Guest PostAn effective hiring process is organized, quick, and dedicated to finding the highest quality candidates possible. Organizations looking to speed up their hiring process without sacrificing candidate quality need to look to their technology stack to support recruitment.
While the exact right hiring decisions need to be made by humans, technology can support your efforts through automation, organization, and accessibility. To implement a technology-driven recruitment process, you’ll need the right software and strategies to leverage that software to its fullest potential.
Begin by assessing your current technology stack, and explore strategies that will work with your existing tools or highlight new platforms worth investing in. To start your research, here are four ways technology can be used in recruitment:
1. Create detailed recruitment posts.
The first step to finding strong candidates is to create highly detailed job descriptions. Work with your HR team to outline the specific qualifications candidates will need as well as what tasks they will be expected to perform on a day-to-day basis.
If your recruitment post is vague, you will likely receive applications from candidates of all skill levels, which will be challenging to sort through. By contrast, highly specific job descriptions will result in qualified candidates self-selecting to apply, resulting in a more effective hiring process.
Technology can help you create and manage these recruitment posts. You will need to draft out the first posts yourself. Then, use your recruitment management tools to save copies for future reference during your next round of hiring. You can also monitor activity and be alerted of responses as soon as applications come in.
This allows you to take note of how many and what types of candidates interact with your recruitment posts and make adjustments as necessary. Additionally, if you need to recruit for the same position multiple times, you can maintain consistency when describing the needed qualifications, benefits, and other details you would like to share with candidates.
2. Streamline communication between team members.
How many steps are there in your recruitment process? How many team members are involved in each step? For some positions, a longer internal review of candidates is necessary, but you can speed up this process by streamlining communication among your recruitment team.
Technology can be used to break down communication silos and keep the application process moving. Specifically, your platform should provide your team with:
- Systemized hiring process. For consistency and efficiency, use your hiring management tools to establish a clear number of steps in your recruitment process, specify what occurs in each step, and who handles each one. Additionally, determine if any steps can be automatically completed by your software. For example, you might allow candidates to choose the date and time that they’re available to interview and automatically schedule the meetings through your software.
- Organized feedback and review. If multiple members of your team need to provide input during any stage of the hiring process, use your software to send automatic alerts to staff when it’s time to provide feedback. Create a standard rubric and ask team members to submit feedback through a survey, where responses can then be compiled and reviewed.
- Minimal delays. Lack of communication often slows down hiring, and your software can help push the process along with automatic alerts and reminders. You can also get in touch quickly with candidates to let them know if you need additional materials, have to reschedule an interview, or if they have made it to the next round of the recruitment process.
You can start implementing technology into your recruitment process by first determining which tasks can be handled or streamlined by software.
For example, for candidates who have reached the final rounds of consideration, you may prefer to have team members review their applications and use software simply to document the process. However, for initial review, you might use software to conduct initial screenings of resumes and cover letters to rule out unqualified candidates instead of having a member of your team sort through hundreds of applications.
3. Improve candidates’ experience.
Along with improving your internal recruiting processes, technology can also better candidates’ experiences. Poor candidate experience can cause significant challenges during the recruitment process, even resulting in candidates turning down promising offers if they had a particularly negative experience.
Technology can help remedy many common hurdles candidates face during online recruitment with solutions by providing:
- Straightforward application directions. Confusing applications are often filled out incorrectly, resulting in wasted time for both candidates and for your team. In your online application, clarify each step with step-by-step processes that walk candidates through submitting their resume and cover letter, recording an interview, taking an aptitude test, and any other requirements.
- Consistent documentation. When candidates progress through your recruitment process, ensure your technology documents what steps they have completed, the materials they’ve submitted, and any internal feedback your team has given. This will reduce tedious and time-consuming back-and-forth communication with candidates and keep the recruitment process more organized.
- Efficient communication. Job seekers appreciate organizations that communicate with them, even if they ultimately do not receive an offer. Use automated messages to get in touch with candidates quickly throughout the recruitment process. If a member of your team needs time to formulate a response to a candidate, automatic alerts can still be helpful in letting job seekers know their message was received.
To attract top candidates, walk through the steps they will take from discovering your job postings to receiving an offer or rejection letter. A streamlined online process demonstrates that you value your candidates’ time and that your organization is modern and up-to-date with current technology.
This applies to both paid positions at for-profit businesses and volunteer opportunities at nonprofit organizations. Moments of frustration with technology can turn away even highly interested candidates and motivated supporters. To learn more about how new hires and volunteers feel about your hiring process, send them surveys asking what parts of the experience were helpful for learning about the position and what aspects could be improved.
4. Offer remote-friendly recruitment options.
Many interested candidates may not live in the immediate area or have busy schedules that prevent them from coming in for an interview. You can improve their experience and recruit top talent no matter where they are with remote-friendly recruitment tools.
While phone interviews have existed for decades, you can create a more connected interview experience with video chat tools. Or, use recorded video interviews, asking candidates to answer a set number of questions and send their video responses for your team to review. Desynchronized interviews can be especially helpful for candidates who live in remote time zones, making them a useful tool for organizations interested in recruiting abroad.
Technology can streamline many parts of your organization’s operations from managing ongoing projects, tracking finances, and making hiring a better, more streamlined process for both team members and candidates. Take the time to assess your current technology and the role it plays in your hiring process to identify steps in the process where additional tools or automation could make a positive difference.
Featured Guest Expert – Carl Diesing
Carl Diesing, Managing Director – Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with ongoing web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children Charlie and Evelyn.
Josh Tolan
