Host 20 meetings, record everything and report to your boss, find 10 developers for a brand-new project, help newcomers find their place in the office…sounds like a lot, but it’s an ordinary working day for the modern recruiter. So, how to find time for all of that? Thankfully, nowadays, there are lots of automation tools to plan, optimize and ease your workflow. And for such busy bees as we, recruiters, they can come in handy. In this article, we’ll share 6 planning tools for recruiters and show how you can save time and energy while completing as many tasks as they usually do and even more.

Recruitment productivity hacks

Let’s start with a few useful time-management tips. Time management, in general, is a priority skill for a recruiter, so every one of them tries to find their own groove to follow. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for better productivity, however, these little hacks could save you the day.

Understand your workflow

First, study your entire working process. Try to understand the dynamic of your workflow and its separate parts.

• What tasks can be divided into smaller ones?
• What is the best order to complete them?
• What do you personally feel comfortable doing?
• What causes problems or delays?

Answers to all of these questions will help you see the aspects of your time management that require more of your attention and some kind of improvement.

Embrace prioritization

The best way to never feel anxious about deadlines is to prioritize tasks. When you know that some things can wait and that now you’re doing exactly what you need to, your work becomes much more productive and enjoyable. A pretty popular technique is to use a Prioritization Matrix, where you divide all your to-dos into Urgent-Important, Urgent-Not Important, Not Urgent-Important, and Not Urgent-Not Important. Thus, you will see which tasks can be delegated, delayed, or removed.

Don’t forget about your metrics

KPIs are not just about having control over team performance, but also a wonderful way for a person to set goals and monitor their personal productivity. When the objectives are clear, and the path to achieve them has milestones, it’s going to take a lot lesser time and effort for your initial results.

Also read: 7 Best HR Communities You Must Join in 2023

Top 7 Planning Tools for Recruiters to Boost Productivity

The digital world has offered recruiters thousands of options to improve their work performance, and the choice is pretty hard. But sure enough, it only expands the capabilities and guarantees that there is a tool for each and everyone, for whatever requirements and objectives they need to accomplish. So, here are six planning tools for recruiters to choose from.

1. Sortd

Sortd is just a godsend for those of you who hate digging into your inbox and filtering what is important and what is not. Especially when many tasks and meetings are often arranged via email. Sortd won’t help you just sort mails out, but also manage tasks while surfing through Gmail and contacting all possible employees or your team members. It’s like having everything you need to communicate with people and plan your day in just one app. So, how does it work? You create boards, which are categories for your inbox. For example, you can categorize them by department (Marketing, Human resources, Project Management), or by projects. By adding your team members to each category, you can not only sort emails for yourself but also automatically send them to your colleagues. You don’t have to take the extra step of forwarding messages anymore.

2. Smartsheet

This one is an entire project management platform. Teams often use Smartsheet to collaborate. However, it can be helpful for personal use as well. Dashboards, reports, and integrations with various applications, including Slack, Gmail, Zapier, DocuSign, Google Calendars, and Google Forms will definitely make recruiters’ lives easier. In addition, Smartsheet offers tools to automate repetitive tasks, like scheduling calls, replying to emails, and even publishing social media posts. So, if you’re a pretty active social media user (which is very likely, since we’re talking about recruiters), the platform gives everything required for better performance.

3. Trello

There is probably no person in the world who has never heard about Trello. It’s also a project management tool. It has a simpler and more user-friendly interface than Smartsheet and offers a popular Kanban technique to plan your working hours. Again, it’s mostly used for team collaboration, but having all your tasks’ progress visually presented can greatly improve productivity.

Also read: Effective Workplace Communication Tips for Remote Teams

4. Calendly

Calendly is the best friend of all business people who are constantly tied up with meetings. Here you don’t have to do much: just set your working hours, send the link to your Calendly to anyone you need to schedule a meeting with, and let them choose the most convenient time from the available slots. As easy as pie. And the best thing about it is that you don’t have to create events separately in your Google calendar or modify your Calendly every time there is a holiday or another event. The tool will synchronize with your calendar and automatically exchange all the data.

