HR Technology: Streamlining the Hiring Process

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HR Technology: Streamlining the Hiring Process


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The demands on companies to recruit top talent have changed dramatically over the last few years. Organizations that utilized legacy recruiting methods that relied heavily on paper or manual processes are no longer able to keep up with the high volume of applications they receive today. Fortunately, technology has improved to the point where companies can leverage best practices in recruiting and onboarding technology to ease the burden they currently feel and focus their energy on bringing top talent into their organizations.

Just a few years ago, gaming companies in North America averaged less than ten applications for each job opening they posted. In 2009, the average number of applications rose to approximately 95 applications per open position (according to First Advantage’s ATS data). This dramatic increase in application volume, coupled with budget cuts experienced by most recruiting organizations has left HR groups with options other than to look to technology to fill their recruiting needs.

The beginning point for automated recruiting are applicant tracking systems (ATS) that automate the requisition process and allow candidates to apply for positions over the internet. Providing candidates with company-level and job-specific screening questions enables these systems to exclude unqualified candidates automatically without recruiting resources being involved. More advanced systems can automate all of the routine communication involved in the hiring process and include job specific scheduling capabilities that reduce the time involved in coordinating schedules for interviews. In addition to freeing up staff time to focus on only the qualified candidates, Human Resources is able to manage the entire recruiting process more efficiently by leveraging real time reporting and metrics.

Further improvements in efficiency can be garnered by bundling hard skill and behavioural assessments into the recruiting process. Using an ATS to administer assessments can help to further reduce the number of applications an organization has to deal with and assist with providing a positive impact on employee productivity by ensuring a new hire has the necessary skills and behavioural characteristics to perform the job as well as determine if they are a cultural match for the organization.

Though companies are collecting many more applications than they have in the past, they are not always attracting the level of candidates they desire, especially for hard to fill positions. To address this situation, organizations can employ candidate relationship management (CRM) products and marketing campaigns that include search engine optimization to help them reach desired candidates. These tools provide automated means to reach, attract, and engage passive candidates. By building relationships with a broad base of qualified, passive candidates before organizations have a need for them, they are able to more quickly fill positions with a better caliber of employee when openings occur.

The automation that can be leveraged during the recruiting process can also carry forward into the onboarding process. Modern ATS products include robust employee onboarding functionality that utilizes all of the information gathered about a new hire during the application process to streamline onboarding with pre-populated, job-specific forms that enforce required fields and easily guide a new employee into the organization with limited assistance from existing staff.

Recruiting technology is evolving fast. New products are leveraging social networks and other new internet technologies to provide even better candidate and user experiences. Artificial intelligence and proprietary algorithms are being explored to learn an individual’s and a company’s unique preferences and apply them to introduce even more efficiency in recruiting. Companies are implementing these technologies today in order to be able to compete in a tighter employment space as the economy improves.

By Tyler Holbrook is VP, Solution Engineering, Hiring Solutions Group – Employer Services for First Advantage