So you have finally determined that your hiring process needs to be managed better and you are looking for a free applicant tracking system trial. Without recruiting software, your entire enterprise recruiting assets and activities are hard to keep track of. Resumes, referrals, interview schedules and many other important bits of information are otherwise scattered across various people, emails and folders. In most cases, this recruitment information and data, including resumes may have ended up in a black hole where they will likely never be seen again. No doubt, you are looking to get organized.
As you search for a proper system to manage and streamline the process, you may have started looking for a free applicant tracking system trial to help you warm up to the idea of how one really works. A free trial of an applicant tracking system is a good opportunity to test drive a recruiting software platform and see how the different capabilities of the system can help you automate the process and make serious headway with your hiring efforts.
With a next-generation and modern recruiting platform, a free ATS trial doesn’t have to be run with dummy data. In fact, you will be able to get a better feel for the actual effectiveness of the free applicant tracking system trial when you are using it to its full capabilities. Below are a few features you must explore as you test the free trial of an applicant tracking system.
Getting started with a new technology platform could often feel like a daunting task, even intimidating at times, regardless of how user-friendly and easy the technology is advertised to be. Providing you with full support during your free applicant tracking system trial is great test of how helpful your vendor really is. Don’t skip or defer the free trial if you are busy and feel that you have no time to invest in learning about the new product. In fact, you can use this as an excellent opportunity to get the vendor to set everything up for you at their time instead of yours. In addition, have the vendor educate you about the technology and provide you and your team with product training if needed.
An important part of automating your recruiting process is the hiring workflow. Pay close attention to how the system allows you to customize the workflow through which you would like to take your applicants from initial application and screening to interviewing and collaborative decision making. Does the recruiting software enable you to involve and collaborate with your company stakeholders? Does the process help you identify bottlenecks in the hiring process and make corresponding improvements. The point of creating and managing a hiring workflow is to speed up the process. Make sure that your online recruiting software helps you achieve this easily.
Modern-day recruiting is incomplete and ineffective if it does not leverage social media and the power of social networks. The top talent that you are looking for to fill your open positions is mostly hanging out on social platforms for networking, work and various other reasons. Needless to say, these social destinations are also the places where you need to be to get access to the best passive candidates that you are looking for. A good test of your free applicant tracking system trial is the level of integration it provides with social media platforms. Does it make it really easy for you and your entire organization to share jobs on social media and then track the success rate? Test the entire social media recruiting capabilities during the free trial to make sure you know what you are getting and how well it is integrated with the applicant tracking system.
Best-in-class companies understand that creating and managing an employee referral program is critical for sourcing some of the best individuals. In fact, employee referrals are one of the most effective sources through which companies hire top quality talent. While many companies understand the benefits and have some kind of the employee referral bonus in place, most companies lack the means to easily get employees involved in the hiring and referral process. Before you start, make sure that your free applicant tracking system trial includes integrated employee referral capabilities. Pay close attention to how the referral capability will allow you and your colleagues to easily share referral information through the system with minimum friction.
The point of the free applicant tracking system trial is to get you to see and test the capabilities of the system. Make sure there are no hidden costs involved for functionality that you are testing. Costs of continuing to use the system beyond the trial should be clear.
Most importantly, did you get the necessary support and help that you needed to get the most out of your free applicant tracking system trial? Did your questions and concerns get answered in a timely manner? Your experience with the vendor in these areas will help you move swiftly and confidently to start using the new system in your corporate environment.
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