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How an ATS can overhaul your hiring efforts

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To ensure you are doing your do diligence in getting the best possible candidates, you should consider using ExactHire’s ATS to cross reference hundreds of candidates against various criteria, so you can guarantee getting the most qualified candidates every time!

Making work life more efficient is one of the many goals for individuals in the recruiting world. It takes substantial amounts of time and money to find, evaluate and hire talent which fit into an organization’s culture. Using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can overhaul an organization’s hiring efforts, saving much needed time and money for the company.

 

According to a 2022 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 39% of survey respondents said that the top two challenges in Human Resources today are recruiting/hiring and collecting/analyzing HR data analytics and insights. While these challenges can be tackled through manual recruiting efforts, manual recruitment yields more headaches and inefficiencies instead of simplicity. Using a robust ATS helps an organization consolidate job postings and applicant content in one central hub. That hub is accessible to permitted employees to view applicant information and interact with candidates expediting the hiring process.

 How Does an ATS Help?

HR needs accessible data for reporting to management, departments, government entities and for their own internal purposes. A powerful ATS should allow quick access to reports such as Time to Fill and Time to Hire in addition to having the ability to build ad hoc reports. Analytics can also assist recruiters to get more bang for their buck with their recruitment budget. This is done by identifying where the most applicant traffic originates. This way they can focus their funding on the most productive sites.

After using recruitment analytics to find the most effective sources for candidates, an effective ATS should have an extensive library of job boards available for selection with the ability to automatically push job listings to key job boards. Time is of the essence, and recruiters cannot spend endless amounts of time posting to job boards A, B, and C, without tangible results. The competition for talent is fierce. If it takes too much time to post, screen and contact an applicant, that applicant will be hired by the organization’s competitor.

ATS Features

Candidates who apply for one job vacancy might not be the right fit for that particular role. They could possibly be a good fit for a different opening though. The convenience of copying an applicant to a different job listing saves the applicant time by not having to apply again and benefits the company by having that candidate’s info ready for review. For those job seekers who might walk in with a resume or stop by a company’s booth at a job fair, HR needs to have the ability to manually add that applicant to the ATS for consistency. Having an ATS that allows users the ability to tag particular skills on applicant records for positions helps recruiters. It allows them to examine talent that has shown interest in the company. Then they match those skills to the skills needed in vacant roles.

Locked file cabinets and desk drawers are not a secure way to house applicant files. Passing information manually between employees is a security risk. Using an applicant tracking system enhances safety and compliance. An applicant tracking system hosts candidates’ data in a secure, cloud-based central location. An ATS offers an organized, uniform place to screen, note and communicate with an applicant. Eliminate confusion regarding who has spoken to whom with the ability to see which employee has communicated with an applicant and what content was discussed. Keeping data in a central location with time stamped comments and communication provides quick access if there is a legal request for that data.  While email is still a consistent means of contact with candidates, use an ATS with the ability to text applicants who opt in for texting for speedier communication.

 Application Efficiency

Job seekers are examining the companies to which they apply. Is company A a better fit than company B? Consider the application process and how that is perceived by job seekers. If an organization is using paper applications, job seekers can legitimately question how technologically savvy the company is. QR codes generate opportunities for job seekers to apply with ease and convenience.  A company’s job site must be mobile friendly. Job seekers use phones to apply. However, if a company has an electronic application, if it is too long the job seeker will stop applying and apply elsewhere. Having insights, such as Applicant Drop Off reporting, help recruiters identify challenges with the application process.

When selecting and implementing an ATS, knowing there is a responsive and personable support team is reassuring. Even for the most technologically savvy employees, questions will arise when using an ATS so having an accessible support team with the knowledge to answer the asked, and often unasked, questions is imperative. Service and support must be a priority item when selecting and implementing an ATS.

 Conclusion

Automation saves time and money. Job seekers will not accept a long hiring process. If an organization does not effectively communicate and cycle the candidate efficiently through a short-phased process, talent will go somewhere else. Vacant jobs cost a company exorbitant amounts of money due to productivity loss. An organization cannot afford to have lost productivity. Or even overstretch existing employees as a temporary remedy to offset the open positions. If management is concerned that an ATS is too expensive for an organization, calculate and compare the loss of productivity. Then calculate valuable talent to the investment and cost savings of the implementation and use of an ATS. The cost-savings will be visible and reiterate the benefits that exist from using an ATS. Using an ATS will change the trajectory of recruitment to lead an organization along a path of success.

How to write a rejection email for job candidates

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A rejection email for job candidates is not always easy to write. And informing an applicant that they were not selected for an open position is definitely not the highlight of a human resources professional’s day. The task is one of the hardest to complete, as no one wants to deliver disappointing news to others. However, rejection is inevitable, even for individuals with a stellar background and coveted skills.

It’s important to keep in mind that we have all experienced rejection at some point in time. Whether it was not being selected for a lucrative job opportunity, or being passed over for a particular award or acknowledgment–we’ve all felt the sting of rejection. Recalling how that sting affected oneself can often lead an HR professional to take extra steps to buffer the disappointment when delivering rejection messages to job applicants. Kindness truly matters.

