You received a lot of applications for the job posted to hire interns, on job portals, social media, through references, etc. That's a good sign, ain't it?  The next step involves selecting the best candidates, out of presumably hundreds of applications, which is pretty tough considering the whole recruitment process.

The recruiter has to select on the basis of the criterion set by the company for a particular job. This process of ascertaining whether a candidate is fit for the job or not, is known as Screening. This process may require a different approach since CVs of interns will not be as elaborate as an experienced candidate.

Below are some methods through which companies can screen CVs for interns, the right way.
1.    Go through their CV: The most traditional way to screen candidate’s id to go through their CVs. It's possible that one cannot determine if the candidate is good or not, but their CV creation says a lot. In spite of being freshers, if they have mentioned their education, skill set, any vocational trainings, minus any grammatical mistakes, you may consider them easily.

2.    Phone calls: Talk to them to do a better pulse check. By their way of responding, recruiters can comprehend how serious they are for the job. If they are really interested in doing the internship, or they are simply testing the waters, you'll know.
This can be like their first interview which will help a recruiter screen them for rest of the process.

3.    Attach contest with job posting: This method is most popular while sourcing through Social Media. Youngsters love contests and their responses and solutions will tell you a lot about them as potential candidates. Their responses within deadline, with accuracy, creativity and confidence definitely turns them into desired candidates.

4.    Let them introduce themselves: If you want to screen candidates effectively, send them a host of questions, and they must respond with a video of themselves.
This would help you a lot in selecting the best as you get to know their overall body language, their presentation, their interest in your company, how skilled they are and how do they want to approach their line of career in the best possible way. There you go, when they are in front of you, you choose quickly.

5.    Check social media profiles: Everyone is on social media these days, well, apart from anti-social people, that is. Youngsters these days don’t shy away from profiling their whole lives on it. So when you get their applications to intern with you, go check them online. You’ll at least get basic info about their ideologies and content preferences. This might prove to be very important for some professions. As per a survey more than 70% of employers Google their candidates before they want to decide upon them.

6.    Enquire into references: Get a college or University record for them from their respective Alma Mater. The teachers will be happy to give any reference they can for the candidate. Ask them if the candidate would be a good fit for the said position or company. Is there anything the employer should be careful about while hiring the candidate? Its important because one cannot simply rely on the CV at times.

7.    Applicant tracking systems: It’s true that screening takes time, hence there are various ATS available online. They help recruiters shortlist candidates. These systems run through the CVs as per the requirements and find the best matches pretty quickly. Companies have started going digital, and use them for saving time, efforts and increasing productivity.

There is no one best method though.  All of these can be used as per the size and type of your business. But if you can use a mix of the above methods, that would help you tremendously in screening well.

A recruiter is trusted to send in CVs of the most capable candidates, and a company definitely does not want to spend too much time or sources over something that can not be done with required effectiveness. Following the above mentioned ways can create a better screening graph for any kind of open positions.