Recruiting tools: How to find the right tool

I’m sure you know the problem:
You are looking for a new employee. You have advertised. You receive countless applications. Some come by post, others by e-mail and some apply via your website. It’s great that so many people are interested in working with you. But how do you find the right employee among hundreds of applicants? This is hidden behind an application. And this application is hidden among hundreds of other applications. Every application needs to be opened, read and assessed. A mountain of work is piling up in front of you.
If you only want to skim through the applications and spend a maximum of 2 minutes per application, you need half a day per 100 applications. – And that’s just for an initial overview. You know from the outset that a good 50% of applicants do not have the professional qualifications for the job. They are also hidden behind applications that we first have to open and process. Wasted time. In addition, an application is the best indication of whether the applicant or someone close to him or her can write good applications, but not whether he or she actually fits the vacant position. Incidentally, today you can buy a very professional CV for around 50 euros without having the corresponding skills.

What helps here? – The right recruiting tool and a good process.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a tool that recognizes an applicant’s true potential? And which automatically sorts through the jumble of applications – and can even filter out unsuitable applications without you having to pick up a single application? And that checks for both professional qualifications and soft skills?
Good news! There is a wide range of recruiting tools on the market and a few can even do that. However, it is not easy to find the right tool in the jungle of tools and to set up the recruiting process well. Because what all tool providers have in common: They promise optimal support in recruiting. Otherwise, they could not be more different in terms of quality and scope of services. For an initial orientation, the tools can be divided into three main groups: There are platform tools, administration tools and diagnostic tools. We will discuss the special features of each focus area here.

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• Platform tools

  Here, the recruiting tool is embedded in a comprehensive solution that often also includes functions such as personnel administration, remuneration, knowledge management, talent management and onboarding processes. The range of functions is very extensive, and the price is of course similarly extensive. If you want to use a platform tool, the IBM Kenexa tool is definitely the best way to support your recruiting. It can also be combined well with SAP’s Talent Management. Also worth mentioning is the Rexx system, which has a wide range of functions in conjunction with Cut-e diagnostics.

• Administration tools

  Most companies have administration tools: Applicants apply via a submission tool on the website. In this way, all applications can be easily managed according to the same system. The tool ensures that all required content is entered and that applications are not received in different media – e.g. e-mail and paper. It sorts the information provided – unchecked – according to technical aspects. All tools have automated correspondence that sends confirmations of receipt, invitations or even rejections. Some administration tools check whether the applicant meets the basic requirements and send a rejection directly if necessary. Only a few tools offer an additional potential analysis with a potential ranking. Despite good preparatory work and systematization, you usually still have to work through many applications and decide whether you think an applicant is suitable and would like to invite them.

• Diagnostic tools

  These are tools designed to diagnose potential: A questionnaire is used to determine the applicant’s potential. Depending on the quality of the tool, representative results are obtained. One example of this is PEP 360 ° – a diagnostic tool based on business psychology that analyzes work and performance styles as well as leadership and team behavior. In most cases, you receive information about the potential of the applicants, but are not supported by an administration tool in the applicant management process. This also means that you have to work your way through applications.

 

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8 questions you should ask when selecting the recruiting tool for your applicant management process.

There are tools that meet very high standards and fulfill all requirements. To find these, it is worth checking the following points.

1. does the process help to find applicants who have not even considered applying at this stage?

On average, 20% of a company’s employees are dissatisfied with their job and would change if they had the opportunity. Most of them have not yet started any application activities, but would become active if they were approached. In the Lean Recruiting process, there is the option to search for such potential applicants.

2. does the tool check the basic requirements?

Ideally, a tool checks at the beginning of the application process whether an applicant fulfills the basic requirements. This can be the necessary professional experience or the willingness to work at a specific location. If these requirements are not met, the applicant will not proceed to the next application step. By asking directly, many applicants realize on their own that they are not suitable for the position and abandon the application process.

3. is the data collected and sorted?

This is always the case with administration tools, as this is their basic function. However, not every diagnostic tool can be used to sort the applicant data, which often has to be done manually.

4. is there a ranking of applicants?

The ranking is the essential prerequisite for saving time: If a recruiter does not have to go through every application, but can invite the best applicants by means of a ranking until the position is filled, he saves an enormous amount of time. He doesn’t need to deal with hundreds of applications that don’t fit or don’t fit at all. It is important here that the desired tool carries out the ranking on the basis of very objective, clear criteria. One of the reasons why this is crucial is to prevent a complaint of discrimination.

 

5. is automated correspondence included?

If the tool takes over the correspondence with the applicants, this again saves a lot of time, as there is an enormous amount of correspondence. The perfect tool thanks you for your application, sends friendly rejections if the basic requirements are not met, invites you to the next steps of the recruitment process, thanks you for completing them and follows up if documents are still missing by e-mail and text message.

6. does it provide well-founded potential diagnostics as a basis for your decision?

A sensitive topic! Many providers offer instruments for analyzing potential under the heading of “recruiting tools”, although these do not offer any process support, but merely an online questionnaire with evaluation. It is worth taking a closer look. Check whether the potential analysis is statistically substantiated! Is the recommendation based on empirical findings or is it “made up” using a theoretical model? Give preference to tools that have been developed on the basis of observation and evaluation!

7. can potential diagnostics be tricked?

What is the point of the potential analysis questionnaires if the applicant can predict from the outset which answer the potential employer would like to hear? Nothing. At least no reliable data on the applicant’s real potential. Unfortunately, there are many tools on the market that rely on the applicant answering honestly, which – you guessed it – is not always the case. When answering, it should not be obvious which is the “correct” answer. A good tool checks the answers several times so that the recruiter can assess the realism of the information provided.

8. is an individual interview guide for the interview included?

Good tools provide interview guidelines based on the data collected. This keeps the preparation time for the interview to a minimum: 10 minutes should be enough. Good tools provide a customized interview guide for each applicant, which helps the interviewer to ask the right questions.

Our conclusion:

After careful examination of many recruiting tools on the market, we came to the decision that “Lean Recruiting” is the best tool, as it fulfills all requirements in high quality: Each of the 8 questions could be answered with a clear yes! “Lean Recruiting” leaves nothing to be desired.
One of our clients was looking for a new employee for the logistics department with “Lean Recruiting”. 39 people applied. Many applications were already sorted out during the check-up for the basic requirements. After comparison with the ranking, 9 people were offered the opportunity to answer the complete questionnaire on potential diagnostics. Based on these results, interviews were held with 3 people. Ideally, all three people would have been hired. The entire recruiting process – from the advertisement to the contract – was completed in just 3 weeks. Instead of one and a half hours a day, we only had to spend about 5 minutes every two days on the applications.

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Do you have any questions? We will be happy to advise you! Let’s make an appointment! We are also happy to organize an HR workshop for your HR team, where you can match your needs and requirements with the various tools.

Are you interested in recruiting tools and lean recruiting? Then contact us – we look forward to hearing from you!
Change and talent management: www.berlinerteam.de