Finding employees that are the best of the best is a goal that all smart companies share. Acquiring applicant tracking system software is a strategy that many use to try to reach this goal. Of course, simply putting software in place won’t automatically elevate the quality or competency of applicants, but it may help you to attract the right candidates and filter them from the masses.
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Make Your Careers Page Attractive
If your careers page isn’t attractive, applicants may skip past it and find a company that they feel puts more effort into attracting them. Your page doesn’t have to be glamorous, but it does have to be responsive, easy to find, and easy to use. Bonus points for making applicants feel comfortable and providing familiar and identifying branding.
Source with Savvy
Your prospective applicants are likely on the internet somewhere for a good portion of their free time. Make it your job to identify the sites that your top talent visits regularly and use that information to source accordingly. You don’t want to bombard people with job ads, but you do want to ensure adequate brand visibility so that your ideal candidates are interested to find out more and know how to do so.
Be Aware of System Flaws
Some ATS software has inherent formatting issues that affect the way it reads certain fonts, causing qualified applicants to be filtered out. Other software places too high a value on exact keyword matches, so you may get the applicant that’s best at playing the keyword game, rather than the one that’s best for the job. While the ATS software may still add value to your recruitment process, being aware of flaws will help you to avoid pitfalls.
Use Functionality to Open Up Opportunities
ATS software functionality may open up opportunities for recruitment that weren’t available before. Video interviewing, for example, may allow you to interview a highly qualified candidate that lives out of state or even in another country that wouldn’t have been able to make it to a face-to-face interview. Background checks and personality assessments may also help you to tighten your hiring standards.
Review Analytics
ATS software often comes with analytics capabilities. Analytics can provide insights into how well different sourcing options are working out and how the recruitment process as a whole is going. By tweaking different aspects of the hiring process, you may also be able to see how satisfaction, retention, and other factors are affected using analytics.
Make Changes Regularly
ATS software isn’t meant to be a cure-all to a hiring process, but rather an ever-evolving tool that can help with scouting top talent. For best results, make changes to the customizable parts of the application, screenings, and pages regularly. Update the software when updates are available and keep doing your research to make sure that your sourcing continues to net talented applicants.
With the right strategy and the right moves, ATS software can be very instrumental in the search for and acquisition of top talent. Don’t make the mistake of becoming complacent, however, or your ATS won’t fulfill its potential.