In the first part of our coverage of recruiting trends to expect this year, we highlighted the importance of upskilling as a hiring and retention tool. Next up is the value of automation, specifically in hiring.
The recruiting process can be very time- and labor-intensive, often involving multiple people within the organization. Between posting open positions, sifting through applications, scheduling interviews, and conducting all the work on the back end, your team could end up spending hours to fill just one role. Explore the advantages of automation in the hiring process and how this trend can cut the time and energy spent on finding and bringing on top talent.
Recruiting Trends Coming in 2024
Here’s what has been covered (and still to come) in our five-part series:
According to a talent survey focused on the future of work, more than 90 percent of HR professionals plan to increase their use of automation in the hiring process, among other everyday tasks. In the recruiting world, automating certain processes can minimize the time spent on tasks substantially, freeing up bandwidth for team members to focus on other things. Additionally, automation can shorten the time-to-hire and reduce the cost-per-hire when used effectively.
So, how will automation factor into your hiring processes in 2024? The answer to that question depends on what you want to adopt. Using an applicant tracking system like ApplicantStack allows you to simplify many of the steps in the process of bringing on a new team member. The system can post job listings to multiple boards instantly, as well as support candidate outreach and follow-up efforts.
When you want to schedule an interview, you can meet candidates where they are with text-based communication. Some outreach efforts happen automatically, based on workflows set up early in the process. You can also utilize integrations to handle background checks and other tasks.
Screening candidates is easier than ever with automation, as the platform can look for specific keywords and phrases to weed out candidates who may not be qualified. The result is an automated process that is highly convenient for all involved, including applicants.
The Benefits of Automation in Hiring
Every organization aims to improve productivity among its team members. And hiring automation can help you move closer to that goal, as it eliminates manual processes that take a lot of time and effort. Those involved in recruiting can focus on more meaningful tasks rather than spending hours sifting through resumes or posting to multiple job boards.
Another advantage is the ability to boost the quality of each hire made. When your team members focus on the quality of the candidates, they can identify individuals with characteristics that align with the company culture and job responsibilities. Automation can also eliminate some of the variables that don’t necessarily predict performance, making it a must-implement in high-volume verticals like call/contact centers, quick-service restaurants and retail facilities.
Explore how ApplicantStack can help you feel more prepared for this 2024 hiring trend and stay competitive with the countless organizations that are planning to expand their teams this year. You can even try it for free! Post your job, utilize the tools built in, and enjoy an easier hiring experience from start to finish.
Keep an eye on our blog as we cover the next four 2024 recruiting trends to expect. In the next post, we’ll highlight the use of artificial intelligence among recruiters.
Gearing up for a new year often comes with setting goals and looking toward the future. If your small business is growing (or you’d like it to be), hiring may play a key role in 2024. Explore our guide to preparing for recruiting needs this coming year.
Assess Current Strengths and Weaknesses
Before you decide what positions you want to create or fill, take a moment to assess the current strengths and weaknesses of your team. Identify what skills your employees have and which ones might be lacking. Could existing team members take on additional responsibility after completing training and development? If so, you might be able to put off hiring a new employee, at least for a while.
Identify Positions that Need to be Filled
With a firm grasp on what the team is doing well and where improvements could happen, you can create a list of roles that need to be filled. Maybe you’re creating additional positions on your sales team to fuel growth, or perhaps your goals involve establishing more brand awareness with a bigger marketing team. You could even need to create a new department to provide support or additional resources.
Dig Up Job Descriptions
Now that you have a list of what roles you need to hire for in 2024, you can start prepping for the recruiting process. If you’re backfilling an existing position, the job description may be out there somewhere. Try to find it, but don’t just throw it onto job boards immediately. Instead, review the content and determine whether everything is still accurate.
A job description is often the first interaction a jobseeker will have with your company, so it’s important to make a positive impression. Instead of listing out bulleted responsibilities and skills, why not spice it up a bit and make it more interesting to the reader? Include information about the company culture and what someone can expect when working in this role.
