Modern hiring teams face many challenges. The labor market is constantly evolving, and so is the tech used to navigate it. Traditional hiring methods still have their uses, but the hiring process has come a long way from what it was 10-20 years ago. Today’s recruiters have an array of HR software to utilize to remain competitive and effective in the labor market.
HR software is any business software that helps a business manage employee information and other HR-related tasks such as hiring. Their primary purposes are to assist the management of people, automate tedious tasks, and make information easily accessible for use. Overall, the intent here is to save labor time so that HR professionals can focus on the actually important work in their roles.
The types of HR software available today are nearly countless, and every one of them performs a wide variety of HR functions. Let’s discuss just a few.
Applicant tracking systems, or ATSs, do exactly what their name implies — track applicants. How they do that, however, is much more involved. An ATS will typically utilize keywords to help recruiters sort and rank applicants/resumes. Hiring managers choose these keywords to help match candidates that are most likely to succeed in a role.
Then there are human resource information systems. HRISs automate and process HR activities electronically. These systems can be applied to recruiting, but also include core HR functions, benefits administration, and much more. As the goal with most HR software, these systems are designed to automate the most tedious tasks that burden HR teams.
With the plethora of software out there, it’s only natural to ask what the best HR software is right for your company. Unfortunately, we can’t simply give you a list of top HR software for you to pick from. HR systems come in such diversity in part because of the variety of companies and niches they serve.
However, we can help you determine what is the best HR software for you based on your needs.
The first step in finding the right hiring tools is a matter of identifying your company’s unique hiring needs. For example, ask yourself what are the biggest obstacles and pitfalls you face in the hiring process. If you’re like most companies, this answer is most likely the bottleneck created during the interview process, where recruiters surveyed by Yello report spending two-thirds of their time.
In this case, you’re looking for an HR tool like Qualifi which is capable of reducing the time recruiters spend on the screening process. By automating this process with on-demand interviews and machine learning keyword identification, recruiters can reach the best candidates faster than traditional methods would allow.
Once you’ve identified your company's HR needs, it’s time to research vendors. Familiarize yourself with the software solutions available that serve the specific use case you’re looking for. From here you can track tools for performance and which features are important to your team in particular. From here, shortlist the vendors you’ve researched to which closest match your goals.
Finally, before adopting, reach out to your chosen vendor and schedule a demo..
The same rules apply to HR software for small businesses. However, the primary difference is that small businesses require specific kinds of HR which match their small-scale needs as well as possess scalability potential. So, let’s take a quick look at what you’re looking for in the best HR software for small businesses.
Let’s start by considering that small businesses typically cannot afford a full HR staff. Rather, they usually have a small team or even a single HR manager wearing many hats. HR software is essential to remain competitive with full teams. What’s more, this software, like the employees, must be able to handle multiple tasks.
As such, the best HR software for startups are the ones that can offer all-in-one systems or standalone solutions that can operate independent of a costly ATS.
Automation also becomes even more important to small businesses. Qualifi is once again the prime example. HR managers for small businesses can utilize Qualifi’s on-demand phone interview program to screen hundreds of candidates at once, even reducing their time-to-hire. All of this allows a small team to hire with the same capacity as large enterprise teams using traditional methods.
This is made possible with machine learning algorithms that are capable of scanning candidate phone interviews for select keywords. These keywords allow the algorithm to move these candidates to the front of the screening process. Recruiters are then able to address these interviews first, finding the best candidates available before they leave the labor market.
High-volume hiring is one of the biggest challenges facing recruiting teams today. High-volume hiring is when a business finds itself in need of a large number of hires in a short period. Whereas the average job posting receives perhaps more than 50 applicants, high-volume drives bring in hundreds of applicants, potentially thousands depending on the circumstances.
Unfortunately, this large volume of applicants comes with a large number of unqualified candidates. These candidates could have too little experience or possess the wrong qualifications. Regardless, screening for the best applicants in such a large pool can become nigh impossible without the right HR software for high-volume hiring.
The key to successful high-volume hiring is to automate where you can. So, businesses of all sizes need to find HR software that can do just that. Automated phone interviews, for example, can severely reduce the number of days it takes to take an applicant from sourcing to onboarding. In fact, according to Qualifi data, on-demand phone interviews not only reduce the time it takes to screen candidates but bring in 32% more responses than a traditional interview.
Equally important is the ability of whatever software you select to mitigate bias. Hiring bias is a common determent to recruiters as it causes them to pass on otherwise qualified talent. Not that this bias is deliberate, but latent bias often affects recruiter judgment. This particular problem is amplified in high-volume recruitment and leads to a diminished candidate pool. Thankfully, there are tools to help mitigate this bias. Automated phone interviews, for example, eliminate the visual bias from the hiring process altogether, and provides every candidate with an equal opportunity to impress. What’s more, this helps diversify your company’s workforce. According to some research, diversity directly leads to higher company profits and greater potential to generate revenue through innovation.