Every company needs to find the right employees to be successful. However, setbacks and problems often occur during the recruiting process, slowing it down or making it difficult to find the right candidate. Among the factors that can get in the way of an optimal recruiting process are too few applications, a lack of methods for assessing the quality of certain recruiting channels and a lack of transparency in the decision-making process. An applicant tracking software can resolve many of these issues. We’ll show you how to solve common problems and find the right applicant tracking software in 5 steps.

Step 1: Plan ahead

The first step is for you to think about how your recruiting process should look in the future. Compare your current situation with how you would like it to be. Think about what challenges you might encounter during the recruiting process and then write down how the ideal process should look. That makes it easy to figure out what you need to do to achieve it.

Step 2: Make a budget

Put together a cost schedule and determine how much time and money you can invest in your ideal recruiting process. When deciding on an applicant management system, which is something that can solve many issues and challenges in recruiting, you should remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You may end up with hidden costs, spend a lot of time on software integration or discover that the software is anything but user-friendly.

Step 3: Get the people you need on board

Think about who will have to work with the software program and who will be involved in the integration process. Make sure that all the participants are aware of the upcoming changes. Don’t forget to get the green light from management. Otherwise you may end up having to drop your plans. Best practice is to prepare a concise summary of problems with recruiting, improvements that can realistically be achieved, and all costs involved.

Step 4: Create a requirements catalog

After comparing your current situation with your ideal one, you should already know which challenges you need to tackle. Use them to create a catalog of your requirements that you can refer to as you look for applicant management system providers. Determine your “must-haves.” Examples include user-friendliness, KPI reporting criteria, cooperation with colleagues and the complexity of software integration.

There is a chart in our white paper that will help you to compare providers and pick the right applicant tracking software. 

Step 5: Compare providers

Use the catalog of your requirements to compare providers. You’ll see right away that the range of functions can vary greatly from one software to another and from provider to provider. If possible, test the systems that appeal to you most and get all the facts you need.

After following these 5 steps and finding the answers to all your questions, there is nothing that can stop you from optimizing your recruiting process. By doing so, you will find the right applicant tracking software and the right applicants for the success of your business.