Do you ever think what recruiters and HR managers use most of their time for in the process of hiring? Having worked closely with some major staffing firms and recruiting agencies, I can easily say – calling the candidates or communicating with them through emails are real time stealers. Both “interaction methods” can be time-consuming and fruitless if the candidates do not respond to phone calls/emails or ask to call later, leave a message and the like. Sounds familiar? My personal opinion is that the process of searching for candidates, their screening and arranging interviews can, and should, be automated in the 21st century.

While there are many variations of intranet/extranet CRM solutions and social CRM apps, they differ greatly in the types of features they offer. What's more, they often must be tailored to the needs of a particular business. Let's look at what a good CRM solution for recruiters must have.

1. It should bring about the “death” of emails and phone calls. The number of phone conversations and email letters should be reduced to the absolute minimum by the use of predefined template features of the app.
2. It should be mobile. The easiest way to reach your candidates wherever they are, is through mobile devices.
3. It should help manage the recruitment process with just a click:

click – the job add is shared with the candidates who fit the criteria (from the recruiter database) – click – the candidates choose “interested”/”not interested” option – click – the candidates choose the time of the interviews convenient for them – click – the interview is booked – click – the result of the interview is sent – click – a job offer is sent – click – the candidate accepts the offer.

As simple as that. In such a way, the schedule of the interviews will be created without extra effort from the recruiter's side at the same time avoiding unnecessary and untimely calls to the candidates. The process is a sequence of several easy steps, and simplifies the life of both the HR specialist and the candidate

Undoubtedly, HR specialists may want to add certain workflows peculiar to the company/industry they work in. More often than not, it's possible. We've done it several times with the software inTouch recruit and simplified the work life of our customers by improving their productivity. So, while social mobile CRM can mean different things for different businesses, for recruiters it should definitely mean minimizing calls and emails, and maximizing the amount of effective work time.