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Remember when we talked about automation as if it belonged to the future? Since the ‘90s, automation has become increasingly intertwined with business processes. Nowadays, it is incredibly polished and efficient, and completely essential.
Although there are countless repetitive tasks still carried out manually, recruitment agencies are warming up to automation. According to Staffing Hub’s 2024 State of Staffing Report, there is a widely held view among recruiting professionals that recruitment automation will transform the staffing industry in the years to come.
What processes should recruitment firms be automating?
Here are the top 10 processes recruiters should automate and why.
1. Resume screening
While manual screening allows for a personalized touch, it’s incredibly time-consuming and susceptible to unconscious bias based on factors like a candidate’s name or school.
Automated and AI powered resume screening can process large volumes of resumes in no time, eliminating recruiter bias based on irrelevant resume details and ensuring candidates aren’t missed in the process.
Tools like Tracker, with its resume parsing technology and other candidate matching features, can help recruiters shortlist qualified individuals efficiently.
Staffing Hub Report: around a third of agencies intend to automate resume screening this year.
2. Sourcing
Sourcing is the mainstay of recruiting but is a mammoth and often overwhelming task. There are many steps in sourcing, from scouring job boards and social media to enriching and updating candidate profiles, messaging prospects, and managing relationships. The list of tasks involved is endless.
Candidate sourcing automation handles many tedious and time-consuming steps in talent acquisition. From job posting to searching databases and scouring job boards for best fit talent to compiling lists, filling in the blanks of candidate contact information, drafting personalized outreach messaging, and even sending text or email messages.
Staffing Hub Report: 31% of recruiting firms will implement sourcing automation in 2024.
3. Candidate communication
Candidate engagement is central to any recruiting strategy and even more crucial in times of intense talent competition. Building trust and developing clear lines of communication with your candidates and clients is a must.
Staffing Hub’s latest survey found the most challenging recruiting activity as ‘getting candidates to respond.’
When communications are poorly written and inconsistent (nothing for ages, followed by a spate of ‘salesy’ emails), it’s no wonder candidates don’t respond.
No matter where candidates are in the recruitment process, they require some form of communication—information requests, confirmation of receipt of applications and resumes, invitations to interviews, rejection or acceptance letters, requests for feedback, and much more in between. So much of this communication can be automated and requires a strategy to do so effectively.
Within a great ATS, emails and/or texts can be triggered by workflows. When a resume is uploaded, an email can automatically be sent thanking the candidate and providing information about the next steps.
Candidates can be very understanding of prolonged timeframes if they are kept informed. In your system, if there’s been no movement in three days during the arrangement process, an automated message can be fired off, saying, “Just a heads up, your face-to-face interview will be scheduled soon. Stay tuned!.”
There are so many other communications that can be automated and doing so is critical to keeping recruiters working smarter, not harder.
Staffing Hub Report: 29% of agencies will automate communications in 2024.
4. Job descriptions
Compelling job descriptions are key to attracting top talent, and AI tools (usually baked into your ATS) can now craft them in your agency’s voice, saving recruiters time. This ensures consistent, clear, and engaging descriptions across all postings, maximizing their impact.
Staffing Hub Report: 29% of agencies will implement automation to write job descriptions this year.
5. Interview scheduling
Manually arranging interviews and dealing with correspondence is another time-consuming repetitive task. Without meticulous handling, scheduling conflicts can arise, costing you your reputation and candidate.
Automated interview scheduling minimizes any scheduling conflicts, regardless of whether interviews are conducted in-person, virtually, or recorded based on specific job-related questions. It also makes the interview process slick and professional, building trust in you as a recruiter.
Staffing Hub Report: 29% of agencies will automate interview scheduling in 2024.
6. Referral programs
Referrals are a highly effective way to source candidates and fill positions. Staffing Hub reports that referrals, alongside LinkedIn, are still one of the top ways of sourcing candidates.
There are two sides to referrals in recruitment agencies: finding new clients who would benefit from recruitment services and finding new candidates to fill positions. The best way to optimize a referral process is to set up a referral program and utilize relevant software to automate and manage tasks.
Keeping track of who is sending you referrals is essential for identifying where to put your time and effort. Recruiters also need people to know they value referrals.
Staffing Hub Report: 28% of agencies want to examine ways to automate their referral program.
7. Candidate qualification
Identifying the most qualified candidates is critical to ensuring that only the best talent is selected for the interview process. This goes beyond resume parsing.
Most modern ATSs include AI functionality to analyze candidate information and enable the long and shortlisting of candidates. Resumes and cover letters are scanned for customized and predetermined phrases and words that match the job description, and custom screening questions based on the gaps between a resume/cover letter and the job description can be created.
In Tracker, intelligent ranking compares resume history alongside Tracker’s own CRM history (have they ghosted interviews, have they been rejected many times, etc.) to give a more fully rounded picture of candidates.
Staffing Hub Report: over a quarter of agencies want to automate this process in 2024.
8. Feedback surveys
Candidate and client experience is firmly on recruiters’ minds, and for great reason. The fastest way to evaluate and improve services is to ask for feedback. Yet, a surprising number of recruiters still haven’t automated their feedback process.
Automated feedback tools save time and money, are less prone to error, and get better response rates because they can be targeted at the most effective times. For example, according to Survey Sparrow, surveys sent to customers between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. get the most responses.
Staffing Hub Report: 24% of recruiters will automate feedback surveys this year.
9. Job distribution
Job distribution is just as important as crafting a job post. It’s critical to hit niche job boards and widen reach.
Job posting automation enables a single job post to land across multiple job boards, social media channels, and websites simultaneously in just a few clicks, saving the drudgery of manual posting.
Tracker, for example, enables you to post to over 1,000+ job boards worldwide (with a subscription) and offers fully integrated partnerships with leading multi-posters, such as Broadbean and LogicMelon.
Staffing Hub Report: 24% of recruitment firms intend to automate job distribution in 2024.
10. Pre-screening interviews
All leads must be qualified before being added to a shortlist. This usually involves a pre-screening interview over the phone, which can take up a lot of a recruiter’s time.
Automating pre-screening not only saves time but also sifts out unqualified leads. Automated candidate pre-screening can occur via the telephone – candidates respond to pre-recorded interview questions or via video interview, again with pre-recorded questions.
Phone interviews can be automatically transcribed for the hiring team to review.
Automated pre-screening is also helpful to candidates who can feel less stressed by this style of process.
Staffing Hub Report: 24% of agencies plan to automate interview pre-screening this year.
Your ATS is Crucial to Your Automation Journey
Tracker has nearly two decades of experience in the recruitment automation space. Tracker’s software is developed by recruiters for recruiters; automation solutions are baked in across the entire product suite. We know what we are doing and what recruiters need.
We’ve kept our fingers on the pulse of AI since the outset. Rather than peppering it into our ATS and CRM system like other ATS providers, we’ve consistently used and developed AI to ensure it is optimized to stand up in today’s modern recruiting world.
Why not book a demo now? We can’t wait to show you our innovative recruitment automation features.
