The hunt for the best talent is on. As organisations scramble to find the best talent out there, recruitment teams are required to adapt and optimise at record speed. Like in any other sphere, technology plays a major role in this transformation too. It is crucial for any recruitment team to understand the basics of the tools and technologies that have emerged around recruitment recently and adapt them, if required.

A recruitment tool is an application or a piece of software that increases the efficiency and productivity of your recruitment processes. They range from end-to-end recruitment platforms to chatbots and video interview tools.

Here are eight recruitment tools that are essential to the success of your recruitment strategy.

Testing and assessment tools

Assessments and tests help you identify the best candidates for a role while reducing hiring bias. These assessments are meant to gauge the technical abilities of candidates as well as their responses to specific problems they might encounter in their role. These tests and assessments can be optimised to suit your specific requirements. They range from coding tests to personality assessments.

Video interviewing tools

Global hiring for remote work is now a fact, making video interviewing capabilities a basic requirement for most recruitment teams. This has resulted in the emergence of video interview tools that provide more capabilities than a video conferencing link/app. Some of these platforms offer live interactive interviews, live coding interviews, interview scheduling and feedback collection capabilities. They add structure to the interview process, help eliminate bias, and ensure a superior candidate experience. Some of these platforms are able to offer impersonation-proof interviews as well.

Employee referral tools

Every hiring team worth its salt is well aware of the value of employee referrals. These are an excellent way to find high quality resources. If you are able to automate employee referrals and offer an attractive referral bonus, you can fill your sourcing pipeline with suitable candidates.

Applicant tracking tools

An applicant tracking system is often the nerve centre of your recruitment process. It is the centralised hub that allows you to track candidates throughout the recruitment process. It ensures a smooth and positive candidate experience with some of these features:

• Integration of candidate skills assessments
• Interview scheduling, templates and evaluation forms
• AI-powered candidate ranking
• Video screening capabilities
• Custom workflows
• Reporting capabilities

Resume screening tools

These tools match the candidate’s resume with the job requirements. They filter and prioritise candidates based on the contents of their resume. These tools are often used to manage large candidate volumes by sifting through resumes using keywords. They help  bring down bias in the initial screening process and also reduce the time and effort required to parse resumes.

Background check tools

Background check tools are now an integral part of any recruitment process. They ensure that you are hiring the right people. They include reports on  social media activity, criminal records, driving records, credit checks, motor vehicle records, education history verification and more.

Onboarding tools

Hiring does not end with finding the right candidate. Recruiters must ensure the successful onboarding of the candidate into the work environment. A positive onboarding experience increases retention. A good onboarding tool helps you onboard the candidate smoothly and quickly, improving your time-to-hire and time-to-productivity.

Here are some of the features to look for in your onboarding tool:

• Manages onboarding paperwork
• Streamlines signature collection
• Customises onboarding packages
• Automates welcome emails

Social media management tools

Social media recruitment is an effective way to recruit and enhance your employer brand in the candidate market. Social media campaigns, however, consume a lot of time and resources. You can use generic social media management tools to manage your social media recruitment. While not specific to recruitment, these tools have features that help you pre-schedule posts, track engagement and get analytics that will help you fine tune your future campaigns.

It is essential to review recruitment tools from the standpoint of your specific requirements. What suits another company might not work for you. To learn more about HirePro’s AI powered recruitment tools, <click here>.

What if you could source the best candidates from anywhere in the world (with the caveat of compliance, of course) for the open positions in your organisation? What if the candidates are interviewed virtually and a virtual job offer is made; and, best yet, the person is onboarded virtually within days, if not weeks?

If this sounds like a recruitment specialist’s utopian dream, we have news for you. This has become many specialists’ everyday norm over the last two years. What seemed like a temporary hiring trend fuelled by the pandemic has morphed into a permanent hiring boom that is not going away anytime soon. [Editor’s note: Do check out our ‘Dos and Don’ts of Remote Hiring’ article for tips on how to do effective remote hiring.].

In a nutshell: virtual hiring or remote recruitment is here to stay. Recruiters and hiring managers across the globe have a new tool in their arsenal—one that provides a wider reach, a larger pool of talented candidates and more efficient (and economical) logistics during the recruitment process. This hiring trend may even help heal the gaping wounds of the great resignation.

It is seemingly a win-win for everyone, except for this vital question: does this spell the end of elite campus hiring? 

Since the dawn of industrialisation, elite campuses the world over—whether the Etons and Oxbridges of Britain, or later down the pages of history, the Harvards and Stanfords across the Atlantic, or the elite IITs and IIMs closer home—have attracted the attention of the best employers. Enterprises have flocked to elite campuses like the proverbial moths to the flame, seeking the best talent to fuel their growth.

This was a natural outgrowth of the ability of the institutions to attract the cream of the student crop: the most gifted, most hardworking; and not so seldom, the most connected and moneyed, landed up at these institutions. Elite campuses were thus magnetic meeting grounds for candidates and employers alike.

However, with the advent of the new virtual hiring strategy, the net has been cast wide: even globally for many jobs. Why hire costly customer support in the continental United States, when it can be offshored to India, or better yet, to the Philippines, with a wealth of English-speaking talent? Talented software engineers are just as productive whether sourced from Armenia or Peru. Does such a hiring strategy require recruitment teams to queue up at the ‘elites’ anymore?

The impact on the great universities and colleges of the world is not so dire. These institutions are still honeypots for the most talented students globally. Post-pandemic, international student applications to US universities, still the best beacons of talent, are back up again vis-a-vis 2020 or 2021 numbers. The IITs are back to clocking multiple offers of one crore rupees and above. Consulting companies have led the recruitment pack at IIMA, helping 119 students net offer letters from global companies.

