We enjoyed a recent Chad & Cheese podcast in which those two very smart wise guys talked with Nathan Perrot, who is VP, Digital Marketing Solutions-Employer Brand at AIA. Chad Sowash, Joel Cheesman and Nathan uncovered some important topics related to recruiting that we’ll return to in future posts here on the Comeet Blog.
But today, let’s explore one of the questions that arose during the podcast . . .
Are You Using Only 5% of What Your Applicant Hiring Platform Can Do?
Chad, Joel and Nathan touched on the fact that many companies fail to take full advantage of all the technology that is part of the hiring platform they are using . . . in many cases, technology that they are paying for.
Why?
Why would any company use only a small percentage of the features that are part of a powerful hiring platform? There are many reasons. The following short case study provides one example . . .
In a meeting, Perry pulled out his phone and said, “Look at the app I just installed for organizing, scheduling and tracking conference calls. It’s awesome.”
Christine wasn’t happy. She said, “Perry, our system already does that . . . why would you start using an app that doesn’t integrate with it?”
But at that point, two other people in the room had already installed the app that Perry told them about. It was like someone had let an angry badger out of a bag, it was running around the room, and there was no getting it back in again.
That’s just one example of how people start to walk away from the ATS features that are available on the platforms their companies are already using. And when they do, the result is usually chaos. Information that should be in the system for everyone to use never gets there. Members of the hiring team start to schedule interviews and activities that nobody else knows about. Some members of the HR team are considering candidates that nobody else knows about yet.
As we said . . . chaos!
How to Make Sure Your Hiring Platform Is Fully Utilized
There are many ways to encourage full utilization. Here are some to consider . . .
- Someone on your team should be the resident expert about your hiring system. While everybody should know how to use it, at least one member of your team should be an expert resource that everyone else can turn to when they have a question or a problem. Where does that expert come from? In many cases, he or she is already a member of your team who can self-educate if you say, “Your job for the next two days is to go into a room by yourself and learn everything you can about our hiring software.”
- Consider having your resident expert serve as your service center. If you have the staffing depth, he or she should answer “service tickets” as quickly as possible. Whenever members of your team are unable to use a function of your hiring platform, its overall efficiency comes to a standstill.
- Everyone on the hiring team should be fully trained. Your resident hiring software expert can hold training sessions, or members of your team can self-train on the hiring platform. We’re willing to bet that Perry started using an unintegrated app because he just didn’t know that its function could be handled by the hiring app his company was already using. Effective training can assure that everyone is using all the features that are built into the hiring software.
- Someone should be in charge of communications about software updates and new functionality. He or she can send out emails that explain more about how one of the hiring software features works, announce when a new functionality is introduced, and more (in many cases your software company will send these communications to everyone but it can’t hurt to have a point person to follow up.) Communication is what keeps people using the platform . . . and using 100% of what it can do. Most modern hiring platforms have a built-in function which will delivery automatic updates to you while your in the app.
- Make sure everyone on your team knows about your hiring software company’s knowledge base and FAQs. When people are able to find answers for their questions and solve issues on their own, your whole hiring platform operates more efficiently.
- Do a regular user review to make sure everyone on the team has the correct level of access to perform their jobs. Many times a simple problem can be solved when the user has access to a specific function they need to do their jobs more efficiently.
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