Five Recruitment Tools You Need as Lockdown Eases
By Jay Rock
As the world begins to prepare for a return to work, recruiters are expected to be busy. The predicted surge in the recruitment market post-coronavirus-lockdown could continue for the foreseeable future too, if many more businesses continue to struggle with the economics of resuming operations with a reduced workforce and adapting to essential social distancing requirements..
The recruitment industry needs to ensure it is prepared, not only for a resurgence of work, but also for the inevitable changes it must make to tick the vital boxes needed to maintain a healthy, safe working environment for recruiters, clients and candidates alike. This means taking a flexible approach to working processes and implementing solutions to increase efficiency, while keeping on top of all-important communications across the board.
Recruitment is traditionally resource-heavy and time consuming. With a ‘new normal’ expected, recruiters will inevitably have their hands full already coping with new company working terms and conditions, role changes and much more. It makes sense to fully embrace some of the latest recruitment tools that could revolutionise the way you do business as we move forward.
We’ve picked out five recruitment tools you’ll need to take your business to another level. Whether you’re running a HR department or an agency, some of the latest tools, technologies and recruitment channels have been developed to make more effective use of your (adapted) strategies – and your time.
1.Applicant tracking systems (ATS)
Although applicant tracking is not a new technology, it has come a long way in the past few years. The best ATS incorporate CV parsing and expand their functionality into areas like skills matching and can drive search and matching candidates like never before. Some applicant tracking systems can be fully integrated into other platforms and be used to connect and centralise vital data to increase the efficiency and effectivity of the recruitment process. This feature can be particularly useful in the acquisition of talent in key mobile channels.
Automating routine processes can help recruiters extract maximum value from their ATS, leaving them to do what they do best.
2.CV profiling
The processing and profiling of CVs is a big part of the recruitment process. It is the only way to ensure the most suitable candidates are put forward to your clients. Integrating automated CV profiling into your processes can deliver a wide range of benefits, from saving time and resources to driving more powerful search functionality – and much more in between.
Often, automated CV management can help to improve reputation through higher quality matches and a subsequent increase in success rate. Centralising key functionality can also lead to better CRM which can significantly improve candidate tracking and reduce the chance of the ideal match slipping through the net.
3.Automated CRM
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is critical in the recruitment sector, forming an integral part of every step. Using CRM tools, tasks such as communications logging, record-keeping, profiling and all other aspects of candidate management can be automated and secured. With inevitable changes in typical routine communications in the post-lockdown recruiting world, automation in areas like CRM could be crucial in maintaining successful client-candidate relationships.
In today’s compliance-centric business world, data privacy is a core requirement and some CRM tools incorporate secure and compliant database functionality to tick these vital boxes. With heavy fines imposed for data breaches, this is an important consideration for recruiters all over Europe.
4.Configurable database to drive and simplify search and matching
Candidate and role matching processes are by far the most important aspects of the recruitment process. This is, after all, what recruiters essentially do. Streamlining search and increasing functionality is a key driver to bringing the recruiter closer to the right talent.
A fully-functioning, compliant database can streamline the candidate matching process and when the search can be configured to specific, detailed parameters, can give it wings. When the recruitment database, automated CRM, applicant tracking and CV profiling work together seamlessly, search functionality can be accelerated, and a much higher success rate achieved.
5.Video interviewing
There are many and varied tools available for video interviews and the post-lockdown recruiter will likely need to embrace some of them. With social distancing measures and new working guidelines to adhere to, video interviewing needs to be supported in all industries – at least for the short-term.
Video won’t fully replace face-to-face interviews, but the speed and convenience of some of the latest platforms will allow more candidates to been seen in the early stages of the recruitment process.
Recruiters are typically ‘people’ people. The very essence of the career path is about getting to know and understand the client’s needs and the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. Encouraging and supporting both your candidates and your clients at the current time should become a priority and could lead to greater success in client loyalty retention. Most people are finding themselves in an unprecedented situation and are faced with unknown challenges. Reaching out and connecting on a personal level has never been more important.
How Vacancy Lab can help
We’ve been working from home and continuing the same levels of support for our current clients. We have accelerated implementation of our recruitment management software for new clients needing a fast turnaround and we’re continuing to do so as the UK begins to reduce the lockdown restrictions.
We’re here for you as consultants to guide you through streamlining and adapting your recruitment strategies and we’re here for you as people at the end of the phone. Let us help you address the challenges of a post-lockdown recruitment industry and find a new working normal.