Virtual hiring trends also help propel eligible new campuses into the elite list. Innovative private universities and deemed-to-be universities are rising research and innovation powerhouses. As the dollar has been getting stronger, students have been adding more countries to their education list, leading Australia, Germany, the UK, Holland and other countries to become hot destinations for students. Medical education in China, Russia and, till recently, Ukraine are an attraction for many students. All of these are lucrative new hunting grounds for virtual hiring.

All these data points and information bytes underscore this basic fact: we live in a fast-paced world, providing a growth engine for a $95 trillion world economy. This engine can support elite campus hires as much as absorb virtual hires. There’s room for all and more in the brave new post-pandemic world. As interested observers of the recruitment scene, we doff our hats to the trend and cheer it on.

Once upon a time, or to be precise, in the years preceding the 1990’s, companies typically sourced candidates by placing ads. With the arrival of the Internet in the early 1990s’ and the swift growth of digital technologies, recruitment has moved online. Social media aggregators help to promote job openings on multiple online channels with a single click; recruiters research candidates by scanning their online data rather than relying solely on resumes. Surveys show that 99 per cent of job applicants explore work opportunities on online job boards or websites like LinkedIn, and their preferred mode of searching is the mobile phone. These and several other reasons make it imperative that businesses adopt digital technologies for recruitment.

Before exploring the critical reasons to use recruitment software, consider these typical pain points that businesses encounter with traditional recruitment methods:

1. Talent loss: If your hiring system involves time-consuming procedures, you are probably losing talent to competitors. This is especially true in the IT and engineering sectors. Manual processes slow down your workflow. Not only does this frustrate your hiring team, it also creates a negative impression on candidates who may prefer your nimbler competitors.
2. Poor collaboration among HR teams: Manual hiring processes do not enable real-time sharing of information among recruiters. Consequently, this can lead to duplication of tasks between employees, which is a waste of time and money. This concern is easily resolved by using recruitment software, which updates and shares data in real-time, thus enabling hiring teams to be more productive.
3. Excess paperwork: Recruiting teams must often sift through reams of paper resumes to identify the “right” candidates. No matter which filing system you adopt, you cannot effectively track every resume that your company receives. This can lead to making poor hiring decisions.

Automated recruitment tools help you to leapfrog past these and other roadblocks with AI-based solutions.

Recruitment software—a tide that lifts all boats

Topping the list of reasons to automate is money. Recruitment software handles varied tasks with speed and efficiency. This saves you money by reducing wasted time, as also the costs of low productivity, high attrition and direct hiring.

Automation helps businesses get into a virtuous cycle of making better hiring decisions, increasing company productivity and developing/enhancing their employer brand.

Unlike human-dependent interview processes in which conscious or unconscious bias can creep in, AI-based hiring platforms are neutral. This helps to protect a company’s diversity and inclusion goals.

Automated hiring systems can take over a host of tasks that are tedious and prone to human error. Some examples:

• Posting job openings on various online channels
• Tracking candidates through interviews
• Analysing/generating database records for candidates
• Comparing resumes and generating appropriate candidate matches for specific vacancies
• Updating/maintaining a historical database

How recruitment software empowers HR

For an HR team overburdened with diverse responsibilities, software hiring systems offer a host of clear advantages.

Better time management:

• With routine tasks handled by an automated system, hiring managers have more time for strategising, planning, giving more attention to candidates’ communications and making smarter hiring decisions.

Powerful interview software: The software powering online interviewing helps recruiters conduct a larger number of interviews with better speed and efficacy, across geographical boundaries and time zones. Further, continued innovation in software promises to deliver more nuanced data on candidates by analysing their choice of words, speech modes and facial expressions to help hiring teams assess their “fit” for a specific role.

Tracking candidates: As a candidate moves through the stages of screening and interviews, the system updates the hiring team’s actions and attaches supplementary notes made by the team. Moving applicants online ensures that (a) all stakeholders are aware of a candidate’s progress and (b) no applications are missed out.

AI for resume screening /talent rediscovery
Artificial intelligence (AI) can use your existing candidate database to track and provide up-to-date information on individuals’ career growth—a handy tool for recruitment marketing.
Also, AI-powered recruitment tools enable talent rediscovery—the facility to match candidates who applied for previous openings to current job requirements. Using rediscovery software is a faster and more inexpensive way to locate talent.

The speed with which AI can screen vast numbers of resumes dramatically cuts down the time taken to manually filter out unqualified candidates. Concurrently, AI resolves a problem that many companies face: at least 65 per cent of the resumes received for high-volume hiring never get scrutinised.

Better candidate engagement
One study shows that 58 per cent of job applicants may reject an organisation if they do not receive a quick response to their application. With recruitment software, AI-based chatbots provide real-time interaction with applicants, be it information about a job, updates or what-to-do-next suggestions.

Improved HR performance
With automated systems keeping tabs on all your candidates, your HR team can better analyse how many openings are successfully filled and how many candidates have been rejected at every stage of assessment. Automating hiring processes help you focus on the big picture, weed out inefficiencies and work on smarter ways to identify the right talent.

The bottom line: Recruitment software offers elegant solutions to time-consuming and error-prone manual processes, enabling HR teams to spot and hire the right talent.

HirePro’s AI-enabled platform helps companies source, screen, assess, select and onboard the best talent, virtually! Technical innovations and solutions transform the typical 60-day hiring cycle into a just-in-time hiring phenomenon.

Reference

• www.peoplematters.in
• headchannel.co.uk

What and why of candidate screening

The candidate screening process is a part of the recruitment cycle that involves evaluating candidates’ qualifications, experience and skills. The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether they are qualified for a particular position.

It is typically carried out in stages through various means, some of which are resume review, phone screening, social media screening, cover letters, trial work assignments, etc.