Can You Kindly Reject Job Candidates?

Jobseekers want to know their status in the application process. Even if it’s a “no”, applicants need to know their status so they can have closure and shift their job search direction. Receiving feedback, even if it is a rejection, is especially instrumental for those applicants who have had some form of interview. Imagine the confusion that a jobseeker might have if they never hear back from an organization after spending time discussing their qualifications and how they seek to contribute to a prospective employer.

A paramount function of HR is to build relationships with individuals. This goes not just for current employees, but also  for prospective employees. What type of relationship can be built if an employer does not update applicants on their application statuses, or let applicants know that they are no longer in consideration for a position?

Starting the rejection conversation is hard, but it demonstrates professionalism within the organization’s HR department and gives the two parties, HR and the jobseeker, an opportunity to form a connection. While this jobseeker might not be the best fit for the particular role in which they applied, that same person might be the person best qualified for a future opening, so don’t burn bridges

Candidate Rejection Letter Template

In the rejection email template sent by an organization, craft the content with sincerity. The sincerity genuinely shown in the rejection email can help the jobseeker stay motivated and interested in your company. Also, this will help mitigate the chance the jobseeker will spread negativity about their applicant experience to others. Word of mouth can be the best or worst recruitment marketing for an employer, so strive to leave applicants with a positive experience.

Time is of the essence in the HR world. Using personalized mass emailing within your ATS will help make the communication process quicker and easier when communicating with applicants. ExactHire HR Software offers the ability for users to create communication templates for immediate and future use. This templates streamline communication with applicants, and allows users to view the communication flow between your team and the applicants.

When crafting communication templates, it is helpful to use personalization tags (AKA shortcuts that personalize content) to customize your message. Personalization tags in a communication template allow the sender to specify items such as name, job listing, company name, etc. This ensures a more “personal” feel with less work.

When writing a rejection email, be concise. Longer emails, at first glance, can imply favorable news. Also, it is more personable for an actual employee to sign the message.  However, if there are safety concerns after sending a rejection email, do not include specific names or direct contact information.

Example of Candidate Rejection Letter

Here is an example of a sample rejection message for your use. Words between the # symbols indicate variable content found in the candidate record. CAPS indicate customized content (based on hiring manager or company).

Dear #first_name#,

Thank you for your interest in the #job_listing# at #company_name#. Your time is valuable, and we appreciate your effort in applying. (Use interviewing if an applicant has interviewed.)

We are grateful to have had many qualified applicants for the role. We carefully evaluated candidates’ qualifications and skills. Although your qualifications were impressive, we are moving forward with another candidate whose qualifications best fit the requirements of the position.

(If an interview has been conducted, consider including: Although your interview itemized your skills, we did not proceed because of REASON FOR REJECTION. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at email address or phone number.)

Please visit COMPANY JOBS PAGE to explore opportunities to join our organization as we encourage you to apply again in the future if you find a job opening better suited to your qualifications.

Again, thank you for your interest in working with us!

FIRST NAME LAST NAME
TITLE
COMPANY NAME

Personalized Candidate Communication

HR professionals can simplify a challenging task by using personalized candidate communication templates to soften news of a rejection. By delivering personalized updates to job applicants, even if it is a rejection, employers promote a positive employer brand. In return, employers will enjoy a larger applicant pool and succeed in providing clarity around what their organization’s needs. Creating personalized communication templates in ExactHire HR Software can help streamline the communication process. Click here to learn more!

Where have all the workers gone?

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The bottom line is the techniques and the offerings that you used in the past will not work now. And, no, I don’t believe it’s going to change anytime soon. American workers don’t want to go back to that normal. And what needs to change, actually, is just about everything.

VIDEO

Where have all the workers gone?

 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Every client we talk to, every company that we interact with, is saying the same thing: they can’t find talent.
most everything that they’ve done in the past that has worked or isn’t working right now. How could that be?

The pandemic hit in march of 2020 and what did we see? We saw unemployment skyrocketing or businesses that were affected by either shutting down, slowing down, or going out of business.

But as the economy starts to heat back up, what we expected was an excess of candidates and an excess of jobs–all those things would mesh together and what we would get would be this perfect situation. But that isn’t what’s happened.

For the first quarter of 2021 what we’re seeing is unbelievable numbers on all the factors that the government measures like GDP, durable goods spending, etc. Well the opportunities have returned to the market but we haven’t seen the workers come back.

Why is that?

What I’d like to suggest here, are a few things that you should consider:

  1. With the increased unemployment benefits,
    some people can just survive staying at home and there may be lots of reasons that they want to do that.
  2. Some people that have been laid off have just decided they’re not willing to go back to work.
  3. Competition for talent has increased dramatically, and you need to pay attention to that because that’s a key.
  4. Some people have gone back to school and they’re not available for full-time work.
  5. But also, with schools and day care centers not going back full-time, some people are challenged because they
    now have children that are at home and they have to care for them.
  6. Despite increased vaccination rates, some people are still worried about returning to the
    workforce and being subjected to COVID.
  7. Some laid off workers have realized that, you know what, they they really dislike their manager, they
    dislike that job or the industry, and they’ve decided I’m not going back to that at all.
  8. And last but not least a remote workforce which was an exception, has now become the norm.

