Recruiting volume is projected to increase in 2018 but recruitment teams are expected to stay the same size – or maybe even shrink. That means there’s going to be a much greater focus on metrics and efficiency in the coming months, and technology will help recruiters in those areas. Using the right technology – and using it well – can increase productivity, speeding up the recruiting and hiring process while uncovering more qualified talent and mitigating the risk of a bad match. Long story short: technology’s going to have a major impact on improving the candidate experience.
Increased Productivity
Recruiters are working smarter, and we can thank better data for that. With the right tools, you can easily uncover where your best candidates come from, how long it takes to hire an employee, what your acceptance rates are, what your candidate engagement rate is – and the list goes on! With all of this insight, recruiters can be much more strategic, cutting down on wasted time and money by knowing exactly which approaches that just don’t work.
We’re also seeing more automation. The more automated our processes become, the more we can cut out repetitive administrative tasks. Finding integrations for the tools you work with is one way to achieve this. Narrow down candidates without sorting through an overflowing email inbox by automatically importing and pre-screening resumes. Send relevant assessments to those who you’d like to pursue, and integrate your calendar to set up interview times. Often, this can all be done through a single platform.
Less Risk of a Bad Match
Making bad hires is extremely costly. We all know that recruitment is a science as well as an art, but there was a time when it was much more subjective, more art than science. We know that when we turn our process into more of a science, and we look at the right objective data points when hiring, we end up making better hires. Recruitment technology can help with this. Recruiters have been relying on their ATS for decades now to help screen resumes, highlighting candidates who match certain keyword criteria. Intelligent screening is relatively new, but it’s a game changer. An intelligent screening tool can look at previous hires, tracking their success, tenure and turnover to reach conclusions on what makes for a good hire – at your company specifically. The software will screen for the qualities and skills shared by your successful employees, and it will highlight applicants who have those qualities.
Assessments are another objective data point that we’ve been relying on for years, and they’ve improved dramatically with technology. Assessing skill, knowledge, culture fit and personality now integrate easily with your existing ATS or other internal systems. This makes the assessment process easier to administer and friendlier for the candidate to complete.
Improved Candidate Experience
Most companies report that improving the candidate experience is a priority for 2018, and technology can play a huge role in this endeavour. When it comes to determining what job seekers want from an improved candidate experience, a Software Advice survey concluded that candidates want more communication, a notification if they’re passed over, and a timeline of the hiring process. The right technology can easily tackle all of these items.
- More Communication: At a minimum, your ATS should be sending out confirmations to every person who submits an application, but that’s not enough. It’s the ATS black hole that frustrates candidates the most. What you should aim for is more personalized communication. Your ATS should work similar to your marketing automation tools, helping you craft personalized and relevant communication to your candidates at every step in the process.
- Notification If Passed Over: This is a huge frustration for candidates. Far too often, they receive absolutely no communication when they are passed over. When they do receive something it’s all too often a generic email. The same technology that helps you screen and rank candidates can provide you with feedback on why someone may not be a good fit for a particular role. This insight allows you to provide tailored feedback on why you didn’t move forward.
- Timeline Of The Hiring Process: Good talent gets hired quickly. So you if you have a slow and outdated process, then not only will candidates report a poor experience with your company, but you’ll lose out on the best talent! Automated interview scheduling, online interviewing and recruiter chatbots can all help automate and expedited your process towards making an offer.
Pro Tip: The points above all help to create a seamless hiring experience. Learn more about that here.
It’s exciting to see how technology is changing the recruitment landscape, but it’s important not to forget that there is still some art left in recruitment – it’s not all science. At its core, recruitment is all about people and culture, so human interaction is still integral to the process. Remember: technology should be used to enhance the human experience, not replace it.