Why should candidate screening be automated? Today, you can apply for a job with just the click of a button. As good as this sounds, there is also a downside for recruiters. The number of irrelevant applications they receive is significant (nearly 75 percent)1. Separating these from the suitable ones is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. This results in recruiters wasting a lot of time qualifying candidates for the next stage.

Even candidates who fit the role well will have to wait for a long time to be contacted. Employers and applicants stand to lose in such a scenario.

This challenge can be overcome by automating the screening process, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI). The benefits of automated screening go beyond saving time. Here is a list of the various benefits.

What are the benefits of automated candidate screening?

• Enhances productivity: With automatic screening, candidates can be filtered quickly and with less manual intervention. This reduces the time spent on tedious and banal tasks, allowing the focus to be maintained on more meaningful tasks, especially in the case of volume hiring. As a result, hiring time is reduced and efficiency is increased.
• Improves quality of hire: Automated screening enables recruiters to make informed decisions with a high degree of accuracy by gathering and quantifying data about candidates and applying psychometrics. The task is prone to mistakes if done manually. However, through automation, the quality of hire is greatly increased since only the most qualified individuals are considered.
• Eliminates bias and allows for DEI promotion: Humans have a tendency to judge. Manually selecting applicants is based on assumptions about arbitrary criteria like gender, ethnicity, race, age, etc., whether consciously or otherwise. While manual screening is subject to biases, automating the process increases the likelihood of candidates from a diverse pool advancing to later rounds.
• Organises recruitment workflow: Candidate screening determines how effective the recruiting process is. Mismanagement of this stage has a cascading effect on the hiring cycle’s future operations. Therefore, automating candidate screening is crucial for structuring the hiring workflow in a way that is simple to manage.
• Makes recruitment scalable: Upsizing and shrinking the workforce are inevitable due to market volatility. The challenge is that rehiring when necessary, especially in large volumes, becomes challenging after the workforce is reduced. However, hiring at a large scale is made simpler with the aid of automated screening.
• Facilitates good candidate experience: Automated candidate screening plays a vital role in restoring candidates’ confidence in the selection process. Since candidates now get quicker responses and know that screening is unbiased, it makes for an overall good candidate experience.

Conclusion

“Automation means solving the problem once, then putting the solution on autopilot.”
— Michael Hyatt, author, blogger, speaker

Talent acquisition teams are always seeking methods to improve efficiency, speed up procedures and save time. Automation can reduce some of the pressure to fill open positions on talent teams. With AI-powered automation, difficult operations such as candidate screening have become simpler for recruiters. Both employers and job seekers have had a taste of the advantages of automated screening. There is no doubt that automation is changing the recruiting landscape for the better.

If you’re wanting to automate the candidate screening process, HirePro, an Indian IT solution supplier for all recruiting needs, can help.

Reference

workopolis.com

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the monumental task of hiring the right candidates has become easier as it automates the entire recruitment process. A transformational change brought by Covid-19 has accelerated the widespread use of AI that has resulted in the job-seekers either eager to work remotely or in a hybrid model. It looks like both modes are here to stay. Going forward, automated hiring solutions will not only benefit a company in recruiting a competent workforce but also enhance the productivity and efficiency of new employees.

Streamlines talent search

AI supports HR teams in streamlining talent search. Earlier, the pre-screening process was long and tedious, often fraught with competition, errors and human biases.
Technology automated tools have eased the shortlisting of aspirants with their extremely holistic initial screening of resumes and online assessments that allow companies to decide from a wider talent pool.
The Covid outbreak prompted talent acquisition teams to turn to digit interview technology to conduct virtual interactions with interviewees. This enabled identifying skilled and competent applicants based on their word choices, speech patterns and facial expressions.

Identity sourcing

Increased use of automation helps in improving ways to source, identify and engage with a larger pool of job-seekers. Also, through this, HR personnel can leverage social media recruiting on career portals or referrals on LinkedIn.
Automation optimises the entire hiring process by adopting comprehensive online assessments to evaluate a candidate’s technical competencies, language skills, aptitude, personality and logical reasoning. A highly automated HR data analysis even predicts a new hire’s success within an organisation and the chances of retention.

Remote proctoring

AI’s advanced proctoring improves the quality of hire. This monitoring tool conducts and records online assessments and video interviews, while simultaneously monitoring the feeds for suspicious activities, thus accurately detecting fraud and preventing impersonation.
Automated proctoring works for all types of assessments and has ushered in a lot of flexibility for both applicants and recruiters to schedule tests and interviews at any time that is convenient to both parties.
The application’s face recognition, eye movement and identity verification features ensure minimum human intervention. Scalability and accessibility in live proctoring automatically sense third-party presence, cross conversations or switching of browsers.
The data collected provides useful insights into applicants’ performance and helps identify their weaknesses and patterns.

Unbiased recruitment

AI’s cost-effective applicant tracking system (ATS) not only assures unbiased recruitment and promotes diversity, but also increases transparency in hiring.
AI-powered processes ease the tasks for HR teams to manage job postings, match target resumes, communicate with applicants, schedule interviews, collect feedback, offer job letters and complete new-hire procedures.
Automated ATS provides a repository of an employee’s entire life cycle—from application to recruitment, performance review and promotion. It optimises the candidate’s experience and boosts employee retention.
Not only this, while rediscovering talent, ATS scours and verifies top applicants who didn’t get hired earlier, as well as those who may represent high-potential that is ready to be trained for more challenging roles.