You can also use templates to further simplify this process. It’s easy to create and store description templates within ApplicantStack, a powerful recruiting and onboarding platform built for small business needs.
Jazz Up Your Online Presence
Today’s jobseekers are more interested in finding jobs that are the right fit, so they’re spending more time looking at companies to ensure alignment. If your website is outdated or your social media accounts are gathering dust, take some time to jazz them up. Create or update your careers page to emphasize what you’re looking for when it comes to new members of the team, and leverage social media to get in front of a wider audience.
Improve Your Hiring Process
If you ask hiring managers and small business owners what they dislike about hiring, aspects of the process will likely come up. For many organizations, the process of finding and bringing on talent is clunky, slow, and frustrating. But as 2024 kicks off, why not make it easier on yourself and everyone else involved?
Implement an applicant-tracking system that keeps everyone on the same page. ApplicantStack is affordable yet packed with features, including job posting and communication tools that make hiring easier for all. Plus, you can utilize the onboarding functionality when you find your top talent and they accept your offer.
Learn more about ApplicantStack and how it can help you ramp up your hiring efforts in 2024. Try it for free or take a quick tour to see how it works.
Over a 20-year period prior to February 2021, the monthly resignation rate in the U.S. never rose above 2.4 percent. During the first two months of 2022, that national rate spiked to nearly 3 percent. In some states, the resignation rate shot up over 4 percent during the year. This time was referred to as “The Great Resignation,” and it left businesses of all sizes reeling.
But while things seemed to have settled at least somewhat, employees will continue to leave their roles in search of other opportunities. We’ve covered the hiring and onboarding process extensively on our blog, but what happens when someone leaves? That process is called offboarding, and it’s just as important. Explore why offboarding matters to your company and its impacts on future hiring efforts. We’ll also cover a few tips to improve the way your organization conducts offboarding interviews and practices.
What is Offboarding?
Offboarding is the process of transitioning an employee away from the organization. It should take place whether the employee chooses to leave or the separation is involuntary. But the steps should create a graceful and consistent process for any employee who will no longer work in their role.
Why Does Offboarding Matter?
Although it’s just as valuable as onboarding, offboarding tends to get overlooked. Management might feel uneasy about consulting with unhappy employees or simply want to move on to the new hire. But here’s what you’re potentially missing out on by skipping the offboarding steps:
A graceful separation between the former employee and organization
Protection from legal issues and other problems that may arise after termination
An easier transition within the role
The potential for growth and improvement within the impacted department and company overall
Plus, proper offboarding can provide insights into what changes can be made when seeking to fill the vacated position.
Leaving things on a positive note with a soon-to-be-former employee may also create a better experience. Current and past employees serve as brand ambassadors, whether positive or negative, so do what you can to push for the former.
What to Avoid when Offboarding an Employee
While the above points are strong evidence for the benefits of offboarding, it’s also important to remember what to avoid. The aim of offboarding isn’t to criticize an employee who has chosen to leave or been involuntarily terminated. Instead, its purpose is to create a friendly and mutually beneficial transition.
All involved in the offboarding process should show respect, particularly for the department employee. It should also serve as a tool to protect the company from potential legal concerns and explore what could have been done differently.
5 Tips to Improve Offboarding Practices
Whether your managers are currently following offboarding practices or you’re starting from square one, these tips can improve the process exponentially.
Follow a consistent process
Consistency is key when it comes to interacting with departing team members. If one employee feels they had a different experience than another, they may take legal action against the organization, claiming discrimination or unfair practices. Create a checklist and follow the relevant steps with each employee who chooses to leave or is terminated.
Assess the reasons for exit
While it’s vital to maintain consistency in the offboarding process, certain steps may need to shift based on the reasons for an employee’s departure. If someone is retiring, they will likely have different insights than someone who is choosing to seek employment elsewhere. Employees who are involuntarily terminated or laid off also require additional steps for legal protection.
Create an open line of communication
Although it can feel uncomfortable to communicate openly with an employee who is leaving the organization, it’s essential to do your best to keep the line of communication open. When company leaders avoid talking about the departure or try not to speak to the person leaving, these behaviors create a breeding ground for gossip.
