Looking for the right candidate for every role can become an extremely time-consuming process. If you want to make sure that you hire someone that fits all of the criteria of the role you’re looking to fill -- someone who fits the company’s culture and will also remain in the position for many years to come -- you have to make them jump through many hoops to get all of the right information to confirm that.

However, you do not have to accompany every candidate along the recruiting process from start to finish. By employing some basic pre-screening methods, you can make sure that by the time your candidates reach the interview stage, you are only left with the cream of the crop. Here are the best ways to save time when recruiting for new talent:

Accept Applicants Through Referrals

Research teaches us that this method is not only the fastest way to hire, but it also ensures quality applicants, with a low turnover. A Jobvibe survey determined that 67% of employers and recruiters called this method of recruiting shorter, and it took candidates 29 days to start work (compared to 39 days it took for candidates from job boards).

The reasons are clear: with referrals you save time drafting a job description, posting it and sifting through resumes. Instead, you go straight to the source. In addition, friends of your employees usually have the same interests, work culture and set of skills, which means they will suit your company's values. And they will not want to disappoint their friends, which explains the low turnover. You can increase the chances of getting more referrals by offering your employees an incentive, or by using one of these best employee referral software tools.

Keep the Job Description Updated

This may sound like a given, but a lot of job postings fail to do just that. Think of all of the main ingredients that will make for a perfect candidate. You want to include all of the role's responsibilities, of course, but the job description should also list the proper education needed, experience in a similar role, skills, attitude and anything else you can think of. The more specific you are, the better the chances are that you’ll get the most relevant candidates.

Add a Few Key Application Questions

To make sure you eliminate the most unqualified applications right off the bat, you can add a few key questions. Think of two or three skills or qualities that are the most important for the role. Does the candidate have to be an expert in Excel? If it’s a customer facing role, maybe they must have experience working with people? Or perhaps the role requires a certified employee in their field? By adding those questions to the application process you can make sure you have the answers right in front of you for the initial screening. Or better yet, some websites can even prevent candidates from applying, if they don’t qualify.

Test for Skills

To follow up on the previous point, yes, getting candidates to answer questions about their skills and experience is all well and good, but it’s not always the best indicator. Unfortunately, some people tend to lie when they apply for jobs, or at least embellish, hoping they can just pick up the necessary skills once they are hired. This is why it’s a good idea to test your candidates before they even reach the interview. Depending on the specific role, there are many recruitment assessment tools you can use, as well as automated skills testing. You can also build tests specific to the role.

It’s important to make sure that they are not 100% accurate, as they are taken in a home environment and sometimes it’s hard to simulate every position to a tee. However, things like language skills are easy to test with a translating task. Programming can be tested with an online assignment. Some personality traits can also be verified with the proper test. The possibilities are endless.

Perform Social Media Checks

You’ve probably heard of this before, but it’s still worth mentioning. Most candidates today spend a big chunk of their time on social media, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn. Going through their public profiles is not a way for you to spy on them, but just another way to confirm all of the information they conveyed in their resumes. For some roles, it’s actually important for your candidates to have a strong online persona. If you’re hiring a social media manager, naturally you'll want to check their social media profile. If you are looking for any digital role, someone who does public speaking or someone who needs to attract clients with their public figure, a candidate's social media profile can make a difference. In other roles, you may want to make sure that your candidates’ public profiles are ones that won’t offend your company’s culture.

After you’ve implemented all of these methods, combined with the regular resume screening, you can rest assured that by the time you interview a candidate, you’ll only be taking someone who is the most appropriate for the role in question and for your company.