Automation has taken almost every industry by storm over the past few decades, from manufacturing and engineering to healthcare, information technology, and everything in between. It’s safe to say that automation isn’t going away – and the power of automation in recruiting is already well-known.
Automation can seem counterintuitive in a people-first business like staffing and recruiting. Human resources is, after all, centered around humans. But automation isn’t about replacing recruiters or allowing a computer to do the work of a hiring manager. Instead, it’s there to augment recruiting processes, make them more effective, and save valuable time.
Let’s back up: What is recruitment automation, exactly? To put it simply, recruitment automation software is technology that supports HR operations by using software or an algorithm to carry out repetitive tasks, usually with minimal human input. The aim of automated staffing and recruitment software is to augment existing manual practices and provide a more streamlined alternative.
So, why should staffing companies engage with recruitment automation? What is the benefit of recruitment software for staffing agencies, and how can your company implement it? Keep reading to learn more about recruitment automation in the world of staffing and recruiting.
Why Should Staffing Companies Use Recruitment Automation Software?
Recruiting automation has many benefits for both the recruitment professionals who use it and the staffing companies they work for. Here are some of the major benefits:
Reduce Time to Hire with Staffing and Recruitment Software
Data from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows that the average time it takes to fill an open position is 36 days. Many recruiters – and the client organizations they serve – don’t have the luxury of waiting that long. Companies need reliable people, fast. That’s why time-to-hire is a metric that’s so important for recruiters.
Recruitment automation software helps to reduce time-to-hire figures. That’s because it streamlines the entire process, from posting job openings, screening applicants, and scheduling candidate interviews. When these tasks are done automatically, the recruiter can focus on finding and attracting more – and better-qualified – candidates for their openings, rather than the tedious administrative tasks associated with the recruitment process.
Recruitment Automation Software Improves Your Quality of Hire
Automated staffing and recruitment software doesn’t just shorten the time it takes to find qualified candidates who check all the boxes – it improves the quality of the candidates that are identified. Automation software uses algorithms and data to filter through applicants’ experience, work history, skills, qualifications, and education. This means you save a lot of time sifting through resumes manually, and it also means you find the cream of the crop rather than expending energy vetting and verifying less-than-ideal candidates. For recruiters, this makes their job easier and more effective, and it means their clients are more satisfied with the candidates they receive, too.
Another way that automated recruiting software improves the quality of hire is by eliminating bias, including unconscious bias. Automation lets recruiters eliminate conscious or unconscious judgments based on things like race, ethnicity, gender, age, sex, or religion. This way, recruiters can make completely objective decisions when it comes to hiring, ultimately finding the best candidates and creating diverse, effective teams for their clients.
Access Data-Driven Analytics with Recruiting Software
Automated recruitment software for staffing agencies automates certain tasks – and it provides data-driven insights into those automated processes. Automation software can give recruiters insights into their time-to-hire metrics, where candidates tend to drop out of the process, which sourcing methods are the most effective, and much more. That lets recruiters see where they can improve their processes or methods, and it’s extremely useful for planning future recruitment strategies.
How to Automate Your Hiring Process with Staffing and Recruitment Software
We’ve learned what recruitment automation software is and why staffing companies should leverage it to their benefit. The question remains: How do you use this kind of technology to improve your recruiting process?
Here are five ways to automate your recruitment process:
#1: Leverage Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software
One of the most powerful automated recruiting software tools is also one of the most common: the applicant tracking system, or ATS. Just about every modern staffing and recruiting firm uses an ATS because it acts as a central hub for all candidate data. An ATS helps your company to manage the entire recruitment process, including job postings, communication with candidates, resume sorting and filtering, and much more. An ATS allows recruiters to track applicants through the process – where they came from, what their status is, whether they have interviews scheduled, and beyond. This kind of software includes many automated components that can make a recruiter’s job much easier, more efficient, and more effective.
#2: Automate the Hiring Process with Pre-Screening Tools
Automated staffing and recruitment software also helps to improve the hiring process by utilizing pre-screening tools. The SHRM reports that screening applicants can take a week or longer – not only does the proper software help reduce that time, but it ensures the right candidates rise to the top and that no qualified people are left falling through the cracks.
Automated software automatically sorts and ranks the candidate profiles you receive, based on the predefined criteria recruiters select. This lets recruiters eliminate applicants who don’t meet the minimum requirements for a given job, instead identifying those who have the highest potential. Resume parsing and keyword extraction tools can help recruiters identify the most relevant applications almost instantaneously, both speeding up and improving the quality of the hiring process overall.
#3: Enable Chatbots to Automate Candidate Communication
Did you know that one of the chief reasons candidates drop out of the hiring process is because of poor communication? Automation helps to maintain proper communication with candidates so they are continually engaged with throughout the process. Automated messaging tools can send customized messages to candidates, whether it’s simply checking in, prompting them to take certain actions, or reminding them of upcoming interviews or other events. Chatbots provide the ability for candidates to communicate with the staffing firm and get the information they need, without taking time away from the recruiters’ job duties.
#4: Schedule Interviews Faster with Recruitment Automation Software
Long gone are the days of having to manually schedule multiple rounds of interviews with each of your candidates. Now, automated technology does it for you. Rather than going back and forth with dozens of candidates, trying to find an available time to meet, candidates can self-schedule at a time that works for them – and a time that’s open on the recruiter’s calendar. The more candidates you have in the pipeline, the more your recruiters will benefit from this kind of software. And since easy scheduling is an important step for improving the candidate experience, you’re ensuring candidates are happy and keeping the schedule straight at the same time.
#5: Hire On-the-Go with Mobile Recruiting Apps
Another advantage of recruitment automation software? The ability to recruit from anywhere using mobile apps. This kind of technology allows recruiters to capture candidate data, access their information, oversee scheduling, and much more, all from a mobile device. In today’s remote- and hybrid-first workplace, your recruiting team can have all the advantages of automated software – no matter where they might work from.
Automate Your Recruitment Process with Staffing and Recruitment Software from Exelare
Leveraging an ATS, using pre-screening tools, enabling chatbots for candidate communication, scheduling interviews automatically, and hiring on-the-go with mobile recruiting apps – these are only some of the ways to automate your recruitment process using state-of-the-art recruitment automation software. If you’re ready to use this kind of technology to improve your recruiting process, turn to the experts at Exelare.
Exelare provides a secure, cloud-based software platform for staffing agencies that includes ATS, candidate relationship management (CRM) software, candidate onboarding tools, and more. Our technology helps your recruitment team streamline and automate various processes in order to do their jobs more effectively and faster, and get the data needed to optimize hiring results.
Request a demo today to learn more and get started with us.