Supports and engages with new hires

AI tools provide an enhanced end-to-end experience for candidates and recruiters.
Right from interpreting a job requirement, automation in the hiring process generates responses, scraps databases from various digital platforms, facilitates skill-based screening tests and analyses answers during video interactions and follow-ups.
AI matches companies with applicants that are best suited to the role, thus providing an edge over competitors.
While engaging with new hires, AI has simplified the process of onboarding by providing virtual tours and orientation programmes. Vital information about a company’s culture, mission and core business principles can be dealt with by chatbots. Collecting feedback from new hires supports their journey and ensures a seamless onboarding experience.
With the introduction of the AI functionality, companies’ recruitment management has been able to automate mundane tasks, reduce operational costs and save time. HirePro’s automation in hiring augments technology-enabled assessments and proctoring, facilitates a smarter candidate evaluation, eradicates personal biases or stereotypes and promotes inclusivity and diversity. Since it is a highly candidate-centric market, an engaging and well-organised hiring experience adds to brand value and captures a top-quality workforce.

Talent acquisition is the process of identifying, assessing and hiring candidates to fill open positions in an organisation. The focus of talent acquisition is long-term human resource planning.

A talent acquisition strategy is created based on the organisational goals. The strategy spreads across departments to identify, target and attract qualified candidates for specific roles.

The talent acquisition process goes through the following steps:

• • Generating leads and sourcing
  • Recruiting
  • Interviewing and assessments
  • Checking references
  • Making final hiring decisions
  • Onboarding

As can be seen, the talent acquisition function goes through several steps to hire the right candidate for a role. Done manually, the process can be time-consuming and tedious. It also requires several members of the staff to collaborate and complete the process.

This is where technological intervention can make a difference!

Emerging technologies such as SaaS, AI, RPA, etc. can streamline different processes involved in the talent acquisition function.

Let us take a look at some of the emerging technologies in talent acquisition:

Mobile hiring:The number of mobile phone users is increasing at an exponential rate. Businesses are, therefore, developing mobile-friendly apps and solutions. Connecting with prospective candidates through mobile devices saves time and money. Besides, it is easier to attract the attention of candidates on the go. It is easier for candidates to check out the vacancies and apply for the position at their convenience.

Automation: Several processes like screening, assessments, reference checks, onboarding and more can be automated using software such as Robotic Process Automation. The software speeds up the process and enhances accuracy. These factors directly impact productivity and minimise costs. Automation also relieves employees from low-skill tasks, allowing them to focus on more critical aspects of talent acquisition.

Artificial Intelligence(AI): Artificial Intelligence offers intelligent automation of processes. With features like pattern recognition and predictive analysis, it can help the talent acquisition team leverage data to make accurate decisions.

Besides these, there are several other technologies available to streamline the talent acquisition process. The essence of these technologies is combined in a recruiting software that simplifies the end-to-end process of talent acquisition.

Automation has the potential to completely transform how talent acquisition functions. It not only streamlines the process but also helps talent acquisition professionals adapt to changes in trends in the domain.

Some of the benefits of technology in talent acquisition are:

Saves time: Most talent acquisition processes are slow and labour-intensive. Technology completes each cycle in a matter of minutes and saves time.

Enhances efficiency: Technology enhances the efficiency of the process by eliminating human errors and increasing speed.

Minimises resource utilisation: Manual talent acquisition systems require several professionals to work in tandem. Besides, it requires many resources, such as maintaining physical documents, infrastructure, etc. However, the software does not require any extra resources: it reduces the need for human resources.

Maintains candidate data in an organised manner: One of the toughest parts of the manual talent acquisition process is maintaining candidate data and accessing it when required. The technology collects data and organises it systematically.

Facilitates collaboration: Manual systems were incapable of facilitating collaboration between different entities from multiple locations. Technology offers tools that help various stakeholders collaborate on a central repository.

Provides a better candidate experience: Candidates do not like delays in the recruitment process. Automation speeds up the process and fosters communication between the hiring staff and candidates. These aspects enhance the candidate experience.

While automation offers so many benefits, it has its own set of drawbacks as well.

Negative impacts of technology on recruitment and selection

Biases perpetuated: The software used for candidate screening is programmed by a human being. There is a risk of the biases of the programmer being incorporated into the software. This can impact the screening process and deny opportunity to a deserving candidate.

Capable candidates filtered out: The software works on a set of pre-defined rules. It assesses the fitment of the candidate based on criteria such as qualifications, experience, skills, etc. However, the software cannot assess the soft skills and other abilities that are not programmed. This could result in capable candidates being filtered out.

Technical issues: If a candidate is not comfortable using the software, applying for the role may become a challenge. This could eliminate many qualified and competent candidates from the reckoning.

Cybersecurity issues: Technology works on large volumes of data manipulated by software. The data being used is vulnerable to breach unless cybersecurity measures are taken.

The positives of technology far outweigh the negatives. This is the reason that businesses across the globe are leveraging innovative technologies to streamline the talent acquisition process.

Tools like recruiting software have been developed to simplify the talent acquisition process and make it more effective.

What is recruiting software?

Recruiting software streamlines various processes in the talent acquisition function to enhance overall productivity. Processes such as candidate screening, interviewing, onboarding and more are automated with the help of software tools. Recruiting software saves time and reduces resource requirements for talent acquisition functions.

Why do businesses need recruiting software?

Recruiting software automates repetitive tasks and relieves the staff. It reduces the number of manual tasks and enhances the efficacy of the system. The software speeds up the process and eliminates human errors, leaving the staff free to focus on other aspects.

Talent acquisition is a function that requires human interactions. When the team members working on routine tasks are unencumbered, they can focus on humane tasks like engagement, developing a rapport with the candidates or evaluating their emotional intelligence. With the recruiting software working seamlessly in the background, the department can focus on other critical aspects of growth.

Recruiting software facilitates seamless collaboration with team members, which speeds up the decision-making process. It makes the talent acquisition process proactive instead of reactive, giving a competitive edge to the business.

AI provides valuable insights with the help of predictive analysis. This feature enables businesses to build scalable and sustainable hiring programs.

What processes in talent acquisition can be enhanced using recruiting software?