5. Toggl

Toggl is a pretty universal platform. There are three main products it offers: TogglTrack, TogglPlan, and TogglHire. Let’s talk about each of them a little. The first one is TogglTrack. If you’ve ever felt like you haven’t done anything or spent hours for nothing, it will help you think otherwise. TogglTrack is a tool to track everything you do or even your team does. Just press the button next to your task to start tracking, and press stop whenever it’s completed. Then, you can get a comprehensive overview of your workflow and analyze it later. It will make you feel productive and get insights about what in your daily routine is the most time-consuming. ToggPlan, in turn, is a project management tool where you can plan your day, create projects and collaborate with your team on them. With its help, you can stop worrying about deadlines or miscommunication between team members. And last, but not least, TogglHire. Here, you can compare the applicants using testing tools for any skill required right inside the platform. This feature helps you make more informed decisions and be sure about your candidates’ expertise.

6. Recruit CRM

And, of course, how not to mention a CRM specially created for recruiters. Here you will find an applicant tracking system, various integrations, reporting, invoice management, and even tools for easier sourcing and job posting. Moreover, recruiters can get all the required information about candidates right from LinkedIn. No more days spent on data entry. RecruitCRM, just like many other complex tools, has Kanban boards, mentioned above, integration with your email, Google Chrome extension, dashboard, and automated reports. You can also integrate RecruitCRM with Slack and Google Sheets, which makes communication and collaboration much easier.

7. Jotform Tables

Collecting and organizing data is perhaps one of the most challenging tasks for the modern recruiter. Without the right tool, everything can get quite messy and very hard to keep track of. Luckily, Jotform Tables offers an all-in-one workspace to collect, organize, and manage data. There are endless possibilities as to how you can utilize Jotform Tables as a recruiter. You can create custom online forms with Jotform to collect the responses you need from your applicants and auto-populate your tables with submission data. You can also import CSV or Excel files to work with your existing data or add new entries manually. It is also a very useful tool to keep your team on the same page. You can share your tables to easily collaborate with your colleagues by assigning entries to your teammates and tracking progress.

Planning tools for recruiters—which one is on your tech stack next?

We hope this article helps you take your productivity to a new level, and understand what technologies can be useful in your line of work. The six planning tools for recruiters we suggested, as mentioned before, are not the only options, however, they are worth trying. You can use them all, use a few, just one, or find other alternatives. Anyway, good luck, dear recruiters, and may your productivity rise to new heights!

As a recruiter, you know how painful it is to hire the wrong candidate (or who is not suitable for the job role). Hiring the right candidate is a challenging job. Nevertheless, we are in 2023, and plenty of tools and techniques available online will enable you to transform your hiring process into data-driven decisions. Data analytics in recruitment plays a significant role since it provides insights and information to help make hiring decisions. Analyzing resumes and job applications, tracking the efficacy of recruitment initiatives, and discovering patterns and trends in candidate behavior are all examples of this. Furthermore, recruiting analytics is used to optimize the recruiting process, such as finding the most effective sourcing channels and determining which individuals are most likely to succeed in a specific post. Organizations may increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their recruiting activities by employing data analytics, resulting in hiring better-suited individuals. Any advantage is welcome, especially in today’s competitive job market where the skilled talent shortage is at an all-time high. In this article, let’s look at how data analytics can help the recruitment process be more effective.

What is recruitment analytics?

Recruitment analytics is statistical data of candidates that a company might hire. To put it simply, finding, analyzing, and condensing significant trends for identifying, choosing, and recruiting are the goals of recruitment analytics. In addition, recruitment analytics provides you with a clear picture of these doubts:

• How candidates are reacting to the job profile (or job description)
• Why candidates are dropping out in between the interview
• How long is the interview process happening?
• What is the cost of hiring?
• What do suitable candidates have in common?

Data analytics in recruitment will streamline your entire hiring process and provide a better applicant experience. You can identify barriers and potential improvement areas in the whole process.

Benefits of recruitment data analytics

You can benefit from recruitment analysis in a variety of ways, including

• Improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness: When inefficiencies in the recruitment process are identified, adjustments can be made to improve efficiency and reduce expenses.
• Improved alignment with business needs: Data-driven talent acquisition can provide insights into the skills and qualities that are most in demand in your organization, helping recruiters better match their efforts with the needs of the business.
• Improved sourcing and recruitment strategies: You can increase the chances of attracting top talent by discovering the most effective techniques for sourcing and recruiting applicants.
• Better decision-making: Recruitment analysis provides valuable data and insights that can be utilized to inform decision-making at all organizational levels, from recruitment strategy to employee development.

Also, read: The Role of Talent Intelligence in Optimizing Recruitment

How to get started with data analytics in recruitment?

