Tools To Make Your Hiring Process More Efficient

Hiring new staff can be a crazy busy process at the best of times, and downright chaotic at the worst. Résumés, job descriptions, employment contracts, interview notes, as well as an endless stream of phone calls, meeting requests and emails are enough to make us exhausted before we’ve even started.

But the list of free and affordable tools promising to “change recruiting” can be daunting. How do you know which tools are worth your time?

1. Textio

Textio can help you find out if your job listing is in line with best practices. The tool tells you how your job description will stack up as fast as you can type it. I was talking to an HR rep recently who is responsible for hiring - along with a thousand other duties. She recommended this tool as a practical way to quickly improve the job descriptions she was writing, especially since this wasn’t her full-time focus.

2. Applicant tracking system (ATS)

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs. An ATS can be implemented or accessed online on an enterprise or small business level, depending on the needs of the company and there is also free and open source ATS software available. An ATS is very similar to customer relationship management (CRM) systems, but are designed for recruitment tracking purposes. In many cases they filter applications automatically based on given criteria such as keywords, skills, former employers, years of experience and schools attended. This has caused many to adapt resume optimization techniques similar to those used in search engine optimization when creating and formatting their résumé. Examples of ATS include Workables, Greenhouse etc.

Workable

Workable is the most popular recruiting software, trusted by over 6000 companies to streamline their hiring. From posting a job to sourcing talent, Workable provides tools to manage multiple hiring pipelines. Transparent communication, organized candidate profiles, structured interviews and a full reporting suite gives hiring teams the information they need to make the best choices. Workable is available for desktop and mobile.

Greenhouse

Greenhouse is the world's first recruiting optimization platform. Companies like Airbnb, Booking.com and TripAdvisor use Greenhouse to optimize how they find, interview and hire the best talent. From strategic sourcing to customizable interview kits, Greenhouse provides a technology platform that helps organizations of all sizes improve their recruiting performance. Find better candidates, conduct more focused interviews, and make data-driven hiring decisions using Greenhouse.

3. Social Platform

As a recruiter you want to be where the most qualified, talented, and largest pool of applicants are. Human resources can leverage social media to tap in to potential recruits. This type of head hunting is called social recruiting. It's about engaging with users and using social media tools to source and recruit talents.

By now you should be familiar with LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. But just in case your're not, here is a quick overview.

"LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals," states the company's website. That is the corporate way of saying they are a giant jobs board and you can connect to other professionals. There are over 65 million professionals on LinkedIn.

Facebook is the largest of the social networking sites with over 400 million users. Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study, and live around them. It is intended to connect friends, family, and business associates. The model has expanded to include connections to organizations, businesses, and interests -- not just individual people.

Twitter is a microblogging social networking service. Messages, better known as tweets, are no more than 140 characters. According to their website, "Twitter is a simple tool that helps connect businesses more meaningfully with the right audience at the right time."

Social media recruiting helps an employer get to know a potential job candidate. Is this a highly skilled, well-rounded individual that fits with your team? As with any job opening, using social media recruiting requires time and effort but it's an investment in longer-term benefits for your company. Using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter takes recruiting back to its grass roots of networking but for a digital age.

4. Job Boards

Using online job boards is part of doing business today. When recruiting, it can be one of, if not the most, cost-effective ways to reach the right audience and attract the best candidates. Developing a standout job posting and identifying the right job boards are key steps to successful recruiting.

Job sites in Nigeria are increasingly becoming popular in the country with the rising trend of unemployment and even under employment in Nigeria. They help thousands of people to get the job of their dreams.  Simply put, 'they are an online link between employers of labour and job hunters in Nigeria'. Due to the increasing popularity of these job websites in Nigeria, it is important to point at the key playing website.

MY JOB MAG (www.myjobmag.com)

MyJobMag.com is one of the respectable Job websites in Nigeria. They Provide candidates with relevant and genuine jobs. In addiition, they provide tools for recruiters to quickly get the right candidates for the jobs in all Nigerian states. This job site provides a user friendly platform for the unemployed to meet with their potential employers to exchange their views and services. Subscribe to MyJobMag via the following channels: email, Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry: C001EA272

HumanResourceMag (www.humanresourcemag.com)

HumanResourceMag is  a fast growing job website in Nigeria. It is  a website for Human Resource (HR) professionals. This portal is just one innovative job listing website in Nigeria that has thousands of advertised HR  job vacancies with HR information, conferences and seminars, publications and networking opportunities in Nigeria. This site gets new job opportunities updated on it on a daily basis and are very active on Facebook and Twitter. Contact us via email @ services@humanresourcemag.com

NG CAREERS (www.ngcareers.com)

Ngcareers is among the highly respected job portals in Nigeria. This job site is a forum that links unemployed / underemployed persons with their potential employers. Ngcareers also regularly give updates of new job opportunities around. This job site has an Alexa ranking of 134.

The list goes on, but these are  my current recommendations.

Conclusion

As Human Resource Manager, your job should be focused on attracting and retaining the best talent. You should design your hiring process with the same care and attention you do in managing your employees. Test and invest in tools and technology, but remember that the best tools in the world won’t magically find you the best talent. This list of recommendations can change the way you hire, but you still have to put in the work.