Several processes that are a part of the talent acquisition function can be automated with recruiting software like Hirepro:

Sourcing

AI-based intelligent sourcing enables HR professionals to source candidates from multiple job boards with a single click.

Applicant Tracking

Automation of the applicant tracking process streamlines the workflow with hiring partners. The software generates data-rich reports that provide valuable insights to the talent acquisition team. The automated tracking system also maintains a database of candidates for future use.

Candidate Screening

Candidate screening from an exhaustive database of resumes can be a daunting task. Recruiting software automates screening by applying smart filters. Automation provides a shortlist of candidates from a large database in a short time. It compares the candidates based on the established criteria without any biases.

Interviewing

The recruiting software provides a structured and consistent interview process. The recruiting software includes an interviewing tool that facilitates seamless communication integration to interact with candidates. It also includes an interview scheduler for effective interview scheduling. The software syncs with the calendars of different panelists and selects a time when all panelists can meet. It uses recorded interviews to automate phone screening. The recruiting software assimilates evaluation data from interviewers without any data loss. The automated interview process benefits both the candidates and the interviewers. Interview platforms like Hirepro are specifically developed for a seamless interview experience for both the interviewer and the interviewee.

Pre-hire assessment

Pre-hire assessments are conducted to evaluate the technical skills and aptitude of the candidate. Several tests are held on a virtual platform.

If you are intending to recruit software professionals to do coding for your organisation, it is recommended that you conduct a coding test before hiring. The recruiting software facilitates online coding tests that need to be completed virtually by the candidate. The hiring team will define the coding test. The candidates will compile the code in a test environment. The code can be evaluated against pre-defined test cases. The automated performance evaluation assesses the coding skills of the candidate.

A verbal reasoning assessment is a psychometric test conducted in the application process. It helps assess the candidate’s ability to comprehend what they have read, think constructively and reach accurate conclusions. The recruiting software helps hire managers to conduct verbal reasoning assessments online. The candidate is sent the test questions via email and asked to submit the answers in a fixed timeframe. The automated process offers candidates the flexibility to take the test at a time of their convenience.

Onboarding

The onboarding process entails tasks like background checks, signing Disclosure and Authorisation forms, etc.

The automated background check works in the following manner:

• The talent acquisition team provides a link to the applicants through an email, which is embedded in their onboarding system.
• The applicant is directed to a secure website where he needs to furnish his unique information. This data is used to perform the background check.
• The hiring managers can use this data to order and submit a background check.

Recruiting software facilitates the digital signing of different forms. This eliminates the need for the physical presence of the candidate.

Orders are processed and sent automatically to the candidates on receipt of signed forms and signed releases on the background check.

Conclusion

The pandemic has changed the way businesses function in more ways than one.
The Work From Home option offers candidates the opportunity to be engaged with organisations at any geographical location. It has expanded job opportunities for candidates. This has increased the difficulty of talent acquisition professionals in finding the right resources to hire. Organisations also need a seamless recruitment system that is available to candidates at any location. The recruiting software facilitates an online talent acquisition process that enhances the candidate experience. It is a cost-effective hiring solution that saves time and resources and enhances efficiency. Hirepro provides automated hiring solutions customised to the needs of your business.

Digital transformation of businesses and the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the use of technology in recruitment in an unprecedented manner. With the looming shortage of skills and no signs of abatement of The Great Resignation, the ensuing talent war requires companies to be at their sharpest when it comes to hiring candidates.

While the use of technology in recruitment is nothing new, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have enabled several innovative applications which can be employed in hiring processes. The automation of recruitment processes leads to improved recruiter productivity, reduced cost per hire and faster time to hire. Functional assessments and psychometric tests such as critical thinking, verbal reasoning, personality questionnaires and aptitude tests can be administered online with little or no human intervention. This allows for consistent testing and objective hiring decisions, leading to reduced bias. Recruitment automation frees up recruiters’ time for planning, scheduling and other tasks that require human intervention. When recruitment software connects to backend enterprise software, it results in a seamless candidate experience—from application to onboarding. At the same time, when applicants are rejected, the system can send automated mail and close open loops.

Automated reporting and ready availability of data allow organisations to gain deep insights into both the recruitment process and candidates, understand the gaps, refine the talent pool, and make the necessary tweaks to improve overall hiring efficiency.

Aspects of recruitment automation

Right from advertising a job to onboarding a candidate, nearly every recruitment process stands to benefit from the application of technology. Let us take a look at some of the key areas.

Programmatic advertising: Recruitment marketers can use programmatic advertising to reach a wider candidate pool. Programmatic job advertising displays ads to the right candidate demographic and increases the chances of positive candidate engagement. Companies can use advanced analytics to understand the factors that made campaigns successful and tweak their job postings accordingly. By creating relevant ads and reaching the ideal audience for every campaign, companies can reduce their cost per applicant and raise employer brand awareness.

Hiring platforms: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) have been around since the late 1990s. Traditionally used to track applicant data and manage recruitment-related workflows, ATS are evolving into full-fledged Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) and hiring platforms. With several holistic features ranging from screening candidates, video interviews, virtual onboarding and backend integration, hiring platforms are becoming increasingly popular in the recruitment landscape.

Automated candidate screening: Candidate screening tools can be used to automatically parse candidate resumes and identify the most ideally qualified candidates. This can save countless hours for recruiters and reduce unintended bias. AI-based recruitment software uses chatbots to understand candidate qualifications and also improve candidate engagement and experience by answering common queries.

Building a talent pool: The talent war means that companies need to go all out to retain candidate applications. Technology can be leveraged to build a talent pool and match candidates to roles so that candidates can be “rediscovered” when there is a need.

