7 ways small businesses can transform their recruitment using ATS

We all know that recruitment can be a challenging process; there’s the time it takes to sift through CVs, managing multiple vacancies at the same time, and of course, finding the best candidate for the role. While Fortune 500 companies have deep pockets and wide resources, small and medium-sized businesses are often a tighter-knit workforce and losing a key employee can make a big difference.

So, what can be done to help?

This is where ATS (applicant tracking software), also often know as recruitment software, comes into the picture. In essence, ATS is a one-stop-shop for all your recruiting needs. You can create your job advert, receive applications and manage each stage of the recruitment process from within your current HR software. Sounds good right?

Here are just 7 of the ways a small business can transform their recruitment using ATS.

1. Efficiency

The bottom line is that using an ATS will organise your recruitment in a way that is almost impossible to achieve using ‘old school’ methods. What does your current recruitment process look like? Does it involve a system of folders? Perhaps you’ve got some physical copies of CVs, or maybe a whole inbox full of them.

Now, picture this, your ATS is activated and sits snugly beneath a Recruitment tab on the orange bar within your citrus HR system. Once you click the tab you’ll find a clear list of roles you’re hiring for, then when you click each role the job advert you’ve written pops open. From there you can easily view all the candidates that have applied; our software converts every application into a handy candidate card, which then displays on the candidate board. It couldn’t be simpler.

2. Get the right candidates

Finding the right candidate is challenging, a lot of applications you receive are just not right for the job. Our ATS allows you to ask up to five screening questions, meaning you’ll only get the candidates that you’re looking for. Not only this, but when you find great candidates (who might be suitable for a later role) you can add them to your talent pool with a corresponding tag (e.g. sales.). This means you already have talent to pick from should another position open up, saving you valuable time.

There is so much more to say about this crucial aspect of the recruitment process that we don’t have space here – so we’ll publish another blog focussing on how a good ATS can transform that part of your recruitment.

3. Stand out from the rest

Recruiting is becoming more candidate-centric, and an ATS is a great way to stand out from the competition and represent your business in a positive light. With a good ATS candidates don’t need to create an account or log in, this makes applying to your jobs easy – a huge plus-point for those looking for work. You can also use the messaging feature within the software, which allows for fast, friendly communication; a great alternative to the formality of emails.

4. Easy integration

Using an ATS you will still be able to post your job to LinkedIn and Indeed as well. You create your job advert exactly the way you want it, then our ATS generates a link that you can post wherever you want, you can even share it on social media. This means you have more control over your recruiting process yet are still able to make the most of other recruitment resources. It’s the best of both worlds. All site traffic links back to your job advert, instead of having different adverts in multiple places. 

5. Inter-department communication

We know that recruiting often involves several departments and this is why organisation is so important to successful recruitment; it’s essential that all the relevant people are kept in the know. When using our ATS, you and your team will be able add notes to each candidate card, keeping you all on the same page. You’ll all have access (based on the permission levels you’ve set) to the candidate board, where you can see who is at first interview stage, who is a new applicant, who is under offer etc. No more double emailing, missed opportunities or having good candidates slip through the net.

6. Compliance

You probably already know how important it is to comply with employment law during recruitment—if not, read our blog on that topic here.  But since GDPR became part of UK law, even small employers now need to handle applicants’ data in very specific ways.

Any good ATS should help you stay legally compliant with candidates’ data (our blog on GDPR guidelines gives tips on this). When using our ATS all your candidates’ details will be shown in the same format, which should also help you to remove unconscious bias from your recruiting process. This means you’ll be picking from a wider talent-pool as well as sticking to GDPR guidelines, it’s a win-win.

7.  Onboarding

Once you’ve found a candidate, you want the onboarding process to be as smooth as possible. According to Forbes companies experience a 50% failure rate in retaining hires if the onboarding is bad, so we know successful onboarding is a big deal. Our ATS integrates seamlessly with the features already built into our software. Once you’ve found your ideal candidate you can make a job offer at the click of a button; the candidate’s details and the job details will automatically be filled in so all you have to do is send your offer. After they accept, it’s just a case of activating their account. You aren’t left gathering information and inputting data twice, this is just another chance to show new recruits how efficient your business is.

Why not?

Small businesses are notorious for their efficiency at using resources; why should their recruitment process be an exception to this? Our ATS can be added onto your current software at just the press of a button (well, tick of a box.) If you’d like to find out more about how our ATS can support your recruitment efforts, please do get in touch with a member of our team (info@citrushr.com).  We’re always happy to hear from you and answer any questions you might have.