Big businesses have a bevy of benefits to woo elusive talent but how does a small business with little to no brand recognition compete with established names? At this stage if you do not have a dedicated hiring team for bringing on more workers, there can be no better time to leave your double duty and get strategic with your hiring approach.
5 tips to help you get started with a hiring process that actually works:
1. Align your Workflow with an ATS
As the candidate market gets tighter and the war for talent tougher, the only way to step up your talent acquisition game is by using the right recruiting technology. An applicant tracking system is exactly what you need to streamline, automate, and organize your hiring process. It eliminates all the manual work and leaves you ample time to identify, attract and hire in-demand candidates who can boost your bottom line. With an ATS, small business owners can get work done much faster by automating every redundant and time-consuming task at every stage of the sourcing cycle. Small businesses that invest in an ATS not only boost their hiring productivity but also have more time and resources that can be invested in other areas of the business.
2. Build your Employment Brand With a Compelling Careers Page
Attracting quality hires requires a strong brand identity. With an applicant tracking system, companies can create a customized careers site that is applicant-friendly and impressive. You can also give it a personalized appeal with employee videos, match it with your brand colors, add your company logo, and share your job openings on different social media channels and job boards. A responsive careers site that projects a professional image and a great work culture is sure to attract the best of breed and help them make a career decision in your favor.
3. Set the Stage with Stellar Job Descriptions
Do not think that since you have a great careers site, you can downplay your descriptions. They are equally important to impress job seekers. An ATS not only helps you draft an effective job description but also lets your advertise your job openings on multiple social platforms and popular job boards in a matter of minutes. When crafted wisely, your job description makes an effective marketing tool that can help you brings great candidates to your interview table and ATS helps you accelerate the whole job advertising process.
4. Build Candidate Pipeline with a Talent Magnet
A good candidate who may not be the right fit for your current opening could be perfect for a job role down the line. With recruiting software, you can easily re-engage with these candidates to fill future vacancies. With a robust, easy-to-use ATS, you will never miss an interested candidate and attract all the right candidates to fill your open positions. It also helps you make a compelling business case for why top talent should work for you, simplifies the application process to ensure a positive candidate experience, enables you to reach and source several job seekers with a single click, and also filters the right ones in a fraction of seconds.
5. Keep Candidates in the Loop with Consistent Communication
An ATS enables you to automate responses to ensure your applicants remain engaged and informed at every stage of the recruitment process. This eliminates the risk of interested applicants becoming disinterested in your offer due to lack of information. Traditional recruitment leaves little time to keep every candidate informed and engaged but with an ATS you can easily send personalized emails when you receive an application, when an interview is scheduled and when an employee proceeds to the next stage of the sourcing cycle. It also sends text and email reminders to candidates for upcoming interviews.
When a small business owner considers the full impact of investing in a feature-rich ATS, it becomes very clear that technology can set every business up for success by streamlining the sourcing funnel and best serving the applicants.