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Best Applicant Tracking System for Small Business

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Not too long ago, the idea of a small business using an applicant tracking system (ATS) was unrealistic. Most solutions were geared to larger companies and were too expensive and complicated for smaller and medium-sized organizations. Thankfully, times have changed and you have options for finding the best applicant tracking system for small business.

Now, even very small employers are seeing advantages to using an ATS. At the same time, the list of providers offering this type of software has expanded dramatically. While there are a number of very good options from which to choose, there is arguably a larger number of “bare bones” offerings that may not help an organization as expected. To that end, below are some things to consider to make sure you can select the best recruiting software for your small business:

  • Will you want/need to push to external job boards — i.e. Monster, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, colleges, Department of Workforce Development, etc.?
  • Can the solution reinforce your web branding?
  • How user-friendly is the process for your applicants?
  • Is there flexibility to allow for both applications and/or resumes to be gathered from applicants?
  • Is there additional cost for multiple users in or out of HR (hiring managers, executives, etc.)?
  • Are there limits to the number of jobs that may be posted at a single time or how many applicants are allowed to be kept within the system?
  • Will the vendor help you get the ATS configured and ready for live use?
  • How is training done?
  • Is live support available when you have questions?
  • What is your budget for something like this?

Giving thought to some of these factors will help you better define your particular needs and more readily identify a short list of providers who can meet those needs.

To learn more about ExactHire applicant tracking system for small business, please visit our resources section or contact us.

SMB Pre-Employment Screening Guide Ebook

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Employee Referrals – Use Technology to Help Track and Reward

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There’s a lot of talk in our market these days about where recruiting is headed. Many experts feel that we are on the cusp of some significant changes in the next few years. Less reliance on traditional job boards, heavier use of social media and allowing applicants to leverage mobile technology are some of the more consistent topics of change that I see on a regular basis.

Whether you see these trends affecting your organization or not, there is a recruiting strategy that is worth considering — employee referrals. This is nothing new. In fact, employers and their staff members responsible for hiring have been trying to find ways to consistently tap this market for years.

Employee Referral Program Benefits

There are several benefits to using employee referrals for sourcing applicants:

  • Better applicants — good people tend to know and refer other good people
  • Passive applicants — this approach reaches people who may not yet be actively looking for work and would never see your opening on your career site or a job board
  • Lower cost — even if you pay employees for referrals, it is widely acknowledged that this cost is far lower than the typical costs born through standard recruiting techniques
  • Better potential for cultural fit — your current employees understand your organization’s culture and are in the best position to help answer questions about the organization from those applicants they refer

Here’s more good news…technological advances are continuing to help make this employee referral process better for both employers and their employees. Social media on its own allows employees to make others in their networks aware of job openings in their organization. However, some of the more progressive applicant tracking software (ATS) tools in the market make this even easier for employees. Employees may click and share openings through their social channels without any copying/pasting. This makes the overall program more sustainable and successful.

To learn more about social referral tools available within HireCentric ATS, please schedule a live demo with ExactHire.

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Hiring Solutions and Technology for Auto Dealers

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With the automotive industry rebound in recent years, we’ve had the opportunity to customize our applicant tracking system technology for auto dealers around the country. In doing so, it dawned on me that there are some common reasons many of these automotive groups are looking for help with their hiring process:

  1. Turnover — With the improved economy, turnover figures are trending back to pre-recession levels. Salespeople, automotive techs and customer service representatives are the main positions where dealers experience turnover.
  2. Demographics — A high percentage of the applicant pool for auto dealers are job seekers who are very tech savvy. These applicants are used to doing things online and expect potential employers to follow suit.
  3. Limited resources — Managers in most dealerships are busier than ever with their day-to-day jobs. This means they don’t have a lot of excess time to review resumes and try to decide which applicants are qualified for their openings. These managers are looking for ways to automate as much as possible.
  4. Cost — Dealers are seeing margins squeezed like everyone else. This means they want technology solutions with low upfront costs, low ongoing costs, and no long-term contracts.

While not unique to auto dealers, these core reasons certainly seem to resonate in this industry. In particular, these issues are magnified for those dealers who happen to have multiple locations — a more common occurrence than years ago.