Data analytics in recruitment has great potential to up your hiring game. Let’s see how you can use data-driven power to efficiently meet your hiring goals.

Recruitment analytics tool:

The first thing you will need to get started with recruitment data analysis is a tool suitable to your specific hiring needs. As you know, there are multiple options for good recruitment automation software in the market, and finding the perfect fit can be time-consuming. To help simplify the process for you, we did our research and came up with the following list of features that you should keep in mind:

• Common data sources for recruitment analytics include applicant tracking systems (ATS), candidate relationship management (CRM) tools, information from human resources information systems (HRIS), and satisfaction polls
• Data reports from branding and advertising channels used for posting jobs
• Automation of repetitive tasks
• A straightforward interface with easy software integration
• A user-friendly platform for reporting and recruitment statistics

Also, read: Complete guide to technical recruitment software

Create a recruitment matrix:

The next step is to map out a recruitment matrix. You need to set your goal; what data do you need to get the most out of your hiring process? Knowing what data to gather and how to use it is necessary to revamp your hiring strategies. For instance, keeping track of the duration between interviews and hiring will help you cut down on your time-to-hire metric. Then, you can specify KPIs with high, medium, and low priorities by comparing the significance of specific measures with one another. A recruiting matrix is a valuable tool for visualizing your team’s preferences.

Apply predictive analytics:

Establish KPIs and have your recruitment matrix ready. Then you can use a relevant predictive analytics model and assess the results. It comprises handling data, choosing an analytic method, making performance predictions, and acting on insights. What is predictive analytics?: HR teams employ predictive analytics to examine previous and current data and predict future results. It digitally examines data to extract, separate, and classify information before spotting trends, anomalies, and correlations.

Organize measurement and reporting:

Understanding what KPIs to track is a big step toward better data analysis. Identify those recruitment KPIs that you want to measure and create a dashboard for tracking your progress. Many recruitment analytics tools provide customizable dashboards to understand reports with ease. You can also share these reports with hiring managers and keep them in the loop.

Also, read: 5 Steps To Creating A Recruiting Dashboard (+ Free Template)

Continually monitor and measure success:

Lastly, you have to periodically monitor the whole process to get the results you need. Every step is equally important, be it mentioning inputs and predictive data, hiring managers’ feedback, or taking action based on the predictive data outcomes. In addition, you can also measure progress by the below methods:

• Benchmarking: you can compare your recruitment statistics to industry norms and historical data. It can help discover areas for improvement and track progress over time and build a data-driven talent acquisition system
• Surveys: Conduct regular surveys for hiring managers and new hires to gather input on the hiring process and find areas for improvement.
• A/B testing: You can use A/B testing to compare different recruitment techniques and methods.

Key points from HR analytics

Data analytics gives meaning to information on resumes

Resume analysis qualifies candidates based on their education, experience, and other relevant information. Recruitment analysis helps to filter out resumes that fit your job descriptions. It helps you find candidates with the required skillset and saves time and money. In addition, data analytics allows you to shortlist the right candidates for the job role.

Data improves feedback from hiring managers to recruiters

Recruitment analysis can improve feedback from hiring managers to recruiters by identifying patterns and areas for improvement in the recruitment process. It could involve examining the time it takes to fill a position, the caliber of candidates given, and the communication and coordination between hiring managers and recruiters. Based on this data, you can improve recruitment by simplifying communication, offering training for hiring managers or recruiters, or deploying new technologies. It can lead to more efficient and effective recruitment, resulting in better prospects and more successful hires.

Data analytics helps retain employees

Yes, you read that right! Recruitment analysis can help retain employees. It provides you with actionable insights into employee satisfaction and engagement. For example, recruitment analysis can analyze employee turnover rates, why employees leave, and the characteristics of individuals who tend to stay with the organization. With this information, you can take actions to promote employee retention, such as:

• Offering competitive compensation and perks
• Providing possibilities for professional development and advancement
• Creating a positive and supportive work environment
• Regular and effective performance feedback
• Enhancing team communication and collaboration

Once you identify areas for improvement, recruitment analysis can assist you in creating a more engaging and supportive culture that aids in long-term employee retention.

Also, read: Data-Driven Recruiting: All You Need To Know

What are the three important examples of recruitment analytics?

