Evaluating Recruiting Technologies: 10 Features to Consider Before You Buy
People are the absolute bedrock of success at any company, and recruiting is an essential component of building that foundation. To make sure your company is finding the best talent, you need to be using the best tools.
Nobody wants to lag behind the times. Given the rapid pace of technological innovation in the talent acquisition industry, it’s a good idea to reevaluate the technologies you rely on every year in order to keep up with the market and your competitors.
Here are ten features to consider when assessing your current and potential recruiting technologies :
1. Augmented Intelligence
Sourcing candidates is a time-intensive activity that doesn’t always guarantee success, but the wise use of artificial intelligence (AI) can help recruiters find more qualified candidates in less time.
“Augmented intelligence” refers to the use of AI to complement and support human activity — in this case, the search for candidates. Through augmented intelligence software, recruiters can spend less time manually searching and more time engaging with candidates and selling them on job opportunities. Some augmented intelligence tools are even so advanced that a recruiter can train the software to source candidates on its own based on pre-established criteria!
2. Sourcing and Screening Capabilities
Before you even speak to a candidate, you need to know they at least meet the minimum criteria for your role. Otherwise, you are simply wasting your time. This is especially true for highly specialized roles for which candidates need very specific skill sets.
Advanced sourcing and screening capabilities are essential in modern recruiting software, and new technologies are combining these functions in exciting ways. For example, some solutions can aggregate information on candidates from a variety of sources, such as GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Facebook. These solutions can then use this information to determine which candidates might fit a role and surface only those who could make for a good match. Not only can recruiters get a more holistic view of the talent in their pipelines, but they can also zero in on the best prospects in less time.
3. Candidate Engagement Functions
Once you identify a potential fit, you need to cultivate their interest in the role. You must make the candidate want this job more than their current gig. To do that, you have to convince them the new position and company are better than what they already have.
As companies increasingly realize the importance of such highly personalized interaction in recruiting, more and more software solutions are responding with a wider array of tools for engaging with candidates and managing communications. Many of these software solutions are also implementing data-tracking functions to help recruiters keep tabs on critical engagement metrics like open rates, click rates, and response rates.
4. Talent Pipeline Management
Talent pipelining offers an effective way to recruit proactively, but building and maintaining pipelines is often easier said than done, especially when recruiters are tasked with filling multiple kinds of roles at once.
For more efficient pipeline management, implement a system that keeps candidates and projects organized for you. Some of the most advanced pipeline-management software allows you to define custom pipeline stages and workflows, add notes and tags to candidates, and share pipelines with your team members for more effective collaboration.
5. Cross-Platform Integration
With all the various specialized talent acquisition software tools on the market, it’s vital that recruiting teams invest in platforms that can connect with one another seamlessly. Cross-platform integration allows for more effective workflows and less time spent copying and pasting candidate information from one database to another. When all your systems talk to each other, life as a recruiter is much easier.
6. Diversity and Inclusion
If you are looking for innovative ideas, it is in your best interest to hire a diverse group of people instead of building teams made of people who all share similar backgrounds and experiences. More diverse teams bring more perspectives to the table, which leads to more creative problem-solving, better consumer understanding, and more informed decision-making.
Moreover, today’s talent wants to work for companies that value diversity, inclusion, and equality. So building a more diverse workforce is not only good for innovation, but also a smart recruiting tactic in its own right.
When evaluating recruitment technology solutions, pay attention to whether those solutions have functions that will support your diversity recruiting initiatives. Data on candidate demographics, tools for reaching different segments of the talent market, and other features are just some of the signs to watch out for.
7. Data Analytics and Reporting
Data is king in any business, and recruiting is no exception. The continued success of any talent acquisition team depends on tracking and analyzing key recruiting metrics like time to fill, cost per hire, average number of applicants, offer acceptance rates, and more.
Recruiting software solutions with robust data analytics and reporting features can not only help a recruiting team track performance, but also identify opportunities for improvement. For example, if you find you are having trouble recruiting for a particular role, your metrics can tell you why; perhaps the salary is too low for this market, or the interview process is taking so long that candidates lose interest and drop out.
Tracking recruitment metrics manually is virtually impossible, which is why organizations must invest in recruitment software solutions that can manage their metrics for them. Strong reporting features that make it easy to visualize and digest valuable recruiting data are also important.
8. Compliance
In the wake of the General Data Protection Regulation — a European law that can exact fines of as much as 4 percent of a company’s worldwide revenue in the event of data privacy noncompliance — recruiters must be certain they are treating candidate data with the utmost security and safety.
Even if your organization is not based in the European Union or recruiting European candidates, it is likely subject to some form of data regulation. Moreover, data breaches can significantly damage an organization’s reputation with consumers and candidates alike.
When considering your talent acquisition technology, pay close attention to its compliance features. Does the software keep candidate data secure? Does it follow all proper regulations when it comes to storing candidate data and maintaining candidate privacy? Investing in a noncompliant software can be disastrous for your recruitment operations — and for your business overall.
9. Information Management
When recruiting for a position, you are dealing with a ton of information — job descriptions, job ads, resumes, cover letters, and more. You also have to juggle your own schedule, your candidates’ schedules, and your hiring manager’s schedule to arrange interviews and screening calls.
This is a lot to keep track of, which is why an information management system is key. If you have not done so already, devise a method to keep each role and its associated candidate pools organized. There are many technology solutions on the market that can help you stay on top of all of this information without missing a beat.
10. User Experience
It doesn’t matter how powerful your technology is if your employees don’t know how to use it.
Employees will leverage a technology platform that is easy to use and simple to learn, but they will quickly abandon a clunky one. Be wise with your investment, and ensure that whatever software you implement is designed with the end user in mind. Talk with vendors as well to find out what kind of training and support they will provide as your employees learn their way around the new tool. You want a vendor that is as committed to your employees’ success as you are.
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If you are considering making changes to the technology stack you employ in 2019 — and given the rate of innovation, you should be — then keep these features in mind as you explore your options. That way, you can be sure that any new tech tools you purchase will be worth the investment.
Steven Jiang is the CEO and cofounder of Hiretual.
Catch this article — plus tons of exclusive content — in issue five of Recruiter.com Magazine, out today!