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Oregon Ban The Box Legislation

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As we approach the final quarter of 2015, it is never too early to start preparing for new legislation that will affect hiring practices in 2016.  Effective January 1, 2016, Oregon will become the newest state to implement “Ban the Box” legislation for both public and private sector employment.  Other states that have already enacted this practice in both public and private sector employment are Illinois, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Hawaii and New Jersey.

Oregon governor, Kate Brown, signed House Bill 3025 on June 26, 2015.  This law, H.B. 3025, will take effect on January 1, 2016 and prohibits an employer from requiring an applicant to disclose a criminal conviction on an employment application or prior to an interview.  If an employer does not conduct an interview, the employer is prohibited from requiring an applicant to disclose a criminal conviction prior to a conditional offer.  

Employers are able to notify applicants that they will later be required to disclose convictions or that a criminal background check will be conducted as part of the hiring process.  This legislation does include the caveat that an employer may still consider convictions when making hiring decisions.  For additional information on what this legislation includes, visit the Oregon State Legislature and The National Law Review.  

Upcoming “Ban the Box” Legislation

To keep abreast of states and cities who enact “Ban the Box” legislation, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) has an interactive map that provides an overview of the current legislative status.  For the actual legislation, you will need to go directly to the state or city government website to access the passed law(s) in its comprehensive language.

Employers need to be aware of the legislation that exists and what legislation is pending to be prepared for the potential impact on their organizations.  If your organization currently has hiring practices in multiple states and cities, or posts job listings nationally, it is important to be cognizant of the locales’ legal expectations and determine if you need to alter verbiage on your employment application(s) and/or change specific steps in your hiring practices to be compliant with “Ban the Box” legislation.

Please note:  The ExactHire team is not legal counsel, and we do not offer legal advice, so any questions regarding your company’s eligibility for exemption with the “Ban the Box” legislation and/or proper verbiage for your company’s employment application(s) should be discussed with your company’s legal counsel.  To learn specifically how Oregon’s H.B. 3025 affects your organization’s hiring practices, please contact your company’s legal team.

ExactHire Clients

At ExactHire, we take pride in doing our best to ensure our clients’ satisfaction is the highest possible. We do whatever we can to resolve clients’ current needs and identify potential needs.  After you speak with your legal counsel, and if you and your legal team decide changes need to be made to your employment application(s) to comply with legislation, the ExactHire team can work with you to create a new application with the verbiage you specify for compliance.  Also, please know that one of the benefits of using ExactHire’s HireCentric software as your applicant tracking system is that you can create multiple employment applications, each specific to your needs.  If you’re an existing client looking for more information about updating your current employment application(s) and/or creating additional employment applications, please email support@exacthire.com, and let us know your needs.

Learn More About ExactHire Solutions

If you are not yet an ExactHire client, for more information about HireCentric ATS, please visit our resources page or contact us today.

Preboarding Employees for the Long-Haul

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Fighting to attract and keep good employees is a challenge for all companies; but it appears to become more relevant in smaller to medium sized businesses. Companies not only want to find and keep good employees to avoid high turnover rates, they need to create a partnership with employees. In doing so, smaller businesses provide a layer of protection to their own entrepreneurial success.

First Impressions

Pre-boarding begins the instant job seekers land on your job opening and begin evaluating your company’s ability to provide a stable, fulfilling workplace. It’s a part of the hiring process that is often overlooked and regarded as being unimportant. But this train of thought couldn’t be more wrong, and it is a frame-of-mind that could potentially result in the loss of good employees.

Whether you are actively recruiting for your open positions or simply using an ATS to find employees, the way you present your job is important. Make sure that the position is clearly defined and presented without typographical or grammatical errors. Provide the information that a potential employee will want to have to make an informed decision about working with your company. Many ATS providers offer ways to enhance the look and feel of your advertisement with HTML, images, videos, and links to company information. Don’t overlook these little items when searching for a team member.

Face to Face

During the interview process your company should provide a clear timeline with regards to future communication and the next steps that will take place. This includes responding to every applicant that has applied to let them know their application was successfully submitted. It may not seem important, but it really does help build that relationship early on with the right candidate.

Once an offer has been made and accepted, the race is really on to make that new employee comfortable that the correct decision was made to work for your business. Letting the new hire know what is expected and communicating employee information before the first day is imperative to creating a lasting relationship. Think about accepting an offer for employment and then having your new employer go ghost until you show up at the office in 2-4 weeks. It is unsettling, at best.