• Applicant Tracking: It assists in tracking the progress of job applicants throughout the recruitment process, including the number of resumes received, candidates interviewed, and candidates employed.
• Source tracking: It enables you to see where your job applicants are coming from, such as job boards, employee recommendations, or recruitment events.
• Time-to-Hire: This metric evaluates how long it takes to fill a job vacancy, from posting the position to hiring an applicant.

These three data sources in recruiting analytics are significant because they provide insights into the recruitment process, indicate areas for development, and assist in making data-driven decisions. But it is equally important to track quality, speed, and costs.

How to utilize recruitment analytics in your hiring process

Recruitment analytics, while helpful, can only help if you have a well though-out process surrounding the numbers. To do so, begin by defining what you aim to achieve. Whether it’s reducing the time-to-hire, attracting higher-quality candidates, or improving the offer acceptance rate, clarity in goals guides data interpretation.

Once you have defined your aim, you can work backwards and create a list of the data you need to fulfil these goals. Ensure that the recruitment software and tools you use automatically collect relevant data at every stage–from job postings to final onboarding.

Next comes analysis and interpretation. Employ statistical tools to analyze the collected data. This could mean discerning patterns, comparing performance against industry benchmarks, or predicting future recruitment trends.Based on the analysis, your team is now better prepared to make informed changes like revising job descriptions, altering interview processes, or redefining candidate engagement strategies.

Keep calm and repeat. Data analytics in recruitment is a long-term process and you will need to continuously monitor changes to evaluate their impact.

Key metrics in recruitment analytics

Time-to-Hire: Measures the duration between a job posting and a successful hire. Shorter times can indicate efficient processes, but overly quick hiring can mean rushed decisions.

Quality of Hire: Assesses the performance, cultural fit, and retention of new hires to gauge the effectiveness of the recruitment process.

Source of Hire: Determines which platforms (job boards, social media, referrals) yield the highest quality candidates, optimizing resource allocation.

Candidate Experience: Surveys and feedback tools to measure candidate satisfaction throughout the recruitment process.

Offer Acceptance Rate: The ratio of offers made, to offers accepted. A low rate might suggest a mismatch in compensation, role expectations, or company reputation.

Understanding the various levels of recruitment analytics

Operational analytics: Focuses on day-to-day activities, such as tracking the number of applications received or interviews scheduled. This offers immediate insights into the efficiency of recruitment processes.

Strategic analytics: Provides a broader perspective by analyzing overarching recruitment trends, forecasting hiring needs, or evaluating long-term impact of hiring decisions on business goals.

Predictive analytics: As the name suggests, it’s about forecasting future trends based on current and past data. For tech hiring, this could mean anticipating skill set demands based on industry evolution.

Prescriptive analytics: Goes beyond prediction to suggest actions. For example, if predictive analytics forecasts a rise in demand for a particular tech skill, prescriptive analytics might suggest specific universities or regions to target for recruitment.

Best practices to follow when using recruitment analytics in hiring

Here are some best practices to follow when using recruitment analytics in hiring:

1. Choose the right metrics to track. Not all metrics are created equal. When choosing which metrics to track, it is important to focus on those that are most relevant to your specific needs. Some common metrics to track include:
   • Time to hire
   • Cost per hire
   • Quality of hire
   • Source of hire
   • Diversity of hires
   • Employee turnover

1. Collect relevant data. Once you have chosen the right metrics to track, you need to collect the data. This data can come from a variety of sources, such as your applicant tracking system (ATS), your hiring software, and your HR records.
2. Visualize your data. Once you have collected the data, you need to visualize it so that you can easily understand it. There are a number of ways to visualize data, such as using charts, graphs, and dashboards.
3. Put the data into perspective. It is important to put the data into perspective. This means comparing it to industry benchmarks and to your own historical data. This will help you to understand how your hiring process is performing and identify areas for improvement.
4. Use the data to make informed decisions. The ultimate goal of using recruitment analytics is to make informed decisions about your hiring process. This means using the data to identify areas for improvement and to make changes that will lead to better hiring outcomes.

Here are some additional tips for using recruitment analytics in hiring:

• Get buy-in from stakeholders such as hiring managers and HR leaders, before you start using recruitment analytics. This will help to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the data is used effectively.
• Be patient. It takes time to collect enough data to make meaningful insights. Don’t expect to see results overnight.
• Be open to change. As you learn more from the data, you may need to make changes to your hiring process. Be open to these changes and be willing to adapt your approach.

By following these best practices, you can use recruitment analytics to improve your hiring process and make better hiring decisions.

