Benefits of Having an ATS

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year….. !

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) definitely have their pros and cons, but they are an absolute best practice for any organizations which is looking to streamline processes and limit the liabilities.

For those, who do not have an ATS or even those that do but do not fully understand why it is necessary, please take a look at the benefits an ATS systems brings to any organization-

1. Applicant Tracking: The time-consuming process in hiring, of reviewing and reporting all candidates that apply, tracking the steps of a hiring process and each applicant can be easily streamlined with an ATS system. Tracking applicants electronically reduces errors, saves time and allows for easy recall of candidates.

2. Number of Applicants: The absolute volume of applicants can be crushing for any recruiter for a single vacancy. To screen and process a high-volume of candidates, an ATS system may be needed to review applicants more efficiently with its own predefined parameters.

3. Job Publishing: An ATS, AppliView in specific is capable of publishing job on various social medias (like Facebook, twitter etc), professional medias (like linked in) and job boards (like monster, shine etc.). This allows reaching broader set of audiences who are following you on blog, career portal etc.

4. Automatic Report Generation: Tabular presentation of status of all jobs, monthly, annually, which can be downloaded also in excel format and can be shared with someone. Graphical presentation of recruiter’s and interviewer’s performance etc can be viewed directly under report section.

These are just few to highlight. Applicant tracking system is a robust system to have in place to manage candidates, employees, database, clients etc. Please try out the free trial account of AppliView from www.appliview.com and explore more.

Do Applicant Tracking System Miss Qualified Applicants ?

A persuasive way to reduce fear of implementing an applicant tracking system is by educating the decision makers about how an applicant tracking system screens candidates and comparing it to the manual process teams uses today.

Four facts you can use to help decision makers:

• The focus is on eliminating weak candidates, not the potential ones: The best applicant tracking systems help businesses eliminate poor applicants. You decide on basic requirements for the position and automatically eliminate those who do not fit the basic job requirements with the help of AppliView. 
• Pre-screening questions take the guesswork out of CV evaluations: Rather than just scanning CV text for desired qualifications, some applicant tracking systems use job-specific pre-screening questionnaire to ensure the right candidates are identified. Pre-screening questions can also be a great way to get insight into how well applicants may fit with the company culture. It may be helpful to ask questions related to key company values, such as customer service and teamwork.
• Applicants are objectively ranked according to your set criteria: Snap judgments made during the hiring process can move a quality candidate from the interview pile to the elimination pile. Applicant tracking systems eliminate human bias from the resume review phase, ranking candidates based on actual skills and experience.
• Humans make mistakes: Online job publishing make it easy for anyone to apply for a job, which can lead to a flood of resumes in the HR professional’s inbox. No matter how good your HR team is, manually reviewing a pile of resumes may result in elimination of top candidates because the HR recruiter missed a keyword or phrase that would move them to the top of the pile.

Applicant tracking systems remove this level of human errors, ensuring you see everyone who meets the job requirement parameters. Applicant tracking systems are designed to help you identify and rank the best candidates for your company and eliminate only those who don’t meet the job requirements.

Parameters to choose Applicant Tracking System Vendor

Applicant tracking software can radically pick up the way recruiters handle talent acquisition. Selecting the right software /ATS vendor is a crucial first step. Even though there are many applicant tracking systems to select from, the process of finding one doesn’t have to be vast. Here are some ways, recruiters or HR managers can get started with discovering the right applicant tracking system, putting you on the path to more efficient candidate sourcing and hiring:

1.  Consider a Cloud Based Solution: A web-based applicant tracking system reduces the need for internal IT assistance and support because software and hardware updates are handled by the vendor itself.

2.   A System that can accommodate your workflows: It is important to find an applicant tracking system that can be configured to handle positions, benefits and workflows for your own company. Recruiters need to evaluate whether solutions will allow you to customize workflow, job templates and benefits information.

3.   Evaluate Analytics Options: Recruiters need to find out if the applicant tracking software will generate reports / analytics that can derive continuous improvement in hiring process. When implementing an applicant tracking system, a valuable feature is reporting and analytics. This can provide the insight into where the best applicants are coming from, applicant status and job status.

4.     Implementation and Ongoing support: Recruiters may check if they will get a dedicated support and training manager and assistance as and when needed. They can also check if there is any help line available on internet or phone to assist on urgent issues.