Regardless of the reason, it’s always better to be as honest as possible about a resignation or termination. Of course, you don’t have to get into unpleasant details, but you can at least give as much warning as possible and discuss what the remaining team members can expect.
Aim for a successful transfer of knowledge
One of the overall aims of offboarding is to secure a successful knowledge transfer. Leaders and team members can use the information gleaned to keep up on projects and create an accurate job description when filling the vacated role.
When consulting with an employee during the offboarding process, request the following information:
What the daily routine looked like
What files and systems were used by the employee
The process for prioritizing and accomplishing assigned and ongoing tasks
Who the employee interacts with regularly
What type of training may be necessary
An employee departing amicably may be willing to create a document with all this information, which is very useful for someone filling their role.
Protect your organization
Your company needs to protect itself from legal issues as well as the risks associated with the loss of sensitive data or proprietary information. As soon as possible, secure all company assets and revoke access to private information. Ask for all company equipment back and prevent the former employee from accessing their business email inbox, social media profiles, and other systems used for client data or sensitive information.
With the right approach, an offboarding process can go from awkward to seamless. And the information gleaned in each step is invaluable for a company as its leaders seek to understand the reasons for departure, how to support the employees, and create a positive culture for all.
In the fast-paced world of talent acquisition, building a team that aligns with your organization’s values and mission is crucial. One key element in this process is implementing a robust background screening strategy. To help you seamlessly integrate this essential step into your recruitment and onboarding journey, Verified First and Swipeclock’s solution, ApplicantStack, have collaborated to bring you this ultimate guide. Let’s dive into background screening steps that will elevate your hiring process to new heights.
1. Building Clear Screening Policies: Transparency is Key
Transparency is paramount in any background screening process. Develop clear screening policies that outline disqualification criteria and exceptions. This not only sets expectations for your candidates but also ensures consistency in your decision-making process.
2. Setting the Foundation: Establishing Screening Criteria
Before you embark on the background screening journey, it’s crucial to define the unique screening needs for each position with your organization. This ensures that your screening efforts are targeted and aligned with the responsibilities and access levels associated with each role.
3. Crafting Your Screening Package: A Tailored Approach
Just as each role in your organization is unique, so should be your screening package. Your screening provider should provide a comprehensive suite of screening solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into the ApplicantStack platform. Customize your screening package based on the nature of the role and responsibilities.
4. Prioritizing Compliance and Data Security
Navigate the complex legal landscape of background screening by staying informed about relevant employment laws and regulations, with a particular emphasis on adhering to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Ensure your background screening not only complies with these regulations but also prioritizes data security by choosing solutions committed to the highest standards, such as SOC2. Trust is built on a foundation of security, and during the screening process, prioritize information security diligently to ensure the safeguarded and confidential handling of sensitive information without the need for time-consuming manual audits.
5. Open Communication with Candidates: Enhancing the Candidate Experience
Clearly communicate the background screening steps during the recruitment phase, provide necessary disclosures, and obtain (electronically) written consent. This open communication fosters trust and ensures a positive candidate experience.
6. Integration Excellence: Elevating Your Hiring Flow
Seamlessly elevate your hiring workflow with the integration of Verified First and ApplicantStack. Experience an efficient, automated background screening process that eliminates manual tasks and ensures a smooth transition from screening to subsequent hiring steps. ApplicantStack becomes the central hub for post-screening actions, streamlining the experience for both the hiring team and candidates. Enjoy a cohesive one-click screening workflow, allowing you to focus on securing top talent swiftly and seamlessly.
7. Continuous Improvement: Learning, Growing and Making Informed Decisions
The journey extends beyond a successful hire. Collect feedback from the screening process, learning from insights gained to continuously optimize and enhance background screening procedures. Upon receiving screening results, focus on specific details, such as the nature and severity of incidents, time elapsed since incidents, and overall candidate history. This high-level of visibility enables informed decisions aligned with organizational values and requirements, ensuring a discerning selection process.