Assessments: Online assessments can be used to evaluate functional and technical skills. These are particularly useful in large-volume hiring such as campus recruitment. For instance, IT companies can conduct online coding assessments or virtual hackathons on an AI-enabled platform with online proctoring. Such assessments provide an objective evaluation of candidates. Interviews can be scheduled and conducted online or offline. With remote and hybrid models of working here to stay, companies are conducting the initial rounds of screening, assessments and interviews online, and asking only shortlisted candidates to come for a face-to-face interview.

Background checks: Background checks are an important part of the recruitment cycle. Background verification can be automated with name matching and “scraping” public records for any red flags such as convictions or misdemeanours.

Onboarding: Customised onboarding solutions complete the hiring cycle, providing a seamless candidate experience. Even after the candidate signs up, it is crucial to keep candidates engaged so that they do not go “shopping” for better offers. Automation can provide virtual tours, connect periodically with candidates via chatbots and help the candidate connect with the recruiter or hiring manager to understand any issues.

The goal of recruitment automation is to ease recruiters’ workload and help increase their focus on areas that require human intervention while driving talent acquisition and retention. HirePro offers a gamut of hiring solutions such as coding and functional assessments with online proctoring, virtual onboarding, and video interviews that enable frictionless hiring. Adopting AI-based recruitment solutions and a data-driven approach will empower recruiters, accelerate and streamline hiring processes and provide a seamless candidate experience to help companies win the intense talent war.

References

• shrm.org
• harver.com
• forbes.com
• harver.com
• entelo.com
• freepressjournal.in
• mckinsey.com
• oracle.com
• blogs.oracle.com
• blog.clearcompany.com
• hackersgrid.com

With having to balance multiple tasks, not to mention people, recruitment can become overwhelming. The most important activities involved in the recruitment process are advertising open positions, shortlisting from a huge pile of resumes, initial filtering, scheduling relevant assessments and interviews and final onboarding. Every step is vital, and delays or oversights can result in candidates dropping out. Perhaps, the worst feeling is when candidates become no-shows for interviews, or you miss out on a good candidate owing to scheduling issues or miscommunication. Coordination between the various stakeholders in the process can become a bottleneck, pushing all the hard work that has gone into getting candidates to that stage down the drain.

The time and energy that you invest again to get a few other good candidates to the interview stage will sap your energy. Given the scale involved and the need to match up to the changing expectations of Gen Z, matters can only get compounded with campus hiring. Also, if the intention is to find the best campus talent, you cannot afford to slip as your every step as a prospective employer is being watched and weighed.

To sum up, the manual recruitment process is time-consuming, tedious, inconsistent and even chaotic. What’s more worrying is the lack of flexibility and the impact on hiring efficiency and quality. Humans are prone to making errors, and under stress, the tendency to slip is heightened. Ensuring that every part of the process takes place in a timely manner needs much more than just skill. So, what can recruiters do to salvage the situation and become more efficient?

This is the digital age and automation is everywhere, hiring included. One of the most critical parts of recruitment is candidate engagement. Communication flow should be a continuous activity, right from the time of reaching out, which kickstarts the process, to the final onboarding stage. Delays in communication due to a lack of coordination between the recruitment team, candidate and hiring manager are common. However, it cannot be denied that candidates feel frustrated by such delays and may opt out or go for other options on hand. Automated interview scheduling significantly turns around such scenarios.

Automated interview scheduling is software-backed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automatically set up and schedule interviews at the convenience of both parties. It automates complex workflows, streamlines and eases up the process, and provides all stakeholders with real-time and constant updates. There will be no more instances of missing out on calls or emails, interviewers not being updated on rescheduled interviews, etc. The process eases to such an extent that recruiters will discover they have valuable time on their hands. That’s not all. Listed below are 10 advantages of automated interview systems.

1. 1. Enhances candidate experience: Candidate experience carries a lot of weight in hiring, especially in campus hiring. The first impression matters, and freshers watch and gauge throughout the hiring process to understand the organisation’s culture and people policy. It is essential to ensure good, if not great, candidate experiences. An interview schedule that could take about ten back-and-forth emails or a few calls can happen easily through intelligent slot matching and automated emails. What’s more, with automated interview systems, rescheduling becomes easier and less chaotic as the system automatically reassigns the interviewer or resends emails with changed inputs, making for a better experience overall.
   2. Lends speed with accuracy: Automation always lends speed to workflows. However, it is also essential to maintain accuracy and quality in the hiring process. Hiring is undeniably competitive, and most top candidates may be engaged with more than one employer at a time. The speed and accuracy of your hiring process will impact such scenarios and help you land the best. Automated processes eliminate delays and make the process seamless by reducing the hiring cycle time. Recruiters, hiring managers and candidates will all benefit greatly from this.
   3. Enhances hiring efficiency: Processes get streamlined and efficiency is enhanced when you get rid of bottlenecks. Automated interview systems address this requirement. Besides, automation removes human dependency and the scope for errors and biases. Hiring efficiency is measured by the time and cost taken to fill positions and the quality of hires. Automated interview scheduling helps on all counts, thus improving the hiring efficiency.
   4. Allows scheduling flexibility: Interview scheduling can become tedious and chaotic due to the slot preferences of the interviewers and candidates. The automated interview scheduling software provides stakeholders options to pick from slots entered by both parties. This intelligent matchmaking reduces the need for multiple communications between the two to schedule interviews. Also, if the candidate or the interviewer requests a reschedule, the system does the matching again and rescheduling emails are automatically sent to all parties in real-time.
   5. Streamlines the process: A vital aspect of efficient hiring is to know which part of the process causes issues, what to track, how to track, etc. Unless one can measure the effectiveness of the process using some metrics, streamlining the process will not happen. Automated interview scheduling software provides the much-needed transparency and relevant insights that help streamline the process.

