Elimination: how I weed out job applicants (and what you can do to avoid being weeded out) #Human Resources#managing#staff December 20 | Ariel offbeatbride Photo by Amber Case used by CC license. This is NOT a resume that was submitted to me. Today my big task is whittling down the pool of applicants for the Offbeat Home managing editor gig. I got about 75 applications (yikes!) and want to get it down to five final candidates to interview. As I go through the applications one by one, I'm finding myself saying a quick no to applicants who… Are mostly focused on sharing their own stories, aka confusing "contributor" with "editor" (half of applicants. editors are more about other people's stories) List high school publications as their biggest writing/editing experience (many people) Have a website with animated falling snowflakes (two people) Confuse "it's" with "its" (three people) Capitalize the word Blog, showing a lack of familiarity with the format Emailed saying they couldn't find where to fill out the application, despite it being linked from the homepages of both existing sites Downplay their technical abilities (Many people. This is a confidence thing. The tech stuff is really easy, but if someone's all wimpy about their skills, I don't trust that they're confident enough to figure shit out) I'm down to 15 applicants, including some fucking AMAZING overqualified totally magical people. I think eliminating the first 60 people was the easier part… Reporter Name * Reporter Email * Original text Enter the original text here. Edited text* Enter your suggested copyedit here. Notes You can add a note for the editor here. * Required information. Fix Typo Ariel Author of Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives for Independent Brides, Ariel acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites. She lives in Seattle with her son, and if she's not reading or writing, chances are good that she's dancing and happy-crying. PREVIOUS What if you sold headbands?: how to keep your community focused NEXT Bothersome comment types