Whether you are the owner of your own large scale recruitment agency or you’re looking to start a recruitment agency in South Africa, you’re probably asking yourself: “How do I achieve high performance in the new age of recruitment?”
Covid-19 has changed the recruitment landscape overnight and many of these changes are irreversible. Unfortunately, not all recruitment agencies will survive in this new ecosystem.
~ Clear, logical processes;
~ Built into the infrastructure of a specialised system,
~ Created to streamline your work and
~ Help you perform at your very best.
These things have stopped being a nice luxury afforded to big corporates who have the resources. These are the essentials of the modern world and if you’re not keeping as many of these boxes ticked as you possibly can, then you face the risk of losing your clients to more efficient Recruiters in the coming months.
The competition is giving it everything they’ve got so you need to do the same!
Get ahead of the game with these Top 10 Recruitment System Check Points.
If you already have a system, this checklist will serve as a way to audit how effective your use of the system currently is. If you are new to the game, this list makes for a great guide to use as you research your business and industry.
If you’re a current Placement Partner client searching for the answer to that question then you may just want to backtrack to the kitchen and grab another cup of coffee!!
“Why do I need a Recruitment System?”
By now, nearly everyone in the world is aware of the importance of technology and automation in business, but I cannot stress enough just how important it is to recruiters in particular. For a Recruiter to manage their business without an Applicant Tracking System is equivalent to an accountant still operating with pen and paper ledgers. It simply IS NOT FEASIBLE in the digital age.
“What to look for in a Recruitment System?”
HAVE YOU GOT ALL 10 TICKED OFF?
1. Web integration for streamlined database management and keyword CV search
Look for a system which allows your candidates to apply anywhere online and assures that those CVs land in a secure, fully searchable database. This functionality will save you many hours on reading through CVs!
2. A clearly defined, end-to-end Recruitment Process
Your system should be logical, intuitively leading you through the recruitment process. If you can find one with schedule automation which can be linked to your mail calendar, then you’ve got a good one.
3. If it doesn’t have CRM functionality, just throw it out
Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) software has become central to attracting, engaging, and nurturing clients and candidates. Placement Partner comes with this functionality built-in and it also loops back to the Reminders Tool. With proper training and a clear understanding of your goals, this tool can be instrumental in making your numbers soar.
4. You need a system which focuses on both recruiter and candidate experience
Your ATS should consider both your ease of use and the candidate experience. Remember to look for configuration options to make the system work for your unique business model.
5. Any system worth its salt must include comprehensive reporting functionality
This is a fact. It’s 2020 people! We need to be measuring and monitoring our business performance to know whether or not our work is working. Give us a shout if you if you’d like to find out more about recruiting metrics.
6. I think we can all agree that Video Interviewing is imperative
While you certainly can use platforms like Zoom for your live chats it is going to become increasingly valuable to have some Video Interviewing capabilities built into your system to keep video records of each candidate.
7. Bulk communication tools save time and keep you top of mind
This really is quite a big ask from a piece of software which already handles workflow tracking and CRM functionality (already 2 full-scale software categories in their own right). More sophisticated systems, like Placement Partner, do offer this type of functionality and when used correctly, this is a massive time-saver and value add.
8. Serves the extra value purpose of being a marketing tool for advertising both jobs and candidates
If your system isn’t integrated to display your vacancy list on your website in real-time you are very much on the back foot. If you have gone as far as to set up a Top Candidates List to advertise talent on your website, you’re light years ahead of the game. Your online presence is everything. Simple as that.
9. It must also offer a wide range of quality integration partners
This should include your social media platforms. At Placement Partner, we not only partner with the top boards in SA, but have also begun collaborating with international partners too.
10. Storage & candidate data security is frequently forgotten about, often in the interest of saving a few bucks.
Take hold of your fears of the unknown and try to apply some logical, long-term thinking.
If you partner with a B-Grade software provider now, you run the risk of them;
- Selling your database on to other Recruiters
- Losing your data as a result of a server crash or hosting issues
- Charging you extra for each GB of data used once your business starts to scale
- Going under in a few months/years and taking your data (and your business) down with them
- Suffering a security breach on their platform and compromising your data security
Always look for high-quality suppliers who have a good reputation in the industry and ensure that you ask all the important questions to protect your business.
Finally, there are a couple of things to consider which are outside of Applicant Tracking Systems but equally important:
~ Local support
You really want to be working with a support team who is in the same time zone as you. It’s a total bonus to speak to a human who knows you and to have multiple contact options so that when you are having a rough time, you can sort it out quickly and painlessly.
~ Ongoing training
Remember that you will have some staff changes over time (hopefully a growing team!) and we all know, the tool can only be as good as the workman is skilled. Make sure that you will have consistent access to training and learning opportunities to keep your team and yourself sharp and informed of new features and functionality to make the most of this investment.
Already a client but not hitting all these marks?
Ready to embark on your Digital Recruitment journey?
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