Popular Applicant Tracking Features for Car Dealers

Below are some of the features to which our clients have gravitated when using our HireCentric applicant tracking software (ATS):

  • Branded career portal to match the rest of your corporate web presence
  • Flexible employment application setup to gather what’s important to a particular dealer’s needs — this includes the ability to break the application into more than one step, if desired
  • See multiple applications for an individual tied to a central applicant profile — especially helpful for “serial” applicants
  • Track all notes, email correspondence and internal feedback for each applicant in a single database
  • Reach out to previous good applicants when positions open up unexpectedly
  • Communicate with groups of applicants simultaneously to keep them informed of progress in filling a position — this protects your brand for applicants who may also be existing or potential customers
  • Easily see what the “pipeline” looks like for any given position or group of positions

Using applicant tracking software isn’t right for every automotive dealer. However, if any of the features mentioned above resonate as potential options for your organization (automotive industry or not), please contact ExactHire to discuss whether this type of solution is functionally and economically viable for your group.

Use our pricing calculator for HireCentric ATS.

Image credit: Honest John’s Used Car Lot, Los Angeles CA, 1947 by Alden Jewell (contact)

Posting Jobs To Job Boards – How To Automate

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Automate posting to job boardsI talk with groups frequently about the use of social media tools to help drive qualified candidates to their open positions. While I believe strongly in those efforts, the fact remains that job boards still account for a significant amount of applicant traffic for most organizations. Naturally, then, clients typically want to know where they should post jobs and how to keep track of them.

The first part of the question (where to post jobs) is a separate conversation unto itself. The second part of the question (how to keep track of which job boards are being used) is my focus here today. To break this down a bit, I see this in two phases:

  • To which job boards have certain positions been posted (and what is it costing)?
  • What is the payback from these ad sources (what kind of applicant traffic are they generating?)

The act of getting positions posted to job boards can be time-consuming. Once you’ve created your job description, you typically must visit each board, log in, paste in your description, provide the additional information needed as required by the individual board, and confirm that the formatting looks correct. This allows the position to be posted. Then, when the position has been filled or the posting time limit is reached, you usually must then revisit the various boards and take the listing down.

As to the payback of various boards, most organizations don’t have the time to really consider this at all. For most, the only way to track the listings and the expenses associated with each is in a spreadsheet or manual file. Even if a company is willing to log this, they are still faced with the issue of not knowing how many applicants are coming from each board. The only way to know is to ask those applicants, which leads to yet another column in a separate spreadsheet that logs all applicants and from where they came. I think you get the picture at this point — this is way too painful for most.

The exception to both of these instances is when an organization chooses to use an applicant tracking software solution. The right ATS should allow you to automate the posting of your open positions to most any job board, alleviating the need to visit the individual boards and complete all of the steps I mentioned above. In addition, using a software tool like this should allow applicants to share what board led them to your open position, including tracking the costs of each posting and the number of applicants coming from each board. Our HireCentric ATS even allows organizations to review analytics documenting traffic to an organization’s careers portal, including a list of referral sources (i.e. job boards in many cases).

While this may not be the sole reason an organization seeks out a recruiting software tool, it is one of the more consistent points on which we receive positive feedback. To learn more about ExactHire, please visit our resources section or contact us. 

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Applicant Tracking Fits The Needs Of The Healthcare Industry

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The healthcare industry has obviously been through many, many changes in this country. This affects all aspects of healthcare providers – from the services rendered to patients to the other side of the spectrum…such as the benefits of the health care workers themselves (not to mention the benefits of all employees in all industries). That being said, I think we can agree that human resource representatives, especially those working for hospitals, clinics and other providers, have their plates full these days. With limited time and resources available, healthcare organizations stand to gain a lot from automating some standard HR processes such as recruiting and onboarding. For example, with the right applicant tracking software (ATS), they can quickly alleviate some of the headaches of hiring in this chaotic, current landscape.

While the issues detailed below can occur for HR within any industry, they can especially cause BIG problems in hiring for healthcare positions.

Overtime for current staff and using temporary, contingent staff

When there are many positions open, current staff is sometimes forced to work more (which of course costs more!); or, the organization may need to hastily hire temporary staff (which is also expensive in itself). After all, the healthcare industry is not a place where you can just “close down” until a new hire is found or chalk involuntary turnover up to embraced attrition. For example, some positions can be 24 hour shifts that require constant employee attendance. When using an ATS in the healthcare industry, you will be able to make hires more quickly and efficiently when utilizing existing job templates and automated job board posting features; thus, keeping costs down and being more effective with your staffing process.

