Recruitment Software Usage in Today’s Employment Market
July, 2008
In the June 2008 edition of Recruitment Extra, FastTrack CEO, Justin Sway took part in a panel discussion regarding recruitment software usage. Specifically, the question put forward was:
Given the pace of technological developments and the current employment market, how well do you think recruitment agencies currently utilise recruitment software and what could they improve on?
Justin Sway: “When discussing recruitment software it is important to separate industry enthusiasm from operational use. Recruitment agencies take a keen interest in technology and actively help shape future developments; however, in many cases their system’s architecture makes it difficult to take full advantage of their software.
More often than not these agencies find themselves wrestling with disparate software systems. They have attempted to ‘bolt together’ individual applications, each designed in isolation, resulting in a configuration that never satisfies their need for integration or efficiency.
Savvy recruitment businesses have recognised that a single seamless system that supports all processes from job-posting to applicant tracking, to candidate and client management, to payroll and billing is critical. It is all about full integration and optimising consultants’ workflows.
Consider posting job advertisements. The right fully integrated system will foster efficiency by removing tedious duplicate data entry. Consultants simply complete a job order, post ads to multiple job boards and then track the progress of their candidates’ applications within the one system. This not only makes consultants more efficient but gives greater visibility of their candidate sourcing activities.
Of course it is also important to conduct business process reviews. Agencies should regularly have their solutions provider analyse how their software configuration and business processes align for best fit. Done successfully this translates into increased productivity and cost efficiencies.
Apart from consultant efficiency, a fully integrated system dramatically enhances management’s decision making capabilities. With timely and accurate data available across the business, management has access to detailed information to make more informed decisions.
Ultimately, agencies must view their recruitment systems as evolving tools. Those that analyse how their business and software interact will certainly have an advantage.”
Source: Recruitment Extra, June 2008.
