Recruiting automation: what to consider when choosing software

Recruiters spend a lot of time and effort searching for relevant candidates. At the same time, good specialists in the market do not seem to stay for a long time, an unfortunate hitch – and the candidate disappears from the «radar». In turn, recruitment automation provides recruiters, sourcers and HR with a comfortable rear, speeding up the stages, streamlining the process and protecting them from routine. Well, in the free time, the recruiter concentrates on the main thing, manages more and engages the best ones. How – let’s figure it out.
Every day, a recruiter or sourcer faces a plenty of operating system, which is cyclically repeated during hiring procedure for any position: posting a vacancy, correspondence with candidates, scheduling interviews, building a resume database, etc. Many people try to optimize the process, especially when the search for the right specialist is delayed and time is an issue. Top management also thinks about similar tasks if the lack of professionals affects financial performance. Inability to start the project on time, the failure to meet time constraints, the loss in the quality of the product/services, the damage to the company’s reputation – everything is a consequence of the undermanning. And, as a rule, the overall question and dissatisfaction flocks straight to the recruiting/HR department – along with reproaches about the «poorly organized work» in search and hiring.
Often, a purely «human factor» also intervenes in this cycle: the recruiter forgot something, did not enter the data into the database, did not call the candidate on time, made a mistake in an e-mail… Anything can happen in the «overflow». As a result, we have a contradictory situation: on the one hand, we are looking for an employee by the sweat of our brow, on the other hand, we are losing him/her «by negligence», which is extremely reckless in the current market realities.

By constantly communicating with recruiters, CleverStaff developers are aware of their problem issues. For most of them, automation is synonymous with a well-functioning database,  integration with job sites, auto-adding of a candidate and tracking their status, scheduling of the interviews, and much more. There is also a pool of the fear myths, with which this topic has already been «overgrown». Here are the most common ones.

Test: Who really needs automated hiring systems?

Speed ​​and efficiency are the main criteria by which the work of a recruiter is evaluated today. And they can really be significantly improved with the help of high-quality digital solutions. But before you ask yourself about purchasing software, you need to understand the business needs. With a high probability, it is necessary to automate the process if.

1. The recruiting stages are not adjusted in the company. Each job vacancy can have its own hiring funnel that needs to be followed. A recruiter cannot always send a notification in time or follow up on a response. Hiring automation will streamline the process so that the candidate moves through a well-defined hiring structure.
2. There is a desire to search more and more efficiently. There are many candidates, and there may be only one or two recruiters. And it is extremely important for him/her not only to look for people and fill vacancies, but also to plan meetings and interviews.
3. There is no database of candidates. Without its creation, the recruiter’s efforts are in vain, and prompt hiring is ineffective. After all, even passive, «sleeping» candidates, according to LinkedIn, in 87% of cases can consider an interesting offer. Therefore, automated collection and storage of information is a must have.
4. There is a desire to find the best people faster. A talented specialist «on the job market» stays an average of 10 days. During this time, you need to have time to talk to him/her and understand whether he/she is suitable – preliminary. In other words, every touch is important – a letter, a call, a conversation. All this facilitates CRM for recruiting.
5. It is important to save resources – both time and finances, to see the effect and understand the practical benefits of using software.

In response to these well-founded requests, the developers of automated sourcing systems offer their solutions that automate and speed up the recruitment stages. Recruiters and HRD, as a rule, decide collegially, testing and comparing, which one should be given preference.
So, Oleksandr Zlobenko, HR Generalist, MaxBill and teacher of the HR Generalist course in IT at Beetroot Academy, believes that automation should speed up work by removing or minimizing routine operations, such as adding candidates to the database, creating and publishing vacancies, organizing interviews with further feedback collecting, etc.
«As a result, the recruitment process should operate in a separate ecosystem that is transparent for all participants. The software should complement existing processes. If the software goes against the grain or requires drastic changes, then you should look for analogues, other recruiting services, or try to find a temporary solution with free tools on your own», says Oleksandr.
In turn, Maryna Stiahailo, Chief Executive Officer, Akkerman-Engineering & Software and teacher of the HR Generalist course in IT at Beetroot Academy, names the advantages, which considerably increased after the recruiting program was implemented.
«Due to this, communication with the Team Lead/Project Manager has significantly improved – when drawing up an application, describing the necessary Hard and Soft skills, Maryna notes. – In seconds, we transfer the candidates’ resumes to the database, it is possible to search for them in our database by a variety of criteria, and instantly find the history of communication with the applicant. Also, statistics are always at hand – for example, amount of applicants who were rejected and for what reasons, and amount and reasons for their refusal on their own».
With the help of specialized software, it is easy to set the status for the candidate, track the stages, and demonstrate the selection transparency to the customer. “It significantly reduces the time for collecting resumes, sending template letters, organizing interviews, getting feedback from the Team Lead/Project Manager, etc.”, emphasizes Maryna Stiahailo.
However, when analyzing different systems, there is always a place for a certain set of options, the presence of which is worth paying attention to. Let’s analyze them based on the example of CleverStaff.

Competitive advantages of CleverStaff: features and nuances

The developers of CleverStaff have implemented in the system a whole range of tools for a recruiter or sourcer, which help to move through the stages of hiring quickly and clearly, which greatly facilitates the work of filling vacancies.
Practical opportunities of CleverStaff include:

• Integrations. Cleverstaff syncs with the vacancies posting sites, LinkedIn, and email services.
• Adding applicants in 1 click. The system allows you to quickly create a database of the vacancy applicants by adding a resume in 1 click.
• Report generation. Information about candidates from the ATS-system is converted into a detailed report. Within 5 seconds you will be able to provide it to your clients or manager.
• Recommendations. Cleverstaff automatically analyzes resumes according to the specified criteria and provides the HR manager with recommendations on those that correspond the requirements best of all.
• Form of letters. The Cleverstaff software has sample letter forms that you can use for distribution to job applicants. Again, it saves time.
• Database integration. The recruiting program provides the functions of exporting and importing the ready-made bases, which allows you to use the generated bases of applicants for search.
• Resume parsing. Cleverstaff allows you to collect resumes according to specified criteria and form a database from scratch as soon as possible.

In addition, the software provides for customization: the service has four types of custom fields, setting up stages for vacancies, own sources of candidates, etc.
Integration with job websites, mail and social networks also makes it possible to publish vacancies on top platforms directly from CleverStaff in one click.
In this system, the recruiter and the customer can work together without saving “arrays” of correspondence and files in their mail. At the same time, the recruiter can carry on correspondence with the candidate directly from the system.
Starting work at CleverStaff, the recruiter seems to sit down at a smart table, where everything he/she needs is at hand – the «Organizer», «Vacancies», «Candidates», «Customers», «Account», «Reports» tab sections. The system compartmentalizes the tasks and the recruiter’s working day, allowing you to keep the maximum number of tasks in focus and freeing you from the routine.
Important! The CleverStaff software is one of the few that have server and cloud versions. Among the advantages are high data security, ample opportunities for customization and adaptation of the system to the needs of a particular customer.
And what is very important: the special value of using such software consists not only in the replacement of routine procedures with automatic operations. We are talking about a shift in emphasis to more intellectual tasks and the introduction of new principles for the organization of personnel selection.
It can be a long time to talk about the capabilities of different systems, but the question «Is it worth implementing?» – is more rhetorical. With the help of ATS you can save. For example, up to 10 working weeks of a recruiter per year. How? CleverStaff calculated cost-effectiveness and ROI from using the software based on its own 2-year analytics. Read here about what recruiting automation gives in terms of money, time and ROI.
 
Start to automatize recruiting with the CleverStaff free trial version.