While professional experience, education, and skills can be important factors to consider, they are not the only ones. You should also discuss cover letters, volunteer activities, and anything else that makes a candidate stand out.

"The more applicants you have for a job, the better chance you have of finding the right person. But you also then have to find a way to quickly determine who to interview and who to pass on without potentially losing any of the strong candidates. My first step is to eliminate anyone who doesn't meet the requirements the hiring manager made clear are absolutely necessary. From there, I look at their cover letters or answers to any additional questions the application might have asked. If it looks like they simply copied and pasted their answers and are using the same generic responses for every job they apply to, I'll pass on them. We want candidates who took the time to read the job summary and customized their responses to it. I then start looking through the candidates I have left to see who stands out, either through volunteer activities or special interests on their resume or perhaps through simply some creativity in their resume design. Once I have 30 or fewer strong candidates, I'll schedule brief phone interviews. In a matter of just a few minutes on the phone, I can assess their communication skills and passion for the job and determine who should move forward to the interview stage."