recruitment software

HOW TO….test the efficiency of your recruitment software

Recruitment software. It is changing the industry in countless ways – removing the burden of menial tasks and improving performance outcomes. But many recruiters struggle to assess the real-world savings that their software solution is providing.

In fact, this problem is more common than one might expect. After all, it is not easy to measure the time and resources that were not consumed in the completion of any task. Yet this uncertainty can lead to real world problems: a lack of confidence in one’s own practices; the failure to identify a flawed application or a wasteful process that is affecting performance.

Our point-by-point guide to evaluating the efficiency of your current software is designed to help you spot problems, and to provide some easy-to-apply solutions when faced with an under-performing system.

Identify the key metrics

The first challenge is knowing which aspects of your day-to-day operations you should be measuring. So ask yourself one very simple question: what is my recruitment software supposed to be doing? Although the specifics may vary for each individual business, your list will probably look something like this:

  • Improve data management, archiving, and retrieval
  • Reduce times for core processes: candidate search, establishing contact, tracking
  • Improve quality of search results for candidates and skills matches
  • Find the right candidate for every position

If that sounds familiar, it is time to start running some analytics….

Crunch the numbers

Recruitment software produces a wealth of data for your number-crunching needs. This data becomes vital when you start to check which elements of your software service are under-performing; let us take a look at some of the ways this information can figure into your final analysis.

Timing is key

For how long do the most valuable candidates remain in the recruitment market? In 2016, it was just ten days. Consider that fact as you analyse your tracking data. If your software is slow to identify a prospect; your recruitment process is drawn out; or your communications systems are geared towards doing things “the old fashioned way”, then you hold little hope of attracting the cream of the crop for your clients. The top candidates will already be preparing to leave the recruitment space as you set about establishing a first point of contact with them.

Delegated tasks

Assessing the total number of worker hours spent on manual data management tasks – including entry and retrieval – helps to identify inefficient processes. If these numbers are high, it is a strong indicator that your system is working against your team, rather than with it.

Automatic and integrated data management should be considered the industry norm for any recruitment firm or HR department that wishes to remain competitive. Automated data systems reduce worker hours spent on menial tasks, while integration enables instant access to recently-uploaded data from any point within your organisation. With this, faster, co-ordinated responses can be achieved.

Quality of outcomes

Your software is supposed to raise the overall quality of your outcomes, but an outdated service will consistently fail to identify valuable candidates for new roles.

An absence of smart search functionality will result in omissions of qualified candidates for reasons as trivial as a data input error, poor application formatting, or even changing trends in job descriptions and industry jargon. Studies suggest that this phenomenon may account for as much as 
75 per cent
 of all erroneous rejections of qualified candidates. Older systems that are unable to execute a semantic search return lower quality results simply because their search parameters do not recognise emerging roles, or associated key skills and terms.

Check your employee retention rates

Worker retention is a very strong indicator of the overall success of your recruitment process. If you are losing a large number of new recruits soon after their appointment, it is possible that your internal company culture may need re-evaluating. Just as likely, however, is that it is a sign that inappropriate candidates are making it through to the later stages of the selection process. Poor employee retention costs thousands of pounds for each lost hire; a robust candidate tracking facility will help recruiters in the crucial, final stages of every selection process.

Communication is key

Finally: ask your team. Your team has more experience than anybody when it comes to your software processes. If your system is under-performing, or causing additional problems, your staff will be aware of these issues. They may already be strongly in favour of updating their older resources.

Solving software inefficiency: first steps

The good news is that modern software services are not only increasingly advanced in their capabilities, but surprisingly affordable, even for businesses operating to tight budgets. Most suites can be fully adapted, giving you a degree of freedom when it comes to choosing the functions and facilities that are most valuable to improving your outcomes. Once you have completed the initial steps of your efficiency check, you may wish to talk to a member of our team; discuss the improvements you want for your company and learn more about the options that are available to you.

Alternatively, you can complete the final stage of your efficiency assessment right now, by test driving our software tools for recruiters. Evaluate the time and cost benefits of eBoss advanced features first hand, while making a head-to-head comparison with your existing service. Follow this link and access your free copy in minutes.