Technology to automate and refine the recruitment process
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.