Finding the right candidate – effective recruitment and ATS

When it comes to filling a vacancy, finding the right candidate can often seem like the luck of the draw. Maybe your job advert isn’t getting the number of responses you were hoping for, or perhaps you’re receiving a lot of CVs, but only a fraction of applicants are suitable. We’ve been there – we get it!

You’re not alone in this, last year it was reported that 87% of companies were struggling to fill vacancies. There are lots of reasons recruitment is becoming more challenging: Brexit, war in Europe, the effects of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis are just a few. The big question is, how can small businesses give themselves the best chances to find good candidates? After all, we don’t have a dedicated recruitment team and have to juggle it alongside day-to-day responsibilities.

We spoke recently about the benefits of ATS and today we’ll explore that even further, and what it means for you. ATS stands for applicant tracking software (or recruitment software, as you may know it), and it’s basically the Swiss Army knife of hiring; from posting job ads to reviewing applicants, a good ATS will provide you with all the tools you need to recruit efficiently. Today we’ll look at how an ATS can help small businesses achieve the ultimate recruitment goal – finding the right candidate.

Refine the process

The first step to finding the right candidate is having a well-structured recruitment process, as a long hiring procedure has the potential to put-off good candidates. We know that finding the right person can take time, but it’s important that it doesn’t take unnecessary time.

Our ATS recruitment software will let you create your own interview timeline; you can customise each stage of your candidate board from phone interview to final interview, and all applicant details will be converted into a candidate card that you can drag and drop along the board as they progress.

We designed it this way so you can easily see which candidate is at which stage of the interview, making it easy to get a feel for how your recruitment is going. Having an efficient process in place will also directly translate to a better candidate experience. Win-win!

Communication is key

Communicating with candidates is very important, a huge 75% of candidates have admitted to being ghosted by a company before. Even if an applicant isn’t quite what you’re looking for, it’s good to let them know when you’ve made that decision.

With effective recruitment software, you can choose which candidates you’d like to email; this means that you won’t leave anyone out of the loop. This is really important in building a good reputation as a business, because word of mouth can be a key factor in attracting the right people to you. Good communication is also essential if you want to hold onto talent that you’ve uncovered, but don’t have a position for just yet, because nobody wants to lose a potential great hire! This is where the Talent Pool comes into play.

Talent pool

In a perfect world, you’ll want to find more than just one good candidate. The Talent Pool feature in citrus HR’s recruitment software allows you to keep track of applicants that might be a perfect fit in the future. This is a great way to build your own recruitment resource, as you’ll have candidates that you’ve already interviewed to pick from. Not only that, you can add handy tags to each card (e.g. finance, or marketing) that makes it easy to spot people you’d like to talk to once your Talent Pool starts filling up.

Talent pools are often filled with ‘passive candidates’, which can be seen as the best hires. These are usually people that are thriving in their current role, but also open to new opportunities. Ideally, you’ll have already identified that they will be a good fit for your company culture and letting them know that you will keep them on file for future positions is a great way to keep them interested.

Why it’s so important

When the recruitment process doesn’t go to plan, and you end up with a bad hire, it can be very costly, which is not a luxury most small businesses can afford. A recent survey found that the cost of a bad hire can be three times the amount of the salary. This means that for a position paying £25,000 a year, you could stand make a loss of £75,000.

Not only that, there can also be a negative impact on your workforce. If morale in the company has dropped (perhaps the new employee doesn’t have the right attitude, or they’re causing more work for other people) then there’s a bigger risk you’ll lose other members of staff. Then comes the additional workload if you have to let your new hire go. This can put additional pressure on your team, which can negatively impact many areas of a small business. Team members are investments into your company’s future growth, so investing wisely is a smart move.

To sum it up…

An ATS won’t guarantee you hiring the perfect candidate (we wish it could) – but what it will do is help you make sure you’re attracting the right people. Being able to communicate with candidates and show a well thought-out recruitment process will help build your reputation as a good employer, which ultimately can help you get more, high quality applicants.

When you combine that with the additional time and control that a recruitment software gives, we think you’ll have more focus and attention to spend on worthy candidates. Your and your team will know who the right candidate is, so think of ATS as an extra helping hand to lighten the load.

Book a demo with us today to see the ATS in action!