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Recruiters’ Alert: Five Tools that Will Make Your Life Easier

Recruiters’ Alert: Five Tools that Will Make Your Life Easier

Recruitment as a job can be an overwhelming process, with all the steps that need to be followed through before you can finally find the candidates you have been hunting for. While some procedures of recruitment require all your attention, there are other procedures that can be simplified, and gotten done with – fast. How? Technology.

There are several tools today, thanks to technology, which can help make recruitment a much faster, efficient and effective process. Here are some of the must have tools, with which you can do more in less time!

  1. Applicant Tracking Systems

    While a lot of Recruiters have started using ATS platforms, it needs to be on this list because if you are a recruiter and you still don’t use an Applicant Tracking System, you need to get one now! These can be basic platforms, or more advanced ones. What they essentially do is, screen through all existing resumes, shortlisting only the most relevant ones for you to review.
    Zoho recruit, People Apex, Talent Cube are some of the top ATS software’s you can have a look at.

  2. Interview Scheduling Tools

    While you might believe that your sticky notes will suffice for this, some of these tools really do make the life of a recruiter infinitely easier. It can be difficult to find time slots for interviews which mutually convenient, especially when you have a big client base. You can use built in tools such as Google calendar, or tools like Calendly, that will help you find the perfect time for your interviews, and also send both the recruiter and the candidate timely reminders.

  3. Recruitment Process Management Tools

    With all the candidates you have to handle, how do you efficiently keep track of which candidate is at which stage of the recruitment process? Through recruitment process management tools. You can create a separate profile for each candidate, and add your personal notes to each. Check out Entelo.

  4. Email Finders

    Sourcing candidates can be a difficult task without having their emails. While social media today has made it more easier than ever before to access profiles of potential candidates, you still need to be able to reach out to them via their email IDs. Tools like Contact out and Heretical enable you to view the email addresses of candidates when you visit their social media profiles.

  5. Productivity Boosting Tools

    With the number of things that seem to be demanding your attention at the same time, as a recruiter you may feel as multitasking is the only way out. Multitasking however is a myth. Today, it is harder than ever to stay focused and attentive with the task you have at hand. Tools such as Antisocial and Stay Focused limit the time you spend on social media and other distraction prone platforms, and hence bring you back to the task at hand.

Other resources such as graphic creation tools (to create the perfect ad to source candidates, and with ease), content sharing tools (so potential candidates are aware that a fab recruiter like you exists), and social media management tools (to connect with the target audience), are some other tools that will simplify and leverage your role as a recruiter.

For some more great reads on recruitment hacks, read this article on Undercover Recruiter.

Recruiters’ Alert: Five Tools that Will Make Your Life Easier

Recruiters’ Alert: Five Tools that Will Make Your Life Easier

Recruitment as a job can be an overwhelming process, with all the steps that need to be followed through before you can finally find the candidates you have been hunting for. While some procedures of recruitment require all your attention, there are other procedures that can be simplified, and gotten done with – fast. How? Technology.

There are several tools today, thanks to technology, which can help make recruitment a much faster, efficient and effective process. Here are some of the must have tools, with which you can do more in less time!

  1. Applicant Tracking Systems

    While a lot of recruiters have started using ATS platforms, it needs to be on this list because if you are a recruiter and you still don’t use an Applicant Tracking System, you need to get one now! These can be basic platforms, or more advanced ones. What they essentially do is, screen through all existing resumes, shortlisting only the most relevant ones for you to review.
    Zoho recruit, People Apex, Talent Cube are some of the top ATS software’s you can have a look at.

  2. Interview Scheduling Tools

    While you might believe that your sticky notes will suffice for this, some of these tools really do make the life of a recruiter infinitely easier. It can be difficult to find time slots for interviews which mutually convenient, especially when you have a big client base. You can use built in tools such as Google calendar, or tools like Calendly, that will help you find the perfect time for your interviews, and also send both the recruiter and the candidate timely reminders.

  3. Recruitment Process Management Tools

    With all the candidates you have to handle, how do you efficiently keep track of which candidate is at which stage of the recruitment process? Through recruitment process management tools. You can create a separate profile for each candidate, and add your personal notes to each. Check out Entelo.

  4. Email Finders

    Sourcing candidates can be a difficult task without having their emails. While social media today has made it more easier than ever before to access profiles of potential candidates, you still need to be able to reach out to them via their email IDs. Tools like Contactout and Hiretual enable you to view the email addresses of candidates when you visit their social media profiles.

