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Technology In Recruitment: Six Tips to Improve Your Candidate's HR Experience With technology playing such an integral part in our lives, candidates are increasingly expecting the recruitment process to be a slick, digital experience- and this demand is only going to increase.

By James Randall

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With technology playing such an integral part in our lives, candidates are increasingly expecting the recruitment process to be a slick, digital experience- and this demand is only going to increase.

So how can HR teams stay ahead of the competition, providing easy-to-use and reliable services that present your company in the best light, and so help ensure you attract top talent? We've summarized six of the top tech issues for HR teams to be thinking about in order to improve the candidate experience.

1. Integrate For international organizations, providing a seamless, consistent recruitment process can be tough. But technology can certainly help. By ensuring that all the HR systems you choose can be integrated, you can save time and, more importantly, reduce the need for a candidate to fill in the same information multiple times. This can lead to real frustration and raise questions about the operations of an organization, reducing the likelihood of a candidate accepting a role.

2. Go mobile An increasing number of jobseekers are not only looking for jobs on their mobiles, but also applying for them through their phone. Employers need to make sure their career pages are mobile-responsive and simple to navigate to ensure that forms are completed as easily and quickly as possible. A webpage that times out or crashes could lose hours of work, and even perhaps the candidate's enthusiasm for applying for a role. Not having this functionality in place can also raise concerns that a potential employer is outdated.

3. Utilize your social media Your social media presence is your organization's shop window to potential employees: a recent Monster and YouGov study found that 59% of millennials browse a firm's website when looking for a new job. It needs to be up to date then, but can also be a helpful recruitment tool. Whether it's through twitter hashtags, Facebook pages advertising roles, or LinkedIn job postings, there are a number of tools jobseekers are using to find opportunities beyond traditional job posting sites.

Related: Why Your Company Must Be Digi-Friendly

4. Use technologically advanced screening systems Background screening is the final seal of approval in many recruitment processes, so it's vital that now that you have the best people identified, you keep them engaged. Visibility and communication are key, so make sure that you use the most tech-enabled platforms to ensure that candidates are kept up to date through personalized portals.

5. Introduce video interviews Having the capability to carry out video interviews is a win-win. Clearly, video interviews can be convenient for busy candidates and recruiters, with far fewer logistics involved in setting up than with face-to-face interviews. But there are more significant benefits too. For candidates, it opens doors, giving them the opportunity to apply for jobs across the world and really explain why they would be suited for a particular position. For employers, video interviews give access to a global pool of talented people, allows assessment of more people, more quickly and gives greater insight than can be achieved through a phone call. In addition, recordable videos can be shared with senior decision makers without the need to sit in on every interview. Hiring managers can also refer back to recorded interviews to check facts, limiting the need for follow up calls or interviews for clarity.

6. Don't be a robot There's a lot of talk around the potential for using tools such as artificial intelligence during recruitment, but it is important to remember that these should supplement HR and hiring processes, rather than replace them. Technology benefits exist in tasks such as checking CVs and applications, as well as simplifying staff training and onboarding processes. But recruitment is about culture and people, so human interaction shouldn't be removed entirely. Rather, technology should be used to supplement processes to save time for both candidates and recruiters– freeing up time to focus more on strategic talent planning.

Related: Why Your Company Must Be Digi-Friendly

James Randall

Regional Sales Manager, HireRight Middle East

James Randall is the Regional Sales Manager at HireRight Middle East.

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