Time is your most precious resource. But, manual tasks such as sending emails, cleaning up data, and tracking communication touchpoints can spread your resources thin. How can you reduce time-consuming tasks while still growing your business? Recruiting automation (RA) allows your team to focus on relationships and it helps key stakeholders better understand overall business KPIs by automating key processes throughout your recruitment workflow. Here’s everything you need to know about evaluating and implementing recruiting automation. What Is Recruiting Automation? Recruiting automation enables you to streamline repetitive workflows, processes, and communication throughout the entire recruiting cycle to ultimately improve bottom-line and top-line growth.   With recruiting automation, your team can: Reduce Busywork Automate repetitive, often-forgotten tasks and ensure the right processes happen at the right time. Improve Data Accuracy Identify inaccurate or incomplete records and automate various cleanup processes. Engage Your Audiences Create high-touch experiences with candidates, clients and contractors throughout the entire recruiting process. Types of Recruiting Automation Recruiting automation can assist your team in two distinct ways: via an automation platform or through products in your tech stack that automate key processes. Platform Platforms provide core functionality and provide an integration point for other applications. They ‘talk’ with complementary solutions and are foundational to a staffing firm’s technology stack. They also allow flexibility for staffing firms with different priorities or pain points. Products Products integrate with platforms to help mutual customers solve their business problems. Products have a specialized focus that can limit their scopes, such as VMS or onboarding automation, but they are valuable stand-alone or connected with a platform. Did you know? Automating routine tasks like sending email, writing text messages, updating records, launching surveys, adding notes and tasks saves an average of 3.2 hours per day per employee. 3 Hours saved per day Who Benefits From Recruiting Automation? Your entire business will benefit from recruiting automation, but a few key roles within the team will notice measurable gains in productivity. Recruiters & Salespeople Improved productivity, less busywork, more effective outreach to candidates or clients Message automation Send a welcome email to new applicants, a text message on a contractor's first day, an interview email reminder, or anything else you can think of. Automate touchpoints throughout the recruiting process. Process automation Update records, add notes, create tasks, and notify record owners of key changes - all on autopilot. Improve productivity and ensure important tasks don’t slip through the cracks. Intelligent job matching With the aid of machine learning, match candidates with job openings from your ATS for use in any outbound communication or automation. Consistent engagement Candidates, clients, contractors, prospects and internal audiences all benefit from consistent engagement at relevant times. No missed opportunities and no forgotten text or emails to new hires. Operations Enforce best practices at scale across an organization Intelligent owner assignment Automatically assign records to the applicable recruiters and salespeople so each team can understand who they're working with. Data cleanup Declutter your ATS by finding outdated records, people with no contact information, or records without activity and speed up searches in your system. Marketing Better data quality and a consistent brand experience Branded communications Every email, text and outbound message is on-brand and consistent throughout the entire organization. This leads to a more cohesive experience for candidates and clients. Webpage tracking Track website activity from candidates or sales contacts and trigger automated actions. When a top candidate views a job, automatically send an email. If a sales lead downloads a whitepaper, set a task to call them right away. How Recruiting Automation is Helping the Staffing Industry Today How are staffing firms seeing the benefits of automation right now? The most common use cases for automation are to help businesses increase productivity, improve redeployment rates, and fill jobs faster. 76% Placements from existing candidates Automation helps turn your inactive ATS candidates into an engaged talent pool through consistent, relevant communication. 27% Increase in redeployment rate Capture more value from vetted, hard-working candidates by automatically engaging throughout the entire assignment. 29% Improvement in NPS Keep a finger on the pulse of your business by automating frequent NPS surveys to contractors and clients and uncover issues before they spiral. Job Adds 78 80 Submissions 71 93 Placements 82 91 Bullhorn Bullhorn + Herefish Recruiting automation is a force multiplier We analyzed data from Bullhorn customers using automation and those that did not. The results? Automation helps firms create more competitive distance in job adds, submissions and placements vs. those firms that haven't automated processes and communications. We have used the automation function in Herefish by Bullhorn to scale processes with candidate, client, and consultant outreach. The ability to build in multiple triggers for an automation allows us to send impactful messages at the right time. Tim Glennie CEO @ Bridgeview IT Leveraging automation capabilities, we have been able to improve recruiter productivity while simultaneously elevating our customers’ experience. This is a gamechanger. Matt Milano President @ Motion Recruitment Did you know? Recruiters and salespeople can automate 16,560 email, texts, surveys, field updates, notes and tasks saving a whopping 763 hours per year! 16,560 Automated activities per year What Can You Do with Recruiting Automation? Whether you are an experienced recruiting automation user or are just getting started, here are recruitment-specific automations that you can implement now Simple Data Cleanup Improve data accuracy and create a more actionable talent pool by automating simple data cleanup tasks like copying, clearing, and setting field values. Example: update a candidate status to ‘Active’ the day their assignment ends or copy the Placement End Date to the Date Available. Simple Interview Reminders Less friction and more interaction around interviews lead to faster placements and feedback. Example: Send a text message reminder two days before and another the day of. You can also use this on the client-side to gather interview feedback after an interview ends. Simple Capture NPS Net Promoter Scores (NPS) help track your reputation and overall satisfaction over time. NPS scores are helpful to assess the overall experience for candidates and clients. Example: Send customer NPS surveys during a contract assignment at regular intervals. Advanced Match & message VMS jobs to candidates Shorten the time it takes to post candidates to new VMS jobs