Never ending paperwork

This headache can apply to an applicant or the hiring manager. However, by integrating an effective hiring software tool into your organization’s recruitment process, job applicants will generally appreciate the ability to access your employment application online so that they may complete it at their own convenience and without rifling through a paper application. An ATS can be configured to allow them to upload files representing any additional documentation you may require such as licenses, test scores and transcripts.

And, hiring managers will be able to use an applicant tracking system to quickly launch and receive approval on new job requisition requests instead of having to wait for multiple layers of people to manually deliver paper forms to one another. In addition, hiring managers can design screening questions that score and/or disqualify applicants who do not meet minimum requirements so that they may reduce the number of applicants they need to review to keep the process moving for all involved.

Higher turnover rates

It can be common in the healthcare realm for organizations to suffer from higher turnover rates. This could be attributable to multiple factors. For example, sometimes when a hospital is understaffed, the extra shifts may cause more employees to disengage, burn out and then leave the organization. Its a vicious cycle and the turnover rate then gets higher and higher. Again, using an applicant tracking system can help reduce the time to fill a position as well as the cost (especially in terms of time) it takes to make effective hires for the positions open.

People are the most valuable resource for not just the healthcare industry, but any industry. However, they are also the biggest piece of the pie when analyzing the operating costs of any organization. Using an applicant tracking system can help to ensure that you find the right fit for your positions in a time-sensitive and cost-effective manner.

To take the hiring process one step further – ExactHire can also assist you with background screening options and employee assessments to make sure the you find the best fit and retain your talent in the long run.

To learn more about ExactHire’s hiring software solutions, please visit our resources section or contact us today.

Image credit: stethoscope by Dr. Farouk (contact)

Hiring Software Works For Internships

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I can’t believe it’s already November! Fall is in full swing and school is back in session. I love this time of year, cool crisp weather and football all weekend! Unfortunately, time flies and seasons change! Before you know it, it will be full blown holiday season…is your company ready? Do you offer internships through holiday break or even for spring quarter? Believe it or not, college kids are already thinking about their potential internship opportunities! A hiring software solution, such as an applicant tracking system or employee onboarding software, can be a wonderful tool for helping to source and onboard not just permanent employees, but also interns for your company now and in future hiring seasons.

Why not use applicant tracking to recruit interns, or even seasonal help?

Revisit your typical recruiting process for picking interns…do you use a separate employment application for these positions; or, is it the same standard application used for permanent positions? Either way, ExactHire’s ATS can help streamline your internship application process. Students (who are, by the way, your potential full-time employees of tomorrow) will be impressed with the overall recruitment experience and technology. This promotes positive word of mouth awareness for your company – it’s a win-win!

In addition to your standard application questions, you may still use job-specific screening questions with scoring and disqualification filters, too! Think about what you would ask of a current student before hiring them as an intern…for example:

  • Have you had an internship previously? If so, what did you enjoy/dislike?
  • Please describe how your school extracurricular activities have prepared you for this internship position.
  • Are you able to work while still attending school?

All of these (as well as other topics) are important and can be made into screening questions. After you have a pool qualified applicants, you will be able to start to narrow down your choices and pick the final intern candidates that best fit your needs and company culture.

Another bonus of using applicant tracking software for your internship hiring process is that you can accumulate an inventory of students that fit your requirements. The next time you have an internship or full time position to fill, you already have a pool of “warm lead” applicants from which to engage interest and potentially convert candidates.

Using a hiring solution such as an ATS to find those students that will be the best fit for your company’s intern positions makes the selection process more efficient and consistent, benefiting your company in the long run as well.

To see our software solutions in action, please visit our resources page or contact us to schedule a live demo.
– See more at: https://www.exacthire.com/hiring-software-works-for-internships.blog#sthash.22fUkHZO.dpuf

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How Do I Calculate ROI For Applicant Tracking System?

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There are several ways to calculate the return on investment (ROI) for an applicant tracking system (ATS). But to start, you need to first determine the cost of your hiring activities without an ATS.