  5. Productivity Boosting Tools

    With the number of things that seem to be demanding your attention at the same time, as a recruiter you may feel as multitasking is the only way out. Multitasking however is a myth. Today, it is harder than ever to stay focused and attentive with the task you have at hand. Tools such as Antisocial and Stay Focused limit the time you spend on social media and other distraction prone platforms, and hence bring you back to the task at hand.

Other resources such as graphic creation tools (to create the perfect ad to source candidates, and with ease), content sharing tools (so potential candidates are aware that a fab recruiter like you exists), and social media management tools (to connect with the target audience), are some other tools that will simplify and leverage your role as a recruiter.

For some more great reads on recruitment hacks, read this article on Undercover Recruiter.

Recruiters’ Alert: Red Flags to Watch out for in CVs

Recruiters’ Alert: Red Flags to Watch out for in CVs

As a recruiter, one of your most fundamental (and potentially boring) tasks is to screen through all the CVs that come your way, and identify which ones to scrap and which ones to move ahead with. At times this can be tough, when you have scores and scores of CVs to go through, and there’s only so much your brain can process. However, to make your job easier, you can train yourself to look out for certain Red Flags in the CVs that come your way. This will make it infinitely easier for you to sift through the CVs, while shortlisting the very best potential hires.

So what are some of the red flags you need to watch out for?

  1. Does not address the basics of the job description

    Even if you may have listed out the specifications you are looking for, very clearly, you will still receive applications that do not heed the basic requirements. For example, one of the easiest ways to short list CVs is to check the work experience of the candidate. If you are hiring for a senior position, you have very specific conditions in mind. Or certain language requirements that may be a precondition. This way, you’ll be able to filter the CVs much faster.

  2. The format of the CV

    One of the easiest and most obvious ways to tell whether or not a candidate is a potential hire is by simply looking at the format of the CV. If it is sloppy and untidy, you know that the concerned candidate is not really serious about his application, because they clearly haven’t spent time trying to make an impression through their application. This reflects a great deal about how professional the candidate is. While the CV does not need to be elaborate and decorative, it definitely needs to be clean, well formatted and definitive.

  3. Unexplained gaps in employment

    Gap years are perfectly acceptable. And at times, even desirable. But that depends on how the gap year has been spent. Volunteering, internships, traveling, freelancing are some of the most common reasons for taking gap years. If the overall professional record of the candidate is alright, this shouldn’t be a cause for worry for a recruiter. However, what you can’t take a chance with is unexplained gaps in employment. In that case, you have no knowledge about how the candidate spent that time, and worse, you don’t know if they’re hiding something.

  4. No achievements

    The candidate might have been educated at the most prestigious institutions, and may have been employed at fairly reputed organizations; however, without achievements these aspects don’t really matter. They certainly do not account for achievements in themselves. In order to decide whether the candidate can be an asset to your organization, you need more tangible proof. While the candidate might have been entrusted with a lot of important roles and responsibilities, it is also important to get a gauge of how the candidate delivered on them.

  5. Lack of definitive  targeting

    A good CV is one which definitively targets all the job requirements, and responds to each one by stating the skills necessary for the requirements. A CV without intent, or target, is not something that you can short list as a potential hire. While the candidate might be a good all round candidate, specific roles have specific requirements. As a recruiter, it is your foremost responsibility to not compromise on this very crucial precondition for hiring.

Even the seemingly “small” things do make an overall difference to the quality of hire. The way a CV is written up, speaks volumes about the overall personality of a person. While you can’t get a thorough gauge of the professional unless you call them in for a personal interview, the CV can give you enough of an idea about whether or not the candidate should even make it to the next round. Want more tips on how to recognize a great CV in two minutes? Read this great article on Undercover Recruiter.

Friday Five: Reasons Why AI Can Never Replace Recruiters

Friday Five: Reasons Why AI Can Never Replace Recruiters

So is the next big thing in recruitment, AI, or Artificial Intelligence? That question surely deserves an answer in the affirmative. AI and Big Data are beginning to have a pervasive impact not just in the recruitment sector, but across sectors – from helping consumers shop better online, to using algorithms for pairing individuals with the most suitable partners through myriad dating platforms. Be it the professional realm, or the personal, AI seems to be making an impact in both. Why then do we claim that AI Can Never Replace Recruiters? Here are our reasons.

  1. AI cannot relate, empathize or help candidates with subjective opinions

    Just saying the above sentence is enough to substantiate the reason, but it is a case worthy of being made. While AI can conjure clever algorithms and claim to recruit the “perfect” candidate, it lacks empathy. It cannot build a relationship based on trust and guidance to provide the candidate and the potential employer through a meaningful, and indeed, humanized process.

