For small businesses, hiring can be a challenge. Small companies have different needs than larger businesses, and many times software tends to focus on the needs of the big players, which can leave the smaller guys paying for things they don’t need.
Having an employee devoted solely to human resources can be a luxury. Even for small businesses that have a dedicated HR person on staff, the amount of work can often seem overwhelming, and that can make it harder to ensure that you’re hiring the right person for the job.
That’s why automating portions of your hiring process is such a worthwhile investment.
By leveraging software throughout your applicant tracking system, you reduce the potentially overwhelming workload while improving your ability to make the best hire possible. Let’s look at some hiring automation steps you can take to enhance almost every aspect of your hiring process:
Placing your job postings can be harder than you think. If you only post on your company website, you’ll likely end up with a shallow pool of candidates. Post the job everywhere you can think of, and you may be overwhelmed by the volume of responses.
When you use software to automate your job postings, you can target where those listings appear. This makes it more likely that they’ll be seen by candidates who are not only interested but who will also have the skills necessary to fill the position.
With hiring automation software, you can combine these job postings with branded content, helping to build your employer brand further.
When you invest in an applicant tracking system, you want to get as much out of your software as possible. One of the best aspects of these systems is the ability to add components to the application process, including candidate screening and skills testing.
What makes these assessments even more powerful is the ability to automate the testing process. You can set up your applicant tracking system to automatically send a testing link to each candidate who applies, allowing you to identify the top applicants quickly.
The benefit of this testing is real, too: adding assessment tests to your hiring process can lead to improvements in retention, productivity, and profitability.
In addition to helping you identify the best candidates for currently open positions, hiring automation can help you build a hiring pool to fill future listings. By leveraging AI technology, you can easily file away candidates for the future.
There’s no reason to take the time building candidate profiles for an open position, only to throw them away once the job has been filled. Instead, you can use your applicant tracking system to create a standing pool of talented individuals whose skills might be better suited to other positions to which they haven’t even applied.
There are few time-wastes more frustrating than the back and forth of trying to schedule an interview. With hiring automation, you can set up your applicant tracking system to send interview candidates a list of available time slots and allow them to choose the one that works best for them.
That way, you avoid excessive emails and slots filling up while waiting for a response.
Few things frustrate a candidate more than not hearing anything back from an employer after an application or an interview. Some lack of communication is understandable from an employer’s point of view since almost three-fourths of all employers are seeing a record number of applicants.
But volume doesn’t have to keep you from communicating with every applicant. You can easily automate your applicant tracking system to send emails to all applicants, letting them know you received their application and giving a broad timeframe for when they can hear back from you.
Other messages related to the process can be automated as well, updating candidates on their status as hiring progresses.
While no company wants to discriminate against candidates based on external factors, the truth is that unconscious bias can be difficult to avoid. It’s all too easy to make assumptions based on these factors, and even when you make a conscious effort to avoid these missteps, it’s not always effective.
By automating parts of your hiring process, though, you can significantly limit the impact of unconscious bias. By removing the human element from several steps and instead focusing on analyzing quantifiable information, you can make significant inroads in improving your company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
If you’re looking to automate your small company’s hiring, let Symply help you through the process. We’re launching a brand new hiring app guaranteed to help you achieve your staffing goals. Join the beta to try it out for free!