The bottom line is the techniques and the offerings that you used in the past will not work now. And, no, I don’t believe it’s going to change anytime soon. American workers don’t want to go back to that normal. And what needs to change, actually, is just about everything needs to change.

 

Read and Watch More Change Your Approach to Hiring

5 Recruitment Tools That Give You the Advantage

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The competition for talent requires organizations and their armies of recruiters to maintain a competitive advantage and a sharp edge when it comes to their recruiting and hiring practices. The modern day recruiter must be proactive, responsive, open-minded, and a little bit competitive. An applicant in your pipeline has also applied to other places so it’s imperative you’re on your game.

There are a number of things that can give an organization and its recruiters a competitive advantage in the gladiatorial arena of today’s hiring environment. Whether you face lack of applicants or lack of qualified applicants makes no difference. The fact is, the best applicants aren’t just dropping on your door-step.

An ace recruiter realizes that speed to hire without jeopardizing the process or quality is critical to winning the recruiting war. You have to be able to attract the best active job seekers to apply and make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Likewise, as a recruiter, you need to be able to sort through those applicants efficiently and recognize the best fit quickly.

Fundamentals of an Advantageous Process

There are some basic considerations when establishing a process aimed at giving you the upper-hand in hiring active candidates. The combination of speed, information requirements, accessibility and recruiter decision making all come into play.

Reducing the complexity of applications is probably one of the most critical aspects of the process. Allowing for a “quick app” collecting the minimum information needed for you as a recruiter to make a “call / no-call” decision is about all you need initially. Making your application mobile friendly is a good first step in this process as it forces you to abbreviate the information you are requesting.

Many times an application process is bogged down with irrelevant and excessive information. This can be a turnoff for some candidates and they may leave the process. There’s nothing more frustrating for an applicant than spending a lot of time on a resume, uploading it to your ATS, only to find out you want them to fill out a digital application as well. Limit the information you need to collect from them to the essential information you need for a “call / no-call.” decision. You will get more applicants!

Mobile friendly application processes will place your opportunities in the hands of more people, literally. If they they can apply with a few taps of the screen and a little bit of initial information (e.g. via Indeed or LinkedIn), you are sure to gain the attention of more people. This also means you can’t purely rely on the artificial intelligence of most applicant tracking systems. AI features are great at flagging applicants, but a human decision is still required.

Gain a Competitive Advantage with These Five Functions

Be sure that the applicant tracking system you select provides for these five key functions, which when leveraged properly, will grant you an extreme competitive advantage.  A system like ExactHire’s HireCentric ATS will provide all these features and more giving you a robust platform with the functionality you need to compete in the recruiting space.

User Interface

As mentioned earlier, the less painful you can make an application process the better. A mobile application is a must and an abbreviated process is critical. You don’t want to lose applicants before they’ve even completed the application. Take a hard look at your ATS of choice. Is it just an infinite amount of text fields requiring manual data entry?

A fast application should provide for the critical information necessary for you to make a “call / no-call” decision. This may include name, phone number, email, current position and brief summary, and any “knock-out” questions you may have. Caveat – make sure knock-out questions are actually relevant and matter.

Social Recruiting

It goes without saying that integration with social media sites is a must for every recruiter. A modern and effective ATS needs to interact and leverage social media. You should be able to push jobs to and share jobs on social media sites. As well as allow current employees to do the same. This allows a more active approach to recruiting rather than relying on the “post-and-pray” method.

Applicant Management

Your applicant tracking system is the heart and sole of your hiring process. If you’re fortunate enough to get high double-digit or even triple-digit applicant counts, you will need an efficient method for keeping them organized.  Top line features allow for the integration of applicant assessments and questionnaires. Your information gathering process should rely on who the applicant is and what they are capable of more so than a labored list of previous jobs, duties and functions. Assessments and questionnaires will provide you with an interactive look at who you’re considering for employment.

Paperless Onboarding

The hiring process doesn’t stop once an offer is made. Your onboarding process is the first impression your new employee will receive from your company. Remember, they have nothing invested yet, so a bad first impression could be the difference between a fully accepted offer and a rejected offer. Allowing for e-forms, digital signatures, video tutorials, etc.; will set you apart from the labored and antiquated new hire paperwork.

Analytics and Sourcing

What good is an ATS without the ability to leverage and mine the data that exists? Continuously improving on your process is sure to improve your speed to hire and attract more of the right applicants. Basic information such as time-to-hire, workflow, interviews, hiring yields among others, should be expected. Advanced information that gives you the ability to more precisely target your most successful applicants is what makes a significant difference.

 

The application process is the first impression an applicant gets of your company. Make it a good one. If you keep these fundamentals in mind and choose an applicant tracking system with some key competitive features, you will surely be on your way for winning the war on applicants. Remember, in today’s labor market, you typically need them more than they need you!

 

Want an advantage? Contact ExactHire to learn how our Applicant Tracking System can give you the edge you need.

Contact ExactHire

 

Photo Credit: trainer24