  2. AI does not have communication skills, a prerequisite in the field of Recruitment

    Or put another way, AI does not have the necessary communication skills to be able to really sell a job. All it can do is provide the user with answers based on algorithms, which are a hundred percent objective. The recruitment experience with AI will lack in sensitivity, and more importantly insights that experienced recruiters have. These insights coupled with excellent communication skills help recruiters help the candidates. At times, candidates may believe that a certain organization is not a good match for them – in which case AI will end the process right there. However, that experience would differ with a recruiter in case he/she is aware that the organization in fact is a good fit for the candidate. In that scenario, the recruiter will then go on to initiate a dialogue with the candidate to give him his perspective, and insights. This depth in connection ensures that the candidate is equipped to make a thoroughly informed choice.

  3. AI cannot understand a client’s needs like a Recruiter can

    Without the communication skills of a recruiter, AI can never engage with clients the way recruiters do. Recruiters get down to the basics of understanding the culture, background and environment of an organization, and match candidates not just based on skills but also based on values and principles. AI can simplify an elaborate search process in a span of minutes, however, with a lack of engagement with clients, it can never quite attain that “perfect” fit for the client.

  4. AI is not as motivated as Recruiters are

    It would be a little more than slightly incorrect to say that AI loves what it does. But not for actual recruiters (for most of them at least). And people who love what they do are exceptionally good at what they do. This isn’t just a “quote” from hundreds of successful people all around the world, it is a fact. Being motivated helps recruiters go that extra mile, be flexible, and make that extra effort to help anchor a holistic recruitment process. But can we say the same for AI?

  5.  AI is not Human

    While this is like saying a potato is not an apple, it is at times necessary to stress on the obvious to make a point. This last reason perhaps sums up the four other reasons on why AI can never replace recruiters. AI helps enormously with data and predictions, but at the same time, it is important to understand that the recruitment sector is composed of human beings, and for human beings. How then can machines and AI replace the crucial role of recruiters?

The process of recruitment extends far beyond a “matching” process. It is an enduring process built on the basis of mutual trust, respect and experience. By hoping or attempting to delegate such a delicately nuanced process to AI, there is no doubt that we will lose out on some of the best that the talent pool has to offer recruiters. For recruiters, unlike AI, recruitment is not a black and white process, and not a process of simply ticking off the required skills. It is a deeply humane process, as it should be.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you imagine the job industry would be more efficient with AI instead of human recruiters? Let us know your thoughts!https://www.sincera.in/contact-us/

What Makes Social Media the Perfect Recruitment Tool

What Makes Social Media the Perfect Recruitment Tool

Technology has shrunk the world and this is no secret. Social media, a product of technology has ‘connected’ the world like never before. There are very few aspects of life it hasn’t touched and the world of work is no exception. One of the greatest challenges for recruiters today is not just finding enough candidates, but finding the right ones. Social media in the recent years has evolved in its role to become a handy tool to help recruiters in solving this problem and our guest blogger Aanchal Iyer explains how.

Social Media – The Best Way To Connect Recruiters and Job Seekers

Candidates today understand that in order to be visible to recruiters, they must be active on social media. According to ICIMS, recruiters can increase their chance of finding the right candidates by up to 50% when they put up jobs on social media. Also, using mobile-friendly SEO in their job posting, makes it searchable on hand-held devices and increases their overall reach.

Social Media Provides Total Transparency Both Ways

Social media allows for a more transparent screening process – for both recruiters as well as potential candidates. Applicants can suss out a potential employer’s social responsibility strategies, employment principles, salaries and other commitment quotients while employers can also get a good idea of . It’s a way of avoiding potentially nasty surprises and recruitment fails. Hiring managers can refrain from following up with a candidate if they find something they do not like in the candidate’s social media account, and vice versa.

(and which is why there are certain social media mistakes you must avoid while job hunting. Read here to know more.)

Using Exclusive Social Media Recruiting Tools

LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows you to post a job for 30 days. Alternatively, you can sign up for LinkedIn Talent Advantage, which is an exclusive tool for recruiters. These features cost money, but budget companies can still work through networking, joining affiliated groups and using the free advertising option. They can also put their content writing skills to good use on LinkedIn, posting relevant articles and knowledge base tips and tricks to attract potential candidates to the company’s page.

Facebook

Facebook allows employers to post a job for free at the Facebook Marketplace. Also, by building an official recruiter’s Facebook page, one can share one’s company’s profile, products and principles with interested users. Recruiters can also use their company’s page as a recruiting tool. Posting a Facebook Ad is another option, where one can target the exact audience they want.

