The shift towards remote work revolutionized the way businesses recruit new employees.
Those who are still stuck with the traditional hiring process will find themselves struggling to find the right hires for their client.
Businesses need to reevaluate their current tools and strategies to adopt a virtual hiring process when looking for WFH employees.
This way, both recruiters and candidates can reap the benefits of a fully digitized recruitment journey.
Why Do You Need to Digitize Recruitment?
Employees play a critical role in your client’s business growth, so you must make sure that you choose the right ones for them.
To do that, your agency needs to set up an efficient and effective hiring process.
There are various software solutions you can use to improve your recruitment process.
These recruitment software can provide you with tools to streamline communication between your team and the candidates.
As a result, you can speed up the process and cut down on operation costs. It also allows you to be more flexible so that you can reach out to more diverse talents.
More organizations have started to recognize the benefits of digitization in recruitment.
According to PwC, 53% of the global population believes that digital technology will transform how businesses operate over the next 5-10 years.
This is even more apparent as companies implement remote work.
Choosing the Right Recruitment Software
Before investing in a software, you must first make sure that you choose the right one for your search firm.
But with so many options available, you might not even know where to start.
Narrow down your list by first identifying your agency’s needs. Consider the following–
- Your agency size
- Available resources
- Challenges faced by your recruiters
- Current workflows
- Target candidates & clients
By knowing these, you can have a better idea of what tools and features to look out for when choosing a software.
It is important that you use a recruiting database designed specifically for those who deal with job seekers on a day-to-day basis.
For instance, Recruit CRM is an all-in-one Applicant Tracking System trusted by recruitment firms globally. It works both as an ATS and a Customer Relationship Management or CRM system, allowing you to manage both candidates and clients on one platform.
Read more: How to choose the right recruitment automation software for your agency?
Using a Recruitment Software to Hire Remote Employees
Finding the right tools is just the first step in creating an unforgettable remote candidate experience.
You must also learn how to use them properly and effectively.
1. Keep Everything in One Place
One of the greatest perks of going digital is how you can keep all important files and documents in one place.
You can say goodbye to your spreadsheets and filing cabinets and have everything stored in a virtual database.
This also includes the different processes of your day-to-day recruitment operations.
For example, an ATS store all your job applicants’ resumes and organizes them for easier and more convenient access.
This same platform helps you in the selection process where it identifies who is qualified and who isn’t.
You can also use it to contact prospects easily and inform them about their application progress.
It’s advisable to use a cloud-based recruitment software to boost flexibility and accessibility.
This way, you can easily download, upload, and share files with the rest of your team anywhere and everywhere.
2. Automate Wherever Possible
Recruitment is often a time-consuming and tedious process.
You have to go over a handful of resumes, conduct interviews, and assess each candidate’s qualifications and performance during the process.
Not to mention, you must also handle administrative tasks such as managing career pages, sending emails to candidates, and tracking their progress.
As a result, you end up struggling to focus on the assessment part which is the most crucial stage of your hiring process.
Fortunately, you can lighten up your workload by automating repetitive tasks in your operations. This includes–
- Sending emails to candidates
- Updating career pages
- Tracking applicant’s progress
- Filtering resumes and CVs
- Scheduling interviews
- Managing candidates’ profiles
3. Leverage Data & Analytics
Since you’re hiring remotely and won’t be meeting candidates in person, it’s harder to gauge if they are the perfect fit for your client’s company.
Leveraging data and analytics in recruitment allows you to make smarter decisions on who you hire.
Recruitment software nowadays uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide more accurate applicant screening.
You can also use them to run background checks on your candidates to verify the veracity of their credentials.
Moreover, you can use software to improve your remote hiring strategy to make it more effective, efficient, and reliable.
Using data analytics, you can identify specific issues and their sources in your process and resolve them immediately.
4. Integrate Your Software
If you want to completely digitize your recruitment process, you need to invest in multiple digital tools.
But juggling all of them at once can be tough and messy.
You need to make sure that data across all your channels are synchronized before moving on to your next tasks.
Streamline your virtual recruitment by integrating the software yo
u use on a daily basis.
You can easily integrate your ATS with your CRM software. This makes it easier to submit candidate profiles to your clients.
Likewise, you can use the data in your CRM system to refine your applicant screening process and deliver the right hires for your clients.
If your ATS doesn’t come with an in-built CRM system, you can check out this list of CRM tools to find out which ones are compatible with your recruitment software.
5. Personalize Candidate Experience
Hiring WFH employees allows you to reach out to more diverse talents.
But to do this properly, you need to even out the playing field.
You can do this by allowing personalization in your candidate’s experience.
One aspect of personalization includes giving your candidates a choice on how they want to undergo their interview process.
A common example is allowing them to choose between attending face-to-face interviews or an online one.
By providing different methods on how to hire remote employees, you can allow your candidates to personalize their own recruitment journey.