Recruitment and data analytics go hand in hand!

Data analytics has transformed numerous businesses and will only grow in popularity. There are several uses of data analytics in today’s society. They range from recruitment to manufacturing, and these applications can be the difference between success and failure. Companies that efficiently employ data analytics have numerous advantages over those that do not. Some benefits include increased efficiency, the ability to respond swiftly to changing market conditions, and much cheaper costs. Businesses are getting incredible returns on their investments due to the recent increase in data analytics. As a recruiter, it is high time you shift to a data-driven approach while hiring and streamline your entire recruiting process!

Layoffs in the IT industry are becoming more widespread as companies fight to remain competitive in a fast-changing market; many turn to layoffs as a cost-cutting measure. Last year, 1,000 companies including big tech giants and startups, laid off over two lakhs of employees. But first. What are layoffs in the tech business, and how do they impact the industry?

Tech layoffs are the termination of employment for some employees by a technology company. It might happen for various reasons, including financial challenges, market conditions, firm reorganization, or the after-effects of a pandemic. While layoffs are not unique to the IT industry, they are becoming more common as companies look for methods to cut costs while remaining competitive.

The consequences of layoffs in technology may be catastrophic for employees who lose their jobs and the firms forced to make these difficult decisions. Layoffs can result in the loss of skill and expertise and a drop in employee morale and productivity. However, they may be required for businesses to stay afloat in a fast-changing market.

This article will examine the reasons for layoffs in the technology industry, their influence on the industry, and what may be done to reduce their negative impacts. We will also look at the various methods for tracking tech layoffs.

What are tech layoffs?

The term “tech layoff” describes the termination of employees by an organization in the technology industry. A company might do this as part of a restructuring during hard economic times.

In recent times, the tech industry has witnessed a wave of significant layoffs, affecting some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook), Apple, Cisco, SAP, and Sony. These layoffs are a reflection of the broader economic challenges and market adjustments facing the sector, including factors like slowing revenue growth, global economic uncertainties, and the need to streamline operations for efficiency.

Each of these tech giants has announced job cuts for various reasons, though common themes include restructuring efforts to stay competitive and agile, responding to over-hiring during the pandemic when demand for tech services surged, and preparing for a potentially tough economic climate ahead. Despite their dominant positions in the market, these companies are not immune to the economic cycles and technological shifts that influence operational and strategic decisions, including workforce adjustments.

This trend of layoffs in the tech industry underscores the volatile nature of the tech sector, which is often at the mercy of rapid changes in technology, consumer preferences, and the global economy. It also highlights the importance of adaptability and resilience for companies and employees alike in navigating the uncertainties of the tech landscape.

Causes for layoffs in the tech industry

Why are tech employees suffering so much?

Yes, the market is always uncertain, but why resort to tech layoffs?

Various factors cause tech layoffs, including company strategy changes, market shifts, or financial difficulties. Companies may lay off employees if they need help to generate revenue, shift their focus to new products or services, or automate certain jobs.

In addition, some common reasons could be:

Financial struggles

Currently, the state of the global market is uncertain due to economic recession, ongoing war, and other related phenomena. If a company is experiencing financial difficulties, only sticking to pay cuts may not be helpful—it may need to reduce its workforce to cut costs.

Also, read: 6 Steps To Create A Detailed Recruiting Budget (Template Included)

Changes in demand

The tech industry is constantly evolving, and companies would have to adjust their workforce to meet changing market conditions. For instance, companies are adopting remote work culture, which surely affects on-premises activity, and companies could do away with some number of tech employees at the backend.

Restructuring

Companies may also lay off employees as part of a greater restructuring effort, such as spinning off a division or consolidating operations.

Automation

With the advancement in technology and automation, some jobs previously done by human labor may be replaced by machines, resulting in layoffs.

Mergers and acquisitions

When two companies merge, there is often overlap in their operations, leading to layoffs as the new company looks to streamline its workforce.

But It’s worth noting that layoffs are not exclusive to the tech industry and can happen in any industry due to uncertainty in the market.

Will layoffs increase in 2025?

It is challenging to estimate the rise or fall of layoffs. The overall state of the economy, the health of certain industries, and the performance of individual companies will play a role in deciding the degree of layoffs in any given year.