Equation #1: Time Cost

Let’s say we have an HR Employee who handles hiring (I’ll call her Joy). Consider the number of hours that Joy works on hiring activities in a week (H) and multiply that number by her amount of pay per hour (P).

If H = 40 hrs.

and P = $20 per hour

Then, H x P =  $800 per week focused on hiring activities without an ATS

An applicant tracking system could easily reduce that employee’s work by 25% and cost as low as $30 per week (C). So let’s look at the ROI in that scenario:

If H = 30 hrs.

and P = $20 per hour

and C =  $30

Then, (H x P) + C =  $630 per week focused on hiring activities with an ATS..a savings of $170 per week or a 560% ROI.

Equation #2: Labor Needs

But what if Joy can only review 40 applications per day and your organization really needs to review 60 applications per day? If you want to get through 60 applications in a day without a backlog–and without investing in applicant tracking software, you’ll need to hire another person.

So if one employee (E) can review 40 applications per day (A) and you need 60 applications reviewed per day (N), let’s determine how many additional employees you’ll need.

If N = 60

and A = 40

Then, N ÷ A = 1.5 employees to review 60 applications per day.

Equations #3: Labor Cost

Now, let’s combine the results of both equations to find the time cost for this scenario where hiring is the solution to meeting capacity requirements.

(H x E) x P = $1200 per week focused on hiring.

Now we have a ball-park figure we can use to see if the cost of the ATS is equal to or less than the additional labor cost.

Reducing Labor Cost With Applicant Tracking Software

An ATS can review applications more quickly than a human through the use of automatic scoring and/or disqualification filters associated with answers given for application screening questions. With the aid of these filters, the applications can be sorted and the reviewing process can begin with those applicants that most closely align with what you are seeking for that given position.

This means that Joy in our example above should have no problem reviewing 60+ applications per day, saving the organization from hiring a part-time employee and saving $400 per week in labor costs…or $1600 per month. When you consider that the price of HireCentric ATS starts at $120 per month, that’s a big return on your investment!

ROI for Applicant Tracking System Analysis Factors

Beyond the time cost savings, let’s consider some of the other items to factor into your ROI analysis:

  • Focusing on just the more-qualified applicants (as determined by the screening questions mentioned above) usually leads to better hires, because recruiters and hiring managers are no longer buried by resumes. Better hires tend to ramp up faster, perform better and stay longer. This means a better bottom line for your organization.
  • Candidates no longer “slip through the cracks” — the better ones are more quickly identified and may be contacted quickly to avoid them going elsewhere.
  • You’re now building an actual candidate pool from which to draw later. This means fewer postings to paid job boards and dollars saved because of it.
  • Jobs may be shared through social media by both your applicants and your existing employees. Again, this means more quality applicants without over-relying on paid job boards.

My experience is that focusing ROI efforts on time savings alone tends to fall on deaf ears when approaching a CEO or CFO for approval. Using some of these alternative ideas, along with the time savings and low cost nature of an applicant tracking software tool, should improve your odds of making a business case to executive management and getting the solution your organization needs.

If you would like to discuss pricing and/or ROI for ExactHire’s applicant tracking software further, please contact us today.

7 Ways Human Resources Can Use Application Management Software

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When you purchase software, it’s always nice to learn everything about what the software can do right away. However, we all know this is not always a realistic possibility depending on the extent of available features. Sometimes, you have to “grow” into the application. With ExactHire’s applicant application management software we are occasionally asked for ideas on other ways this employment application software can be used. Here are the highlights:

As An External Employment Application

Let’s start with the most traditional and primary use of the ATS – an external application to invite applicants to apply to open positions.

As An Internal Application For Interoffice Transfers

The ATS can also be used for existing employees that want to transfer to another position within the company. You can create an internal employment application and post jobs exclusively to your internal job board. If you would like to, you can also post the jobs to both job boards – internal & external. The advantage of a separate internal application is that you can ask your internal applicants different questions and allow the application to be shorter. For internal applicants you may want to know how long they’ve been in their current positions or if they have been on a performance plan in the last six months.

Additional Applications For Volunteer Management, Internships, Executive Candidates, etc.

If your regular external application won’t meet the needs of all your external applicants, you can have separate applications attached to job postings focused on volunteer opportunities, internships and/or executive positions. These applications may either ask different questions than your regular external application; or, they may just need to be shorter in order to engage these audiences of individuals to apply.

