Think of all the ways technology helps you and your team every day. Modern software has changed how we handle the most mundane tasks, making our lives easier and more efficient. Take recruiting as an example. The process of recruiting even one candidate is filled with myriad tasks, from sourcing to scheduling, interviewing to hiring. At each stage, communication must flow between multiple parties and then should be securely stored to meet regulatory requirements. Manually completing these processes is incredibly time-consuming, but even more so if you’re handling dozens of candidates every day.
Recruitment automation software are computer programs for staffing agencies or anyone who handles hundreds of candidate interactions during their hiring processes. Recruiting automation tools helps organizations meet all the rigors of hiring in today’s competitive candidate markets. Without them, you run the risk of falling behind.
Here are five reasons you need automated recruiting software to help you work smarter and improve your success at finding candidates. 
What is Recruitment Automation?
Recruiting automation tools use software to take manual tasks and make them automatic. Today’s automated recruiting software can streamline the tasks found in:
- Sourcing candidates
- Reviewing resumes
- Scheduling interviews
- Screening candidates
- Hiring candidates
- Onboarding
- And more
But why would you need software to handle all of these recruiting tasks that we used to complete by hand? This kind of software for staffing agencies can:
- Help these companies fulfill the needs of their clients more quickly.
- Improve communication with candidates so they have a better experience.
- Increase the volume of candidates they reach.
- Improve the quality of the information they capture and help them make better data-driven decisions.
- Improve the experience of employees weary of manual and repetitive tasks.
- Improve the speed of their candidate search processes.
How does recruitment automation software do all these things? What features does this software offer, and how can it help your recruiting team?
Features of Recruitment Automation Software for Staffing Agencies
Recruitment automation software uses artificial intelligence (AI), which is made up of computer algorithms that increase the efficiency of these computer programs. AI in recruiting software is growing in popularity. The data shows that 17% of organizations used AI in their recruiting automation tools in 2021 and that number went up again by 30% in 2022. Why? Because we are still in the thick of The Great Resignation, have more than 10 million open jobs, and face an unprecedented labor shortage. It’s the perfect storm, and recruiters and hiring managers are overwhelmed with finding talent in a very competitive job market.
What features in recruiting automation tools help staffing and HR teams do their jobs more effectively? Let’s look at three critical features so important today in software for staffing agencies:
- Resume Parsing
- Candidate Sourcing/Screening
- Automated Interview Scheduling
Resume parsing is the laborious process of reviewing individual candidate resumes and matching them to the job requirements. This process takes hours to do by hand, particularly because it’s like a needle in a haystack; there are always more candidates who aren’t qualified than those that are. Resume parsing tools allow the computer to search for specific keywords tied to the job description. The computer scans your database of applicants and funnels the ones to the top that you should really look at. It’s a massive time-saver for hiring teams.
Candidate sourcing and screening leverage these same recruiting automation tools to make the pre-screening and candidate vetting process much faster. Using automated recruiting software allows you to search for candidates in a job board or in a database by hunting for specific characteristics. Without an automation tool, you’re left calling or emailing candidates manually, which can be incredibly time-consuming. This type of software for staffing agencies or HR teams also helps you organize and record your responses and interactions with candidates, which is helpful for building a long-term pool of potential talent.
Automating interview scheduling is a dream come true for anyone that spends all day screening candidates. Candidate communication is critical to keeping them engaged and away from your competitors. Automation tools can reach candidates to schedule your screening calls. Candidates can self-select from your calendar to pick the time that works best for their interview. It can also email candidates shortly after they apply so they don’t feel like their resume dropped down a bottomless well. These same tools can reach out to candidates to let them know they’re still in the running if the hiring process is lengthy. These tools eliminate the time you would spend crafting an endless flow of emails to thank candidates, schedule interviews, and confirm appointments. This same recruitment automation software can gather candidate feedback both during and after the recruiting process ends.
How do organizations use this software to achieve competitive advantage and find the talent they need?
Benefits of Using Automated Recruiting Tools for Staffing Agencies
There’s a reason why companies are increasing their use of automated recruiting software. These tools have many benefits, but here are our top five to help you understand the real power behind recruiting automation software:
#1 Recruiting Automation Enhances the Candidate Experience
The candidate experience means more now than it did in the past. Candidates have options—and they know it. So, if you fail to create quality interactions with job seekers, they not only may go to your competitor for a job they may post something on social media that harms your reputation.
Recruitment automation software improves the hiring process by taking the element of chance out of candidate interactions. Basic communication and scheduling processes are automated so that every candidate gets the attention they deserve.
#2 HR Automation Tools Boost Efficiency
HR teams have a lot on their plates. HR teams handle everything related to the employment process, from hiring to onboarding, payroll to termination. If your company is fortunate enough to outsource to a staffing agency, the recruiting processes are handled outside the HR function. But that doesn’t mean recruiters and HR teams don’t have a lot of tasks that they work on together.
Recruiting automation tools can help reduce time to hire, which helps everyone get more work done. Behind the scenes, automation takes manual tasks and eliminates them. Automation gives your HR teams more time to focus on all of the other tasks they have to do—like improve employee retention.
#3 Eliminate Hiring Bias with Recruitment Automation
Unconscious and conscious biases are probably just human nature. We naturally seem to judge based on assumptions, and sometimes we aren’t even aware of our biases. But the statistics tell the story:
- One in five women experience recruiting gender discrimination.
- Job listings with gender-neutral language get more responses.
- The callback rate for older candidates is uniformly lower than for younger candidates—even if the older candidate has more experience.
Automated recruiting software can create an environment called blind hiring. Blind hiring seeks to eliminate all of the potential for biases in the hiring process. Eliminating the manual processes associated with resume screening eliminates the possibility of unconscious or conscious bias. The computer has no bias toward cultural context or social stereotypes. Computer automation looks at the skills listed on the resume—and leaves assumptions out of the process.
#4 Automated Recruiting Software Saves Time
If you’re conducting manual recruiting, time is not on your side. With the average time to hire at 41 days, anything you can do to speed up all of the manual tasks associated with hiring can help. But recruitment automation software can help you speed up nearly every part of the hiring process, including:
- Posting jobs to employment boards.
- Sourcing and screening candidates.
- Scheduling interviews.
- Communicating with candidates.
- Sending offer letters.
- Conducting onboarding.
- And more.
Consider your approval workflow process, and you will understand how this kind of automation software for staffing agencies and HR teams can help your business. Imagine automating approvals for candidate selection and the offer letter. There’s no confusion, just a clear-cut computer-aided process to work your way steadily to the hire.
#5 Automation Facilitates Compliance
HR compliance infractions can cost your company in fines, lawsuits, and reputational damage. Automated recruiting software helps with local, regional, state, and federal rules. These tools help ensure that new candidates are set up appropriately from day one on the job. This is particularly important because so many candidates are now remote or hybrid workers. Think about the complexities as employees work at home part of the week and at the office the rest of the time? Today’s labor relationships are complex and compliance rules are changing all the time. Recruitment automation software keeps you compliant.
Automate Your Recruiting Process with COATS Staffing Software
Better recruiting automation tools start with COATS Staffing Software. Our state-of the-art AI-driven tools offer you the modern convenience of automated software at an affordable subscription price. Our tools are cloud-based and highly secure. COATS all-in-one software product helps companies coordinate and improve their time to hire. To see our software at work, simply request a free demo.