Is Technology Hurting the Performance of Your Recruiters?

With the rise of technology infiltrating every operation in the staffing industry, every process from candidate acquisition to exit interviews is transitioning to automation. But each product has its own lane of functionality, and there are limited solutions that integrate across the entire staffing technology stack. This quickly leads to technology overload. When the individual components of your digital transformation are at odds, it impacts your processes and hurts the performance of your recruiters

The Issues of Technology in the Recruiting Process

A proliferation of different technologies have entered the staffing market through direct sales, word-of-mouth, or ATS marketplace partnerships. Each software product provides one piece of functionality in the process; for instance, résumé parsing, text automation, or video interviewing. These products are sold on an island and integrate with only a small part of the ecosystem.

The ATS is traditionally the hub of all activity. However, different products are built onto different parts of the process and are not always designed with the big picture of a recruiter’s day-to-day operations in mind. These new technologies want to be front-facing and get screen time, requiring recruiters to work with multiple applications on their desktop.  Recruiters end up multi-tasking just to do one job, which causes a massive slowdown in productivity.

Curious about specific examples? Just look at job boards like Indeed, LinkedIn, and other market-leading platforms, which are pushing recruiters to use their candidate selection and communication processes outside of the ATS. This is a major hindrance to productivity. Not to mention, if the activity recorded in one of these tools is not transferred to the ATS, valuable information about candidate communication is lost. It leaves staffing leaders asking the question, where is the best place for your recruiters to work? Inside the job boards or inside your ATS?

Take Inventory of Your Staffing Tech Stack Often

Integration and process flows are rarely managed at a grand scale. When looking to acquire new staffing software or technology platforms in their tech stack, staffing firms approach the decision with a tactical focus, looking at how well each tool performs a single function and making incremental process changes accordingly. However, the question remains as to whether it makes sense from a strategic perspective, with the big picture of recruiter productivity and company operations top of mind. Is there a way to simplify the process and use digital transformation to improve recruiter performance?

The answer comes in recognizing that key platforms in your existing staffing technology stack are always evolving. It’s common for applicant tracking systems or back-office platforms to acquire or build new functionality, duplicating other add-on tools in your tech stack. That’s why it’s critical to maintain a thoroughly documented inventory of features and functionality across all processes and technology. That way, you avoid redundancy and save your business money on any overlapping technology-related expenses.

How to Address These Issues

To ensure you’re not paying for the same software functionality multiple times over, perform an audit across the entire staffing firm technology stack. Document and diagram the process flows and technology features across each function. For instance, which pieces of the recruiting process use what technology, and what is required for the recruiter to either communicate with or push an applicant through the process? To answer these questions, follow this procedure:

1. Create an inventory and cost matrix of every tool in your staffing technology stack. Understand clearly where there may be overlap between tools and applicant tracking system functions.
2. Diagram the ideal state of your recruiter and back-office process flows. Decide what can be automated, and what tools can be used to increase recruiter productivity while also providing the best candidate experience.
3. Compare the current state with your ideal state and outline a plan to migrate towards the best solution. What is the most cost-effective and productive result for both recruiter and internal staff process flows?
4. Talk to your job board vendors. It is very likely they have tools or technology that can automate processes. These job board firms want to keep you as a client, and they will do what they can to help integrate their systems with yours. If they don’t have the technology, it might be worth it for your firm to build what you need.

Takeaways

In a market where quality candidates are hard to come by, the right staffing technology needs to be in place. When used efficiently, the right combination of software can enhance recruiter productivity. Take a hard look at what’s happening along every step of the process and assess an ideal state against the current state.

Don’t be afraid to reverse the decisions you’ve made in the past regarding technology functionality purchases. You’d be surprised at the different ways processes can be completed using other unknown features or changing the way your recruiters work.

Utilize integrations that automate transactional activity so your recruiters can focus on candidate-facing tasks. This way, you will optimize their performance, empowering high-performing, efficient recruiters who can bring in exceptional candidates.

Looking to improve your recruitment tech stack? The echogravity job portal is a great place to start make a great first impression with candidates.