Modernizing Recruiting: Automation and Other Tools 

Automation: the core of the modern recruiter’s processes. Without it, recruiters would not be able to handle the sheer number of candidates and resumes that cross their desks. Modern recruiting tools — such as applicant tracking systems — work by taking candidate information and parsing it before the recruiter sees it, thinning the candidate pool  by up to 70 percent.

Aside from candidate sorting, what other practices can you automate? More importantly, what tools can you use to modernize the recruitment process?

Social Tools

A well-rounded ATS should provide social automation for job openings. It should be able to create job openings, push them on sites like Indeed  and Simply Hired, and allow users to share the openings on social media sites.

For those who are socially savvy, applications like Hootsuite  or Buffer  can take lighten the burdens of social strategy. These applications allow users to plan and schedule posts to various social media sites from one easy dashboard. Using these applications in combination with the right ATS allows companies to post job openings to job-specific social media accounts. Buffer even offers built-in analytics so recruiters can understand the trends of their posts.

It wasn’t always this easy, though. Social media strategy was once an individual platform agenda with little or no scheduling capabilities. Maren Hogan, CEO of Red Branch Media, writes : “Automation is the practice of ensuring that recruiters and HR professionals don’t find their social media usage overburdening to their already busy schedules. In the beginning, there were fewer automation tools than there are today, which made it difficult to manage the many-headed hydra that social appeared to be.”

Job Descriptions

Job descriptions are an opportunity for recruiters to build a foundation for finding quality candidates. Building that foundation,  however, isn’t always easy. Those who are responsible for creating job descriptions often have nothing to do with the jobs that need to be filled. Let’s be honest: it’s hard to write a riveting job description if you don’t know the job.

An attractive job description  should:

• Be specific: Rona Borre, president & CEO of Instant Technology, says, “A lot of the time, we see very little effort put into the job title, and it becomes ambiguous. Developer. Project Manager. These roles, for example, can have a lot of different variations, so it’s important to be specific about what skills and knowledge are needed.”
• Be short, sweet, and to the point: Attention spans are short, so keep the job description short to accommodate them. Doing so should increase the likelihood of job seekers reading the whole description.
• Include a salary: According to Michael Roennevig of Demand Studios, “Including no salary rate or range could result in your company receiving a high number of unsuitable applications.” A salary estimate in the job description can help to weed out less-than-qualified candidates.

Videos Aplenty

Video technology can make interviews easier for both recruiters and candidates, whioch may account for why 66 percent of candidates prefer video interviews  to traditional interviews.

Good video interviewing solutions should help you keep candidate files organized, similar to good ATSs. Without the hassle of transcribing notes and passing them along, sharing information with other hiring decision makers also becomes easier. Video resumes are becoming increasingly popular as well, and considering that 69 percent of mobile usage  is expected to consist of video consumption by 2018, it stands to reason that video job descriptions aren’t far off, either.

Applicant Tracking System

It’s hard to find an organization that doesn’t use an ATS. Most Fortune 500 companies use these systems to scan through resumes. In fact, 75 percent of large companies use an ATS. Without a robust and well-balanced ATS, these companies would be lost in the amount of candidates sending their resumes.

The ATS scans for keywords and key phrases to assess a candidate’s qualifications. If the ATS deems a candidate qualified enough, the resume is sent to the recruiter — no more scanning each and every resume by hand; no more sorting through legal documents.

Additionally, an ATS can mitigate litigation risks because it can automatically track and report EEOC information.

Of course, you shouldn’t rely entirely on your ATS: you have to use it collaboratively with your other recruiting skills and tools. The hiring process becomes cold without maintaining the human element within the process.

The key to choosing the right tools for your organization’s needs is creating a game plan. You need to know how these tools can work together for the good of the organization. The best automation tools work together to interconnect ever aspect of the recruiting process, creating a cohesive and smooth process.

Automation is at the heart of modern recruitment, but that, doesn’t mean the human element can be removed from the hiring process. Your candidates want to know they are applying to a company of people — not robots.

Are you ready to take the automation leap to improve your recruitment process?