Applicant tracking software and recruitment technology, in general, have come a long way – especially over the last few years. The way businesses and individuals interact has undergone a sea change with social media and digital technologies driving the revolution. Traditional recruiting strategies are becoming outdated and ineffective. Attempts to interact with potential candidates using older traditional methods could turn away the top talent that your company really wants to attract. In order to keep up with the trends and continue to attract the best employees, you must ramp up your recruiting software capabilities and take a close look at your applicant tracking system.
In the case of applicant tracking software, employers are not looking to build just a resume repository anymore. They have a critical need for a platform that helps them find and attract top talent from a variety of modern-day relevant sources, in addition to providing next-gen applicant tracking features. In addition, employers as well as recruiters need reliable recruitment technology capabilities that can help them quickly process the deluge of resumes and applications received. They need a fast processing and functional recruitment funnel that can help surface and select top candidates from large pools of applicant profiles.
The capabilities that growing businesses need from applicant tracking software are very different today than ten or even five years ago. With hiring organizations and their HR departments putting the highest emphasis on the quality and speed of hiring, the use of next-generation and modern applicant tracking software has become critical to a company’s strategic goals.
Below are a few basic yet important characteristics to look for in applicant tracking software when reviewing or comparing recruitment software systems.
Modern enterprise solutions are cloud-based and offered via a software–as-a-service SaaS model. They also offer a frictionless way for companies to quickly try out and start using the platform. Online, web-based access to enterprise recruitment functionality makes it easy for startups and medium-sized enterprises to compete with and start hiring like large companies, without the need to invest in very expensive technology infrastructure. A cloud-based applicant tracking software platform makes it possible for mobile and distributed teams to access the system from wherever they are, making it easy for organizations to include their employees in the recruiting and hiring process. With a SaaS based model, decision-making is easier for smaller companies as they can start with just the functionality they need, while easily upgrading their subscription plans as their needs expand.
Your recruitment funnel defines the process through which you identify, screen, schedule interviews and eventually hire a select few out of a large number of applicants. In fact, companies are interviewing an increasing number of applicants before they are able to find someone who fits their unique requirements. Hence it’s critical for organizations to start off with a large number of high quality prospects and have the ability to track the process at each stage of the recruitment process.
Make sure that your applicant tracking software allows you to define different stages for your hiring process and also let’s you track each stage, easily schedule interviews, collect evaluation forms and rank candidates.
The use of social media has become critical to the recruiting and hiring processes, offering companies a very efficient and viral way to broaden their talent acquisition reach. A next-generation applicant tracking software should make it easy for you to seamlessly integrate social media efforts into your hiring process. Social media outlets like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook create a way for companies to get their jobs in front of passive job seeker and top talent. The right applicant tracking software is a comprehensive platform that provides smooth integration between social recruiting and applicant tracking, making talent acquisition a fast and efficient process.
By enabling your employees to participate in the employee referral program, you are able to virally tap a vast network of pre-selected talent that is part of your employee networks including social media platforms. An incentive based employee referral system keeps the employees engaged in the process as they can visually track and monitor the progress of their referrals in the recruiting workflow. Rewards and incentives further motivate current employees to share jobs with their networks and take the time to refer the best candidates to be considered for the open positions in the company.
When evaluating applicant tracking software, make sure to look for functionality that lets you create and manage an employee referral program in your company. Look for a system that provides this capability as an integrated solution, instead of requiring you to integrate with a separate product.
More employers are looking for applicant tracking software that seamlessly consolidates the necessary capabilities into one platform with deep functionality covering the entire breadth of essential recruitment capabilities. They realize that looking at the recruitment process as a series of unrelated tasks is likely to lose them both time and money. It is time to take the disparate parts of your recruitment process and combine these into a more complete whole – an integrated recruitment software platform. When looking for new technology to help with recruiting, make sure to pay special attention to how the different features such as employee referral, applicant tracking, social recruiting, job postings, interview scheduling are all integrated into the same applicant tracking software solution.
While all of the features previously discussed are critical, perhaps the most important characteristic of a next-generation recruiting software is its comprehensive functionality. A good applicant tracking software solution puts all the necessary features into one invaluable platform. In one system, you can reach out to potential candidates, communicate with prospective hires, organize information, and analyze important statistics and figures to determine the effectiveness of your process.
Do you have additional questions regarding applicant tracking software and recruiting software in general? Contact us or request a demo. Built to leverage next-gen platforms, Simplicant’s powerful recruiting platform and applicant tracking software streamline the entire recruitment process from job creation and publishing to candidate interviewing and hiring.
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