Take the Work Out of Paperwork

If you use electronic onboarding, you can set the new hire up and let them know what information is available to them. This would likely include the benefits information, policies and procedures for their role, an employee handbook, and other paperwork that takes time to review and complete. Of course we aren’t lawyers, but you might want to check with yours on what is okay to release before the first day on the job. We suggest offering the employee the opportunity to complete the paperwork before their first day but make it very clear that it is not required to start anything before they are on the clock. Another side note would be that state and federal identification and tax forms, including the I-9, should not be done until the employee is in the office with the proper representative to sign off on those items.

Be Prepared

Finally, in order to round out preboarding and the first impression of your new hire, make sure that the first day is structured and that the company is prepared to impress your employee. Nobody wants to start a new job and arrive to find out that nobody has prepped anything for their arrival.

Designate the new hire’s office space, phone, computer, and any other equipment that is needed for the job. Creating your new hire’s email account and setting up their printer before their arrival are added steps that show you care about your new hire’s first day.  If you are planning a pitch-in or taking the team out for lunch to welcome your employee, he or she should be aware before they walk into the office on the first day. Creating an outline for the first day or even the first week can give your new employee that warm feeling that your company is excited to have them on the team.

Getting the employees engaged before the first day can create a bond and some excitement for the new recruit. Additionally, the manager can gauge the employee’s drive to jump right into business. All of this is vital to ensuring that your hiring decision will hold up for the long haul.

Image credit: hunt truck in ca desert by Ted Gresham (contact)

Tapping Your Untapped Audience – Social Media

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Have you checked your Facebook page today? Tweeted? Updated your LinkedIn profile? Chances are you have completed one, two, or all three of those items today. Social media can have a huge influence on both our personal and professional lives, and it can be a great resource to effectively promote our organization as well.

Building a Social Media Presence

Social media offers individuals a way to instantly acquire information and “be in the know” about an organization–its events, news, and culture. If your organization does not have a Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn page, or if those pages are not updated often, it is time to change that.  Here are a few eye opening statistics about social media users.

Facebook:  Facebook currently has approximately 1.35 billion users monthly and is the most most active social media platform in the world. Over 23% of Internet traffic is from Facebook.

Twitter:  There is approximately 284 million monthly active users, and 500 million tweets are sent daily.  Interesting note:  Eighty percent of Twitter’s active users are mobile users.

LinkedIn:  LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 332 million members in over 200 countries and territories. More than four million companies have LinkedIn company pages.

Looking at that data, clearly there are a lot of people in this world using social media. So it makes perfect sense for your organization to be there. But to have a meaningful presence, you must look beyond your immediate network. Do this by exploring who your followers follow, and then connect with them where it makes sense. However, know that once your organization is “liked”, “followed” or “connected”, you are not finished–this is where the road gets exciting!

Maintaining a Social Media Presence

Display your organization’s culture via social media so that viewers can get a solid feel for your work environment, along with learning your organization’s goals. Content updates should radiate excitement and invite curiosity. Regular, relevant updates will keep the Likers liking, the Followers following, and the Connected connected. Occasional or irrelevant updates, will result in an audience that stops listening or disconnects all together. Remember: there is always another organization ready to steal your audience’s attention, and your future talent may be among that audience.

Finding Time to Be Social

If you are concerned about the time it takes to post updates, work closely with your marketing team to see how tasks can be coordinated. Solicit content ideas from the organization as a whole, and of course, identify the types of content that your audience finds meaningful. If your organization is small and your team members wear many hats, look at identifying a team member to coordinate updates, but with the understanding that everyone is responsible for providing ideas, interesting facts and data, and overall enriching content that emphasizes your organization’s mission.

Promoting Social Media Offline

Effective promotion of your social media sites is essential for reaching new audiences. Actively promote your pages on your corporate site, but also share your social media sites within your professional and personal networks at conferences, events, meetings, or even volunteer activities–wherever you can reach people in-person and wherever it makes sense.

Promoting Social Media Through ExactHire’s HireCentric ATS

Users of Exacthire’s HireCentric ATS can promote their organization’s social media pages from within our system. When job applicants view the company’s job listings, they can also access social media sites to learn more about the organization and its latest news. If you are a HireCentric user and not currently using this feature, please contact the Support Team to discuss ways promote your social media pages.

Do not let your organization miss out on expanding your audience through the use of social media. Actively update your social media and share your news with the world. People want to hear what is going on within your organization!

