Applicant tracking systems can transform your staffing business as long the candidate database is well managed. The internal database of the applicant tracking system should be the most obvious initial sourcing strategy as it accelerates the search for finding the right candidate for a job order without incurring additional advertising or sourcing costs. The importance of managing your candidate database well needs no explanation, but it is not always easy. Here are ways to manage it well and ensure you beat your competition to time-sensitive placements.

Use Skills Along with Keywords

When you add skills to candidate profiles (either manually or through the automated parsing process), it becomes easier to perform candidate searches. Keywords are a great way to search for candidates but there are instances where keywords are hidden in resumes or inappropriately used. To get precise search results, make sure each candidate has skills tagged and then finding candidates matching the core requirements of a job order will be simpler.

Avoid Duplicate Creation in the First Place

The faster you find out that a new candidate has a potential duplicate in the CRM, it is easier to manage. This means that recruiters need to be guided well in the candidate creation process itself to see if the duplicate exists or not. Users should be prompted when attempting to create a contact or candidate if a potential duplicate exists and given a chance to compare the records. In addition to this, the ATS should be capable of scanning applications from the websites and other external sources and updating a candidate’s existing record if required.

Put a Clean-up Process in Place

You may consider hiring someone outside to make sure the candidate database can be continuously monitored not only for efficiency but also to maintain compliance with relevant privacy legislation. You may think of this as an activity that needs to be done only periodically but having someone full-time would be preferable so that any consent limits are not exceeded. Involving recruiters in the clean-up process can be super helpful as they often know their candidates and clients best. This way they can review and merge records on their own when they come across duplicates in the database or enter incomplete information where needed. They will be engaged and will also own the database.

Tools to Help with Duplicate Management

There are many third-party tools available that help with duplicate management. TargetRecruit already has an inbuilt duplicate management system in place. Every time a new candidate is created in the pool by uploading/parsing a resume in TargetRecruit, the profile is scanned and if the same candidate has applied for a different job in the past then the existing candidate record is updated. There are tools like Datatrim.com that can make duplicate management in the CRM or ATS even simpler.

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As you continue to add more and more information to our ATS, it gets richer and even more powerful. However, this “gold mine” of data can only deliver the maximum benefit when managed efficiently. A huge candidate database can become cluttered and then hinders rather than helps effective searching, so it is well worth investing the time and resources to ensure it is managed efficiently.