Difficult selection processes can include:

• Applying in person. If someone won’t get out of his chair to come apply for the position you’re offering, this is not passionate person.
• Writing a resume. So, you employ people who are applying for their first job? Request a resume instead of giving them an application form - you’ll see very quickly who is willing to take a little time for their job and who isn’t.
• Taking a test. One public relations position I applied for required a writing test after the first round of interviews. I really enjoyed the test, and it got me fired up about the rest of the application process. If it hadn’t, I would’ve removed myself from the applicant pool with great haste.
• An interview on steroids. It’s one thing to sit down and speak with applicants to see what they say they’re like, and entirely another to force them to act to see what they’re really like. Some managers use a walk test during an interview, where they simply have an applicant follow them for a tour of the facility and gauge applicants’ interest and passion by observing how the applicant keeps up with their brisk pace.

Difficult to use selection processes can include:

• Not knowing where to apply. It doesn’t matter how motivated I am, if I don’t know when and where to apply, you’re going to have a hard time getting me in the door.
• Tons of meaningless or unrelated paperwork. It’s one thing to take a test related to what I’m doing, and entirely another to fill out forms that don’t seem to relate to what I want to do. If you have forms that seem obliquely related but you know they’re intimately related to the job, explain to applicants how they fit into the big picture.
• Lame people. Whether it’s boring, rude, or disinterested people, the easiest way to knock passionate potential employees out of a hiring process is to have them interact with people they know they won’t want to work with. No matter how well crafted the rest of the process is or how passionate the applicant is, staffing your selection process with grouches and bores will cost you talent.