Conclusion: Elevate Your Hiring Experience
Integrating Verified First’s background screening within ApplicantStack empowers you to build a safe, reliable, and high-integrity workforce. As you embark on this journey, remember that the end goal is not just screening applicants but creating a robust and secure recruitment and onboarding experience.
Ready to Elevate Your Screening Process?
Unlock the full potential of your recruitment and onboarding process by integrating Verified First with ApplicantStack. Join the community of organizations that prioritize trust, security, and efficiency in their workforce. Start your journey today, and experience the power of the Verified First and ApplicantStack collaboration.
Learn more about Verified First’s integration with ApplicantStack.
Want your FREE background screening checklist? Click here!
Gone are the days of a “help wanted” sign in the window to fill an open position. In today’s world, jobseekers rely on virtual resources to find and apply for jobs. Job posting sites are essential for appealing to top talent, and we’re covering how your business can make the most of these valuable tools.
What is a Job Posting Site?
Also known as a job board, a job posting site is an online resource for sharing open positions and providing information about how to apply. Nearly all are free for jobseekers, and many offer free tools and resources for employers seeking to fill open positions.
Some job posting sites are more generic in terms of industry, with roles for people in all stages of their professional lives. Others cater to specific industries or niches, such as those geared toward graphic designers or tech experts. You can also find sites that are designed to pair freelance or gig workers with companies seeking to complete specific projects.
Applicant tracking systems can integrate with job posting sites, making it easier to push a description to multiple boards at once. If you handle this process manually, you may have to set up an account with each site and upload the information, one by one.
What Job Posting Sites are Best?
Ultimately, the best job posting sites for your organization will depend on its goals and type of applicants that you want to attract. If you want to get in front of a wider audience, a highly utilized option will be the best fit. When you want to appeal to individuals with specific skills or experience, a niche site may offer more benefits.
Among the free job posting sites, LinkedIn and Indeed rank highly. They have a lot of daily visitors, which means open positions are seen by more people. Additionally, LinkedIn company pages can feature job openings and descriptions, allowing potential applicants to learn more about the organization and workforce before submitting an application.
Monster is a well-known paid job posting site with multiple plan options available to employers. Higher-cost plans offer increased exposure to fill roles faster, while the standard plan requires payment whenever a candidate views or applies for a position.
But rather than setting up individual accounts on these job posting sites, it makes more sense to invest in a hiring solution that simplifies the process from start to finish. For example, an applicant tracking system that allows you to post to multiple job boards with a single click saves time while keeping costs under control.
Setting Up Your Recruiting Efforts on Job Posting Sites
When you need to hire, your company needs to get the job description in front of people who are good fits. Make sure to consider the following steps in the process when preparing to recruit.
Brand profile: Think about your company branding and how it sets you apart from competitors. Today’s jobseekers are looking to work for organizations that share their values and help them feel like they’re contributing to something meaningful and fulfilling. Explore how you can incorporate your brand profile into your listings to give applicants a sense of what they could expect when working for your company.
Writing and posting job listings: Stay away from job descriptions that read like a lengthy list of requirements and opt for concise and engaging content instead. Consider what you would want to see when applying for a job and adjust your content accordingly. You can also take advantage of templates and other tools built into an ATS.
How to Stand Out on Job Posting Sites
Another challenge faced by employers of all sizes is standing out. In today’s hiring world, it can feel like you’re competing against countless organizations, especially when sharing and filling entry-level roles. But you can take advantage of the following tools to maximize your reach.
Organic tools
One of the best organic tools at your disposal as an employer is your reputation. Building a positive reputation as an appealing place to work can attract talent in droves. Utilizing feedback mechanisms from departing employees is also highly useful, as this information can help your organization identify areas for improvement.
Another beneficial organic tool is relying on existing employees. Ask your engaged and satisfied team members to share open positions and recommend people they know to fill them. Employee referrals don’t have to cost the company anything (although offering a bonus for referring a successful hire can go a long way). Nearly 90 percent of employers report that employee referrals are the most reliable source to generate quality candidates.
