Lots of Applicants? - Don't be Scared this Halloween

Screen Candidates with an Applicant Tracking System this Halloween

Most hiring managers will agree that when recruiting quality is better than quantity and choosing the right medium to advertise your jobs is critical to ensuring the balance.

Sometimes, there are some job roles that just generate high volumes of response due to the very nature of the job title. These could include; Administration, Warehouse, Graduate and Call Centre to name a few.

So what can you do when you have to recruit for these types of jobs and you don’t have the time to sift through endless amounts of job applications?

Don’t be scared! Just follow our 5 point plan for success:

1. PLAN

Being fore-warned is fore-armed. If you are in doubt about the volumes you can expect from an advert campaign then contact the job board or Flat Fee Recruitment Agency and get an idea of expected numbers. This information should be freely available to you and armed with this key information will allow you to consider what support options you need. Flat Fee Recruiter can offer a variety of support options both from tech and the human touch.

2. CONSIDER YOUR HUMAN SUPPORT OPTIONS

If you don’t have much time & suspect a high volume, then finding someone who does have time, could return huge benefits in managing not only your own sanity but also the expectations of the job seekers themselves. All too often we hear of job seekers not hearing back from their job applications, which can make your company look unprofessional.

Your support options:

a. Use a dedicated specialist like Flat Fee Recruiter to help screen calls, sift applications, reject candidates and arrange interviews.

b. Get some professional HR support. There are a number of HR professionals who can act and recruit on your behalf whilst providing a professional service.

c. Consider your internal talent (obviously without overburdening them). Is/are there people in your organisation who could confidently take over part/all of the initial recruitment process?

d. Is there an opportunity to recruit a temp, graduate or intern to help?

3. TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

Technology plays a key part in today’s world when managing the recruitment process and dealing with high volumes of response. These recruitment systems are called Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Whether you have a manual or electronic recruitment process, consider what you can do to improve the efficiency of your process. At the very least, can you set up automated emails or create quick job-related questions to be sent to qualified applicants? If you just want a system that will help manage a one-off campaign then why not try Flat Fee Recruiters FREE ATS or get your own low-cost Mr FFATS integrated to your website and careers page.

4. ADAPT YOUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Dealing with large volumes of applications requires a different recruitment approach to sourcing hard to find talent. If your recruitment processes have previously been geared up to hiring in a short supply market, consider what changes you need to make to your recruitment process to ensure consistency for ALL the applicants. Some areas to note might be timescales, communication methods, inbound enquiries, Line Manager Involvement, Applicant Assessment, interview process and decision-making process. Again, technology can really help with this

5. TEST

So you think you have nailed it? You have the right support, you have a process and you have adapted your technology. Are you ready for the recruitment rush? Before you launch into advertising, have you applied for the Job and tested the process yourself? Think about how it makes you feel, does the process & technology reflect your working culture? Would you be a satisfied customer if you had to apply through your process? Are there any changes you could make to improve further?

Hopefully, this post has given you a few areas to think about for the next time you recruit. What changes do you think you need to make to your recruitment process to save time and streamline the rush?

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