How do you automate the hiring process, and does it take away the human element of recruitment?
Recruitment will always be a ‘people function’ and technology should never replace that, but it should enhance the process and make it easier and quicker for recruiters to manage. By automating elements of the hiring process recruiters should be able to remove many of the time-consuming tasks and focus on the ‘value add’ activity.
What aspects of hiring can be automated?
Automation can touch virtually every stage of a recruitment process, but it’s about being smart and using it where it’s appropriate, leaving the recruiters to manage the vital touch points. Used in the right way, automation will save HR/Recruitment teams time and ultimately money.
Weave elements of automation into the early stages of the recruitment process, such as including screening questions at application stage, right through to the onboarding process that automatically notifies internal teams of new starters to ensure everything is in place for their first day.
There are so many ways in which automation can be used in recruitment, from administrative tasks to communications and engagement, but let’s look at some of the more common (and not so common) uses and how you can introduce automation within your organisation.
Candidate Assessment
Candidates can often be assessed at varying stages of the recruitment process and much of this can be automated, ensuring recruiters spend 80 percent of their time on the 20 percent of candidates who are most relevant.
At application stage, add pre-assessment questions in your ATS to screen out unsuitable candidates before they even begin completing an application form – saving both recruiters and candidates time and effort. Including timed and scored assessments at application stage will also help recruiters gain a greater and more immediate understanding of a candidate’s ability – again, saving time and ensuring recruiters focus on the best matched candidates.
Approval Processes
Gaining approval to advertise a new position or waiting for an offer to be approved can be a hiring manager’s nightmare. This is a prime case for automation – a good ATS will include job and offer approval processes as standard, allowing users to set an approval chain in motion in just a few steps, leaving the technology to get on with the process of contacting relevant approvers for sign off.
Increasing the speed with which an offer is made is critical to avoid candidates looking elsewhere. According to a study by Robert Walters, 78% of job seekers believe a full recruitment process (from application to offer) should take no longer than four weeks, but only 26% of hiring processes meet this timescale. Don’t give candidates the opportunity to look elsewhere whilst they’re waiting for you to progress their application.
Automated Email Notifications
We all need friendly reminders and to-do lists sometimes, so using automation to set up email notifications to key team members, or entire teams, is the answer.
Most ATS’ will include the ability to create automated notifications in a number of ways. From reminding hiring managers to assess applications after a job’s closing date; to adding notifications in the Onboarding process, such as automatically informing the IT team of a new hire and the need to order a laptop and a mobile phone ready for their start date.
Even after a candidate has accepted a job, hiring managers sometimes think their job is done. But using automated notifications, you can let them know what’s outstanding or what happens next, and include any tasks that need to be completed.
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Automated chatbot help in your ATS
In Jobtrain we have HOWard, a P.A. chatbot that is always available to guide our clients and automate as many day-to-day tasks.
With just some basic questions, HOWard will automate many processes in Jobtrain – great for those users who do not use an ATS every day and may be less familiar with processes. Amongst other things, HOWard can begin process of adding new jobs and generating calendar events, as well as providing tips and guidance.
For more information, please visit: Jobtrain