1. Reduces human errors and biases: Recruiters generally carry the mantle of expectations from both candidates and employers. Hiring managers follow up to fill the open positions fast, and candidates look for speedy and great hiring experiences. However, the process involves multiple stakeholders and scenarios, giving rise to stress, errors and biases. A rescheduling mail may get missed, an interviewer may not be in the mood to conduct an interview, or a candidate may not have provisioned for a lengthy interview. Automated interview scheduling software helps eliminate such errors. Also, the software is free of all types of biases related to gender, caste, religion, etc.
2. Recruitment teams get more time to focus on core issues: With the automated interview scheduling software ushering in ease, speed and accuracy, recruiters receive the luxurious gift of time on hand. This time can be better utilised in core areas such as strategy, process improvement, scaling up operations, etc. In campus hiring, the extra time helps form connections with the candidate community and establish your employer brand. Also, with reduced stress and chaos, productivity can be enhanced.
3. Accessibility to larger and diverse talent pool: With DEI taking precedence in most hiring strategies, recruiters have to ensure that the talent pool matches these requirements. Great hiring experiences are always highlighted among the candidate community. The goodwill can help you get access to a larger talent pool. Also, with automated scheduling, if you incorporate virtual interviews and customised online assessments like those from HirePro, your candidate pool widens. With the pandemic-induced change in mindset, most candidates are not so open to travelling for hiring processes. Automated processes will also encourage a diverse set of candidates to reach out to you, considering the various constraints that they may already have.
4. Appeals to the digital-savvy crowd: Campus hiring is a time-tested hiring process for most organisations looking for top talent. However, Gen Z is rather choosy and comprises first-gen digital natives. Unless your hiring process appeals to them with its speed and ease through digitalisation, they will lose interest. Automated interview scheduling can help you score a few brownie points with this crowd.
5. Value-added benefits of data analytics: Most AI-backed interview scheduling software has in-built analytics that provides multiple actionable insights. These can help you identify areas of improvement to streamline the process and focus on the big picture. HR and recruitment are the engines that drive growth within an organisation. Initiatives driven by them can help bring immense value throughout the organisation. Data analytics helps make informed decisions. The positive changes from these initiatives benefit both the hiring managers and candidates as their hiring experiences improve by leaps and bounds. Organisations benefit through improved employer branding, higher conversion rates and better talent quality.

Overall, the benefits of automated interview scheduling are multipronged. They contribute to hiring efficiency by reducing many issues and enhancing several aspects of interviews, which are the final steps to securing an entry into your organisation.

Reference

• linkedin.com
• shrm.org
• sensehq.com
• calendly.com

Instead of traditional modes of hiring, new automated solutions in recruitment have paved the way for companies to hire the best talent. These AI-induced recruitment operations are strategic for the survival of businesses as companies adopt a structured hiring process that not only engages with the job seekers but also helps them to identify a competent and skilled workforce.

With ever-increasing competition, it has become imperative for talent acquisition teams to possess the right approach and facilitate the recruitment process in a way that boosts their offer conversion rate. 

By effectively communicating with top potential hires about the organization’s vision- what it believes in and what it stands for, HR teams can beat the competition and ways to facilitate the joining offer conversion rate.

 Following are the four unconventional ways to boost offer conversion rate:

 Invest in AI Automated tools that provide data analytics

Organizations need to invest in AI automated tools that are robust, effective and quick as these are important for higher conversion rate. While AI helps to identify and shortlist the right candidates from the huge data of resumes and CVs, screens proctored tests and assessments, it evaluates the quality of hires and the automation-generated data analytics selects the best fit for the position.

Ensuring a positive employee experience from the start till the final stage with extremely intuitive and engaging AI application tracking systems (ATS), remote proctoring solutions and virtual interactions could help in confirming the job offer.

Widen the sourcing strategies

Attracting and selecting the right talent has become significantly challenging for the recruitment teams across the world.  Usually, HR personnel limit themselves to the top candidates by looking at their previous job experiences, skills or qualifications.

Widening the job seekers’ pool beyond stereotypes and biases which other recruiters may have overlooked fetches the best hires with a combination of both technical and personal skills. Most candidates have more than one job offer in hand, it is always advisable to shift the criteria of selecting from the top of the pedigree to the wide range of objective skills.

Involvement of the recruiting team- (key people present at the time of the interview)

One of the big motivators for the hires is the organization’s vision and mission. To increase the conversion rate, it is important to empower candidates with this information. A lack of clarity might deter them from taking the offer. During the hiring process, HRs must clearly articulate the purpose and ensure that it resonates with what the company stands for or believes in.

Personal touch in the form of a short meeting with the manager or the team leader during a virtual tour or orientation may change the candidate’s decision from a ‘maybe to yes’.  

Responding to the concerns of potential ‘hires’ and promptly communicating with them makes them feel valued, thereby increasing the probability of taking the offer. They may not just look at the monetary compensation, perks and facilities if the tone of these interactions allows them an opportunity to bond.

Clear intentions

Extending an offer letter does not necessarily mean the position is finally closed.  Most job seekers may weigh their options and continue their job search elsewhere. It is important to have clear intentions while conducting interactive sessions during the post-offer period.

Whether the candidate joins the organization or not, inadequate or miscommunicated initiatives may impact the brand equity. Clarity on the part of talent acquisition teams would make any successful candidate feel supported and secured that will strengthen one’s decision to accept the offer.

Organizations where empathy, openness and learning are practised prove to be big drivers of talent. HR personnel must prioritize in conveying the organization’s culture and its purpose in order to get the best-suited person for the job.

Increasing the offer conversion ratios is more about the personal touch assisted by the AI automated tools.  A well-managed and supportive talent acquisition personnel also indicates the candidates’ future learning opportunities and thus retention.