5.   Flexibility of the Pricing Plans: Every penny counts. HR managers can evaluate pricing plans and their flexibility. Rigid pricing plans may not be preferred by all and suits all.

This is how recruiters can evaluate the best applicant tracking system using these parameters. These are the best benchmarks to fundamentally serve the hiring requirement for automation. Please navigate through www.appliview.com to explore more about the well known applicant tracking system.

Art behind Being a Great Recruitment Consultant

As unemployment rates continue to go down, there is the increasing need for employers to have recruitment specialists. These kind of professionals focus on ensuring employers hire the right workers, which helps to boost productivity levels and profit levels.

Being a recruitment consultant is not something that anyone can be successful at. It requires a key-set of skills as well as much time, effort and patience.

1. Mentality of a Hunter:

There are plentiful ways to source candidates. A recruitment specialist must identify ways in which to find the "best of the best." Being persistent in searches may require utilizing a wide variety of search platforms, and even if the job becomes exhausting, a good recruitment consultant will dive right in and take on his or her duties with everything he or she has to give.

2. Strong Interpersonal Skills:

Even if a recruitment consultant is great at finding top-talent, he or she must also be a genius at securing relationships with the talent to ensure they come work for the consultant's employer. Because of this, a person working in this occupation must have strong interpersonal skills, always able to build relationships with those that he or she is recruiting.

3. Communication is Key:

Without communication skills, a recruitment specialist cannot transmit job to candidates what is expected of them. The recruiter can then not effectively determine whether or not the candidates can successfully fulfil a particular position. Through strong communication skills, the recruiter can identify the strengths and weaknesses of all candidates. In doing this, even if a certain candidate doesn't meet the criteria for filling a certain position, the recruiter may be able to conclude the candidate would be a perfect fit for another one of his or her clients.

4. Always Have Clean Ears:

Without good listening skills, recruitment of best talent does not happen. Even if a recruiter has a million things he or she wants to share with potential candidates in regards to what a company has to offer, without listening, it becomes impossible to meet the preferences of these candidates, meaning they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

5. Expertise: To be an expert, he or she needs to stay in-the-know in regards to today's latest recruiting methods. He or she will also need to stay up-to-date with current employment trends and rights.

Entering this field is not one that can be directly jumped into. In fact, many people who work as recruitment consultants first worked many other job positions with or without using any applicant tracking system.

Explore more about AppliView as an applicant tracking system from www.appliview.com and how it helps excellently well to recruitment firms.

Ways to Improve the Candidate Experience

Recruitment is a two-way street. Companies are definitely being thoughtful into what they anticipate when looking to fill a vacant position; they also need to consider the recruitment process from the other perspective than that of the candidates who are applying.

Many companies are failing to do this and as a result, risk losing talent in the early application stages. The application process “often or sometimes” has a negative effect on their opinion of a company. So, with candidates being more active than passive, what are some of the key things to consider when it comes to their experience?

1. Recruiters need to put themselves in their shoes.

It can be a good idea for recruiters to think about whether they would want to apply for the job themselves. It would be motivating to see how many of them would stick the course, mainly during more extensive processes.

2. Use of technology.

Machines and computers now have an increasingly significant role in talent sourcing. There are of course some benefits to this; automation can save company’s time and money and interactions with applicants can be easily managed. Applicant tracking systems are helping greatly to achieve the automation objective of candidates as well as hiring teams.

3. Go mobile.

Smart phones and tablets have become major influences in today’s society, so recruiters would do well by adapting this medium into account when planning their strategy.  If companies continue to ignore this trend, there’s a good chance they will miss out on high level applicants. Today’s younger generation in particular expect more from recruiters, including a focus on digital and a well-organized recruitment experience.

Take a look on online demonstration and trial account from – www.appliview.com as this can help recruiters in recruitment as well as enhancing candidate’s experience.

How To Master Applicant Tracking Systems

Applicant tracking systems do not decide who gets interviews but they do play an important role. Here are five ways to make resumes stand out. There's this perception that resumes will be vetted by a computer, so if they do not list the keywords and skills that the company is looking for, they may not get a call. While the systems alone does not determine who gets an interview and who does not, they still play a role in your job search.

