When you have a positive interaction with a business – a restaurant, a department store, an auto shop – how much more likely are you to stick with that company and be a repeat customer? More likely than not, right? It’s the same for candidates who are working with your staffing agency. When they have a great experience, you’re that much more likely to retain them and attract them in the first place.
We tend to put a lot of time into thinking about how to improve the candidate experience via our recruiters’ methods, our approach, and the way we move candidates through the hiring funnel. But there is another important component to think about when it comes to improving a candidate’s experience. Staffing agency software is absolutely vital to the process, and it can make all the difference in how a candidate views your company – and the choices they make moving forward.
Since your applicant tracking system (ATS) is central to nearly every part of your staffing operations, it’s one example of technology that plays a big role in the candidate experience. What can an ATS and other automated staffing software tools do that make them so important for this purpose? And what exactly is the candidate experience, anyway? Let’s take a closer look at improving the candidate experience with the power of software.
What is Meant by the Candidate Experience?
The candidate experience is just what it sounds like: the impression a candidate gets when they interact with your staffing company. The important thing to understand is that the candidate experience encompasses everything throughout the process, end-to-end – from an initial interaction all the way through to the first day on the job and beyond.
The candidate journey includes:
- Attraction – The initial contact between a candidate and a recruiter, or a candidate and your firm’s website or social media channels.
- Screening – The application process, skills assessments, and the interview stage.
- Selection – This includes the sharing of your information with the client, the job offer itself, and the onboarding stage.
- Retention – The employment experience, communication between candidate and recruiter post-hire, and job transitions in some cases.
As you can see, the candidate experience goes way beyond a simple interview, or the application process on your website. It starts before that – the first contact a candidate has with your company – and goes beyond getting hired, too. That’s why it’s so important to harness the power of technology and staffing agency software tools in order to make the candidate experience great, every time.
What is an ATS for Staffing Companies?
An ATS is a crucial piece of software for staffing agencies. It serves as the central database where all candidate information is stored, and it tracks candidates throughout the process. A great ATS will also give you analytical insights, allowing you to make data-driven decisions about what is working in your candidate experience and what might not be.
Here are just a few of the main reasons why an ATS for staffing companies is so vital to the candidate experience:
- It offers a user-friendly application process. All job seekers want an easy application process, and they’re probably applying through their mobile device. An ATS offers candidates a mobile-friendly, easy-to-use application process to quickly get their submission handled.
- It speeds up the application process. With features like resume parsing and easy-apply, an ATS makes the entire application process shorter. Since candidates tend to leave before filling out lengthy forms, this is crucial to attracting top talent.
- It maintains regular communication with candidates. An ATS sends automated emails and responses to candidates regarding their application status, and some can even communicate with candidates to answer FAQs and notify them about other roles that fit their experience.
Capabilities of Staffing Agency Software that Improve the Candidate Experience
The point of using automated staffing tools in the hiring process is not to have less communication and accessibility with candidates – it’s to have more. Staffing agency software improves the candidate experience in multiple ways.
I. Online Job Portals for Candidates
Integrating your candidate job portal into your staffing agency’s website allows job seekers to access all of the necessary information in one easy-to-use area. The candidate gets a comprehensive view of everything they need to know as they’re beginning to apply. And the best part? The job portal is also optimized for mobile devices, where most job seekers are applying in today’s market.
II. Connecting with Candidates Through SMS/Text Message Integration
In today’s fast-paced world, text messaging is often the preferred method of communication by many candidates. And a great ATS for staffing companies allows for SMS integration, letting recruiters connect with candidates directly through text message. This way, candidates can receive notifications throughout the hiring process about the status of their application, what to expect on the first day, other jobs that might pique their interest, etc. This kind of mobile staffing solution is just one of many ways modern software makes the candidate experience better.
III. Connecting with Candidates Through Social Media Integration
Staffing software also integrates with your company’s social media channels to better the candidate experience. Through your social platforms, candidates get a great sense of who you are as a company – your team’s personality, your values, and your vision for the future. For many candidates, this is an important step toward deciding to submit an application or pass altogether. Social media integrations allow you to automate job postings to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social pages, making it easy for candidates to apply wherever they’re interacting with your company online.
IV. Make Scheduling Easier for Candidates with an ATS for Staffing Companies
Last but not least, automated staffing tools like an ATS make it easier for you to schedule interviews with candidates. These tools use calendar integration and self-service interview schedule to give candidates more control in the process – they can see what times are available, choosing dates and hours that work for them. You’ll also be able to send out reminder texts or emails to the candidate directly. That makes it much more likely that a candidate will show up for their interview, and it also reduces interview stress and gives you a better idea of who the candidate is while you’re talking to them.
Staffing Agency Software Will Accelerate the Hiring Process for Candidates
At the end of the day, how does software for staffing agencies improve the candidate experience? It streamlines and accelerates the hiring process for candidates. With features like resume parsing – which brings the most relevant and accurate resumes to the top of the pile, allowing recruiters to access top candidates fast – and mobile-friendly applications to meet candidates where they are, software makes things simpler and easier at every step. Near the end of the process, automated interview scheduling keeps the candidates’ convenience at top priority, further making a good impression on candidates and binding them to your staffing company in a way that you couldn’t achieve otherwise.
When candidates are able to land jobs faster and they’ve had a great experience while doing so, they stay engaged with your firm. Using staffing agency software to your advantage in this way is simply the best method for attracting and retaining top talent within your organization.
Improve the Candidate Experience with Software for Staffing Agencies from Exelare
Take a close look at your candidate experience and ask yourself the tough questions. Could it be better? What steps do you need to take to improve? Staffing agency software designed to streamline and simplify the hiring process for candidates may be the perfect solution.
If you’re looking for software to improve the candidate experience, Exelare can help. We offer a variety of automated staffing tools that staffing and recruiting agencies can use to improve the candidate experience and expedite the hiring process. Reach out to our team to schedule a demo today and learn more about our products and services.