Hiring automation tools have arrived, and they’re giving talent acquisition (TA) momentum. With recruitment process automation, TA professionals can easily identify and engage talent before matching them to a role. In this article, we’ll explain how an automated hiring process allows recruiters to:
- Identify higher-quality applicants.
- Elevate the candidate experience.
- Offer best-in-class onboarding.
Automation opportunity #1: Candidate identification
Candidate identification is the first step of the recruitment process. It’s one of the more important steps — and one of the most difficult. It’s no surprise that this stage of recruiting is also one of the best to automate.
Without the right technology, recruiters spend significant time and energy generating interest among potential candidates. They turn to one-off job boards that generate too many resumes submissions to handle. They study applicant databases. They mine professional networks.
These efforts aren’t futile — recruiters are right to focus on getting the best candidates available. But by automating the candidate search, recruiters can sharpen their commitment to this goal and relieve hiring challenges. Recruiters who leverage AI to automate the candidate identification process will lighten their workload while also elevating candidate quantity and quality.
Consider how recruiting automation using AI-powered agents can cultivate better talent leads. Similar to virtual assistants, AI agents can execute computer-based tasks without human direction. Early adopters of this technology have used it to schedule meetings, edit files and analyze data.
Now, forward-thinking recruiters are using agents to search for high-quality talent. Just like recruiters, agents can search job boards, study applicant databases and mine professional networks. The difference? Agents can perform these tasks at top speed and with a high level of accuracy.
Agents spot talent that recruiters may have missed, and they do so in mere moments. Recruiters can use agents to search through databases of former applicants or even alumni employees. Agents can flag potential candidates based on their availability, their relevant skills or their alignment with cultural values.
Agents can also highlight candidates with certain certifications, licenses and advanced degrees. This feature is especially useful to recruiters looking for specialized talent with critical skills. TA pros equipped with agents will more easily find talent that is often hard to come by.
Recruiters who choose to automate candidate identification with AI will see their pipelines fill up with more candidates and stronger applicants. They’ll also see their workload diminish, which matters because they’ll need more time to build relationships with candidates who are worth competing for.
Automation opportunity #2: Candidate engagement
Today’s applicants expect a hiring process where potential employers communicate quickly and clearly. Job-seekers won’t accept weeks of silence after submitting their application. They want to know that their materials were received, that their interview went well and that they’ll receive a hiring decision in an appropriate amount of time.
These heightened expectations for communication complicate recruiters’ to-do lists — but they also open the door to recruitment process automation. After all, each interaction is an opportunity for an organization to showcase its employer brand and capture candidates’ attention.
Strategic recruiters are leveraging AI to deliver a more interactive candidate experience without heaping up their workload. AI-enabled workflows are a departure from traditional hiring automation. While traditional automation excels at simple tasks based on simple rules, AI workflows can perform more complicated tasks, including those involving complex decisions, by using technologies like machine learning and natural language processing.
The result? Automated hiring workflows that deliver seamless, personalized communication, keeping candidates informed and engaged at each step of the hiring process.
Consider how the candidate experience improves after recruiters implement automated workflows:
- When candidates apply, they automatically receive a personalized email thanking them for their interest, acknowledging their specific experience and inviting them to check out more information and resources.
- A few days later, select candidates are invited to choose a time for an interview.
- Candidates receive a post-interview follow-up with another thank-you note, more reading materials and a timeline of what comes next.
Fast-arriving communications like these keep candidates engaged, informed and interested while personalizing the candidate experience. Recruiting automation processes accomplish this without intense input from recruiters or hiring managers. In fact, such workflows accomplish candidate engagement at scale while ensuring even the largest companies offer a hiring process that feels intimate.
Automation opportunity #3: Employee onboarding
Recruiters’ work doesn’t end once candidates are hired. High-quality hiring extends into onboarding — ensuring candidates feel welcome and in tune with their new role, manager and team.
Creating an instructive and welcoming onboarding experience isn’t just best practice. Research has shown that it’s essential to the success and longevity of new hires. A positive onboarding experience leads to better retention, higher employee satisfaction and greater productivity.
Recruiting automation technologies can help provide an onboarding experience that aligns hires with their new place of work. Specifically, recruiters are using generative AI tools — technology that can create — to build onboarding content.
The earliest stages of onboarding are driven by visual content:
- Hires receive an offer letter outlining the terms of their employment.
- Hires get a welcome packet on their first day.
- Hires receive handouts regarding benefits, learning opportunities and more.
Individually, this content couldn’t be more diverse. But it’s critical that these resources align with your employer brand. After all, this content not only familiarizes new hires with details like their dental insurance and 401(K) options, it also introduces them to the workplace’s culture, norms and expectations.
Generative AI allows recruiters to create this kind of content with ease. With these tools, recruiters can contribute to an onboarding experience that extends their impressive candidate experience into a successful employee experience.
Elevate your approach to talent with recruiting automation
Because of hiring automation, recruiters are able to transform their role away from administrative tasks. Those who don’t take advantage of such advancements will face multiple disadvantages — including more work and battling for talent without the same resources as your competition.
To unlock the benefits of automation and transform your approach to recruiting, get in touch with Bear Claw today.