How to Automate Your Recruitment Process
*Content includes branded mentions of our sponsor ZipRecruiter.
Have you ever posted a job position, then watched as dozens or even hundreds of applications roll in over the course of just a few hours? That might mean you need to refine your recruitment parameters — ZipRecruiter, for instance, has a helpful Job Insights page that can help you see how your job posting performs and present optimization opportunities.
On the other hand, with the right automation tools for recruitment, you can reduce your hiring costs while improving hiring efficiency. It can be challenging to find and implement the best recruiting software if you don't have much experience with it, but with the help of this article, you'll find the right tools for your company.
What is recruitment automation?
Recruitment automation is a business strategy that leverages technology to complete various recruiting tasks automatically. The goal of automation is to save recruiters time and money while also helping them avoid some of the pitfalls of traditional recruiting, such as hiring bias.
What is recruitment software?
Recruiting software supports hiring managers as they work through their talent acquisition cycles. It can help you track applicants, discover top talent, complete a more effective interview process and even onboard new hires more efficiently. Whether you want to discover more potential candidates for your next job opening or reduce your cost-to-hire, recruitment software can help you do it.
3 smart ways to automate recruiting processes
You can automate just about any phase of the hiring process you want. These three specific cases for recruitment process automation can deliver significant value to your company.
1. Resume screening and shortlisting
First, you can use recruitment automation software to save time with initial applicant screening.
In the past, hiring managers had to look at every application they received one at a time, then assess whether the candidate should even be considered.
Automation software can conduct initial candidate screenings for you. Once you set its parameters, it will sort your applicants into piles for future consideration based on metrics such as academic background, years of work experience and other common screening criteria.
At the end of the process, you get a list of candidates with the basic qualifications necessary for consideration, all without spending much time weeding through applicants that don't match your ideal candidate profile.
2. Assessing and ranking candidates
There are also a variety of automated recruiting tools designed to help employers assess applicants. For example, companies hiring programmers now often automate coding tests. On the other hand, it's easy to set up a basic grammar test if you need a writer.
You can also use this technology to parse resumes more efficiently. Recruitment automation software can read through applicants' resumes in seconds, leaving you with just the information you need. Now you can peruse only the most pertinent information and save time while working through major candidate pipelines.
Here's the bottom line: However you assess your applicants, there's a strong chance automation can do the same thing with minimal input from you. These tools will generate a shortlist of candidates, which you then follow up with for the more personal, in-depth parts of the hiring process.
3. Automated interview scheduling
Finally, you can either completely or partially automate your interview scheduling process. The software can engage with qualified candidates through chatbots and emails to add interviews to your calendar. Juggling multiple candidate schedules can be time-consuming when you have other duties needing your attention. Automating your interview means getting to see your preferred candidates without spending much time messaging back and forth.
Recruitment automation software can also help you determine the right skill-based and behavioral interview questions to ask your applicants during interviews. This can help you get more value out of the time you spend speaking directly with applicants.
The benefits of recruitment automation
The benefits of automation in the recruitment process are multi-faceted. From finding better-qualified candidates to expediting the hiring process to simply saving money, there are plenty of reasons to consider letting the computer handle your hiring process.
Better quality of hire
It's not always clear how to find great candidates for a job. Even if you institute all the right processes, you may still miss skilled applicants when working on your own. Recruitment automation software helps you avoid this by applying the same qualification criteria to every resume you receive.
The net result is you'll be much less likely to miss a qualified applicant. And when you're always interviewing the best candidates, you have a better chance of finding an optimal fit for your team.
Enhanced candidate experience
Applicants also typically have a better experience when applying to companies with recruitment automation technology. Tech often speeds up decision-making and may offer more consistent communication than traditional hiring managers.
Improved hiring efficiency
Shortening your hiring process can save your company significant time and energy. Automation software improves your hiring efficiency by automating essential tasks that would take humans much longer to complete independently. Suddenly, a weeks- or months-long process is completed in a matter of hours or even minutes.
Reduced hiring bias
Humans aren't perfect. Everyone has biases that shape how they see the world, some of which are more serious than others. But bias has no place in your hiring process. You simply want to find the best candidate possible. Automation software reduces hiring bias by helping you make decisions based on facts rather than opinions or abstract feelings.
Cost savings
You can save a lot of money by automating various aspects of the talent acquisition process. Software can help you parse through resumes faster, speed up your interview process and make quicker overall hiring decisions. That all adds up to reduced labor allocations for hiring, which means lower costs.
