• The good news? These time-consuming tasks don’t have to be so laborious or tedious.

That’s because an applicant tracking system (a.k.a., applicant tracker software) can put the bulk of duties tied to your recruitment process on (relative) autopilot and make it easier to execute your talent team’s candidate relationship management (CRM) strategy.

Applicant tracker software: A centralized platform for today’s SMBs

Put plainly, it’s (well) past time to track your top candidates with a Google or Excel sheet and implement a more modern recruiting approach to promoting job openings, monitoring applicants’ status, engaging job seekers of interest, and hiring top talent.

And that means onboarding a powerful yet easy-to-use ATS — but one that offers much more than mere applicant tracking and empowers your recruiters to work smarter and faster.

• “Identify solutions that go beyond applicant tracking and integrate a wide range of capabilities to support your hiring goals,” said Employ SVP People & Talent Corey Berkey.

Here’s the bare-bones explainer about how applicant tracking systems work and help small businesses just like yours — not just large corporations and Fortune 500 companies).

Simple UI and hands-on support

The top applicant tracker software (see: JazzHR) provides an easy-to-navigate user interface that helps recruiters and HR pros find info they need to move forward with a hiring cycle in seconds.

Moreover, the best ATS providers offer ongoing support to users to help them make the most of the tech. Consider what North Carolina Outward Bound School Staff Recruitment Manager Devin Kearns had to say shortly after onboarding our recruitment platform.

“What we liked … was the customer service, the user interface … and the easy customization that can be set up: from emails, to interview flows, to onboarding paperwork,” said Devin

Universal job posting capabilities

No recruiter wants to have to jump from one job board to another to post the exact same listing. In short, it’s a waste of time. With the right leading applicant tracker, though, this task is one-and-done and saves recruiting teams lots of time. (That is, time they can spend building and strengthening relationships with qualified candidates and filling positions quickly and efficiently.)

Deliver individual or bulk emails

Have a “hot” lead (i.e., one who matches all the preferences in the job description) who just applied for an open role? Using an ATS like JazzHR, you can send that prospect a personalized email right after they submit their application to set up a phone screen (or let them know you’ll pass and why).

Similarly, you can email multiple job seekers with our applicant tracker software to schedule interviews, send them assessments, or keep them up to speed on their status in the hiring cycle.

Streamlined interview scheduling

Speaking of interview scheduling, that’s yet another formerly burdensome task that can be mostly automated with a purpose-built applicant tracker like JazzHR. Consider how one customer uses our automation workflows to streamline scheduling.

“Our candidate flow is so high,” Solis Mammography Director of Talent Acquisition Dan Cady. “So, have hundreds of candidates for one position. We set up a Workflow Helper so that as soon as they apply, we send them out the video interview [link].”

Real-time reporting and analytics

Old-school applicant trackers lack any data-driven recruiting capabilities whatsoever. More modern recruiting platforms, like JazzHR, offer out-of-the-box analytics to help HR teams better track hiring metrics (and in real-time) to make insights-backed adjustments.

Our native analytics offering, Advanced Visual Reporting, makes it simple to set up, send, and schedule reports so that recruiters and HR leaders alike can share updates regarding hiring progress with business leaders — and, in turn, showcase their successes.

Searchable database of candidates

Using keyboard shortcuts to find the first or last name of the prospect who applied a couple weeks back that your team like for a particular opening isn’t exactly the most productive way to keep tabs on talent. That’s where an ATS’s recruitment database can help.

JazzHR offers various search options, including exact, partial, and Boolean (i.e., using “AND” and “OR” to find info). What’s more, talent teams with our ATS can filter candidates in their system to sort them by various traits (e.g., apply date, rating, source, funnel stage).

Investing in the right applicant tracker software for your business

These are the foundational elements of modern applicant tracker software solutions. You’ll also find a number of other useful features and functionality in top-rated ATS, including:

• Easy text-to-apply functionality
• Storage for offers and other docs
• Integrations with recruiting tools
• Hiring and feedback collaboration

The point is, with a best-in-class ATS system, you can move away from manual, taxing talent acquisition work and simplify (and modernize) your recruiting and hiring efforts.

Looking for new, more advanced hiring software? Speak with our team today to learn about our applicant tracking system — and how it can simplify your HR team’s day-to-day recruiting efforts.