Paid/sponsored options
Putting some money behind your job ads will generate more views, and typically results in a higher number of applications. The key advantage to sponsoring a job listing is to boost its visibility. Indeed Sponsored Jobs deliver up to three times as many applications as a non-paid option. Employers can hire quicker and get in front of more people when using this tool.
Job posting site features to utilize
Each job posting site will have its own unique features, but some are shared across most platforms. You may need to create a login as a hiring professional with your organization, as well as establish a profile. Once you have completed these steps, you can begin posting descriptions and reviewing applications as they come through.
You may also search for registered users on job posting sites based on experience level, education, skills, and other factors. When you find someone who has the qualifications you’re looking for, consider sending a brief message with an invitation to apply.
Another tool to consider using is building a pool of qualified individuals. If you come across people who would be good fits with your culture and needs but don’t necessarily align with the current positions available, keep their information on file for future needs that may arise.
More is More: Managing Listings Across Multiple Job Posting Sites
Now that you understand job posting sites and how to use them, you can maximize your efficiency with ApplicantStack. Our applicant tracking solution is designed for the needs of small businesses, yet comes packed with the features used by the top organizations in the world.
You can create and manage templates, post to job boards and social media sites with a single click, and manage all your listings from a single location. Plus, robust features make it easy to identify top candidates, schedule interviews, keep the communication line open, and bring new hires onboard.
At the start of 2023, we covered some of the expected hiring trends throughout the year. Now, we’re taking a look back to see which of those trends impacting hiring efforts for employers. Dive into the hiring challenges faced by recruiters and managers in 2023 as we prepare to start a new year.
2023 Hiring Trends
We mentioned internal movement as an expected trend, and that was certainly a thing in 2023. Internal mobility is a significant factor in employee retention and loyalty, so creating and offering opportunities for existing team members to advance are essential in your strategy. Contract or gig work also expanded substantially this year, with approximately 59 million people in the U.S. working in such roles. The demand surged significantly, and by 2027, it’s estimated that over 85 million Americans will perform some type of gig work.
Company culture remains an influential factor in the hiring market. It’s becoming more and more challenging for workplaces with toxic or unsupportive atmospheres to bring on and retain top talent. Investing in culture is a must for a business, regardless of size, to improve hiring efforts. Another trend was identifying ways to allow employees to integrate their personal and professional lives, rather than just separating and balancing them.
Challenges in Hiring This Year
Recruiters and hiring managers faced unique challenges associated with these trends and economic swings in 2023.
Finding top talent
One of the most commonly discussed difficulties was finding quality candidates. Intense competition and low unemployment rates contributed to this challenge, which plagued employers of all sizes. However, small businesses tend to struggle the most with finding top talent, as they may have trouble getting their open positions in front of a wider audience. The right applicant-tracking system can make this easier, with tools to share job descriptions to hundreds of sites with a single click.
Training and skills gaps
It’s hard to keep employees engaged and happy if they don’t feel like their employer is investing in their growth and development. Skills and training gaps are significant issues in workplaces that haven’t made learning and development a priority. When these elements are lacking, people often look elsewhere, resulting in higher employer turnover rates.
Unpredictability in the job market
The economy has played a serious role in hiring and growth efforts among businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Instability and unpredictability have resulted in fewer people looking elsewhere for work, instead choosing to remain where they are to feel more stable. Layoffs in many industries have forced others into the job market, requiring creativity and adaptability among those responsible for filling open positions.
Younger jobseeker preferences
If your hiring tactics are geared toward baby boomers or millennials, you may be having trouble attracting younger jobseekers. Members of Gen Z expect their workplaces to prioritize digital communication and collaboration, and this expectation starts with the hiring process. Without a proven solution in place that simplifies the hiring process, your company likely won’t get in front of Gen Z applicants.
The best tool for overcoming these and other challenges impacting hiring managers and recruiters is an applicant-tracking system. ApplicantStack aligns with your needs while fitting into your small-business budget. Explore how this hiring and recruiting system can help you take your efforts to the next level and build strong teams, despite the difficulties.