1. Understand how applicant tracking systems work: Businesses rely on the systems to streamline recruiting, organize candidates and help with compliance requirements. Screening questions that many of them ask will vet whether some candidates are physically capable of performing a job, if that is a requirement.

2. Be smart with keywords: It is common to see resumes that are infested with keywords such as "Team Leader / Manager" because candidates want to increase the odds that the tracking systems flag their resume as a potential match. This method often backfires though. Using keywords is a good idea, but overusing them or misleading potential employers is a practice that is usually frowned upon by recruiters.

3. Adhere to proper format: Applicant tracking systems feature parsing technology that divides resumes into different fields, like skill set, education and experience, to make them easier to search. It is important that you use standard subheads to make this information more searchable.

4. Creativity is good: Candidates were repeatedly disappointed after submitting a carefully designed resume to find that the system couldn't read it properly and converted it to a text file. Many candidates today still believe that resumes should be plain-vanilla but that is not true anymore.

5. Embrace mobile job searches: Searching and applying for jobs is no longer something people prefer to do from desktop or laptop: About 30% of job applications are now sent via mobile devices.

Contact us for AppliView's trial account from - www.appliview.com.

Features of Hiring Manager’s Most Wanted Applicant Tracking System

Time has changed for recruiters and hiring managers. Now, they can manage their obstacles in hiring relating to time and automation with the help of an applicant tracking system. Manual processes like paper work and emails are getting lesser importance when automation is available for all of these repetitive tasks.

The percentage of use of manual hiring methods has been decreased by more than 6% from 2013. There are four features in specific that every HR manager looks for–

•  Job board/careers page postings,
• Searchable candidate master database,
• Automatic reports,
• Easier tracking of candidates.

Why you should choose AppliView as your Applicant Tracking System-

·   Easier Applicant Tracking – You can quickly see and track the list of all applicants and choose to evaluate them or assign to other jobs or remove,

·   Social media publishing – You may choose to publish jobs on social and professional media along with your career portal to reach out to more audience,

·  Analytics and Report Generation – You can see, filter out, download the reports in just few clicks and see the graphical presentation in charts forms automatically to make more informed decisions,

·   These are just few to highlight. There are many more features to explore that automate the process and save tremendous amount of time in repetitive processes.

With these features, HR representatives can board on more productive web-based hiring that result in better hires. Request a online demonstration / trial account from - www.appliview.com.

Ways an Applicant Tracking System Can Help Small Staffing Firms

Large-scale staffing firms have known very well the benefits of utilizing an applicant tracking system (ATS) in order to manage a large arrival of job seekers, monitor recruiters’ interaction with applicants and maintain a vibrant and robust pipeline of vetted, competent candidates.  However, recruiting start-ups and smaller firms hesitate when deciding to adopt an applicant tracking system.  Usability, customization and Return On Investment are all concerns when you’re considering an applicant tracking system for your recruiting firm.  So, why is the right ATS so important (regardless of the size of your company) and how can smaller staffing firms benefit?

1.          Increased Efficiency and Productivity - Within a smaller staffing firm, manpower is finest and reducing the time-to-fill is invaluable.  The right ATS provides features such as resume parsing, email integration and task generation.  By delivering a fully-automated system and eliminating the need for time-consuming data entry, recruiters spend less time on data entry and more time filling open positions and tracking.

2.          Improved candidate experience – Much has been said within the industry about how fostering a positive applicant experience can lead to a higher caliber of candidate, but how can a smaller staffing firm establish that presence?  The best applicant tracking systems provide an easy-to-use platform for both the recruiter and the candidate.  Friendly front-end usability eliminates road blocks between you and your candidates and improves the overall image of your employment brand.

3.          Competitive advantage – What is the differentiating factor between successful staffing firms and those who fail?  Effective and profitable recruiters have a pipeline of qualified candidates ready to fill a position at a moment’s notice.  An applicant tracking system goes beyond merely tracking an applicant through the hiring process and allows a recruiter to manage relationships with qualified individuals in order to build bench strength.  Quicker and easier communications ensure a stellar candidate hears from you first.

