Lags in Your Recruitment Process and Candidate Experience? Consider Automation.

HR is a people-focused business, anchored in human experiences. From personally reviewing candidate resumes to one-on-one interviews to face-to-face negotiations and onboarding, much of what HR leaders and teams do has a personal touch. 

These processes, though, can be time-consuming — and in a fluctuating employment market since late 2021, time isn’t always on HR teams’ side. With sometimes smaller teams, heightened employee demands, and turnover due to employees wanting to change jobs, managers and recruiters have a lot on their already-full plates. Not only can this spark internal challenges such as stress and burnout but, at the same time, it can inadvertently lead to less-than-positive candidate experiences — long lags between applications and initial communications, for example, slow responses, delayed interview scheduling, and overall low engagement during the most critical recruiting steps.

Again, with top talent being increasingly in-demand, it’s essential your HR and recruitment team create a seamless, high-touch candidate experience. But, how to do it without adding headcount or lessening demands? More and more, teams are turning to automation.

What processes can (and should) you be automating?  

By some estimates, upwards of 70% of recruiting steps including resume searches, candidate pre-screening, and interview scheduling can easily be automated — and in doing so, you’ll alleviate many tedious, repeatable tasks from your teams’ to-do lists, while creating more seamless candidate journeys. 

So how, then, do these automated processes impact candidates? In most cases, it comes back to engagement — something 40% of recruiters said was their biggest challenge pre-pandemic. Disengagement is a particularly negative candidate experience, and can keep talent from moving forward with your business: 72% of job seekers say they lose interest in a role if they don’t hear back within two weeks of an interview. After three weeks, 87% say they’re no longer interested. Considering it takes Canadian companies an average of 29 weeks to hire, this can be a challenge. 

By automating strategic engagement points, your team can keep job seekers moving forward — even if recruiters need more time to manage the actual hiring and onboarding processes. Some high-engagement points to consider automating? 

Screenings and assessments

Need to confirm specific licenses, credentials, or skills? Using Indeed Hiring Platform, for example, you can automate assessment and screening processes. Pre-screened candidates are asked to submit key information or complete customized assessments and can initiate these next steps when it’s convenient for them (and within the hiring window). Job seekers who meet your requirements move ahead — into automated interview scheduling or manual reviews, for example — and remaining candidates receive a message indicating you won’t be pursuing their candidacy.

This process not only puts control of the assessment process in candidates’ hands but also simplifies and digitizes it. Beyond that, though, by automating the next steps — whether positive or not — candidates know where they are in the hiring process at all times and can make decisions accordingly. 

Interview scheduling

Nearly two in five recruiters say the candidate experience is “most challenged” by the back-and-forth of interview scheduling and rescheduling — and, likely, that’s creating a negative experience for candidates as well. By enabling qualified candidates to self-schedule — and self-reschedule, as needed — you’re creating a faster, more efficient experience. Gone are the days of candidates waiting for recruiters to call or email. Now, talent can determine when they want to meet and can take immediate, decisive steps to secure their interview.

Ongoing engagement 

Like these key steps, recruiters can also automate general candidate engagement. This is especially important when hiring processes are delayed — again, the longer HR teams wait to engage, the less likely candidates are to move forward.

Consider automating candidate outreach at critical points in the process — thanking candidates post-interview, for example, or reaching out to follow up on additional questions, reference requests, or subsequent interviews. These check-ins can help keep talent engaged, and help them see your hiring process is continuing to move forward. 

Getting started (or accelerating) recruitment-stage automation

More than four in five recruiters agree automation can increase their productivity — but that’s just the beginning. With the increased importance of the employee experience, these dynamic processes can help you keep candidates engaged and moving forward with your business — without adding more work to your recruiters’ lists. Processes such as automated candidate screenings, interview scheduling, and ongoing check-ins empower talent to take the next step with your business while removing any friction or lags from these essential tasks. The end result: a more efficient, effective recruitment process and better candidate experience that makes talent want to move forward with your business.