I wrote about how to get buy-in of your end usersthe other day and now I wanted to address how to continually try and get the most out of the technology you choose to leverage at your organization.

Like any other buying decision there’s a ton of momentum at the beginning of the selection & implementation process.  You get everyone excited about the new technology, kick off training on the product and get them using it in your recruitment marketingprocess.

But 3 to 4 months down the road, the momentum is gone and this is the point where many organizations falter in terms of using their technology in the correct way.  However, there are a few things that you can do to make sure you don’t fall off the proverbial cliff when it comes to leveraging their existing technology.

Here are some thoughts:

Understand the Core Features: With any initial training, users are inundated with a tremendous amount of features to learn and utilize.  Work with your vendor to identify the most important features to stress up front.  Boil it down to the basics to start users using the core functionality of the technology.  You can continuously expand on different features but only after the basics are known and being utilized.

Make Scheduled Vendor Meetings Meaningful:Any good vendor will continuously be in contact with you to make the most of your relationship.  With your monthly or weekly scheduled, come in with questions, concerns and new functionality that you want training on.  Make these meetings less progress reports and more learning sessions.

Set goals and track progress:  The biggest mistake you can do in implementing a technology is assuming your team is using the technology in the way your organization wants.  There can sometimes be a disconnect with this for reasons including unclear training, lack of direction or a number of other factors.  The key is to set up goals to measure that the technology is being used properly from key activity metrics as well as performance recruitment metrics.

Also, provide forums for your team to voice their questions, problems and concerns.  Meet with them on a somewhat regular basis to make sure the technology is being used the right way.

Selecting and providing training on a solution is not the end game.  The main goal is to get a recruitment technologysolution ingrained in your recruitment process so that you can achieve the results you need in your recruiting.

For another great take on this issue, check out Elaine Orler’s post on how to make the most out of your ATS.