And of course, we like to share what is going on at ExactHire, so let’s connect!

Like Us On Facebook

Follow Us On Twitter

Connect With Us On LinkedIn

Follow Our Page On Google+

 
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Don’t Hire A Liar – Reference Check Tips

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Have you ever looked at a resume and wondered if it was too good to be true? Unfortunately, sometimes that is a legitimate question.

Honesty is always the best policy. This not only applies to personal life, but to professional life as well. Recruiters have limited time to review resumes, so applicants need to convey positive attributes and display themselves in the best light possible on that piece of paper; however, lying–or even exaggerating–is unacceptable. Applicants should be aware that we are all interconnected in this digital age, and verifying resume content is easier than ever through reference and background checking.

Last summer, CareerBuilder conducted a survey of over 2000 employers. Fifty-eight percent of those employers surveyed stated that they had identified one or more lies on a resume. According to the survey, here are the most common lies caught on resumes:

 

57%

Embellished Skill Set


55%

Embellished Responsibilities



42%

Dates of Employment



34%

Inaccurate Job Title

33%

Academic Degree



26%

Companies Worked For



18%

Accolades/Awards



View All Results

 

Looking at some of those points above…candidates need to realize it is not difficult to verify one’s academic degree. By simply calling the Registrar’s Office of the higher education institutions listed on the resume, a recruiter can receive verbal confirmation from the school’s employee that the candidate did or did not graduate with degree XYZ. This information is considered “Directory Information”, and sharing that information is compliant with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

In some careers, particularly health professions careers, there are state and nationwide license verification websites that provide the initial date of certification, license expiration date, and any action taken against the individual’s professional license. All of this information is accessible to the public.

The Importance of Reference Checking

If you have moved through the channels with a candidate and seem impressed enough to prepare an offer, it is important to conduct thorough reference checks to get a better feel for the candidate from different perspectives. Reference checks provide a great opportunity to ask questions about a candidate and get feedback, ideally candid feedback, from other people who know the candidate. It is important to remember, though, that the references provided by the candidate are, in all likelihood, people who have agreed to give a glowing review. If possible, use your professional network to speak with other co-workers of the candidate to gain more in-depth perspectives. These individuals could give an entirely different view of the candidate.

Our ExactHire ATS employment application can be configured to include a section to acquire information from the candidate regarding his/her references. You can request any of the following items:  Reference’s Name, Reference’s Company, Reference’s Phone Number, Reference’s Email, Reference’s Relationship to Applicant, and the Number of Years the Reference has Known the Applicant. You can even designate the number of references you want the applicant to provide.

Making A Plan For Reference Checks

You want to be consistent with the questions you ask of references for all your candidates. Always find out why the candidate left the position listed on their resume, and then consider using this list to guide your discussion (courtesy of HCareers and Laura Smoliar via Inc.):

  • Verify the candidate’s dates of employment, title, and role.
  • Is the candidate eligible for rehire? Why or why not? What was his or her reason for leaving?
  • Determine the candidate’s advancement in the company.  Did the candidate receive any promotions or demotions, or did the candidate remain in the same role throughout her tenure?
  • What was the candidate’s beginning and ending salary? How often did the candidate receive salary increases?
  • What kind of duties and responsibilities were assigned to the candidate? Did the candidate complete them satisfactorily? Did the candidate go above and beyond what was required without being asked?
  • What were the candidate’s strengths as an employee? Would you describe the candidate a hard worker?
  • Ask the reference to evaluate the employee’s performance the tasks likely to be assigned in the new position.
  • Was the employee punctual? Were there any issues with tardiness or absenteeism?
  • Did the employee get along well with her peers? With managers? With customers?
  • Is there anything else I should take into consideration before I hire this candidate?
  • Tell me about a time when the candidate had a conflict with a co-worker. How did the situation unfold?
  • What kind of schedule did the candidate keep? Did co-workers ever have trouble working with the candidate because of schedule issues? Tell me about a time when this was a problem.
  • Tell me about a time when the candidate surprised you. What were the circumstances? What did the candidate do?
  • If you were to hire the candidate again, what role do you think would be ideal? What role would not be a good fit, and why?
  • We all get frustrated with each other from time to time. Tell me about a time you were really frustrated with the candidate.
  • In which situations does the candidate really shine? Tell me about an example.
  • What else you’d like me to know about this individual?

