[Infographic] How to Automate Your Hiring Process

Hiring is one of the major challenges faced by any organization. Businesses lose productivity as they still struggle to find the right people due to the conventional hiring processes which may take weeks to months to find the right candidate. And, what about the steep pricing associated with the conventional hiring model?

Bad hiring decisions are like rabbit holes. One bad hire leads to another, and before you know it, the situation gets out of hand. What makes ideas successful are the people who are involved in empowering these brilliant ideas into actions. Therefore, it is all the more vital to hire the right candidate.

Finding the right candidate in a short span of time who fits perfectly in your organization may require you to change your approach towards the recruitment process. Automation is not just a buzzword. An automated recruiting system enables organizations to produce better and faster hires while saving time, cost and manual efforts associated with the otherwise traditional recruitment procedures. While each organization is unique, has different requirements and expectations; automating the recruitment process can make everyone’s job easier regardless of their size.

When does automated hiring make sense

Adopting automated recruiting can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there are benefits like shorter recruitment cycle; and on the other, it can sometimes cause an impersonal candidate experience.

Therefore, the objective should be to automate only those areas in the recruitment process that create value for the company without compromising on the candidate experience.

How cloud telephony can help with high volume recruitment process

Hiring for the home services market has always been a challenge, given how informal and unorganized the sector is. The blue-collar segment is not an ideal candidate for tech adoption when it comes to job search. However, almost everyone owns a phone these days, and the simplest way to communicate and tap into this large workforce is through their phones.

Let us take a look at this illustration to understand how one of our clients —a cab aggregator— uses cloud telephony to hire their drivers.

Here is a scenario of how a cab aggregator automated their hiring process 

A checklist for assessing the right recruitment automation tool

If you’re considering an automated recruitment process and are wondering which automation tool best matches your purpose (considering there are multiple automation tools claiming to be the best in the industry), here’s a thorough list of the boxes that the right tool has to tick.

• Is the tool a scalable solution for your business trajectory?

• Does it help you save time and money when compared to the traditional recruiting process?

• Is it efficient in organizing the candidate information and streamline hiring workflow?

• Is it impersonal? Does it sell out on the candidate experience?

• And most importantly, is it user-friendly?

Since there are many stakeholders involved in the hiring process, the winning automation tool should be simple, economical, reliable and scalable. It has to accelerate the hiring process and not hinder it.

How cloud telephony can transform the recruitment process

1. Automate first level screening

Applicants can call a toll-free number to record their personal details such as education, employment history, preferences, etc. These DTMF responses can be exported to a sheet where you can screen candidates based on certain eligibility criteria and trigger an automated call or SMS based on acceptance or rejection of an application. This saves time and can help save budget on the resources for manual communication

2. The second level of screening via IVR

The qualified applicant can be asked to make themselves available for a second round to answer a set of pre-recorded questions on an IVR call. After a question is read out, the candidate can then record their answer. This is much like the one-on-one interview and evokes spontaneity in the applicant. All the answers are recorded and the call recordings can then be reviewed for the second round of filtering. These answers can be integrated with your online recruitment software to ensure every single step of the process is tracked and recorded.

3. Scheduling interviews

Post the screening stages automated SMSes and calls can be triggered to candidates with a link to schedule interviews with interviewers. This is what we do in Exotel – we send out an automated SMS with a link to block interviewers calendar when candidate matched certain filters

4. Keeping track of the process every step of the way

To ensure that no candidate is left out of the process and to keep the feedback recorded and accessible, calls can be routed via cloud telephony. This ensures that the goldmine of information that recruiters are sitting on doesn’t go to waste.

Learn more about Business Phone System applications for the HR, Recruitment Industry

Why cloud telephony is the perfect candidate for automated recruiting

Cloud Telephony is changing the way the recruiting scene works, for good. It presents a platform that is beneficial to both the recruiter and the applicant. Recruitment agencies, small and medium-sized businesses, enterprises, startups etc. can digitize and automate their hiring process with cloud telephony, irrespective of the organization size.

A recent Glassdoor report suggests that 48% of global employers report talent shortages as their biggest challenge. However, the recruiter census is expected to be stagnant. Therefore, there’s an even greater requirement for better hiring options.

Automated systems help to monitor the hiring process in real-time, and reduce the chances of manual errors to zero.

Benefits of using cloud telephony for hiring automation:

• Easy scaling: There will come a time when you will need to hire more people. Your hiring tool should be able to scale along with your business without any stumbles.
• Cost-effective: Automated calls require no manpower once they’re set up. You do not need a person manning the phones. You can even get calls answered even during midnight.
• No CapEx: There is absolutely no capital expenditure involved for the equipment, simply because there is no ownership of equipment.
• Location independent: You do not need a brick-and-mortar office to conduct interviews. You can hire someone from the convenience of your home or even when you are on vacation.
• Mass outreach: A simple targeted call blast can be initiated for job vacancies that need to be filled urgently.
• Low tech barrier: Especially in the case of home services/blue collar jobs, ensuring that your hiring outreach is low tech like a simple phone makes all the difference.
• Tracking applications: All the applications can be managed at a single place. Those applications that are not eligible for a particular role at a particular time can be used later when the need arises.