How Applicant Tracking Systems Improve Your Agency Reputation
By Cris Nagy
Every applicant for every job you’re posting wants to be treated with respect, in addition to the knowledge that your agency cares about them and wants to find them a job. It is still surprising how some applicants feel overlooked and neglected by the agencies they’ve joined.
Once a certain volume of applicants is reached, it can become difficult to manage the list without some form of digital help. Even then, some candidates can fall through the net and be completely ignored. However unintentional, this can severely damage your industry reputation.
In the modern world, no recruitment agency can afford a poor reputation. It is easy to convey dissatisfaction publicly and it doesn’t take long for word to get out and around. There are many ways to build a good relationship, as every good recruiter knows. Traditional applicant tracking methods are quickly losing ground to modern alternatives.
Spend time with the candidates instead of the paperwork
Today’s most successful recruiters really spend time with their applicants, building relationships and getting to know what makes them tick – both in and out of the workplace. This helps recruiters place the right candidates in the right roles that suit not only the CV but also the personality.
Crucial to an agency reputation is the ability to deliver candidates that will stay the course and become valuable members of staff. Without a deep understanding of both company requirements and work ethic and candidate expectations and capabilities, agencies won’t be able to deliver quality in either direction.
This all requires time. Recruiters can become swamped by the paperwork and logistics of applicant tracking and this drags them away from the crucial role they really need to play in the competitive world of recruitment. A surprisingly high number of UK recruiters still use manual methods in areas of candidate tracking and this is despite the availability of digital and cloud applications.
What does applicant tracking software do?
Applicant tracking is often included within good recruitment management products. It forms an integral part of the platform and can be customised to automate some of the basic functions that agencies need to look after their candidates:
- CV processing and candidate profiling
- Email automation (event triggered or timed)
- Integration with email, SMS and click-to-call
- Skills matching
- Shortlisting
- Single client records
- Automated job postings
- Integrated social media postings
- Mobile communication features (calls, SMS)
- Alerting via SMS and email
Not only can these functions increase time-efficiency in terms of candidate tracking, the analytics and search tools can give greater insights into suitability, considering detailed factors such as commuting distance, performance monitoring and more.
Using modern candidate tracking software, recruiters are streamlining processes and spending time doing what they do best – recruiting. Protect your agency reputation and start automating your core day-to-day applicant tracking tasks. Talk to us about Vacancy Lab on +44 (0)1293 127 128 or contact us via our website and let’s arrange a live demo.