It can be challenging to reach references by phone. Often when you do make contact with references, they can be hesitant to say anything that could be negatively construed or bring legal ramifications. But it is important to have a plan when calling, so that when you do make contact, you can collect useful information that supports strong hiring decisions

LinkedIn Research

If you take a look at a candidate’s LinkedIn page, you might be able to verify information found on the candidate’s resume. Furthermore, if you have mutual LinkedIn connections, those connections might be able to give you another perspective on the candidate’s professional background. But be cautious when using social media to review an applicant; you cannot discriminate against a candidate because of disability, age, gender, family, religion, sexual orientation, military history, employment status, or other protected categories.

Bottom line: any information that falls into a protected category cannot be used as a determining factor in offering a job to a candidate.

The Perfect Fit

There is no way to know 100% that a particular candidate is the best fit for a position or organization. But no matter how you check a candidate’s references, thoroughly evaluate the perspectives given to you from others and cross-reference that with your team’s professional views on the candidate. After analysis, if you feel like the candidate is going to be a good fit for the position and your organization as a whole, then you have utilized the information acquired during the reference check process to make a valuable decision and ideally a successful return on your investment.

SMB Pre-Employment Screening Guide Ebook

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Colts Vs. Patriots–Background Check

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Big game in Foxborough this weekend. And while the matchup features two teams–106 men total–much of the discussion is around just two: Andrew Luck and Tom Brady.

These two quarterbacks differ in many ways, most obviously their age: Brady is 37 (frequently the age when an elite QB’s production drops off) and Luck is 25 (frequently the age when elite QBs start earning the title “elite”). So you don’t need John Clayton to tell you that Brady has the advantage of experience, and Luck the advantage of youth.

But that simple comparison–and the countless, more nuanced ones–will mean nothing come Sunday. The best TEAM will win, and these two franchises know a lot about winning.

A Little Background Check

It’s no accident that the Colts and Patriots are playing for the right to represent the AFC in Super Bowl 49. The ownerships expect excellence, and they’ve brought in the right people to make that happen. Imagine what would happen if these teams  handled personnel differently…say, like the Browns.

Actually, you don’t have to imagine that. Here’s what it would look like:

Cleveland Browns Past 15 Years

(Source: http://www.clevelandbrowns.com)
1999214.125
2000313.188
200179.438
200297.563
2003511.313
2004412.250
2005610.375
2006412.250
2007106.625
2008412.250
2009511.313
2010511.313
2011412.250
2012511.313

Ouch. Note that the past two seasons are not even listed on the team website. Yeah, it’s that bad. But why?

Is it bad luck? Is it the “Cleveland Curse”? Perhaps, but successful organizations like the Colts and Patriots don’t operate at the mercy of superstition. They take control of their situation, do the work, and are prepared to make the critical hiring (signing) decisions that will ensure continued success.

It’s the difference between: Drafting Peyton Manning or picking Ryan Leaf; Drafting Tom Brady in the sixth round or choosing Tim Rattay; Making Brady your franchise player or sticking with Drew Bledsoe; Handing over the reins to Andrew Luck or hanging on to a five-time League MVP.

It’s the difference between drafting “Johnny Football” or choosing character over celebrity.

The Colts and Patriots have sustained success over the past decade because they possess a clear vision for their organization. But more importantly, they have effectively vetted their “job candidates” to maximize the number of players who fit in with their vision. And when faced with critical personnel matters, they gather the best information, perform thorough analysis, and remain true to their vision in making the right hiring decisions.

Sunday’s Game

Back to the matter at hand: big game in Foxborough. I’ve listened to a lot of talk. I’ve heard from the experts and from less-than objective fans. A cold, wet night will make things interesting. Everything indicates that this should be a fantastic game to watch. But who will win?

As an Indianapolis native, I am certainly biased. But I’ll not let that keep me from making the right pick…

Colts 24 – Patriots 20

Note: This prediction takes into account that Luck’s beard has grown much more powerful since Week 11. Now gimme 2 claps and a Rick Flair!

 

ExactHire provides SaaS solutions that optimize the hiring process for organizations who seek excellence. Our HireCentric ATS includes background check integration and, when paired with other pre-employment screening programs like reference checking and behavioral assessments, supports smart hiring based on job fit.

Learn how your organization can improve your hiring process with HireCentric. Contact us today!

 

Image credit: Go Colts…Go Colts…Go Colts! by Steve Baker (contact)

Test Your Application Through The Applicant’s Eyes

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Finding the right employees can be daunting. Have you ever thought about how equally disheartening it can be to find the right job? I strongly encourage our clients to play the role of job-seeker by searching and applying for open positions at their organization. What they find is often times surprising, but it almost always leads to improvements in their recruiting and hiring processes.

