Candidate tracking systems (also known as applicant tracking systems) streamline recruitment through automated workflows that track and advance applicants in real time. They allow HR teams to stay organized and see where each applicant is in their process.
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How candidate tracking systems work
Identify qualified applicants:
Candidate management begins by identifying qualified candidates in the applicant group. HR teams use a candidate tracking system to automate the filtering process prior to screening and advancing qualified applicants to the next stage. Candidate profiles can be tagged for specific certifications or credentials for follow-up. Automation gives HR teams more time to engage with qualified candidates and follow up with a precise candidate group.
Improve team collaboration:
Every hiring process involves lots of moving parts. Candidate tracking systems help teams remain organized and on track throughout the process by storing information centrally and automating candidate advancement. It also allows teams to look back at decisions being made along the way to provide greater confidence in their decision-making.
- Centralized storage for applicant information: Maintaining a single source of data removes the need for hand-offs or data transfers. In a candidate tracking system, all team members can log in and work on hiring tasks asynchronously.
- Applicant profile integrity: As an individual progresses through the hiring journey, the system updates their profile in real time. This includes scheduled interviews, their completed skills test scores, and even ratings and notes from their completed interview.
High-volume candidate management:
Candidate screening and management are straightforward when there are only a handful of applicants. However, when an organization is managing talent pools in the hundreds, or even thousands, the need for efficiency becomes greater.
A candidate tracking system supports candidate management by automatically pre-screening thousands of resumes to create a shortlist of candidates to pursue. This way, the hiring team knows exactly who to focus on without getting lost in the sheer volume of applications received. Because a candidate tracking system standardizes your hiring process across all touchpoints, HR teams scale hiring initiatives while maintaining consistency.
In high-volume environments, candidates still expect to receive the same level of contact from you, which would be impossible to maintain or keep track of manually. A candidate tracking system can automate and time communications at your desired frequency to continue building your relationship across a wide talent pool.
Positive candidate experience:
Creating a fast, easy, and engaging candidate experience feeds into completion and retention rates. When you provide a positive experience, candidates who are successful begin their new role with a positive outlook and stay with you longer. Whether successful or not, those who felt their hiring experience with you was positive will be more likely to apply again, refer a friend and even advocate on behalf of your brand. Automated workflows in a candidate tracking system make it straightforward to create a great experience with the same resources you have in place now.
Streamline the journey
SITUATION:
Potential hires want an experience that is fast and user-friendly. Lags in hiring stages could lead to drop off.
SOLUTION:
Automated workflows that eliminate wait times.
RESULT:
Better completion rates.
Acknowledge candidates
SITUATION:
Candidates are looking for prompt and engaging communications to feel valued in the process.
SOLUTION:
Automated SMS & emails to keep the process moving foward.
RESULT:
Higher acceptance rates.
Showcase your brand
SITUATION:
Personal fit is important to candidates. They would like to have a deeper connection with their employer.
SOLUTION:
Custom platform branding and messaging to communicate brand values.
RESULT:
Improved applicant and brand alignment.
Personalize the candidate experience.
Some software solutions offer applicants the choice of interview dates and times, as well as interview format.
Talent acquisition:
Maintaining a strong talent pipeline is dependent upon visibility into candidate relationship progression and ongoing applicant sourcing to drive top-of-funnel success.
A candidate tracking system helps cultivate high-quality talent pools through its strong candidate relationship management capabilities, including:
- Flagging and expediting qualified candidates
- Automating communications and reminders
- Saving unsuccessful applicants for future consideration
Talent acquisition metrics in an applicant tracking system allow organizations to measure their sourcing success to meet forecasts. Metrics include job board performance, time-to-hire, drop-off, acceptance, and referral rates across talent pools.
Optimize candidate tracking:
Having the right insights into each stage of your hiring process can help improve the experience for both hiring managers and candidates. In a candidate tracking system, talent acquisition metrics provide insights into candidate management processes.
Metrics can be used to see how long candidates spent in each hiring stage. For example, waiting for their interview, or awaiting feedback on the next steps. You can also see where the drop-offs occur to isolate process bottlenecks. Taken together, all of these give you a better picture of your time-to-hire.
Managing candidate information
Store data centrally:
Choosing potential hires who are most suited for the position hinges on identifying the right skills and experience. A candidate management system means you can easily search for applicants who have previously applied for a role. While they weren’t the right fit for that previous role, they may be a good fit for your current position. You can also look at who applied to other positions in your organization. By looking at other positions that require the same skills, you can quickly identify qualified candidates for your own position.
Storing all applicant information in a single platform also eliminates data transfers between systems or manual processes when searching for those best-fit hires – and the risks!
Introduce automation:
Here’s how you can streamline your hiring process with a candidate management system. Since most systems plug into various recruiting tools, scheduling, skills testing, and interview modules can be added on an as-needed basis.
- Sourcing: Automatically create applicant profiles from received applications. Store them centrally for team-wide access.
- Scheduling: The candidate management system will keep track of an applicant’s upcoming interviews. Allow applicants to schedule their own interviews based on your team’s availability to give you time back without losing sight of where candidates are in their journey.
- Screening: Flag and advance qualified candidates with built-in workflows. Expedite and nurture top talent.
- Management: Update applicant profiles in real time as they move through the evaluation stage. Add tools for testing and interviewing.
- Job offer: Facilitate job offer communications, changes, and signatures in the same platform.
- Onboarding: Once hired, connecting to your payroll/HRIS system can help streamline the onboarding process for new employees in a matter of minutes.
Candidate management system features
Automatic resume parsing
Auto-tag specific criteria to identify top talent and expedite in the hiring process.
Ongoing profile updates
For real-time insights into applicants as their test scores and interview ratings are completed.
Applicant advancement workflows
Pre-screen candidates and move qualified individuals on to the next hiring stage.
Automated SMS and email communications
For greater candidate engagement and relationship management on a bigger scale.
Talent acquisition metrics
On time-to-hire, cost-to-hire, and quality of hire for greater visibility into process performance
Candidate surveys
To understand how applicants perceive your hiring experience and where you could improve.
Evaluating candidate tracking system vendors
Understanding how a candidate tracking system introduces efficiencies is only the first step. The next step is choosing the right vendor. Each candidate tracking system is unique and some offer more advanced functionality than others. However, there are certain capabilities that can profoundly impact internal user adoption and your ability to provide a positive experience to candidates. Regardless of which vendors you choose to include in your consideration set, we recommend considering the following:
Ease of use
Mobile-friendly technology
Talent acquisition metrics
Brand promotion
Platform customization
Dedicated implementation team
Support & training
Data protection and security
VidCruiter’s applicant tracking system
VidCruiter provides end-to-end candidate management tracking and relationship management that creates a streamlined process for both hiring teams and applicants. Automated workflows, auto-tagging, and real-time candidate profile updates give hiring teams maximum visibility into candidate progression no matter how many stages or how many people are involved in the process.
Timed SMS and email communications in the platform ensure prompt candidate engagement and create a personalized experience even in high-volume environments.
Learn more about VidCruiter’s
applicant tracking software