HR software: everything you need to know before choosing one
HR departments are continuously more focused on the attraction of candidates, the value of human resources and the acquisition of qualified profiles to fill the vacant positions in companies. It is a job that requires time as well as energy, and which today can be optimized thanks to specific technological tools such as HR software.
Before choosing one, it is important to know these recruiting software, test them in a practical way by taking advantage of the free trial periods and evaluate them carefully to find the right one for the needs of your company.
Let’s see in this article the importance of HR software for Companies and Employment Agencies (APL), why adopt one, what essential requirements a good recruiting software must have and what must never be missing to really improve the management of research processes and selection.
HR Software for Companies and Employment Agencies
Adopting an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or recruiting software does not only mean digitizing the search and selection process but also finding a solution capable of solving problems and satisfying the needs expressed by HR teams and personnel management during the process of recruiting.
Companies and Employment Agencies (APL) may decide to adopt HR software to meet different needs. From the need to centrally manage the selection process, automate the publication of advertisements, plan interviews and monitor the progress of candidates in the pipeline, to manage a large number of applications, speed up screening, establish relationships with customers and the work of the HR teams of the various company branches.
In some cases, these needs are shared by companies of different sectors and sizes, Employment Agencies, Research and Selection companies and multinationals and often it is these that push them towards the adoption of HR software. But not only.
3 good reasons to choose HR software for recruiting
What can HR software do to improve your recruiting processes? Here are 3 good reasons to consider when choosing HR software.
- Optimize the management of the entire process
HR software helps to manage the entire search and selection process more effectively. In addition to allowing you to better organize activities, to have greater control over processes and also over the work done by team members, the recruiting software allows you to centralize, digitize and accelerate all those activities that would otherwise be carried out manually such as the publication of ads or CV screening.
- Promote the brand and improve the candidate’s experience
Better management of the recruiting process will not have a negative effect the candidate’s overall experience and on his perception of the company. Some ATSs are equipped with useful features in this regard: Inrecruiting, for example, allows you to create a personalized Career Page to promote Employer Branding, to communicate easily with candidates, to send automatic feedback and to allow the application with a simple click. Furthermore, by using HR software, a company proves to be in step with the times and open to experimentation and this has a positive impact on Talent Attraction.
- Work alongside the recruiter and support the team
A company that invests in technology can certainly measure its effects by analyzing the ROI, but that’s not all. The return on investment and economic savings are accompanied, first of all, by the ability of the software to support the recruiter in the practical performance of research and selection activities and, secondly, to coordinate the work of the entire HR team. An ATS helps manage applications, identify the most qualified profiles for ads, monitor the progress of selections, consult the data necessary to plan truly effective Talent Acquisition strategies, with the effect of saving time to devote to other activities with greater added value.
What to ask of an HR software
When evaluating an ATS Provider, you need to look for some essential general characteristics within a recruiting software. Let’s see them below.
User-friendly
One of the first things we notice when evaluating HR software is the graphical interface and the user friendly system. Having a fresh and modern graphical interface is as important as being able to move easily within the software, use it in an intuitive way and be able to carry out the various activities effortlessly: all this contributes to a pleasant experience for the business user. But that’s not all. When we evaluate the convenience of a software we must also consider the importance of having a responsive system, optimized for different devices (desktop, tablet, smarthphone) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) and multilingual.
Integration readiness
The willingness to integrate with other pre-existing systems or third-party software is definitely one of the most important aspects when choosing HR software. The reason is simple: a company may already be using HCM or other software, so it must be able to integrate with them and communicate with them. The systems need to “talk to each other” to “work well together.” By interacting with the software vendor, it’s good to explore this aspect, learn more about how the software is integrated, how it is configured, whether it is compatible with other software or artificial intelligence systems (as in the case of Inrecruiting with Inda), and whether it can be integrated via APIs.
Security
A sound recruiting software ensures proper handling of personal data in a GDPR compliant manner, helps manage sensitive data while respecting user privacy. Having to deal with a cloud software that allows you to easily migrate data (import/export) between company systems, manage access of company users based on specific permissions or restrict the performance of certain operations are additional strengths in terms of security.
Adaptability and thoroughness of the offer
An HR software must be evaluated both for the functionality included in its suite and for its ability to adapt and cope with new customer needs and the evolution of the recruiting world. In this sense, when choosing HR software, we should not only look for functionality that might meet momentary needs (e.g., a multiposting system to simultaneously post a job announcement on multiple channels), but also ensure that the system is constantly updated, releases new functionality, and is available for customization and meeting future needs.
Support and assistance
When choosing software to manage the recruiting process, it is a good idea to also pay attention to the assistance and support services offered by the supplier: direct contact with an expert consultant, customer assistance, training, online help, webinars, in-depth and news updates, etc.
What should not be missing in a recruiting software
Once you have identified what may be the basic requirements of an HR software, you can take a deeper look at its functionality. During the free trial period, the recruiter has the opportunity to try the tool, put it to the test, verify the effectiveness of the various features and experiment with the various applications by “getting hands-on experience”. We talked about this in the article dedicated to free trials and what to expect and not to expect from a free software trial.
So, what can’t absolutely be missing in your HR software if you intend to improve the management of the recruiting process? In addition to the general features we talked about earlier, you may find it useful:
- Create and customize your Work with Us page and integrate it to your company website;
- Build custom application forms for your job ads;
- Simultaneously post multi-posting job ads on job boards, job sites and job portals;
- Search for candidates within the CV database (centralized) using filters and advanced, Boolean and semantic search systems;
- Schedule interviews and live video interviews to manage remote selections;
- Follow the progress of candidates on the hiring pipeline and monitor the progress of selection processes with appropriate statistics.
These and other features are offered by an Applicant Tracking System such as Inrecruiting. Would you like to try it out? Request a product demo and our consultants will walk you through everything you need to know to evaluate Inrecruiting as your next ATS Provider.
Digital Marketing presso Inrecruiting