How to Choose the Right Hiring Solution for Your Company

Most recruiters will agree that hiring a new employee can be a long and complicated process. The ultimate goal is to find the best employee for the position. As such, more and more organizations are turning to staffing software to help them automate and manage the hiring process. However, selecting a recruiting system can be even more daunting than selecting a new employee.

A basic Google search for staffing software returns roughly 11,500,000 results. Weeding through all those options can be an overwhelming task. Here are 5 steps that can be used to make the process of selecting a recruiting system more manageable:

• Define your overall goals. Do you want to reduce turnover, decrease time to fill, automate certain processes?

• Determine system requirements. What features and functionality are must haves?

• Establish a budget. There is no sense in reviewing a solution that is out of your price range.

• Conduct a vendor evaluation of the top 3 - 5 choices. Ask questions, conduct a demo, compare and contrast all the options.

• Take a test drive. Most companies will allow you to go through a trial period because they know that this is an investment on your end. Take advantage of that time to make sure the system will meet your needs, both immediate and long-term.

Important Factors to Consider

It's easy to be "wowed" by recruiting systems that contain all the bells and whistles, but don't be swayed by a fancy user interface. Determine what you need in a staffing software system and find the platform that best meets those needs. Don't feel pressured to purchase a system that has functionality that you don't need unless you plan on growing into it in to the near future.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when evaluating staffing software:

• Are your recruitment needs specialized or more general? Make sure the system can be customized to fit any unique hiring needs you have. For those with generalized hiring needs, a more straight-forward recruiting platform will suffice.

• How will you streamline your processes? It is important to make sure that any new workflows you create flow smoothly and easily translate over to your recruiting platform.

• Will you be moving data from one system to another? If so, ask about the migration process. Be sure to ask how fix bugs and other errors will be addressed if they occur during the transition.

Streamline Processes & Improve Productivity

Finding the right staffing software system can make a world of difference to a company's hiring practices. Reviewing software programs during the evaluation process will inherently cause the company to review their hiring methods, which can lead to the elimination of unnecessary and time consuming steps that hinder the recruiting process.

From a recruiter's perspective, there are many benefits of using staffing software. Having an automated system in place can increase efficiency, save time and increase productivity. For example, instead of visiting numerous individual job boards to source for candidates, recruiters can conduct a comprehensive search from their recruiting software system and get targeted candidate list in seconds. This, in turn, allows recruiters to devote more of their time on not just hiring, but hiring the best possible candidate for the position. By finding the best fit, the chances of turnover are reduced and engagement is increased.

One last thought - after selecting a staffing software system, take the time to properly configure the system and take advantage of any training sessions the vendor provides. This can help increase user adoption of the system and further optimize your hiring process.