Productive recruitment processes

Employee engagement is a core element of any organisation’s success — and recruitment is the first step in finding the right talent. Combining these two components and creating an efficient and productive hiring process is key in the fast-changing corporate world.

However, recruiting manually can be time-consuming, overwhelming, and costly. That’s when technology comes into play.

Automated Talent Software (ATS) helps automate the recruitment process, allowing organisations to quickly find, nurture, and hire the best candidates. As the saying goes ‘first impression is the last impression’ — ATS ensures all your potential employees are nurtured and cared for.

A pre-pandemic Linkedin report highlights that, “recruiters using AI found it to be most helpful with Sourcing Candidates (58%), Screening Candidates (56%) and Nurturing Candidates (55%).” And very recently Capterra revealed that “94% of recruiters say their ATS has positively impacted their hiring process”.

It’s clear that both employee engagement and recruitment are crucial for success. But in today’s competitive business landscape – it’s time to take recruiting one step further. That is by ensuring everyone has an experience that is mutually beneficial.

Why applicant tracking tool for employee engagement is a must

Think about it – you wouldn’t manage your finances without a financial tracking tool, so why would you manage your recruitment process without an applicant tracking system (ATS)?

While we will discuss how ATS can help you in other ways below, employee engagement is key when hiring. Applicant tracking tools can make the process of managing candidates, scheduling interviews, and tracking progress much smoother and more efficient.

That way, the individual who applied feels like they are getting a quality experience while they are being considered for the position. They are potential employees, after all. This will help save time and money – plus create a better candidate experience. In a nutshell, looking at ATS as a tool for employee engagement is key both for an organisation’s success and reputation.

Let’s discuss the 23 ways ATS automation can help organisations become more efficient and save time in the recruitment process.

Automated Job Postings

Many ATS tools provide automated job postings and streamline the job application process. This can save recruiters and hiring managers time by allowing them to post job listings once, and have them automatically syndicated to multiple channels.

When to use: Automated job postings are beneficial for companies that need to post the same job on multiple online sites — such as job boards, and career sites. And of course, if a company is trying to broaden its reach and make sure its job listing is seen by a large audience.

Candidate Screening

ATS can scan resumes and pre-screen them against job requirements to identify the best possible match. This helps to hire managers quickly identify the most qualified candidates. As a result, recruiters spend less time manually pre-screening candidates. In fact, there are AI tools that offer resume templates for candidates to create professional-looking resumes in just minutes — these too can be easily scanned by ATS tools!

When to use: Candidate screening is useful when handling large volumes of applications. It also ensures that you are recruiting the most suitable candidates to fill any given position, increasing the chances of successful hires.

Candidate Experience Tracking

An ATS can help you track and improve the candidate’s experience throughout their journey. This helps you keep track of how satisfied candidates are with the recruitment process and the experience they received.

Moreover, it can be used to tailor the recruitment process to the individual, creating a more personalised experience.

When to use:

When you want to measure the quality of your recruitment process
When tracking candidate satisfaction and engagement
When you want to provide a personalized and tailored experience

Data Collection and Reporting

Automated data collection and reporting help you to analyse key metrics. This includes metrics such as time-to-hire, average cost-per-hire, and candidate drop-off rates. These metrics can be used to identify areas for improvement and help you become more efficient.

When to use:

When interviewing a large number of candidates with limited resources
When you need to measure and track the performance of your talent acquisition
When you need to provide detailed reports to stakeholders
When you need to make data-driven decisions

Interview Scheduling and Tracking

ATSs can reduce the amount of time recruiters spend manually scheduling interviews and tracking progress. By automating these steps, recruiters can focus on building relationships with potential candidates.

When to use:

Companies with a large volume of applicants and positions to fill
Organisations with multiple recruiting team members
Organisations with a need for tracking candidate progress over time

Resume Parsing

InbuiltIn built tools in some ATSs can scan and parse resumes for specific keywords and phrases. This can save recruiters time by automatically highlighting candidates who have the skills and experience needed for each job.

When to use:

Automating the pre-screening process
Identifying relevant skills, experience, and qualifications quickly
Speeding up response times to applicants

Automated Email Communications

Automated emails can help streamline communication with candidates and provide real-time updates on job postings, recruiters’ emails, and job alerts.

This can save recruiters both time and money while ensuring. For example, you can automate emails thanking candidates for submitting their resumes and keeping them updated on the status of their applications.

When to use:

Automate daily tasks
Keep candidates updated on the status of their applications
Use for onboarding or training
Schedule for mass emails
Create customised email templates

Candidate Engagement

An ATS can be used to track candidate engagement to create a better candidate experience.

You can monitor communication, track responses, mentor candidates in their journey through the recruitment process, and nurture and follow up with candidates who have expressed interest but have not yet applied.

When to use:

Being able to track engagement metrics can help you to prioritise candidates that have had meaningful interactions
Using an ATS will provide comprehensive data on candidate engagement and help you make informed decisions
ATS allows you to access candidate feedback, team scores, and interviews at any time

Skills Assessment

Many ATSs can help organisations conduct skills assessments to quickly and accurately measure candidates’ technical capabilities.

