Staffing firms typically contact TargetRecruit with several specific goals and a list of high level requirements as they evaluate Applicant Tracking Systems. These requirements vary for every staffing company, in fact, no two staffing company’s requirements are exactly alike. The ultimate objective, however, is always the same:

“Increase our staffing company’s sophistication as an enterprise by automating workflows, business processes, and communications to increase placements and bottom line profitability”.

Sound familiar?

For the purposes of this blog, I posed the question to C-levels, recruiting managers, recruiters, sourcing authorities and attendees at the SIA Executive Forum, which TargetRecruit was fortunate to sponsor last week, regarding their current recruitment challenges.

Here is a list of top challenges:

1. How to increase the database of candidates in general.
2. Candidate searching in specific markets.
3. Reduction in time to fill a position (Search to placement).
4. External competition for candidates.
5. Quality of Hire.
6. Communications with passive candidates.

This is not an exhaustive list, but represents the top responses.
In an effort to describe how an ATS can assist with these recruiting challenges, we’ve listed the ways that a comprehensive ATS can help drive and manage your toughest recruitment challenges.

1. Challenge: How to Increase Database of Candidates.
Solution: Candidate Portals & Job Board Integration

Believe it or not, many staffing companies still do not have an adequate Candidate Portal that enables candidates to easily submit their resumes via the staffing company’s website. This is a costly mistake. An ATS such as TargetRecruit makes it easy for staffing companies to create a Candidate Portal and start receiving resumes, CVs, cover letters and other documents directly from the website and automatically create candidate profiles without manual data entry into the ATS.

If you do not currently have an ATS that enables you to efficiently post open job orders from your system or database to multiple job boards, you are probably wasting a good chunk of time that could be better spent on more lucrative activity. With TargetRecruit, it is possible to post new and exciting job opportunities to your favorite and most effective job boards from within the system with the click of a button.

2. Challenge: Effective Candidate Search in specific markets.
Solution: Effective Candidate Search Functionality

We have several clients that recruit for local talent and several clients that recruit for global talent. The process, however, can be equally as challenging. If your search functionality is not powerful, streamlined and accurate, searching and finding local or global candidates can be limiting. Boolean searching and creative search processes are constantly changing to source hidden and passive candidates. Also, you must consider a customizable solution that gives you the ability to create enhanced search filters.

3. Challenge: Reduction in Search to placement time.
Solution: Full System Automation

Shorten your search to placement with a fully automated system including streamlined search functionality (mentioned above), job board integration (mentioned above), and streamlined communications. An ATS that provides all three is ideal and recommended.

4. Challenge: External competition for candidates.
Solution: Timing seems to be everything, right? Faster (quality) candidate acquisition.

When you are fully automated and running on all cylinders, the search to placement time is reduced and the ability to win placements faster is a logical outcome. It is now possible (and imperative) to integrate “one-click functionality” that will replace ancient, arduous and time consuming tasks like scheduling interviews, notifying active and passive candidates of newly acquired open jobs and job applicant submission to hiring managers.

5. Challenge: Quality of Hire.
Solution: Automatic Skill Set and Specific Job Criteria Matching

A system with the ability to automatically match key skill sets of candidates to specific job criteria  to open job orders is a tremendous technological advantage to any recruiting organization. This is similar to having an automatic co-pilot doing a big chunk of the work for recruiters. This does not, however, take the place out of quality conversations that recruiters and employers have when qualifying intangible qualifications, but certainly aids in the efficiencies of hiring a better qualified candidate.

6. Challenge: Finding and contacting passive candidates.
Solution: Email templates and social media integration

Keeping in touch with passive candidates is a huge challenge in today’s market place. Log on to any recruitment blog and there is a post regarding passive candidate strategy several times a day. Effective tracking of communications with customized email templates and social media outreach is key. Does your ATS have this capability and how do you measure its efficacy?

We’d like to know your challenges so that we can continue to provide technological tools to enhance and automate the search to placement process and solve your most problematic recruitment issues.

Please join us for a live webinar:
Creating Solutions for Your Toughest Recruitment Challenges
Thursday, April 19th 2012 11:00 am -12:00 pm CDT

Click here to Register

Message us direct @Target_Recruit or email us at info@targetrecruit.net with your challenges in advance so that we may address on the webinar.