Innovative staffing technology is driving an industry-wide revolution leveraging recruiting software to streamline the staffing process – increasing your productivity and efficiency. But that begs the question, what’s the secret to finding the best recruiting software for your business?
The answer: accurately assessing your unique staffing needs. It’s that simple – and that complex. Don’t worry. We’re busting through the complexity and honing in on the essentials in this article.
Here’s what makes for the best recruiting software aka applicant tracking systems.
Functional Usability: Flexibility to Integrate
A customer candidate relationship management applicant tracking system, or CRM ATS, is the core software that firms rely upon to automate sales, staffing and recruiting processes through a centralized candidate customer data vault which includes accounts, contacts, candidate resumes and applications.
These systems ease sales, staffing and recruiting operations burdens, increase efficiency and facilitate productive management of the sales and recruiting process from job order to placement.
Here’s what you need to know.
No CRM will align perfectly with your business’ unique needs. Quality CRM ATS systems are designed for seamless integration; integration that fulfills your staffing firm’s needs. But, the key is to look for CRM ATS software that is flexibility. Is it flexible to adapt to your needs as your business evolves.
How can you gauge flexibility? Measure the robustness of a system’s partner ecosystem. When an CRM ATS has prime partners, like Microsoft, Indeed, CareerBuilder, Monster, Linkedin and more, your business will have better opportunities to customize the software with integrations that you need down the road.
Workflow Management
Full of complex nuance, sales and recruiting lifecycles are far from simple. Lifecycle processes require an easily-manageable structure to avoid mistakes. A quality CRM ATS system creates seamless workflow management with a job order to placement structure via a centralized, comprehensive dashboard. Moreover, the best software leverages best practices without overhauling your current workflow increasing your sales and recruiting process’ efficacy.
User Experience
It’s hard to overestimate the impact that an CRM ATS’ appearance and usability have on a staffing firm’s success. User experience (UX) drives all software. Regardless of how many bells and whistles a software might tout, they’re worthless if usability is poor.
Why? The largest generation in the workforce is tech-savvy millennials. Their threshold for poor user experience is exceedingly low and cumbersome software drives these highly-skilled candidates away from jobs. This makes intuitive, user-friendly software essential to getting the best candidates to your clients. Good user experience also helps reduce onboarding time.
Proper evaluation of a software’s user interface – on both desktop and mobile applications – for usability is crucial. Note that mobile optimization is paramount in our digital world. CRM ATS software with great desktop and cumbersome mobile functionality is subpar – opt out.
Features You Want From Your CRM ATS Software
Quality over quantity. The age-old adage applies to the plethora of features built into recruiting software. Most CRM ATS systems are feature-heavy, but do those features benefit you? Will you use them every day? Naturally, your firm might have unique needs that require customization. These are the one’s industry clients report as essential for day-to-day workflow. For example:
- Projects | Projects easily organize records into groupable, easy-to-prompt actions. For example, say you have an opening for enterprise sales, you can take immediate action from the project grouping of “Top Enterprise Sales Candidates.”
- Notes | Adding feedback directly into a candidate’s record is arguably the most crucial function that exists in ATS. The ability to do so streamlines and organizes the totality of the hiring process, increasing efficiency and visibility at each step.
- Searchability | A “favorite” feature of an ATS’ search function saves you time by predicting matches, what you’re going to search for next and eliminating the need to recreate searches.
- Client Relationship Management | Enhancing your clients experience with your agency will lead to a better relationship and more job orders.
And there is so much more.
How can I [Accurately] Assess Recruiting Software?
First, run an audit of your firm’s needs. Next, explore CRM ATS systems with the guidelines mentioned above – and your internal requirements – in mind. Then, check out some user-review platforms for unbiased reviews (like AppSource).
Still have questions or want to see the CRM ATS in action? Submit a request for a demo which can illuminate how the software can enhance your recruiting process.
Good luck on your recruiting software journey!