There are four ways to look at candidate experience today:

• A truly poor candidate experience can be damaging to your employer brand in the long term.
• A bad candidate experience can simply be a turnoff for prospective hires you engage for roles.
• A good candidate experience can greatly influence an individual’s decision to accept an offer.
• A great candidate experience can help you hire more qualified candidates and also turn those folks into brand evangelists who want to stay at your company and help it grow for years.

To improve your candidate experience efforts, adhere to the below best practices.

These tips and tricks are ones we’ve seen many HR teams with JazzHR as their small business recruiting software abide by to enhance their employer brand, onboard top talent, and ensure all job seekers — not just the majority of candidates — feel heard and welcomed during your hiring cycle.

How to improve candidate experience

“Understanding [today’s] job-seeking personas and their associated triggers helps recruiters provide high-quality candidate experiences and fill skill gaps more quickly and successfully,” HR expert Corey Berkey recently wrote for Undercover Recruiter.

Let’s closely examine the key components that contribute to a positive candidate experience and how your SMB talent team can work alongside hiring managers to improve the metric over time.

Transparent and comprehensive job descriptions

The job application process begins with reading job description.

This crucial document should accurately describe the responsibilities and requirements of a given role while also highlighting the unique aspects of your SMB’s culture and values and expressing the desired impact the eventual hire should have in the position and on the team and business at large.

A transparent and comprehensive job description helps set expectations upfront and allows job seekers to evaluate whether they’re a good fit for the position for which they’ve applied.

A career site that entices top talent to apply

Your career site is often the first stop for potential candidates. Making it visually appealing, user-friendly, and mobile-optimized should be your first, second, and third priority.

Once you’ve designed a white-label, aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-navigate careers page, you can focus on your messaging. Feature comprehensive info about your SMB, your company values and mission, employee testimonials, and even success stories of members of your workforce.

Also, showcase your employer brand and encourage candidates to learn more about your company. (You can even provide links to your social media accounts to allow on-the-fence, would-be applicants to learn more about your SMB before they decide to submit their resume and cover letter.)

A streamlined and simplified application process

Simplifying the job application process is essential for reducing the drop-off rate of potential candidates. Lengthy, repetitive, or unclear application forms can lead to frustration and abandonment. That makes streamlining this process critical for your conversion rates.

• Think of it this way. Would you be willing to spend more than 10 minutes (or even 5, to be honest) looking over a job posting and filling out the application for said role? Odds are slim.

Ask most job seekers today, and they’ll tell you they’ll abandon an application process a mere minute in, if they can sense there are barriers to applying, like being forced to create an applicant account.

With an applicant tracking system (ATS) for small businesses, you don’t have to worry about having candidates spend several minutes completing applications and possibly abandoning the process.

• Consider JazzHR. Our job posting pages enable quick and easy submissions for potential hires.

That means more high-quality candidates being added to our customers’ respective talent pools (and a diminished need to have to proactively source passive prospects all the time).

Just as your HR team is focused on constantly improving your time to fill, you also need to ensure the speed with which active job seekers are able to finish applications continually goes down as well.

Effective and ongoing candidate communication

Job seekers want frequent communication during the hiring process. So, keep candidates informed about their progress in a timely manner, even if it’s just to let them know they’re still being considered.

It’s simple, really. Personalized, empathetic communication can foster a strong connection with potential candidates and demonstrate that your small business values their time and commitment.

• This communication doesn’t solely apply to the actual recruiting process. It also extends to the post-hiring portion of your recruitment cycle. Send candidate experience surveys to leads you spoke with (those hired, those passed on, and those who “exited” your process on their own).

Doing so allows you to garner beneficial feedback about your recruitment approach — insight you can use to both enhance various components of your hiring efforts (e.g., nurture messaging, interview stages) and provide a better experience to each candidate.

An inclusive and respectful interview process

Candidates should feel welcome and respected during the interview stage. Fostering an inclusive environment where each person you engage can comfortably express themselves is essential for a positive experience with your recruiting staff (and, for final-choice candidates, getting them to accept offers).

In addition, interviewers should be well-prepared and knowledgeable about each candidate’s background and the specific role they’re applying for. This will help you gain the most valuable insights during the interview while showcasing your org as a desirable employer to them.

And when it comes to gender and gender identity, it’s critical to use the correct pronouns for each candidate. It’s a matter of respect to ask for and acknowledge an individual’s preferred pronouns.

Timely feedback and updates regarding offers

Finally, providing prompt feedback after the interview and extending job offers in a timely manner can further enhance the candidate experience. If they are not selected for the role, constructive feedback can help job seekers understand the decision and continue their search for future opportunities.