This can save recruiters time and money by reducing the number of interviews they need to conduct, while also potentially reducing bias. This is particularly beneficial for organisations that are hiring for technical positions.

When to use:

To quickly measure candidates’ technical capabilities
To save time in the recruitment process
To save money on interviews
To reduce bias in the recruitment process
To hire for technical positions more effectively

Integration with Third-Party Applications

ATSs can be integrated with third-party applications to extend the platform’s capabilities and save recruiters time.

For example, an ATS can be integrated with a recruitment marketing platform to create and track campaigns, or with a background, check platform to streamline applicants’ background checks.

When to use:

To extend the platform’s capabilities
To create and track recruitment campaigns
To streamline applicants’ background checks
To integrate with other applications or software

Mobile Optimised

Many ATSs now include a mobile-optimised version so that recruiters can access the system from their mobile devices. This can save time when researching candidates, searching for jobs, or managing job postings.

When to use:

When researching candidates quickly
When searching for job postings quickly
When managing job postings from a mobile device
When tracking workflow from a mobile device

Get Comprehensive Analytics

Analytics can help organisations identify areas that need improvement. For example, track different areas such as job performance, hiring metrics, and candidate engagement. This can help to identify areas for improvement and optimise the recruitment process.

When to use:

To identify areas that need improvement
To measure job performance
To track hiring metrics
To monitor candidate engagement
To optimise the recruitment process

Candidate Relationship Management

ATS can be used as a CRM to track and nurture relationships with candidates. This can help recruiters save time by automatically following up with interest. For example, you can set up automated emails to thank candidates for applying or to send job alerts.

When to use:

To easily follow up with interested candidates
To thank candidates for applying
To send out job alerts
To save time in the recruitment process
To nurture relationships with potential candidates

ATS can be integrated with social media profiles such as LinkedIn and Facebook. This makes it easier for recruiters to source candidates, evaluate profiles, and communicate with potential candidates.

When to use:

To source candidates quickly
To evaluate social profiles
To communicate with potential candidates
To stay up to date with the latest trends in recruiting
To easily build relationships with potential candidates

Job Fulfillment

An ATS can be used to measure and track job fulfilment to ensure that job requirements are met and the hiring process is efficient. This can help organisations identify and fill gaps in their workforce and track the progress of positions they’re filling.

When to use:

To measure job fulfilment
To track the progress of positions
To ensure job requirements are met
To fill gaps in the workforce
To ensure a smooth hiring process

Onboarding Automation

Some ATSs include an onboarding automation feature, which can save recruiters time by automating the onboarding process for new hires. This can trim down paperwork, scheduling, and data entry so recruiters can focus on tasks that demand human intervention.

When to use:

To automate the onboarding process
To save time on paperwork
To reduce manual data entry
To free up time for recruiters
To streamline communication with new hires

Integration with Payroll System

An ATS can also be integrated with payroll systems to streamline and automate the payroll process. This can save recruiters time by automatically calculating payroll, generating reports, and providing other useful data. Moreover, it can ensure that employee payments and tax deductions are accurate.

When to use:

To automate payroll calculation
To generate payroll reports
To provide useful data
To ensure employee payments are accurate
To ensure tax deductions are accurate

Source Tracking

An ATS can be used to track the source of each candidate to better understand which sources result in the best hires. This can help recruiters focus on the sources which produce the best results while saving time by eliminating ineffective sources.

When to use:

To track the source of each candidate
To understand which sources result in the best hires
To identify and focus on the most effective sources
To eliminate ineffective sources
To save time in the recruitment process

Diversity Tracking

ATSs can be used to track diversity hiring initiatives and ensure that a diverse workforce is maintained. This can help recruiters to monitor and optimise hiring efforts to ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process.

When to use:

When HR departments would like to measure the impact of diversity hiring efforts
When compliance with external regulations is mandatory
When the organisation wishes to foster a real culture of diversity and inclusion

Survey Integration

ATS can be integrated with survey software to help recruiters gather feedback from candidates, employees and other stakeholders. This can help to identify areas for improvement and create a better overall recruitment process. Moreover, it can provide invaluable insights into what candidates are looking for in a job.

When to use:

To gather feedback from candidates
To identify areas for improvement
To create a better recruitment process
To gain insights into what candidates desire
To get detailed insights into the recruitment process

Take your recruitment process to the next level by leveraging the benefits of an ATS!

Hiring candidates has become more time-consuming and challenging than ever. And after hiring — engagement and retention become important.

An ATS can help streamline and optimise the entire process — from sourcing, and onboarding to employee engagement. It can reduce manual effort by automating administrative tasks, such as job postings to find new employees and remunerate the existing ones.

It can also provide data-driven insights to help recruiters better source, evaluate, and hire candidates, making the entire process more efficient and cost-effective.

All in all, ATS is perfect for not only hiring but also for engaging and retaining top talent. When you use ATS to benefit not only potential employees but also the ones that currently work with you — productivity is sure to skyrocket.

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Author: Stasha Damovska – Freelance Outreach and Link Building Specialist

Photo credit: RODNAE Productions

23 Ways to Increase Recruiting Efficiency with ATS Automation in 2023