Twitter

On Twitter, employers can tweet jobs and expand their company’s network and build relationships with candidates. They can also run a keyword search and obtain a pool of contacts from which they can look for suitable candidates. Recruiters can search for candidates based on their interest, location, popularity, industry, hashtag and more. They can also use relevant hashtags along with tweets such as #job, #jobpost, #employment, #recruiting and so on to gain people’s interest and response and also check out what topics candidates are tweeting about and follow them, retweeting their tweets to gain their attention.

So we’re saying…

With social media recruiting strategies, both the employer and the potential employee can get to know each other well. Employers can quickly gauge the skills of candidates. Recruiting through social media takes time and effort; however, you can reap long term benefits when used smartly.

Aanchal is a Digital media marketer, trainer, and a content strategist with over 11 years of experience. She is also the founder of Effcomm Worldwide , a premium content & digital marketing services company, and content4brands.in. She aspires to keep enjoying her work, always.

Making Job Descriptions Gender Neutral

Making Job Descriptions Gender Neutral

Are you a recruiter? Have you, at some point of your career, wondered why is it that most applicants applying to the jobs you put out are male? One of the most obvious answers is how your job descriptions are worded. Is it calling out to male candidates? While you may not have been gender exclusive on purpose, you haven’t been gender inclusive either. In order to defeat the ever-growing glass ceiling when it comes to women at work, every stakeholder needs to plays a more active role. It is important to approach recruitment with sensitivity and to ensure that you are gender inclusive in your call for applications.

In this post, we are going to share some very powerful words from powerful women that Undercover Recruiter put together, in their article How Can Job Descriptions Be More Gender Neutral?

To understand the dynamics of what we are trying to explain, can be best done through knowing how and why gender exclusive job descriptions affect women. Here are their voices –

Angela Bortolussi, Partner at Recruiting Social

A few years ago I sat with my hiring manager, a Director of Engineering, and he said “Angela, I asked my wife to review the job description for our Front End Engineering role – she is also a Front End Engineer, and she told me ‘I wouldn’t apply for this role.’”

He of course asked her “Why?” She mentioned the job description had so many hard stops in terms of qualifications. For example, you must have 8+ years of experience, React experience is a must, and a Computer Science Degree is a must. She felt that she was somewhat qualified but didn’t have the exact qualifications needed for the role, and ultimately wouldn’t attempt applying.

He decided to take this into consideration and re-write the job description to become more gender neutral to hopefully increase the attention of women applying. (Guess what? It worked!)

Keep in mind though it’s a tough to really understand the thought-process when it comes to candidates applying for roles. Whatever the reason is, I think we (women) respond to job ads/posts differently.

Rebecca Fraser, National Executive Committee, Career Development Association of Australia

It is quite interesting how some words can be perceived as being more attractive depending on your gender. Removing gender specific words, an example may be he or she and Chairman or Chairwoman. This is challenging in some languages where they have grammatical gender and this may require job adverts and job titles to specifically confirm that they are being offered to all genders. Other language could be seen as more attractive to the male gender, such as describing the work environment as fast paced and challenging, or dominant and determined. Although many females will be attracted to this environment, research has shown that these words can be perceived as being about a male dominated work environment.

Lysha Holmes, Owner and Recruiter, Qui Recruitment R2R

It is essential that a job description is written as a narrative to the potential employee regardless of gender. Avoid assumptions, focus on skills and attitude, potential and opportunity rather than a “person” per se and therefore stereotypes can be avoided. This should include imagery used to promote any post on social media.

Poonam Mawani, Director, Azuki Accounts

Job descriptions are so important. They are the first impression of a company’s culture. There is software available now that can remove and replace gendered descriptions and words. There are certain phrases that can either attract more men or women. These should be identified and replaced to attract a more balanced candidate pool. How a firm describes itself in a job description is also important.

Amanda Bell, Director of Recruiting, Lever

Luckily, this can be pretty easy. Review your job descriptions with the lens of “Who is the audience here?” If your answer is “any qualified candidate, regardless of gender,” you’ve done a good job! It’s not just about the presence of gender-specific pronouns – it’s also about using language that is inclusive of all genders. Stay away from phrases like “kick ass,” “ninja,” and, believe it or not, “brah.” You can also ask a few employees of various genders to read the descriptions and solicit feedback.

Making sure that job descriptions are crafted in a neutral manner is in fact one of the primary steps towards implementing gender equality at the work place. Have you read our post on implementation of gender equality at the work place? You can read it here. You can also read more posts from our gender series by clicking on the following links:

Gender Equity Before Gender Equality: Why Women Need More
The Importance of Gender Diversity in The World of Work
5 Unconventional Career Tracks Women are Making it Big In