Human resource (HR) functions have undergone a sea of change over the course of the pandemic. Hybrid workspaces, gig work models, higher benefits, and many such trends have emerged as attempts to attract and retain the best of the talent pool.
As the pandemic abates, the outlook for hiring in corporate India is at an 8-year-high, with enterprises now vying for the top candidates. There is an increasing focus on recruitment automation process because it is the first touchpoint for prospective employees.
Read through as we delve deeper into the meaning of recruitment automation, its processes, and use cases that could benefit your organization.
What is Recruitment Automation?
A robust recruitment function covers the following:- Identifying recruitment needs
- Creating a job description
- Searching, screening, and shortlisting profiles
- Interviewing and evaluating potential candidates
- Selecting and Onboarding new hires
Conventionally, the majority of these activities were manual.
Recruitment automation involves using software platforms and analytics to automate the workflows inherent to the above processes. It streamlines the hiring processes and increases the productivity of recruiters. It saves time by automating repetitive manual tasks and empowers recruiters to focus on interacting with candidates and selecting the best talent.
Why is Recruitment Automation Important?
Automation entails streamlining the recruitment workflows using software and digital media. It ensures that the process is transparent, efficient, and effective.
Transparent Hiring Process
Job descriptions and requirements are made available on digital platforms. Automation ensures that the recruitment process adheres to the set deadlines. Self-service portals providing clear instructions and FAQs add to the transparency of the recruitment process.
High-Quality Talent
AI and machine learning (ML) based screeners ensure that the profiles with the right skill sets and qualifications get shortlisted. Automated testing and scoring tools guarantee that only the best talent qualifies for the interview rounds.
Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
Recruitment automation is one of the building blocks of a great EVP. A seamless, digital recruitment process signals a refreshing work environment and a modern work culture.
Also, a smooth onboarding experience is one of the chief factors that motivate employees to stay longer with an organization.
Improved Candidate Experience
Easy-to-use application trackers and automatic email acknowledgments at each step build a sense of trust among candidates. Digital documentation and video interviewing tools cut down unnecessary travel hassles and expedite the interview rounds, leading to a smooth experience for the candidate.
Hassle-free Bulk-Hiring
AI-based resume screeners, mass emailers, chatbots for resolving queries, group testing tools, and video interview tools – all these automation components contribute to streamlining and speeding up bulk-recruiting processes.
Recruitment Automation Software
There are several hiring automation tools available in the market today. Enterprises need to have an in-depth understanding of the features, advantages, and use cases while evaluating these solutions.
Meaning of Recruitment Automation Software
Recruitment automation software includes functionalities to automate end-to-end activities across the hiring cycle.
Examples include the following,
- Online Job Boards, job aggregators
- Resume screeners
- Applicant tracking systems
- Interview scheduling applications
- Video Interview apps
- Testing and assessment tools
- Candidate relationship management systems (CRMS)
- Talent intelligence systems
- New-hire onboarding systems
These can be separate applications or separate modules within an enterprise recruitment platform. These applications may be deployed on-premise or in the cloud.
Features of Recruiting Automation Software
Cloud-based recruitment applications are becoming the norm today. They offer workflows designed as per industry best practices and drive adoption with the following features,
- Accessible on web and mobile devices – This feature makes recruitment portals easily accessible to candidates on the go.
- Scalable – Enterprises can easily add the number of software licenses and functionalities per their requirements.
- Secure – They comply with standard web security protocols and ensure employee data privacy.
- Easily integrated – They can easily integrate with other enterprise systems via secure APIs.
Advantages of Recruiting Automation Software
- Recruitment automation: Irrespective of the industry vertical or specific use case for which it deploys, it offers the following advantages,
- Centralized Database: Automation software collates candidate and employee data into a centralized database. It ensures a consistent 360-degree view of each employee across all departments in the organization.
- Auto-triggered workflows: Online workflows reduce paper clutter and ensure that the relevant stakeholders respond within defined turnaround times through automated reminder notifications.
- Insightful reporting and analytics: Recruitment automation applications offer industry-standard visualizations and reports for recruiting management. Customized reports and analytics can also be designed and scheduled as required.
How to Automate the Recruitment Process?
Recruitment automation can cut down drastically on manual effort and enhance the results at each stage. Let us discuss major recruitment automation use cases.