Hiring managers usually do a great job of developing the job description, but they often overlook the application process itself. Having a few applicants who start an application, but then abandon it, is common. But when this trend increases, an organization can benefit from taking a few minutes to go through the application process as a job-seeker would.

With an Applicant Tracking System like HireCentric, you can create a ‘dummy’ account to serve as your test applicant. Some of my co-workers create pseudo-profiles using names of celebrities that include quirky and funny answers to education and employment history questions. You can do the same, or keep it boring, and name your test applicant ‘Company TestAccount’, holding applicant answers to a similar standard.

Concerns may arise about reporting criteria or skewing your data for REAL applicants. It is important that you develop a standard for answering those EEOC and source questions. We suggest choosing the option “I do not wish to answer” for the EEOC and VEVRAA questions; and we always choose the company website as the source. As a best-practice, we also put a note in the applicant record identifying it as a test account, change the status to not qualified, and archive our mock application when testing for clients.

Testing your application process is a best practice, and it can have a huge impact on improving the quality of your new hires. You want the job-seekers to find your open position, apply for it, and be excited about the prospect of working at your company.

Test Your Application – 3 Considerations

Now that you have the basics, and you are ready to test your application, here are a few of the top things to consider when testing the process as a job seeker:

How easy is it to find your job listing?

Most job boards will list jobs by the date they were posted, but most applicants will land on your open position by filtering for keywords and location. Make sure that you are using a multitude of keywords that apply to both the open position and your company. By using specific terminology, you can reduce the number of clicks it takes to land on your open position.

How long does it take to complete the application?

Consider not only how long it takes to complete the application, but what are the implications that arise from an application being too short or too long? If you have a short application, you might find that you receive way too many unqualified applicants. Alternately, if the application is too long, you may find that ideal candidates are abandoning the application. Testing the application to understand how much time you are asking candidates to commit is imperative.

If you find that your application is extensive, but that all points are necessary, it may be time to consider a 2-Step application. This feature makes the initial screening short for applicants and allows you to invite only qualified applicants to complete the second application step.

Are you creeped out by the questions on the application?

Test your application so you can see the process as an applicant sees it. You may find out that some of your questions are throwing red flags to the applicant–like asking for social security numbers. Maybe you are asking for an over-abundance of essay questions. Or, you may just discover that you are asking questions in a confusing fashion.

 

Download our hiring process questions guide

Visit ExactHire’s Resource Page to download a tip sheet with more specific examples of how to test your application and improve the applicant experience. To learn more about our HireCentric Applicant Tracking System, contact us today!

 

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Choosing an Applicant Tracking System – Best of Breed vs. Single Source

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An issue that comes up quite frequently in my discussions with potential new ExactHire customers is whether it makes sense to purchase a stand-alone applicant tracking system (ATS) or utilize those capabilities within their existing payroll/human capital management (HCM) solution. Admittedly, I have a biased perspective on this. Despite that, below is a brief list of the pros and cons for each option, based on feedback from others over the past few years.

Single Source (Integrated with Payroll/HCM Software)

Pros

  • Single sign-on from existing solution
  • Core applicant information (name, address, phone, email) passes through automatically upon hire
  • Potentially lower cost (often discounted if purchased with the rest of the payroll/HCM solution)

Cons

  • Key features and functionality may be missing
  • Provider’s development budget for this part of the solution may be limited, with more focus on the core aspects of the solution
  • Implementation and support may not receive the same attention as the other core aspects of the solution

Stand Alone Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Pros

Cons

  • Separate vendor for support needs (compared to one vendor with HCM)
  • Can be more expensive (ATS pricing varies based on several factors)
  • No ability to automatically transfer core applicant information (name, address, phone, email) to payroll/HCM solution – though may be available via custom integration

There are certainly more factors to consider than what I’ve represented here. Things such as the size of your organization, number of people involved in your hiring process, the amount of hiring you do, your relationship with your current payroll/HCM vendor, whether that vendor offers applicant tracking, etc. are all items you should consider as you weigh options for your organization.

Ultimately, there isn’t a right or wrong answer to this question. The unique aspects of your organization and the factors mentioned above will drive you to the best option for your needs.

To learn more about ExactHire’s applicant tracking software (ExactHire ATS), please visit our resources section

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The Hiring Process: Are We There Yet?