Build An Applicant Pool Over Time

You can also post jobs for future opportunities at your company. Adding screening questions that ask what type of job one would seek and/or why the applicant is interested in your company is a good way to help you review those applications. This helps you to have a reservoir of applicants for when you’re ready to begin an active search down the road.

Record The Applicants’ Movement And Notes

In addition to simply collecting applications, the ATS is really wonderful to help record where applicants are in the process for you and your team. First interview, second interview, etc. This work flow record keeping ability comes in handy when you have more than one person touching applicant records. Notes, in addition to statuses, can be recorded…including the author of the note.

Applicant Reporting

All of the recordkeeping comes in handy when it’s time to access reporting options in the system. If you are subject to Affirmative Action Reporting or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reporting, the software can help simplify that process. Some reports come standard with the software, and others can be built in the reports section. Even if you are not required to do compliance reporting for governmental purposes, chances are your financial department will want to see efficiency reporting to justify your recruitment spending…all of which can be pulled from the software, as well.

Requisition Management To Approve Positions

Requisition management is another feature available for use within the ATS. Requiring approval on potential positions is often a critical piece of the hiring process. After all, budgets are critical in successful businesses and if you’re hiring someone, it’s good to know if you have the budget, as well as management approval, for such activities.

There are many other benefits applicant tracking software can bring to your organization. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us. It never hurts to ask the question!

Image credit: Number 7 by Eric Gravengaard (contact)

Applicant Tracking System Cost: How Much Does Hiring Software Cost?

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A common question people ask when approaching an ATS provider is: “how much does an applicant tracking system cost?” The answer is challenging because many variables come into play when buying applicant tracking software. This often leads to the answer that no one wants to hear: “it depends.”

But let’s put that answer aside for now, and begin by helping you understand the variables that impact cost. Then, I’ll  give you a good idea of the pricing your organization can expect.

Get an immediate price estimate for ExactHire ATS!

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Applicant Tracking System Cost Basics

Most pricing for applicant tracking software is based on the following criteria:

  • Size of the organization (based on sales or employees)
  • Number of locations and/or users
  • Hiring volume
  • Other complementary products wanted (employee onboarding software, video interviewing, etc.)

ATS Features

Below is a listing of some of the more common features that may be of importance to your organization. Pricing will typically fluctuate based on which of these items you need for your company:

Possible Limitations

The final component in determining price for applicant tracking software is understanding what restrictions or limitations exist in the solution. These limitations typically exist in lower-priced or “free” tools and are listed below:

  • # of open jobs at a given time (often 3 or fewer)
  • # of applicants in the system (often 200 or fewer)
  • # of system users (often just 1)

Similarly, many providers offer different tiers of pricing based on which features you need and what limitations you’re willing to accept. Be sure to understand exactly what you get in these “Gold” vs. “Silver” vs. “Bronze” packages. Otherwise, you may end up with a higher price tag or less functionality than you anticipated.

Applicant Tracking System Cost Scenarios

Now that you understand some of the parameters, let’s look at some examples of pricing. Please keep in mind, these are only examples and are not meant to provide definitive figures for your particular situation.

  • Scenario 1 — under 50 employees, single user, no more than 3 jobs listed and fewer than 100 applicants
    • Here you might expect to see little to no implementation fees and anywhere from $50 to $200 per month in ongoing access fees.
  • Scenario 2 — 100 to 200 employees, 3 users, unlimited jobs and unlimited applicants
    • Here you might expect to see $0 to $500 implementation fees and anywhere from $150 to $400 per month in ongoing access fees.
  • Scenario 3 — 300 to 500 employees, 10 users, unlimited jobs and unlimited applicants
    • Here you might expect to see $300-$1,000 implementation fees and anywhere from $300 to $650 per month ongoing access fees.

As you can see, shopping for an applicant tracking software solution isn’t a simple task. Determining if you’re really comparing “apples to apples” takes time and due diligence. I hope this helps in your efforts to find the best solution at a fair price for your HR department’s and company’s needs.

Contact us today to schedule a live demo of ExactHire’s applicant tracking software and discuss pricing for your organization.

Image credit: Money Tunnel by Cameron Russell (contact)

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