Posting Job Advertisements
Instead of writing job descriptions manually, automation helps populate pre-designed templates that can go public on job portals and social media in a single click through app integrations. It cuts down on the manual effort of creating job descriptions from scratch and uploading them manually to each outpost.
Pre-Screen Candidates
Recruitment teams don’t need to spend time reading through every resume. The software can collate resumes in a central database and filter those mentioning skill sets and qualifications that match the job description.
Automate Scheduling
Hiring executives do not need to waste time emailing and calling interviewers and candidates for coordination. The software automates interview scheduling. It automatically checks the interviewer’s calendars and sends out meeting invites to all stakeholders with video and calling details if necessary.
Build Branded Talent Pipelines
Strategic recruitment entails planning and nurturing quality candidates for future hiring needs. Automation software can help source resumes from social media, job portals, and referral databases. Potential recruits can then be engaged with targeted content and regular email campaigns.
Evaluation Process
Assessing a candidate’s technical expertise can be handled using testing and scoring tools. Recruiters can spend more time interacting with shortlisted candidates and understanding their work ethic and core values. It increases the chances of top-notch long-term hires.
Common Use Cases for Recruitment Automation
Pre- Recruitment
Automation can help right from the point of identification of a requirement in an organization.
Managers can raise hiring requests in the system by specifying the skill sets, experience, and other requirements. It initiates a digital workflow that forwards the requests to appropriate stakeholders for reviews and approvals.
Once approved, the manager can create a detailed job description using predefined templates stored in the application and forward it for sourcing applications.
Recruitment automation apps can integrate seamlessly with career portals and other digital media to source profiles. Recruiters can also restrict the job description to be viewable only within the organization to source candidates only through referrals.
The candidates can upload their resumes and fill in details with easy-to-use web interfaces. They can get automated acknowledgments and notifications informing them about the process.
Recruiters can use smart filters and keyword-based searches to shortlist the most suitable profiles. These profiles can be sorted automatically by education, experience, or other parameters for faster screening.
Organizations can also deploy advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for bulk recruitment.
During Recruitment
Once the resumes are filtered, the qualified candidates must appear for skill-assessment tests and interviews.
This use case is particularly essential for technology hiring decisions. The recruitment automation system can assign pre-interview online tests to candidates based on the skill set requirements for the job.
Recruiters can set cutoff scores for determining the eligibility for interview rounds. These scores can be made available to interviewers automatically for their reference online.
The recruitment software checks the interviewer’s availability and workload. If a suitable time slot is available and approved, automatic notifications get sent to the interviewer and the candidate with the interview details.
Enterprises can also extend this use case to external recruiters if internal recruiters do not have the necessary bandwidth.
An applicant must furnish education and work experience details with supporting documents during the recruiting process. Enterprises automate this entirely through self-service portals and forms.
The uploaded data gets forwarded to the relevant stakeholders for background checks and approvals. This information is also available to the candidate, enabling her to track the application in real-time.
Post Recruitment
Post selection, candidates must accept the official offer letter and complete the onboarding formalities.
Recruitment software can integrate seamlessly with payroll management to auto-generate a CTC structure for a selected candidate. It ensures that the individual salary components get calculated in compliance with labor and tax regulations.
This salary structure is automatically sent for approval to the hiring manager before it makes its way into the offer letter.
Recruiters can create customized offer letter templates in line with company communication policies. The templates get auto-populated with the candidate data and CTC details.
Candidates receive these offer letters as digitally signed electronic documents that can record their acceptance or rejection into the recruitment software database.
Once a prospect accepts an offer, the software automatically changes the candidate’s status. The employee identity and access records get updated without a need to re-upload any documents.
The onboarding automation software keeps track of workstations and company assets such as laptops or phones assigned to new hires. It also tracks the mandatory pieces of training recruits must complete within given deadlines.
Self-service portals that provide information about company policies and chatbots that resolve queries help engage new hires.
Future of HR Recruitment Automation
Recruitment automation will be the cornerstone of future HR initiatives. It will continue to gain importance as a differentiator for attracting top talent. It will increasingly apply to advanced use cases such as talent pipeline creation and employer branding.
HR functions will deploy ML techniques such as natural language processing (NLP) and predictive analytics to eliminate biases and improve diversity. Businesses can test the waters by automating the most valuable recruitment use cases. Measurable improvements in the candidate experience and recruiter can set the ball rolling for further automation efforts.