• Leaving prospects in the dark for too long regarding the decision-making going on behind the scenes with hiring managers and interview panelists can lead to a high candidate drop-off rate.

Conversely, constantly providing mini “briefings,” of sorts, to engaged talent to keep them apprised of where your hiring team stands with its recruiting efforts, they’ll feel more appreciative of you. (And want to stay in said recruiting process to see if they’ll advance and eventually receive an offer.)

A simple email or text message to prospective hires once every couple of days during your hiring process. That’s all it takes to take a little bit of stress out of the nerve-wracking experience of looking for work and making sure they understand you still have interest in them for a given role.

Discover how JazzHR’s powerful applicant tracking system for small businesses can help you improve your candidate experience efforts. Book an ATS demo with our team of experts today.

Specifically, it’s time to explore more innovative ways to attract talent. (And possibly new recruiting tech.)

Talent attraction insights and advice: 10 tips for TA teams

“Top talent wants to be part of an exciting business with incredible growth prospects and a clear vision for how to get there,” Forbes contributor and marketing leader Andy Karuza recently noted.

“When recruiting talent, perfect your pitch because you’re selling them to join just as much as they’re selling you on becoming part of your organization,” Andy added.

This TA tip should always be top of mind with recruiters when posting job openings online and proactively engaging passive candidates. But, there are many more specific tactics and techniques that can help you and your modest-sized recruiting staff with its collective talent attraction efforts.

1) Rethink and revamp your job descriptions

Use simple, to-the-point language that’s easy to understand and resonates with your target audience in your job descriptions. Also, don’t just spotlight the actual job opportunity. Emphasize the learning and growth opportunities that the company has to offer as well.

Candidates are often looking for roles that can help them develop and progress in their careers, and showcasing these in your job descriptions can encourage applicants to consider your company.

Also, touch upon your efforts to ensure a strong work-life balance for staff members to bolster their employee experience. Many job seekers want prospective employers to prioritize company culture and offer flexible working options, so share insights into those areas too.

2) Leverage artificial intelligence solutions

With AI recruitment software, your SMB talent team can streamline its hiring process and get “intelligent” assistance with their talent attraction efforts (e.g., through “smart” candidate matching).

AI can help improve the candidate experience by automating certain steps in the hiring process, such as interview scheduling or answering frequently asked questions. A better candidate experience can make it more likely for talent to accept job offers and lower the chances of candidate drop-offs.

Many leading AI recruiting tools can even help reduce unconscious bias in the recruiting process today. They do so by analyzing data without looking at factors like gender, ethnicity, or age.

3) Showcase your organizational culture

Demonstrating a strong and vibrant company culture is another powerful way to attract top talent.

Share employee testimonials on your website and social channels. Authentic testimonials from your existing employees give candidates a glimpse into your company’s culture and work environment.

Also, showcase your SMB’s community involvement. This demonstrates your commitment to social responsibility. Moreover, it shows prospective hires you prioritize giving back to the community.

And celebrate and spotlight the successes of your team. This not only shows candidates that your org values and rewards hard work, but also helps build rapport with your existing employees. (Something that goes a long way in talent retention, not just talent attraction.)

4) Build an inclusive, diverse work environment

An inclusive work environment starts with a diversity-focused hiring strategy, where you deliberately seek out and consider candidates from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

What’s more, providing diversity and inclusion training to current employees equips them to work harmoniously and know how to effectively communicate with colleagues from various backgrounds.

And creating an environment that accommodates and respects differences, such as flexible hours, remote work possibilities, or providing parental leave, makes your org attractive to a broader range of candidates. (Not to mention boosts overall job satisfaction across your workforce.)

5) Evaluate and improve your employer brand

Your employer brand establishes your org’s reputation among job seekers. By investing in storytelling and noting your company’s unique selling points, you can stand out in the crowded job market.

Consider creating a dedicated webpage or blog series featuring employee stories, quotes, and insights into their everyday work life. This helps leads envision themselves working for your company.

An important facet of employer branding is recruitment marketing. So, feature these testimonials across your social media channels to act as compelling social proof of your company’s culture.

6) Develop a strong social media presence

Speaking of social media, optimize your profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (or X, or whatever it’s called now), and other platforms to promote open roles and better show off your culture. 

Stay active by posting regular updates, sharing company news, and featuring employee stories. Even note your org’s involvement in industry events, awards, innovations, and partnerships.

