Hiring at Macquarie

Creating a Short List

PURPOSE

To help ensure that a higher calibre of candidates progress through to the interview stage of the hiring process.

QUICK TIPS

Respond quickly

Create your short list as quickly as possible. You don’t need to wait until the job advertisement closes, but do make sure you consider all applications. If the process takes too long, you may lose high quality candidates.

Work online

Remember the University’s commitment to sustainability. Printing resumes and responses to selection criteria can be an unnecessary waste of paper, time and resources. Taleo makes it easy to view and review candidate documents online.

Revaluate each application on merit

Critically evaluate each candidate’s resume and responses to the selection criteria:

Does the candidate have the qualifications and experience required for the role?

If required, does the candidate have the right to work in Australia?

How well does the candidate meet the selection criteria?

Are there any legal or Equal Employment Opportunity considerations to be taken into consideration?

Refer to How to Review Resumes for more detailed tips on evaluating resumes.

Rate the applications as 'Yes', 'No' or 'Maybe'. On your initial cull, be reasonably lenient. You don’t want to miss out on a potentially good candidate because you were too harsh at this early stage. 

Compare candidates

Next compare your 'Yes' and 'Maybe' candidates. It may be helpful to draw up a matrix rating the candidates against each of the selection criteria (eg strong, sound or poor). As a guide, select two to five candidates with the strongest overall levels of match to the criteria to interview.