 *For organizations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed on organizational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like a living organism, will be imperative for business excellence going forward. A comprehensive, yet modular suite of services is doing exactly that. Equipping organizations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organizations that are innovating collaboratively for the future

Standard recruitment practices and typical job interviews yield only limited and favourable results for the company. Cliche questions and tests are not completely effective in assessing a candidate’s potential because most candidates are aware of them and come prepared with expected answers for such interviews. While job interviews are necessary to illustrate the skills and qualifications of the candidate, the modern recruitment process should evolve with time. It should stay in sync with the trends in online assessment and make use of available tools, such as enterprise-level video interview software, coding potential assessment tools, etc. In today’s immensely competitive marketplace, gamification can be a differentiator for the company and a game changer for human resources.

Gamification in recruitment is introducing a game-like experience as part of an organisation’s recruitment process. The aim is to engage the applicants digitally and motivate them to accomplish goals to reach targets virtually. Experts opine that gamification is effective in increasing candidates’ interest in a job. Here, the applicants are players who virtually perform the tasks that the job at hand requires. It can make the hiring process more interactive, interesting and fun, thus attracting more candidates. Gamification is most useful as an assessment tool in the recruitment process.

During the applicant screening test, games can help identify candidates’ potential in terms of creativity, problem-solving abilities, domain knowledge and so on. Gamification helps recruiters get additional insights about the applicants, leading to a pool of high-quality potential candidates for the role. Moreover, it creates multiple touch points to interact with candidates and cements the perception of a progressive employer. Essentially, gamification can provide a thorough screening even before candidates apply to the company.

Using gamification in recruitment
Hiring teams today understand that gamification can be highly effective in identifying candidates, particularly millennials and Gen Z candidates who thrive on smartphones, virtual reality games, and social media. Read on to learn some ways to apply gamification to your recruitment process:

• Employee referrals can be gamified to motivate current employees to advertise vacant positions in their networks and on social media. It works much like an in-house referral programme albeit to a much wider audience.
• Games can replace generic application forms to screen candidates. Instead of asking applicants to upload their resume and a covering letter, a set of qualifying questions in the form of a quiz, puzzle or game would make the process enjoyable.
• Quizzes are engaging and remarkably effective in understanding a candidate’s competencies while making them exciting and relevant for those applying.
• Leaderboards and dashboards allow recruiters to track the progress of candidates, recognise high performers and create a sense of competition between candidates. Pre-defined goals and scoring sheets will help to easily identify the best candidates.
• Real-time progress charts allow candidates to see where they stand on the recruitment journey and keep them deeply engaged and enthused to reach the final stage or win the competition.

Gain optimum advantage through gamification
Gamification helps recruiters look beyond the old hiring process and seek creative ways to match candidates with jobs. By inviting candidates to work to solve a puzzle or achieve a goal, recruiters have the opportunity to assess their talent, skills and problem-solving abilities more accurately.

For one, it simplifies and effectuates the evaluation process. Depending on resumes solely to identify talent could lead to unwittingly rejecting candidates who might have high potential. So, asking them to play a game can assist recruiters to accurately identify skills and abilities early on. Secondly, it showcases the level of motivation and helps with automatic screening of the ones most suitable. This is because competing candidates are clearly the most motivated job seekers. Gaming requires commitment and concentrated effort; therefore, candidates who are less interested might opt out, leaving a smaller but interested and relevant pool of applicants.

Gamification in recruiting makes the hiring process much more interactive. It also projects the company’s culture as progressive, interesting and enjoyable, thus attracting quality candidates if the right games are chosen to assess the essential skills. You must ensure that the games are rightly correlated with the skills that they need to assess. Candidates can demonstrate their actual competencies and creativity through games. This approach allows candidates with different experience yet transferable skills to apply for new roles and highlight their ability to adapt. It increases the diversity of hiring, with recruiters not being limited to selecting only candidates with relevant experience. It includes those who are making a career switch or industry change, allowing you to screen candidates more objectively.

Another key advantage is reduced hiring time. While tests or assignments take many days for candidates to complete, games only take minutes. The results are instantaneous, automatic and accurate. Reduced time to hire is a major advantage of using games in the initial application phase. It’s a fun way for recruiters to quickly shortlist candidates. Gaming in recruitment could complement or even replace the initial assessment stage. To learn more, see HirePro’s online assessments.

Pick and choose your partner carefully
The success of your implementation of gaming for recruitment depends heavily on your vendor partners. Beyond their ease of use and entertainment quotient, the games you deploy for the recruitment process have to be relevant to the role to help you pick the best talent. If not, it could be a drain on resources and mar the recruitment objective. Games must be developed and implemented through extensive research and based on behavioural science. Therefore, it is wise to look out for companies that specialise in recruitment gamification. You can evaluate vendors or partners on the basis of the following list of questions:

• Is there substantial research behind their games?
• Does the vendor or partner constantly work on improving the company’s products based on new data, insights and approaches?
• How advanced is the company’s understanding of the recruitment industry?
• Can it truly align with your approach and deliver the maximum return on investment?
• How advanced is the company’s technology? Is it adaptable to your requirements?
• How engaging and effective is their gaming content?

Human resources must also take into account the partner’s strategy and scrutinise promised deliverables and results with existing customers. Their pricing and your allocated budget will also be defining factors, in addition to the aforementioned criteria.

Conclusion

To sum it up, gamification allows your entire recruitment process to become interactive, in-depth and engaging, without the complexity or tedium. It enables recruiters to use the various available platforms and channels right from online tools to social media to assess candidate calibre, skills, cultural fit and behaviour accurately. It ensures that the most suitable applicants are matched with the roles and aligned with the organisational culture and requirements. While the need for gamifying recruitment is indeed compelling, you do not need to build or develop a gamified recruitment process from scratch. Ready-to-deploy tools like HirePro’s can get you started instantly. Let the games begin!