting applications at the start you will have more time to focus on the better quality applications.