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This article on how to streamline recruiting processes was originally published in March 2016. It was updated with new information in May 2022.
Recruiters are an integral part of human resources teams, and their daily schedules are packed. They’re answering candidates’ emails, checking the status of open roles, reviewing resumes, scheduling interviews, screening candidates, coordinating with hiring managers, sourcing candidates…the list goes on. Not to mention, it’s a notoriously difficult time for hiring — for every ten new jobs that open up, only six are filled.
With so many essential daily functions and a competitive talent market, recruiters need to simplify their workflows. Then, they can shift their focus away from time-consuming administrative work to finding top talent and successfully executing recruiting strategies.
But how can they start working more efficiently? You’ve come to the right place: we’re taking a look at three ways to streamline recruiting processes and sharing some tips for boosting efficiency.
Recruiters have a lot on their plates — make their workday easier with these 3 ways to streamline #RecruitingProcesses:Evaluate Time Spent On Recruiting Activities
Bonus Tip:
To take productivity up a notch, if it can be automated, automate it. Applicant Tracking Systems automate the smaller everyday recruiting tasks like interview scheduling and candidate emails so recruiters can focus their time on value-adding work.
An estimated one-third of employees quit within their first six months of employment, and the Great Resignation hasn’t slowed, with a record 4.5 million Americans quitting in March alone. Combined with the fact that there are more available jobs than job seekers, that means it’s more important than ever for recruiting and HR teams to reduce hours spent on more tedious tasks.
One quick way to kick off this exercise in streamlining the hiring process is to evaluate how recruiters’ time is currently being spent. This is an opportunity to ensure recruiters are dedicating more time to recruiting activities that make a bigger impact on organizational goals. For example, recruiters should be spending more time evaluating candidates’ qualifications than they spend creating job descriptions.
Tip: Spend a few weeks carefully tracking recruiting activity so you know how much time is actually being spent on each task. Then, adjust your schedule to ensure you spend sufficient time on high-impact activities. Evaluate time spent on routine tasks and look for ways to consolidate or reduce those tasks.
Focus On Candidate Skills That Matter
Bonus Tip:
Use an ATS so you see only applicants whose qualifications match the job description. You can also use an ATS to speed up the interview process with automatic links to schedule video interviews, interview scorecards, built-in background checks, and more.
Every role has some prerequisites that are a must, some that can be taught, and some that are a perk but aren’t essential to the job function. Recruiters should determine which qualifications are an absolute requirement before creating job descriptions and starting their search. That’s important because the top reasons new hires don’t work out often comes down to:
- Recruiters’ mistaken assumption that new hires can learn necessary skills on-the-job
- A lack of soft skills, according to 89% of recruiters
Defining which skills a candidate needs to have contributes to better hiring decisions. Recruiters won’t have to wonder if candidates are qualified and your company won’t compromise on what’s most important — and you’ll end up with a best-fit new hire.
Tip: Review job postings to ensure that only the necessary skills are listed. A shorter list of skills can also bring in potential candidates who might have been discouraged from applying by a long list.
Does your #RecruitingProcess need streamlining? Help #Recruiters focus on #CandidateSourcing — try these 3 ways to simplify recruiting processes:Put Recruiting Metrics To Use
Bonus Tip:
Another option is to find an ATS that seamlessly tracks recruiting metrics and generates reports to help you better understand recruiters’ productivity and quality of hire.
One key aspect to improving recruiting productivity is tracking and understanding recruiting metrics, both quantitative and qualitative. Some important data includes time to fill, time to hire, cost per hire, retention, employee engagement, and productivity. Recruitment metrics give insight into both the time and money it takes to make a hire and the individual success of every new hire. Recruiting metrics can also ensure the continued success of new hires long after their onboarding is complete.
If your recruiting team members don’t have access to this data, it can be difficult to adjust strategies and fix pain points in the HR recruiting process. For example, if you spot lower engagement levels among employees hired around the same time, you could evaluate their hiring and onboarding experience and engagement throughout their tenure to spot commonalities and potential causes. Then, you can make changes based on the data and continue monitoring to see the impact of those changes.
Tip: Evaluate your recruiting process and decide which metrics you’ll track to build a better, more efficient recruiting process. Then, use your new knowledge to make improvements to recruitment.
The first step toward an effective recruiting strategy is building the most effective recruiting processes. That’s possible through streamlining workflows, automating tasks, and using valuable data to make decisions — and that can all be powered by a modern recruitment platform like ClearCompany’s Applicant Tracking System.
ClearCompany’s ATS can give your recruiters time back in their days to focus on foundational sourcing and screening tasks. Support recruiters with the tools they need to find top talent — try an ATS for yourself on a demo of our award-winning recruiting software.
