What to Look for in HR Automation Tools for Your Candidate Screening Process
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, job openings hit a near-record high of 11 million in December 2021. As the numbers hold steady, it remains a candidate’s market. Large numbers of workers are taking advantage of vacancies to find jobs with better pay, more flexibility, and substantial improvements to their quality of life. This phenomenon has been dubbed “The Great Resignation,” and it’s sweeping the country.
With so many workers looking for new roles, your organization needs to be ready to process plenty of applicants and deliver a superior hiring experience. Your growth efforts will flounder if you can’t quickly and effectively hire for open positions. That’s why you need to explore powerful and readily available automated hiring tools.
Benefits of Using HR Automation
The business world is evolving, and HR is at the center of this shift. In addition to their traditional roles, HR professionals are shaping the relationship between employers and employees while ensuring the well-being of individuals. Unsurprisingly, HR has more demands for its time than ever before, which is why it’s essential to give your team the tools they need to become more efficient.
There are many benefits of automation tools. Most importantly, they allow your HR team to shift its attention from critical but mundane work (such as candidate screening) to more pressing, high-value tasks (such as organization development). For example, according to some research, screening and short-listing applicants from a large pool is the most challenging part of hiring for 52% of recruiters. By automating this single process with an applicant tracking system, you can eliminate the most significant burden your HR professionals face while filling job openings.
Research from the Society for Human Resource Management indicates that it takes an average of 42 days and costs $4,129 to find and hire a new employee. If the former employee was responsible for mission-critical work, the lost productivity could increase the price tag further. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a crop of sophisticated automation tools has sprung up to make hiring processes more accessible and more accurate
Here are five tools you should consider using in your own company:
1. Applicant Tracking Systems
Companies in every industry need applicant tracking systems (ATS). Thankfully, most companies have them at this point. It’s a mature product, and you can find a system with enhanced functions and seamless integrations at a reasonable price. By electronically tracking applicants through the hiring process, information is available for anyone on your team who needs it.
2. Pre-Employment Assessments
It’s a candidate’s market, but that doesn’t mean you should hire the first applicants who come your way. Instead, use an automated pre-employment assessment to help you quickly and easily find the right person for the job.
Choose a two-way evaluation that can identify a mutually beneficial match by ensuring that the employee meets your company’s needs — and that the company offers the employee room to grow. These types of pairings produce a lasting match and reduce expensive turnover.
3. Candidate Nurturing
No matter how qualified a candidate might be, job searches are exhausting. Communication — even in the form of automated messages — makes candidates feel seen and appreciated for their time and talents, improving the likelihood that they’ll accept a job offer if you choose to extend one. In a list of ten recruiting strategies suggested by Indeed, treating applicants like customers is number one. Automated candidate nurturing systems can ensure no applicant feels ignored or forgotten.
4. Interview Scheduling Tools
Time is your most precious asset, which is why your HR team should never waste time emailing back and forth with candidates to find an interview slot that works for everyone.
In industries or positions that experience high turnover rates, such as call centers or light manufacturing, automated scheduling tools can help hiring teams win back a surprising amount of valuable time.
5. Automated Background Checks
Background checks are a vital step in the candidate screening process, and they’re also easily automated. Innovative models worth considering include 24-hour rolling background checks, which allow your talent pipeline to be as inclusive as possible.
A data-driven approach is key to candidate selection because it helps your team identify suitable candidates for any job. To sort through the data and save your team time, you’ll need automated hiring tools. Invest in these five solutions to improve efficiency and hiring process outcomes.
Dr. Dan Harrison is the founder and CEO of Harrison Assessments.
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