Top 4 tips when investing in a recruitment system

The whole point of investing in a recruitment system is to make things faster and more efficient. Today, with the cloud, mobile and all the new tools available, one can expect the best solutions to be intuitive and easy to adopt. So don’t choose a system that is unnecessarily complicated to use.

The test
One good usability litmus test is to ask the vendor how long it takes to get trained. If it is more than a few days, that is a red flag.

Don’t forget: the majority of users are candidates
Candidates make up 99.5% of a recruitment system’s users. When looking at recruitment management technology, always ask yourself what kind of experience the candidate is going to have with it with regards to the online/mobile job search and application.

Want to avoid getting stuck in what seems like an endless e-recruitment project with escalating costs? Pick a vendor who accurately scopes the project (before you sign the contract).

Signs your vendor knows how to scope

1. Their project team members understand recruitment
This is key. If they don’t understand the corporate recruitment process, they will not see potential opportunities and pitfalls and that is a huge time-buster. You don’t want a software implementer that only understands their own software.

2. They involve all the right people from your company
A company’s recruitment process can get complex and vary widely differ from one office to another. Also, different parts of an implementation project may require different inputs such as that of the marketing, onboarding or IT departments.

Too often, employers implement expensive systems where they were forced to adopt processes that simply did not suit their needs. Ensure the solution you pick offers flexible workflows that reflect the real world. How? By looking at all your specific internal and external hiring procedures and asking the vendor if they can adapt the software to them or not.

Here are a few examples that can help you get started:

Which documents do you require from applicants?
Is the approval process the same for each job category?
Do your data requirements for an application vary depending on the role?
Is the interview process the same for everyone?

Also examine everything beyond the interview step such as offer management or new employee onboarding. Depending on the position or category of the role, you might manage them differently too.

Just because a vendor is well established in the region does not mean their clients are happy. Ask for contact information of people and companies who are currently using the solution you are interested in – not old versions of it. This not only provides you with insight about the recruitment system and its implementation but also potential advice from industry peers on  things to look out for when managing this type of project. Getting references is an easy, inexpensive thing to do that will take out some of the risk factors involved in your investment.