But it is also seen that, in the first 15 days of this year, 91 organizations laid off over 24,000 tech workers, and over 1,000 corporations cut down more than 150,000 workers in 2022, according to an Economic Times article.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a huge economic slowdown and forced several businesses to downsize their employees. However, some businesses rehired or expanded their personnel when the world began to recover.

So, given the current level of economic uncertainty, predicting how the situation will unfold is difficult.

Also, read: 4 Images That Show What Developers Think Of Layoffs In Tech

What types of companies are prone to tech layoffs?

Tech layoffs can occur in organizations of all sizes and various areas.

Following are some examples of companies that have experienced tech layoffs in the past:

Large tech firms

Companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Twitter, Better.com, Alibaba, and HP have all experienced layoffs in recent years as part of restructuring initiatives or cost-cutting measures.

Market scenarios are still being determined after Elon Musk’s decision to lay off employees. Along with tech giants, some smaller companies and startups have also been affected by layoffs.

Startups

Because they frequently work with limited resources, startups may be forced to lay off staff if they cannot get further funding or need to pivot due to market downfall.

Small and medium-sized businesses

Small and medium-sized businesses face layoffs due to high competition or if the products/services they offer are no longer in demand.

Companies in certain industries

Some sectors of the technological industry, such as the semiconductor industry or automotive industry, may be more prone to layoffs than others.

Companies that lean on government funding

Companies that rely significantly on government contracts may face layoffs if the government cuts technology spending or contracts are not renewed.

How to track tech layoffs?

You can’t stop tech company layoffs, but you should be keeping track of them. We, HR professionals and recruiters, can also lend a helping hand in these tough times by circulating “layoff lists” across social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter to help people land jobs quicker. Firefish Software put together a master list of sources to find fresh talent during the layoff period.

Because not all layoffs are publicly disclosed, tracking tech industry layoffs can be challenging, and some may go undetected. There are several ways to keep track of tech industry layoffs:

Use tech layoffs tracker

Layoff trackers like thelayoff.com and layoffs.fyi provide up-to-date information on layoffs.

In addition, they aid in identifying trends in layoffs within the tech industry. It can reveal which industries are seeing the most layoffs and which companies are the most affected.

Companies can use layoff trackers as an early warning system and compare their performance to that of other companies in their field.

News articles

Because many news sites cover tech layoffs as they happen, keeping a watch on technology sector stories can provide insight into which organizations are laying off employees and how many individuals have been affected.

Social media

Organizations and employees frequently publish information about layoffs in tech on social media platforms; thus, monitoring companies’ social media accounts or following key hashtags can provide real-time updates regarding layoffs.

Online forums and communities

There are online forums and communities dedicated to discussing tech industry news, and they can be an excellent source of layoff information.

Government reports

Government agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publish data on layoffs and unemployment, which can provide a more comprehensive picture of the technology industry’s status.

How do companies reduce tech layoffs?

Layoffs in tech are hard – for the employee who is losing their job, the recruiter or HR professional who is tasked with informing them, and the company itself. So, how can we aim to avoid layoffs? Here are some ways to minimize resorting to letting people go:

Salary reductions

Instead of laying off employees, businesses can lower the salaries or wages of all employees. It can be accomplished by instituting compensation cuts or salary freezes.

Implementing a hiring freeze

Businesses can halt employing new personnel to cut costs. It can be a short-term solution until the company’s financial situation improves.

Also, read: What Recruiters Can Focus On During A Tech Hiring Freeze

Non-essential expense reduction

Businesses might search for ways to cut or remove non-essential expenses such as travel, training, and office expenses.

Reducing working hours

Companies can reduce employee working hours to save money, such as implementing a four-day workweek or a shorter workday.

These options may not always be viable and may have their problems, but before laying off, a company owes it to its people to consider every other alternative, and formulate the best solution.

Tech layoffs to bleed into this year

While we do not know whether this trend will continue or subside during 2025, we do know one thing. We have to be prepared for a wave of layoffs that is still yet to hit. As of last month, Layoffs.fyi had already tracked 170+ companies conducting 55,970 layoffs in 2025.

So recruiters, let’s join arms, distribute those layoff lists like there’s no tomorrow, and help all those in need of a job! 🙂

I have to manually sort through 348 applications for an open role, talk to hiring managers about new vacancies, and handle admin work. But this is nothing, I can still take up nurturing candidates and manually sourcing for fresh candidates in the second half of my day – said NO recruiter ever!

