Culling procedures checklist

1. Where a panel is involved, each panel member must take part in the culling process
2. Selection criteria must be reviewed to ensure agreement on what they mean and how they will be assessed
3. Some criteria may not be appropriate for culling (eg ‘high-level verbal communications skills’, which can only be tested at interview). Where this is the case, the criteria which are not to be used for culling are determined by the panel before the process of culling commences.
4. The initial cull is conducted against the essential criteria
5. A competitive cull may be necessary. If so, the panel decides on how it will identify the most competitive set of applicants. Assessment against desirable criteria can be part of this process
6. Applicants should be assessed by each member of the panel independently (for reasons of potential bias) against the criteria before they then meet together to compare notes and make final interview decisions.

There is no ideal number of applicants to interview, but remember, interviews take time and cost money, so it is best to keep it as lean as possible. Any applicants not interviewed may be considered later, so do not send them reject letters yet.

If you are expecting a large response because you have chosen to keep the ad very broad, you may need to develop some sort of control sheet that you attach to each application. That way you know where everyone is in the process and what they have that is useful to you.

Sample culling sheet

Name	Essentila 1	Essential 2	Essential 3	Essential 4	Desirable 1	Desirable 2
A	x		x		x
B	x	x	x	x	x	x
C		x			x	x
D	x	x	x	x
E		x	x	x		x

Clearly in this example you would invite Candidates B and D and possibly E to the next stage of the selection process. You can see this by looking at the criteria they have met.