The way we work today is a lot different from the way people worked just a decade ago. Freelancing is now a full-time job for many; 9-to-5 weekdays are being replaced by round-the-clock availability of independent consultants; and alternative work arrangements are becoming common throughout firms from global multinational corporations (MNCs) to local, bootstrapped start-ups.
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Independence from a desk means that more people are engaging in a flexible working model. People are working from their homes, from coffee shops, and even from beaches while wearing shorts and flip-flops. They exhibit just the same productivity levels as full-time employees and are in much demand by organizations who need niche talent for specific projects. If they have access to a laptop and Internet connectivity, teams can work together without having to be located in the same office (or even the same city, for that matter).
In such a dynamic environment, sourcing talent and hiring the right candidates is no picnic. Recruiters face many challenges that broadly fall into one of these categories.
- They spend too much time managing applications.
- They do not receive enough high-quality applications in response to the job postings.
- They are unable to seamlessly manage all the candidates’ screening and interview processes.
- There is a lack of reports or analytics on how the available data about all the candidates can be leveraged for future usage.
Any recruitment software you use to acquire talent has to consider an evolving, modern-day workforce and address the challenges outlined above. Here are some points to bear in mind when you are comparing, evaluating, and deciding on which recruitment platform to invest in.
Focuses on Collaborative Hiring
The technology you use should allow you to make collaborative hiring a standard practice. The more you involve different people from throughout the organization into the hiring process, especially those in whose team the candidate will work within, the higher is the chance of onboarding a good cultural fit. The business buy-in for acquiring someone is also justified much more easily, and the fulfillment time is substantially reduced. With an all-hands-on-deck approach, team engagement is accelerated, and everyone is making it possible to fulfill dynamic hiring needs faster.
Makes It Easy to Distribute Job Postings
When you have a team that is geographically dispersed, it is important to distribute the openings throughout job boards in different regions. The recruitment software should make it easy to post open positions across several job boards as well as on major social media channels. This saves time for a hiring manager that would otherwise be spent in posting requirements manually to each job board. Another added advantage is the ease for candidates’ responses. For instance, a feature like the one-click application from LinkedIn® allows candidates to apply for a job with just a single click, without having to fill in lengthy forms or upload résumés manually.
Allows Smart Filtering to Expedite the Hiring Process
When you post on external job boards and websites, you can expect many responses, so you will have to sift through a ton of applications that may not even fit the profile you are looking for. With smart filtering options, you can easily bucket applications using predetermined criteria and find relevant candidates faster. You can also create specific search queries to screen candidates. This lets you focus on the right people without having to spend time manually checking applications.
Automates Your Workflow
One of the biggest reasons to choose a software application to do your job is to help you manage your time better. Pick recruitment software that can cut down on manual processing and save time through automation. What’s more, intelligent automation of the workflow can allow you to see a complete 360-degree view of the key details of all the candidates on a single dashboard. You can also create several stages for the hiring pipeline, maintain scorecards for assessing candidates, and schedule interviews by planning availability in sync with the candidates.
Leverages the Potential of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence (AI) -driven recommendations can shorten the hiring cycle by a significant measure. AI can recommend the best job boards to post a requirement on, match the right candidates to the right jobs, and do all this quickly and objectively. It can also predict the success of hiring from a given pool of candidates. AI can also help you keep track of key performance metrics, determine the most efficient hiring sources, and contribute to smarter decision-making in the future.
Conclusion
When you invest in recruitment software, the benefits you can hope to reap include:
- Reduction in manpower,
- Reduction in the cost of sourcing talent, and
- Greater agility and higher selection accuracy.
The right requirement software is comprehensive, robust, and customizable. Besides supporting intuitive navigation, it should also provide you with prescreening, assessments, and advanced job-posting capabilities, all of which make hiring more efficient. Companies live and die because of the talent they hire and retain, and you need to use smart technology to get the right people on board, at the right time, and in the right place.
Anand Srinivasan is the founder of Hubbion, a suite of free business apps and resources.