As is common knowledge, recruiters and talent acquisition specialists are mostly in over their heads with the amount of work they handle. The simplest way to reduce their workloads is by automating repetitive tasks like screening applications or sending emails to candidates—this frees up time significantly and allows them to focus on more important tasks.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I am a big believer in letting technology do the heavy lifting and recruitment is one area that can greatly benefit from this.

Baking in recruitment automation in your hiring processes means posting job openings to different job boards, parsing through resumes, sending timely updates, and uploading candidate data in half the time and half the manual effort. It also means that you’ll be sourcing for better-quality candidates faster.

Can your company battle skill gaps, talent shortage, and mass quitting with outdated recruitment tech stacks? Especially when your competitors are embracing modern recruitment and automation. I didn’t think so! Without further ado, let’s look at recruitment automation platforms and how they can improve your overall hiring process.

How to automate your complete recruitment process

It can be tricky to identify which areas of your recruiting cycle need improvement. As they say, too many cooks spoil the broth and too many tools might end up hampering your recruitment.

After a lot of research, we’ve put together a list of common yet important pain points of recruiters that can do well with automation! Here they are:

1. Automate distributing your jobs to multiple job boards

You have a job role that fell vacant. Time is short and you need to fill this role within a small window of time. What do you do? Re-use your previous, possibly outdated job description, manually post it on generic job boards, and wait for applications (which may not be of great quality) to pour in.

Now let’s add a layer of technology to this. You have a job role that fell vacant. You have a recruitment automation platform at your disposal. It can generate targeted job descriptions for you, cross-post your job postings to relevant career sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, and others, form a strong talent pipeline and improve the talent pool quality. All in half or even lesser the amount of time it would take for you to do it manually!

Additionally, you can also use the insights and analytics provided by your tool to see which sourcing channels got you the highest number of qualified candidates. Spend more time and money specifically targeting those channels in the future. Optimize your hiring and find the best of the best out there.

2. Boost your candidate sourcing abilities

Marketing your job postings right is half the battle won when it comes to candidate sourcing. As seen above, recruiting software can help you reach a bigger, better talent pool by cross-posting your job descriptions to targeted job boards and social media channels.

You can tailor candidate searches based on what job role you’re hiring for with AI-based candidate matching algorithms, years of experience, or geographic location rather than manually constructing your own Boolean search strings.

You will have extra time to leverage social recruiting, especially when hiring for niche roles. Also, GenZ is predominantly a big user of social media. That’s where you should be focusing your recruiting efforts on. Social recruiting also allows you to find passive candidates before they’re actively looking for work.

All of this slashes your cost-per-hire and betters the quality of your hire, which come with other benefits like,

• Reduced employee attrition
• Increased employee performance
• Improved employee engagement

3. Keep track of all candidate applications with an ATS

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a life-saver for recruiters. And a majority of the recruitment automation platforms in the market can be integrated with popular ATSs like Lever, Naukri RMS, and Zoho Recruit.

An ATS enables you to stay organized and comes in handy when dealing with high-volume internal tasks. Some of the tasks include storing candidate applications and data in a central database, candidate pipeline visibility, tracking a candidate’s journey at each stage, syncing emails and calendars, and collaborating with your team on these tasks.

Some ATSs offer a candidate self-service portal where candidates can upload their resumes, cover letters, and other documents directly.

An ATS alerts your candidates about the next steps in their application process. You can also use existing candidate data from your ATS to see what hiring strategies are working and what needs to be changed.

4. Streamline and enhance the pre-screening process

The quickest way to vet a candidate’s resume and make sure all the skills mentioned pan out is by conducting skill assessments. A good coding assessment tool offers specific tests for the majority of the skill sets out there. Some tools also allow you to create custom tests of your own.

Evaluate candidates and determine their expertise/skill level and culture-fit, objectively. Auto-reject candidates who don’t meet the selection criteria. A major advantage of such tools is the ability to shortlist candidates solely based on their skills, thus eliminating any unconscious bias, whatsoever.

Any recruitment automation platform would integrate with the top pre-employment coding assessment tools in the market. You can schedule assessments and invite candidates to take the test, right from your automation platform instead of switching between different apps.

A tech hiring platform like HackerEarth can help you screen the very best developers with ease. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial and check out all the features of our coding assessment platform to see for yourself!

5. Eliminate the need for manually scheduling interviews

Another time-consuming task that probably rivals screening thousands of resumes manually, is scheduling interviews. For each shortlisted candidate, you have to consider a suitable date and time. More hassle if the candidate lives in a different time zone.