7) Offer competitive benefits and perks

One of the best ways to set your org apart from your competitors is by — well — providing competitive benefits and perks. Highly sought-after benefits often include flexible working hours, remote work options, health insurance, retirement plans, and generous paid time off.

To attract (and retain) top talent, it’s essential to find ways to implement these benefits at your SMB.

Keep in mind that perks should be tailored to your target audience. For instance, offering tuition reimbursement could be crucial for job seekers who are just starting in their careers. On the other hand, providing extended parental leave may be more appealing to mid-to-late career pros.

8) Enhance your onboarding experience

Creating a seamless onboarding experience is can also aid your talent attraction efforts.

From the moment a new hire joins the team, they should feel welcome, valued, and supported. So, ensure a smooth handoff to HR and people managers to help new hires hit the ground running.

As Employ SVP People & Talent Corey Berkey recently noted, personalizing the entire onboarding experience also impacts new employees’ experience. In turn, they become more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth to others in their network — including job seekers — about how much energy appreciated this personal touch when coming onboard the business.

9) Use the power of employee referrals

Employee referrals are one of the most effective ways to attract qualified candidates.

Studies continue to show that applicants referred by a current employee are more likely to be interviewed and offered a job than those who apply through traditional channels. 

So, encourage your workers to tap into their networks and bring in potential talent for open roles.

A robust employee referral program can be an excellent tool for attracting top-tier candidates and fostering employee engagement. Consider offering incentives such as bonuses or other perks to encourage your staff to refer high-quality applicants.

10) Execute your TA strategy with a top ATS

Recruitment is a time-consuming and costly process, but advances in talent acquisition tech have made it more streamlined than ever. Implementing modern, easy-to-use recruiting software (read: an SMB-centric ATS — hint, hint) can transform the way you source, screen, and hire for the better.

By embracing this tech, your SMB talent team can create a more efficient and effective hiring process that results in higher-quality hires who contribute to your org’s short- and long-term success.

“A lot of small companies are still using Google spreadsheets as their ATS,” Peridus Group CEO Caleb Fullhart recently told SHRM. “But there are more quality ATS’s available to small and midsize firms at affordable rates today because vendors have realized how big that market is.”

Discover how JazzHR’s applicant tracking system for small businesses such as yours can help you enhance your talent attraction strategies. Book an ATS demo with our team of experts today.

According to the Q1 2023 Employ Quarterly Insights Report, 56% of job seekers dislike the length of time it takes to complete each application. So it’s essential to streamline the application process, especially for hourly workers, part-time roles, and other high-volume positions.

Get to know Text to Apply, the latest addition to our ATS

Text to Apply meets candidates where they already are — on their mobile phones. The average person checks their phone 350+ times per day, and 91% of people say they always have their phone within arm’s reach.

The new Text to Apply feature from JazzHR empowers candidates to start the application process via SMS messaging directly from their smartphone, creating a faster and more efficient application experience.

And that supports your business in expanding its talent pool by using texting as a channel for candidates to initiate and complete job applications. 

Text to Apply allows candidates to complete the application process via SMS directly from their mobile device, creating a faster and more efficient application experience.

The benefits of Text to Apply for talent teams

Text to Apply empowers companies to more effectively communicate with candidates with greater speed and efficiency throughout the hiring process. With an additional application path, your business can generate increased candidate flow to meet its hiring needs, especially in peak seasons.

With the new Text to Apply feature, you can:

• Capture passive candidates who are difficult to reach through other methods and channels
• Create low-pressure, on-the-go candidate engagement
• Increase the likelihood of candidates applying for a job
• Expedite your hiring process and take sourcing to a new level

Breaking down how Text to Apply works

Whether you’re an HR manager who needs to quickly increase headcount during a peak hiring season, an SMB executive who wants to capitalize on in-store traffic and create visibility around current job openings, or a restaurant owner who includes a Text to Apply keyword and phone number on the bottom of a menu, there are so many ways you can leverage the new Text to Apply feature in JazzHR.

In just six easy steps, your business can create an entire “textflow,” including naming and selecting the job type, creating candidate questions, identifying the selected keyword, choosing custom messages, and reviewing then publishing to better engage candidates.

How Text to Apply works for candidates:

• Text to apply enables candidates to send a keyword to a 10-digit phone number to begin the application process. 

• After the candidate sends a keyword, they receive an automated response configured for that specific job. 

• When a candidate provides a response to each question, they will receive automated responses that walk them through the application process. 