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The hiring process can be difficult for both the applicant and employer. Just as an anxious child awaits the end of a long road trip, both parties are asking, “Are we there yet?”

Invest Time in Saving Time

Streamline Your Hiring Process

Wasting time is expensive. And if your company spends too much time and effort hiring, you’re wasting money–especially if you end up hiring the wrong person. But it doesn’t have to be so difficult, and it doesn’t need to carry a hefty price tag.

You’ve heard it before: work smarter, not harder!

An Applicant tracking system can streamline your hiring process and save you time by reducing the time spent posting positions, reviewing applications, contacting applicants, and getting hiring approval from corporate.

Work Smarter

Applicant Tracking Systems Create Efficiency

  • List a job once and post it on any job board you want with a few clicks.
  • Manage the hiring process for all open positions from one site.
  • Invite managers to add notes and feedback at any point in the hiring process.
  • Eliminate unnecessary sorting and sifting through applicants by adding a filter to remove candidates that don’t meet the basic qualifications for the position.
  • Create a set of specialized questions for each position and attach scoring values to fast-track your efforts at finding the perfect candidate.
  • Build email templates for status letters, thank you’s, interview requests, testing requests, and any other email you regularly send to candidates.

Cut Through Red Tape

Speed Up Job Requisition

  • Streamline the requisition process by having the applicant tracking system automatically notify the next approver in line.
  • Hiring managers can check on the status of a requisition by logging in–no distracting follow-ups.

We’re Here!

ExactHire Can Help You Streamline The Hiring Process

Learn how ExactHire applicant tracking system can help your company work smarter. Visit our resources section or contact us today!

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5 Features An Applicant Tracking System Should Have for SMBs

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If you are a small or mid-sized organization (SMB), there are dozens of potential applicant tracking system (ATS) options suitable for your company size available on the market. While price is always important, comparison shopping can be difficult — no two systems are alike.

To help with your decision making process, below are 5 key features that most any SMB will want from an ATS — even if you don’t know it yet!

1 – Branding for Job Portal

Be sure the ATS you select does more than just paste your logo onto an otherwise generic careers page. Instead, find an option that uses your homepage URL address and design/style settings as inspiration for the hosted career portal. Ideally, you should also have the ability to add other pages to your recruiting software portal to showcase information about company benefit plans, history, culture, career paths, etc.

2 – Flexible Employment Application Process for Applicants

Don’t settle for a “one-size-fits-all” online application. You need the ability to get the screening information you want in the manner that will resonate best with your applicants. This should include the ability to have different processes for different types of positions (i.e., hourly vs. salary). You may need a shorter initial process for positions that are highly competitive, while positions that tend to provide you plenty of applicants may be better suited for a more comprehensive process to make sure those applicants are serious about that opening.

3 – Job-Based Screening Questions

This is very different than scanning resumes for keyword matches. These types of questions are created by you and allow you to quickly determine up-front whether applicants meet your basic qualifications. In addition, you should have the ability to automatically apply scoring to various applicant responses, allowing you to see how those applicants rank, relative to one another. These should be questions you develop for your unique jobs and criteria. This ensures you get meaningful information about your applicants.

4 – Manage the Entire Hiring Process

Many less expensive software solutions do a great job of allowing you to gather applicant information and hold it for review. Unfortunately, in many instances, these applications don’t provide much beyond that point. Be sure the hiring software you select will allow you to keep track of referral sources, notes, progress through your unique hiring steps, etc. Otherwise, you may find down the road that you have a lot of candidates in a database, but not much else. Do a little more investigating initially to make sure you can harness all of the things you’ll need to actually have valuable intellectual property going forward.

5 – Help & Support When You Need It

We’ve all seen technology solutions that promise they’re so simple, you’ll never need help. The reality is that is a near impossibility. Good applicant tracking software should be intuitive. No matter how intuitive it may be, however, you will have questions and/or you may find that something doesn’t work the way it should. Ask any potential provider what type of user support is available. Online knowledge bases are very helpful and can address many of the things that you may encounter. At the same time, you should check to make sure that live support is available and isn’t limited to offshore or call center options.

Keep these factors in mind when you consider selecting any type of recruiting or online application software solution. There are certainly other features and benefits that may be needed for your organization, but if these core things are present, you can be confident you’re dealing with a solid and reliable provider.

To learn more about ExactHire’s products, please visit our resources section or contact us today. –

SMB Pre-Employment Screening Guide Ebook

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