5 ATS Automations to Kick Hiring into High Gear

Don’t we all wish we had more hours in the day? We have some great news: automation is the tool that can actually make it happen. We’re not sending robots to do your job (they could never), but we do have some ideas on how to streamline a few things that can make hiring faster and easier. While automation will never replace recruiters or hiring managers, it can replace some of the manual tasks that leave us wondering where our day just went. 

Considering that lack of communication is one of the biggest factors cited by candidates as a reason why they drop out of consideration for a job, automation can also improve your candidate experience, in case you’re wondering where your candidates have gone. We all know that ghosting is a thing and we do not love it, but 31% of first-time job seekers say they have ghosted an employer during their current search (ZipRecruiter). Also? Ghosting is also more common when the labor market is hot – and considering that job openings jumped unexpectedly by 437,000 in September of this year to 10.7 million – it’s hot right now.

You can build efficiencies into your recruiting process that won’t take the human out of human resources, give hours of time back to your recruiters and hiring managers, and hold the line of communication open with candidates consistently to move them into your hiring funnel faster. 

If You’re Not Using These 5 ATS Automations, You’re Losing

There are five specific automations that can do this for you, and they might just be built into your ATS. So, let the ATS do it for you!

1. Communication and messaging. Speed up the recruiting and hiring process (and reduce the number of candidates who fade away during this process) with automated communication via text within two hours of action. An OpenMarket study shows that 75% of millennials prefer texting over calling, and being that Millennials take up more than half of the workforce (and The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that Gen Z will account for 30% of the U.S. labor force by 2030), this counts as one of the most important factors in keeping candidates happy and interested.

2. Free job post distribution. With a click of a button, you can simply distribute jobs to multiple job boards (Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter etc.) seamlessly from a single platform. Posting on multiple job boards is a great way to reach candidates across general, niche, or remote job boards.

3. Pre-screening questionnaires. Narrow down the candidate pool with screening questions that automatically disqualify a candidate who doesn’t meet the job criteria. These questions should be designed to capture your candidates work history, skills, career goals, industry knowledge, etc. Having an automated qualification process will minimize the workload and time of reviewing unfitted resumes and ultimately lead to better hiring decisions. 

4. Interview scheduling. According to 67% of recruiters, scheduling an interview with a potential candidate takes between 30 minutes and two hours. On average, recruiters spend approximately 66% of their hiring time on interviews (Source: Yello). There’s a reason why so many companies have adopted some form of automated scheduling. Connecting your online calendar to your ATS allows candidates to schedule interviews based on your availability with a click of a button. This eliminates the need for the back-and-forth availability check between the candidate and the recruiter or hiring manager. Tell your hiring managers that you’re giving them some hours back.

5. Advertising. Sponsor jobs with paid advertising across various top job sites (and niche sites too) to boost reach and visibility from a single ATS platform. Simply click the job boards you want to sponsor your jobs on and your ad will appear.

Bonus tip: You know those candidates who made it to the final round of interviews, who might have been top of your list but weren’t selected? Do you know where they are now? Use automation to set up a candidate network with an opt-in email subscription and keep those top candidates engaged. Using automation to deliver content to your network that lets them know about new job openings is a great way to keep your hiring funnel active.

If your ATS isn’t delivering the automation to support streamlining your hiring process while keeping your candidates in the loop, Talentcare has all of the features we’ve talked about in this article and we’ll even hold your hand when you set them up. Hit us up and we’d be happy to tell you about it!