• Candidate data then flows into JazzHR for hiring team review.

See Text to Apply in action today

We are thrilled to provide this new functionality to users of JazzHR, included with all Candidate Texting packages. Take advantage of this new, easy tool to modernize the application experience for your candidates. For more information, talk to your customer success representative today.

And if you’re looking to learn more about JazzHR, get started by trying our recruitment software for free. Or, request a live demo to see our small business applicant tracking system in action.

Getting a steady stream of active job seekers applying for open roles across your business via your careers site and job boards certainly plays a pivotal role in the success of your recruitment process.

But, don’t forget about the need for a passive recruiting strategy — one in which your talent acquisition team regularly recruits passive candidates who “fit the bill” for job openings.

4 reasons why passive recruiting is so important

Passive recruitment (a.k.a. proactive sourcing) targets passive candidates (as you might’ve suspected).

Applicants will enter your talent pool on their own (so long as you have a strong employment brand and recruitment marketing approach). And you’ll likely get a lot of recommended prospects via your employee referral program. But, that doesn’t mean you can afford to “skip” passive recruiting.

It’s a long-term strategy to keep non-active candidates engaged — via a mix of personalized nurture emails and phone calls — until a job opening that aligns with their skill set and expertise emerges.

More than 80% of passive job seekers say they would entertain a career change if the right opportunity came along (i.e., an employer with competitive pay and a strong company culture) .

This shows that it’s important to build your talent pipeline with passive candidates and make engaging these individuals a focal point of your small business’s talent acquisition strategy.

Here are four reasons your recruiters (and even hiring managers) should focus on passive recruiting today.

1) Smarter candidate sourcing

Passive recruiting works best when you are proactive about it. Instead of waiting for a vacancy to arise, you can kickstart your recruiting efforts ahead of time and work on building your talent pool.

Scout for suitable profiles on social media, and begin a conversation with them. You may discover they are dissatisfied with their current job and might be interested in a new opportunity.

• Another great way to add qualified candidates to your pipeline is when you have hundreds of applicants for a single role, but only one is selected. Keep the remaining candidates engaged until a new role opens up.

Just because they weren’t hired for this role does not mean they won’t be a good fit for the next one.

When you do need candidates for a new position, you have your fresh talent pool to start with, instead of beginning entirely from scratch. If you’re hiring for niche roles, this is especially true.

2) Skills, skills, and more skills

A passive candidate who is currently working at an organization will likely have the skills and expertise required for the role you were looking for. You can also vet their skills by speaking with colleagues or teammates, or checking their portfolio that outlines projects they’ve worked on.

Passive candidates have a higher employability rate as well as greater chances of being successful hires. For instance, if you’re looking for a skilled Java developer, and they’re currently employed as one, then you know they’ve got just what you’re looking for.

3) Edge on your competitors

It is no secret top talent that is actively looking for a job are off the market quickly When you set your sights on “passives,” there’s no race to close that one talented candidate who everyone is vying for.

You don’t have to worry about counter-offers because you know a lead is interested in your company. Also, there’s a strong chance you find candidates your competition may not even be looking for.

Instead, you can spend time building and nurturing strong relationships with candidates who will not only be an asset as employees, but can serve as a great referral source for future potential hires as well.

4) Stronger employer brand

Credibility and authenticity go a long way in this profession. Enter your company’s employer branding.

If you focus on cultivating a strong relationship with your passive candidates and showcase a robust employer brand, they will reach out to you first when they begin looking for a new opportunity.

What if you pursue a passive candidate, and — despite your best efforts — they aren’t prepared to switch jobs just yet? Well, you can simply look on the flip side. If you’ve created a good first impression and ensured they had a positive candidate experience, they’ll remember your company, be more likely to apply for roles there in the future, and even refer people to your company.

Implementing a dedicated passive recruiting approach

Passive recruiting focuses on the long term. It’s all about routinely identifying staying in touch with passive candidates to keep them engaged and interested until the right opportunity surfaces.

While the “lift” of sourcing and nurturing is heavier on the front end of your recruitment funnel, the result is invariably a steady increase in your overall quality of hire and a decreased time to fill.

Want to improve your passive recruitment? Learn how JazzHR’s powerful ATS for SMBs can help.

By reviewing specific facets of your recruitment strategy, like your job descriptions and employer brand, as well as your overall sourcing and recruiting approach, you can ensure your HR team and hiring managers add lots of top job applicants and other ideal candidates to your talent pool.

