By Hire Ground

Read Part One and Part Two. In part three of our five part series, we explore recruiting software.

Recruitment and hiring is undoubtedly a very expensive process, with HR experts calculating that the average hire costs about $3,300.¹ Recruiting software can cut that number significantly by reducing the amount of time spent on hiring, improving communications, and providing search and referral systems that focus on the ideal candidate.

Software Assists in Time to Hire
The goal of reducing the time to hire and subsequently the cost to hire is attained through software that is more powerful, but also easier to use. Complex systems take longer to learn, intimidate inexperienced users and are less efficient than software designed with user experience as a top priority. The first big step in making systems easier to use are improved screening capabilities.

Reviewing and analyzing large quantities of text data can be very time consuming, not to mention exhausting. The average job opening sees approximately 250 applicant resumes, along with a cover letter for each. If human resources can review 40 resumes in an hour (ambitious), this means scanning through applicant data six hours per day or 1,625 hours per year. What is needed is a more efficient way to screen and review candidate data.

A More Efficient Way to Screen
This can be done in several ways:

• Custom questions in the application process. Answers to questions can be weighted on the candidate’s answer. Multiple answers may have differing values dependent on the weighting placed by human resources, for example, top priority skills or experience would be assigned a greater value than skills with less importance. Candidates can be scored, ranked or auto-rejected based on their answers.
• Intelligent resume matching. Uploaded resume data can be auto matched to the requirements described in the job posting. With semantic searching becoming increasingly powerful, software systems begin to look for the meaning and intention behind a set of keywords. Human resources will have less need to search a resume database—and the searches they perform will be smarter and more effective.
• Automatic filtering. Human resources can add system meaning when posting a job, which will screen a candidate for specific requirements. Those applicants without the correct criteria are automatically rejected or scored lower upon application.
• Parsing resume data. Screening capabilities will vastly improve with the continued development of accurate parsing software. Tools that extract structured data from resume text are getting better at placing that data into standardized fields. This results in the ability to tag resume data such as it makes meaning of the text leading to faster searching and analyzing.

Empower the Hiring Team: Mobility for the People
The above points demonstrate a better computer analysis of data so that people evaluating this data spend less time doing so. Human resources will not have to complete time-consuming searches of existing applicants or review endless resumes to determine best fit. Software systems are getting smarter, and the advent of newer screening tools means greater speed and accuracy throughout the recruitment process.

Another way that hiring is being simplified is ease of access using mobile responsive pages for all hiring team members. This means that any user can review job lists and submitted applications anywhere anytime. This is particularly helpful for those managers working in the field.

Modern systems allow easy access to job lists with permission settings that are pertinent for the company and team member. For example, the hiring manager may not need to see all new applicants, but rather only those that have been sorted and moved to a pre-screen or interview stage. Viewing a job list with a well-designed mobile interface makes it easy for the manager to view submissions and make decisions with only a few clicks.

ATS Your Service: HR’s Assist
Let’s not forget the ways applicant tracking system (ATS) are getting better at assisting the HR team with day to day tasks. Small tasks that are both time-consuming and tedious for humans can be completed faster and more precisely by a machine. Examples include the closing of jobs automatically once filled, application acknowledgement messages, and regret letters issued to candidates that were not hired.

As described previously, jobs can be fed to other advertising mediums such as free boards, social media, and paid boards meaning that no time is spent distributing jobs. Software excels at completing menial tasks, and any HR team can take advantage of this increased efficiency.

Lastly, we have noticed a trend where more companies are moving the responsibility of the final screening (for example, interviewing) onto the hiring manager. This lets the recruiter spend more time on sourcing and initial screening. Systems are making it easier for hiring managers to see resulting job lists along with sharing the applicant data that matters most to them (such as the applicants that have made it to the interview stage).

Furthermore, collaboration among the hiring team can be facilitated within a system by assigning ownership to jobs. Notes and decisions are logged by the system and shared with the team, regardless of physical location. With improved user interface design and responsive (mobile) technology, hiring managers with little experience using recruiting software can easily take on more hiring responsibility.

The Current Challenge of Information Delivery
In comparison, current processes for delivering information to managers outside human resources are time consuming. It could involve printing all resumes for any one position or mass emailing those applications to each of the reviewers. In turn, the review team must evaluate each applicant individually either via reading the paper information or clicking and opening the information attachments in an email.

Generally, this means access via a desktop computer, as opening all these documents is impossible using a mobile device. This process takes recruiting outside the software system, leaving the ability to track decisions, comments and reporting behind. Keeping all recruiting steps contained in a single system is vital for team collaboration, accurate reporting and future database searches.

These system improvements all translate into better speed of hire. Over the last few years – with high unemployment and little competition for talent – recruiters could take their time and still land top candidates. As the pace of change in business and the competition for talent increases, firms will have no choice but to revisit “speed of hire” approaches and tools in order to land candidates that are in high demand.

Read Part Four now.

1 Forbes – May 2013 (www.forbes.com)

Since 1999, HireGround has established itself as a leading provider of Applicant Tracking Software (ATS). HireGround is recognized for its strong customer support, ease of use software, and ability to streamline software processes to meet client requirements.