It's also worth mentioning recruitment software is less prone to error than humans are. It follows the same process every time for every applicant. Humans, on the other hand, may struggle to devote the same level of energy and attention to each resume they review. People get tired or distracted by other necessary tasks, leading to errors. This fact can also help you save money since recruitment software may reduce the prevalence of errors you might need to go back through later to fix.
How to automate your recruitment process
Now that the benefits of recruitment automation are clear, follow these steps if you're ready to implement them in your company.
Define each phase of your recruiting and hiring process
The first step is to identify each phase of your hiring journey. That may start with writing a job description and include phases like initial candidate screenings, applicant assessments and one or more interviews. ZipRecruiter has useful templates that you base your JD on.
When you split your recruitment journey into steps, it becomes easier to identify all the opportunities where you can benefit from automation. This leads naturally to the next tip.
Invest in the right automation tools and technology
Once you've identified each phase of your hiring process, opportunities for automation will become more apparent. You can then begin looking for automation tools and technology to help with the different types of recruitment automation you want.
The process of selecting automation software can feel a bit like choosing between two great candidates. Most of the top contenders will be able to satisfy your major needs. But the best option for you will depend on factors like pricing, customer support options and whether you're looking for unique features.
You may also want to consider the pros and cons of all-in-one recruitment automation platforms and software that focus on one automation task. For example, you can save money by purchasing a stand-alone resume parser over a platform that can automate each step in your hiring journey. This could make sense if you want the benefits of automation but want to avoid paying for a full-service tool.
Identify manual tasks to automate
Next, you can start thinking about various manual tasks you can automate in the hiring journey. For example, could you automate your initial applicant screenings? What about your candidate assessments? It may be easier to do than you think if you choose the right recruitment software.
Automation tools exist for everything from scheduling interviews to helping you create a better career page. If there's a task you wish you could automate, there's a good chance a tool exists to help you with it.
Use an applicant tracking system (ATS)
Even with talent acquisition and recruiting automation, it's a challenge to keep tabs on all the different applications you've received. Using an applicant tracking system (ATS) alleviates these issues. Following the best practices for using an ATS helps you manage relationships with applicants while tracking different communications and assessments. Letting the computer handle these processes for you will save you a lot of time while also giving a better experience to your candidates.
Recruitment automation trends on the rise
Recruitment automation is one of the most significant ongoing movements in the staffing industry. Here are a few different trends to watch as this sector continues heating up.
AI recruiting
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be the most talked-about trend in the world right now. It has the potential to change the economy, possibly even the nature of work. The hiring process is one area that will significantly feel the effects.
AI-automated recruiting may do even more than traditional recruitment automation software. It has the potential to help with tasks that previously only a human could do, such as creating job descriptions and posting them on the best job posting sites for employers.
AI-powered recruitment software is still a work in progress. Even so, it's a field you'll want to watch as you seek to take advantage of recruitment automation software.
Automated interview scheduling
Automated interview scheduling is another major trend in the world of recruitment automation. More and more companies are using it to simplify the critical yet time-consuming task of scheduling interviews with different candidates. Given how convenient the software is, it should only become more prevalent moving forward.
The rise of remote hiring processes
In addition to automation, one of the other most significant trends impacting companies today is the rise of work-from-home teams. As technology improves, it's becoming easier for people to work at home. Companies, therefore, spend less on office space while also giving employees a major perk.
This trend is impacting the hiring process, as well. As employers become less bound by geographical restrictions, candidate pools grow larger. This means you must go beyond creating job postings with SEO targeting applicants who search "full-time jobs near me" and work to appeal to national and even global audiences.
Automation software can help you do this more effectively. It can take over various aspects of the recruitment journey so you can review more candidates without spending additional time or energy doing so. As a net result, you can find a better fit for your next work-from-home job without needing to over-exert yourself.
Staffing agencies embracing recruitment automation technology
Employers aren't the only ones using recruitment automation technology. It's also a tool that's gaining adoption among staffing agencies. These companies are using automated technology to attract more qualified applicants from larger geographic areas than ever before.
This means how staffing agencies work is likely to be more efficient and effective than in the past. That's good news if you've considered using one to fill a vacant position.
Summary of Money's How to automate your recruitment process
Embracing an automated recruitment process can save your company time and money. From improving your screening efficiency to automatically scheduling, completing and processing applicant assessments, this software can deliver real value to your company.
As you select the recruitment automation software your team will use, be sure to focus on the specific opportunities for automation that your business has and consider using an applicant tracking system to improve your hiring process further.