This is one part of recruiting that can benefit greatly from technology. A recruitment automation platform enables you to automate the interview scheduling process. You can set up interviews with candidates at your convenience, offer candidates the option to self-schedule their interviews and make use of auto-generated interview reminders, emails, and updates to be sent to your candidates.

Any guesses on how many hours were saved, here? My guess is a LOT and that’s good enough!

6. Nurture your candidates better to create a memorable experience

By using HR recruitment software, headcount planning and other recruiting platforms, you get to prioritize your work better. More importantly, you free up your time to handle more important tasks, like nurturing candidates, for instance. It is a vital aspect of recruitment and more often than not, we recruiters do not have enough time or the capacity to give it the attention it deserves.

Automated recruiting enables you to reply promptly to any emails, set up customized email sequences to continuously engage your candidates, schedule follow-ups, reminders, and alerts, and provide chatbots to give automated responses to FAQs, and simple queries. It streamlines the overall candidate communication.

This shows your candidates that you care about them. That you want to keep them in the loop through every stage of the hiring process. It creates a lasting first impression right at the beginning and enhances your employer brand.

5 Benefits of using recruitment automation platforms

The biggest benefit of using a hiring automation platform is employee retention. Gone are the days when your recruiting teams were willing to work insane hours to close those open roles with little to zero help from ancient recruiting tools. According to research, 50% of recruiters’ would shift companies if the other one had better recruiting software.

Before you can focus all your energies on attracting the best talent out there, the first step would be hanging on to your talented recruiters and getting them to stay! Additionally, online recruiting platforms come with a few more key advantages:

1. Reduces time-to-hire and improves the quality of hires

A major strain on a recruiter’s time and effort is going through mountains of applications. And a major advantage of using a recruitment automation platform (a.k.a. HR recruitment software) is that it can take care of screening applicants for you. It also comes with a resume parser to check if minimum qualifications are met.

Voila! Slashed your time-to-hire by a huge margin already. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what such tools bring to the table.

You get to screen a lot more applicants now since it is automated. You also get to identify better-qualified candidates due to detailed, efficient screening. Recruitment automation makes sure the good ones don’t slip through the cracks. As we see next, it can also help diversify your talent pools by tailoring your candidate searches to every role, pulling up profiles of passive candidates, and in general, improving the quality of your sourcing efforts!

2. Expand and diversify your talent pipeline

A recruitment automation platform helps you cast a wider net when sourcing fresh talent. You can post your job postings on a varied range of job boards and social media channels with just one click. Without hurriedly copying and pasting generic job descriptions, you now have a good amount of time to create targeted job postings. Consequently, it will improve the quality of your applicants.

This expanded search leads you to source prospective candidates beyond your organization’s network or existing talent pool. You can also spend time searching for, connecting, and building relationships with passive candidates who might be a good fit for your company.

3. Hire for niche technical roles

Automated recruiting enables you to parse resumes against a chosen set of keywords and screen those that are a good match. Moreover, this feature comes in handy especially when you need to hire for specialized roles. You can select keywords that match a particular job description or skill set. The tool will shortlist your candidates from there.

4. Create a memorable candidate experience

A recent report shows that GenZ prefers working with advanced recruitment technology, and 54% say they would drop out of the application process of companies with obsolete methods and complicated processes. The future of the workforce is GenZ. By not using a recruitment automation platform, you are alienating a majority of the available talent pool.

The best recruiting platforms offer several practical features. Popular ones include easy-to-use online application portals, timely updates every step of the way, chatbots to answer any queries, and automated email drips to build better relationships with your candidates. Making sure all your potential candidates have a great experience right from the start will help you seal the deal quickly and seamlessly.

5. Streamlines the complete hiring process

Any good hiring automation platform provides data for the entire recruiting lifecycle. Armed with this data, you can identify which parts of your hiring process are broken, what’s working, which hiring practices are giving the best ROI, and so on. Such tools help you make data-driven decisions and optimize your hiring process to be more efficient.

Automated recruiting for the win!

With automated recruiting, fewer items slip through the cracks. The efficiency, productivity, and morale of your recruiting team go up. Tech recruiting platforms ensure recruiters can focus their attention on matching candidates with the right job opportunities instead of on administrative tasks.

Well, what are you waiting for? This is your sign to start using a good recruitment automation platform!