How to improve your talent sourcing strategy

Your SMB may not have an expansive talent acquisition strategy like enterprises. But, a common thread between your recruiting approach and those of bigger brands is the need to constantly evaluate and enhance their talent sourcing strategies to better identify qualified candidates.

Here are 10 tips to help you strengthen your talent sourcing strategy from hiring experts.

1) Upgrade your HR/TA tech stack

Improving your HR tech stack is the best way to streamline your talent sourcing process.

One of the simplest solutions is to implement an AI chatbot on your recruitment page. This will help you to filter out some applicants that require certain benefits or schedules that you don’t support.

If you can get these active job seekers to answer pre-screening questions via these chatbots before they actually submit an application, you can save time for everyone involved.

The next step is to implement a recruiting database. This will help you convert resumes and applications to actionable data and learn which candidate sources yield the best-quality talent.

• Phil Strazzulla, Select Software Reviews

2) Create the right promotional landing pages

Create one landing page with the applicant tracking system (ATS) input form or any other type of data collection tool and promote that across job portals, social media, and internal references.

This will ensure that all sources of applicants eventually reach that single point of entry and their data is collected in a standardized and consistent manner within your recruitment software of choice.

• Joe Flanagan, VelvetJobs

3) Address sourcing flaws to speed up the process

Measure the time it takes to hire someone and make changes accordingly if it takes too long. A lengthy hiring process can result in HR teams losing out on qualified candidates to other companies. 

You need to know who and what you are looking for in a candidate with your talent sourcing efforts, and then tailor your procedures to fit those parameters. Implementing pre-screening through online surveys is a great way to shorten the process and ensure a smaller, more qualified pool of candidates.

• Jon Schneider, Recruiterie

4) Attract talent with mentorship opportunities

Mentoring helps attract the best and the brightest talent. Social networking sites like Student Doctors Network and Doctors Hangout enable student doctors and nurses to receive advice and assistance through all phases of their studies. 

And for healthcare professionals in private practice, these sites provide opportunities to mentor future workers. And it also allows you to identify top talent you may want to recruit in the future.

• Zachary Okhah, PH-1 Miami

5) Build quality relationships with top candidates

You’ll want to keep in touch with top candidates for potential opportunities, especially as a small business. For qualified talent you don’t want to lose, consider meeting with them informally every so often. Then, once you do have open positions for these prospective applicants, they’ll remember the effort you put into building the relationship and be more interested in applying. 

• Connor MacDonald, The Ridge Wallet

6) Ask potential hires questions ahead of time

Take a look at the way potential candidates are pre-screened. Offering them an online questionnaire or survey ahead of time can help you weed out candidates who might not be a good fit.

This will also save time because you’ll narrow down the list of applicants before you take the time to interview them. You can also automate the online Qs to save your talent team even more time.

• Sheila Chaiban, One Ocean Beauty

7) Publish your postings on multiple job boards

One of my personal favorites when it comes to candidate sourcing is the ability to post the same ad across multiple job boards in one click. I love this feature, which in my opinion, should always be part of any HR software platform worth its salt.

The ability to cherry-pick the sites where the job posting appears is a tremendous time-saver. And, if done wisely, it can also be used as an excellent way to boost the quality of the applicant pool.

• Peter Bryla, ResumeLab

8) Limit your talent sourcing touchpoints

Not only will simplifying the talent sourcing process help you, but it’ll also engage the candidate. Look at the number of touchpoints in your typical outreach approach and requests for information, then try to streamline and, as needed, reduce them. It’ll make your life easier and the candidate happier.

• Nicole Fernandes, Blu Ivy Group

9) Invest in an applicant tracking system (ATS)

Just like any trade, you have specialized tools to do the job at hand. A carpenter does not rely on his hammer to do his job but uses it to create something great. The ATS should be used in the same way. Do not rely on your ATS to source, screen, and hire candidates. Use it to create a human connection — the greatest tool any recruiter can use.

• Andrew Aziz, The Breeze Performance Model

10) Be highly proactive with candidate outreach

You must be proactive. Any companies that post jobs and wait to be reactive will be left behind in today’s market. Instead of waiting for active candidates to come to you, reach out directly to passive candidates and do your best to engage them with an appealing value proposition for their careers.

• Chad Bean, Ignite Recruitment

Learn how JazzHR can enhance your talent sourcing strategy and help you add more qualified candidates to your pipeline. Book a demo with our team to get more info about our ATS.