Recruiting Process Automation: 6 Tech Tips to Simplify Hiring

Ever wonder what you can do to simplify the recruiting process?

You know...you post a job opening and you get hundreds of applicants.

That’s a lot of resumes, cover letters, and qualifications to sift through. 

And just because an applicant checks all the boxes on their paperwork, doesn’t always mean they’re the best fit. Right? Fortunately, you can simplify the recruiting process with diversity recruiting tools and automation to help you narrow down the list, giving you more time to focus on other things like interviewing, onboarding, and getting your new hires up to speed.

Want to automate your recruiting process to save time and find better candidates? 

Here are 6 things you can do:

1. Use a chatbot

Chatbots have come a long way since they first started showing up online. And you can use chatbots (like XOR or Olivia) to automate the recruiting process.

Think about all the questions candidates have when they’re thinking about applying for your open position. For example:

• How much does it pay?
• What are the hours?
• What are the benefits?
• What’s the hiring process?
• Where do I send my resume, cover letter or portfolio?
• Is there potential for growth and other career opportunities?
• How can I contact human resources?
  

Take a few minutes to give all this information to a chatbot, and BOOM...this part of the recruiting process is automated.

The chatbot answers a lot of the questions potential candidates have. And it either helps them make the decision to apply, or helps weed out the people who aren’t a good fit.

2. Use ATS software

ATS is an acronym for Applicant Tracking System, and most online job applications tools include some variation of this.

It’s been a game-changer in the recruiting process, because it largely eliminates the need to sift through old-school resumes and cover letters one by one, looking for keywords and phrases that align with your ideal candidate.

Instead, ATS software (like Greenhouse and ClearCompany) does this for you, then serves up a list of candidates that best meet your criteria.

So what kind of skills, character traits, and experience are you looking for?

• Leadership
• Interpersonal skills
• Communication skills
• Creative
• Process and goal-oriented
• Customer service
• Or specific technical skills

With ATS software, you set the parameters and it does the heavy lifting after a surge of applicants, making the recruiting process a little easier to manage.

3. Use scheduling software

Here’s another way to automate the recruiting process and find out which candidates are serious, and which ones may have decided to go another direction.

Use scheduling software (like Calendly or ScheduleOnce).

Let’s say you narrow down your applicant list to a smaller pool you’d like to do a pre-interview with. 

• Are they still interested?
• Are they still in the job market?
• Are they serious enough to carve out some time for a pre-interview?

Scheduling software makes this part of the recruiting process really easy to find out.

• Set up some available interview times on your scheduling software
• Invite your top candidates to book a time.
• Some will, some won’t.

This helps shorten your list of top candidates. Scheduling software can also simplify the recruiting process with reminder emails and even text messages, giving candidates the opportunity to confirm, cancel, or reschedule.

The recruiting process just got easier, thanks to automation.

4. Use online assessments

Here’s another smart way to automate the recruiting process and screen candidates...use online assessments.

It’s a great way to screen candidates and evaluate their skills for a specific position. Here’s some examples of online assessments you could require as part of your recruiting process:

• Software skills
• Programming skills
• Communication skills
• Grammar skills
• Customer service skills
• Technical skills
• Writing/editing skills
• Personality tests
• Problem-solving skills

Lots of tools exist to design simple assessments. You could even use a basic survey or questionnaire (like SurveyMonkey) to gauge candidates skills and experience BEFORE you invite them for an interview as you move through the recruiting process.

5. Require video introductions

You narrow down your list of potential candidates, but it’s still too many to book interview with.

Ever have that problem in the recruiting process?

Now you’re stuck trying to figure out which ones to contact for an interview and which ones fall into the “maybe” category.

If you could just meet in person for a few minutes, you’d have a better chance of making a decision. Right?

The next time you get stuck here, try this:

• Invite your top candidates to submit a short video introduction about themselves (1-3 minutes is usually plenty)

There’s your face-to-face. Some will do it, and some actually won’t follow through. 

Your list just got shorter, and you saved a ton of time on this part of the recruiting process.

6. Use CRM tools to stay connected with candidates

Once you fill a position, what happens to the top candidates you interviewed or considered for the job?

For whatever reason, they didn’t make the cut. But they were still your top picks for the position.

At some point, you’re going to have another opening, and these are the people you should connect with first.

Hi [First Name},

How are you? I hope you’re well.

It’s been a while since you interviewed with us. We just had a new position open, and I
think you’d be a great fit for this.

Would you be interested?

Sure, you could probably sift through thousands of emails in your inbox to find these people. But there’s a better way to stay in touch with past candidates and automate this part of the recruiting process.

Use CRM tools...or Customer Relationship Management software. Here’s how it works:

• You add all your top candidates who didn’t get the job to a CRM list.
• You stay in touch, and send an email, tip, or resource to this list once a week, once a month, once a quarter...you decide.
• When a new position opens, you let everybody on this list know.

It’s a really smart way to stay in touch with top candidates and automate your recruiting process, especially when you have new positions to fill.

Simplify the recruiting process with automation

Want to simplify the recruiting process, save time, AND make it easier to find top talent? There’s a lot of diversity recruiting tools and software out there to help you. Pick one or a few, and give it a try.

Ready to simplify your hiring process to be more efficient? See our platform in action