4.          Scalability for the future – Those who invest in an ATS benefit from a system that is built with the future in mind.  When choosing the right applicant tracking system, you should focus on not only ensuring the system works for you in-the-moment, but also on ensuring that it’s flexible enough to accommodate unforeseen necessities down the road.  Customization and smooth integration offer a built-in insurance so that whatever successes and growth you experience, your ATS adapts to meet your needs.

Finding the accurate applicant tracking system to support your staffing firm and help it grow can be a daunting task, but we’re here to help you through the process. Try out AppliView, very well known across the geographies now, www.appliview.com.

"Click to Apply" Hybrid Approach of Evaluation

Hi There, Recruitment is boring? May be.

But AppliView team thought of making it interesting for recruiters and HR managers. In today’s HR space, it is difficult to stand out from the crowd and make your unique impression as an employer / recruiter.

‘Click-to-apply’ Phenomenon

Applicant tracking systems have changed the way hiring process operates now. How easy it is to apply for jobs these days. Simply head over any job board and click on that ‘click-to-apply’ button. This phenomenon  makes it so effortless for job applicants to apply. Tremendous and unproductive efforts required in screening through the mountains of e-resumes are completely replaced by automatic screening in AppliView.Some of the firms are moving towards ATS to automate the screening process and save from going through 100s of CVs for one position.
 

Key Takeaways

Hybrid Approach: Automatic Screening and manual evaluation: Companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and even Instagram had already been using this puzzle recruitment approach. One might say that it is easy or natural for these technology companies to integrate such practices. The bulk of the workforce who makes up the DNA of such companies comes with a programming background. These candidates need to demonstrate that they are really good at what they do best. In this case, it is the ability to solve programming puzzles for shortlisted candidates.

Here’s how this works: Most companies have an auto-responder feature in their recruitment portals. This feature allows auto-generated email to be sent out whenever a job applicant applies for a position. Rather than the generic thank you and application accepted message, we can incorporate 2-3 follow-up questions to learn more about the candidate. Question examples include:

·         Why are you the best candidate for this position?

·         If you were to rank your skills that are relevant to this position, how would you rank them?

·         What would be your greatest achievement that you think is relevant to this position? Why?

Let us learn something more with AppliView online demonstration: www.appliview.com.

Arts To Be Mastered in Recruitments

Two arts have to be mastered in recruitment industry –

·Art of attracting talent and great applicants,

·Art of tracking your applicants throughout the hiring process.

There is no point in only attracting the talent if you cannot efficiently track the applicants. Worse can be what if your current applicant tracking solution is making the hiring process more difficult and burdensome than simplifying?

Dealing with one or more of the following scenarios situations could be a sign your organization is using the wrong applicant tracking system:

·You spend valuable time posting positions to social media manually,

·Your applicant tracking system creates obstacles that detract from the candidate experience,

·You have to shift through applications and decide which applicants you want – emailing (or outlook) or organizer or analysis tool etc.

·Your applicant tracking system stops once an interview has been scheduled.

·You have an on-premise applicant tracking system, rather than a cloud-based solution.

As your hiring needs increase and finding top talent becomes more competitive, you will need an applicant tracking system solution which candidates and recruiters can use to simplify and streamline the hiring process.

There are hundreds of applicants tracking software options for every small to mid-sized business, staffing agency or enterprise, but there are several things you should take into consideration to make sure you choose the best solution for your business as per above mentioned points. As always AppliView can serve to all segments and sectors. It is always good to take a trial before you make a decision. AppliView is available free for 30 days.

Here is the link- http://www.appliview.com/software-for-recruiting.html

Benchmarking Best Hiring Practices

 

In this blog, we will focus on what the best employees did differently to exceed expectations. When recruiter follows all that we discuss in previous blog, their best hired employees perform the best and fulfill expectations. Here are some of them-

·         Best counselors always prepares next day’s activities the night before,

·         Preliminary need analysis for each company before the first meeting is important,

·        Best sales people always prepared a monthly sales plan targeting 20 highest potential accounts in the territory,

·    Best inbound call centre representative had perfect attendance and within 1-2 minutes of answering the call could figure customer’s problem and figure out the best possible solution.

From a recruiting standpoint, It is important to ask the hiring manager if he or she would be willing to have an exploratory meeting with a strong person who met the “benchmarking the best” requirements for the job.

Please try AppliView’s trial account to see how you can take the best judgment with software’s intelligence.