by automatically matching candidates to new VMS jobs and then automating messaging to those candidates to assess interest. Advanced Add task and message a visitor to key webpage When a prospective customer or A-player visits certain pages, automation kicks in and alerts the assigned salesperson or recruiter, puts a task for them in Bullhorn, and can add a note to their record. Advanced Pre-screen candidates to create shortlists Gather interest or pre-screen candidates for open roles using automated surveys. For example, when a new role opens, you automatically match candidates and send a survey capturing job-specific criteria like lifting capacity or simple yes/no assessments. Common Automation Fears In today’s fast-paced business world, standing still means you might as well be moving backward. If you do things the way you always have, your competitors will find ways to work smarter, faster (and not harder). With that said, here are three common concerns about implementing automation and how to overcome them: Fear of the unknown The challenge: Can you trust technology? Today’s automation technology focuses not on replacing man with the machine but on alleviating the most laborious and monotonous aspects of a job, allowing workers to focus their efforts on higher-value tasks and let recruiting robots handle the busywork.  How you overcome it: By taking the time to understand exactly how automation works and what it could do for you, unknowns quickly become known and the fear evaporates. Fear of change The challenge: While our urge for comfort and consistency is strong, an attitude of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ simply doesn’t cut it in today’s business landscape. How you overcome it: If you can overcome the fear of change, you’ll quickly realize that the risks of automation aren’t all that risky. Once you’ve incorporated automation, your team will be doing higher value, less laborious, and less monotonous work. Fear of unintended consequences The challenge: What about the changes that can’t be foreseen? The fear of unintended consequences – of damaging systems and procedures that up until this point has run smoothly – is an entirely fair one to have.  How you overcome it: Start by planning, building, and then testing your automations. Allow employees to get used to the automation and roll out an internal overview before you make the switch. Use this time to identify best practices and create solid processes that workers can follow to the letter. Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Recruiting Automation Solution Here are a few questions to ask vendors during the evaluation process: Can you build your own workflows? Are you locked-in to a specific vendor's workflow or do you have the freedom to build workflows based around your unique business processes.   How difficult is it to configure? Does it require a 3rd party integrator or can you start using it right away?   Can the tool adjust with my business needs? Ensure your future business needs are met by purchasing a recruiting automation tool that is flexible and configurable with clicks and not code. How can I measure success? Look for dashboards and reports that display real-time information and the health of your automation activities.    Can the tool support my entire business? Purchase a tool that helps automate activities throughout the recruiting cycle and accommodates candidates, clients, submissions, placements, jobs, and other entities in your ATS. Interested in Automation? We're standing by to help you understand how automation can transform your business. Learn more today! Start Automating What Should You Automate? There are hundreds of things that could be automated in a recruiting firm. Where do you start? To help, here are three things you should consider to determine where to implement automation: 1 Where are the gaps in your recruiting process? Understanding where you are today will help you drive towards where you want to go. In other words, it’s important to figure out where the gaps live in your process and how automation can fill them. Below are some common areas where firms typically see gaps in their processes: No communication around key dates and times. For example, not communicating leading up to an interview or start date. Field values are not updated during key changes in the recruiting cycle. For example, changing a candidate status from passive to active when they apply or forgetting to change a client status to ‘Customer’ after they sign. Lapses in client communication. For example, an active client hasn’t sent a new req in 30 days or not collecting feedback about recent hires from hiring managers. Manual activities can lead to errors or delays. For example, sending emails manually or onboarding documentation. 2 Why do gaps in your recruiting process exist? Why are new hires falling off? Why do we have candidates off contract with a current status of ‘Placed’? Why is our database full of inactive candidates? Once your team understands why the gaps in your process exist, determining how to address those gaps becomes clearer. 3 How can you fix these gaps with automation? While automation can make a positive impact on many parts of the recruitment process, it’s important to differentiate between tasks that should be automated from those that should still be handled by each recruiter or team member. Five Rules to Follow: Automate repetitive processes: Things like updating field values, adding notes, or sending messages. Automate things that happen every day: Things like messaging new applicants or interview prep. Automate around key dates: Things like pre-interview information sequences or first-day need-to-knows Automate alerts when things go wrong: Things like receiving a bad satisfaction score from a client or if a consultant hasn’t been contacted in more than 60 days. Automate data hygiene: Things like finding old records or automating the data update process. Two Cases Where You May NOT Want to Automate: If the use case requires a human decision While we’re big fans of automating around key dates and decision points, at the end of the day, some decisions are better left to humans, including accepting or rejecting candidates. If the use case requires a human voice While there are some options for a voice assistant to book appointments, there is no substitute for human to human voice contact. Calling candidates or having phone conversations with clients should still be handled by recruiters or account managers.   Stumped Where To Start? Download our free Recruiting Automation Workbook and start mapping and planning your process before you purchase a new automation tool. Download Your Copy Recruiting Automation Checklist What to look for while you're evaluating solutions: Visual Workflow Builder Easily create automated workflows with a few clicks rather than code. Drag-and-Drop Email Builder Create beautiful, mobile-friendly email templates for use in workflows. Text Messaging Create and send text messages as part of automated journeys and respond when candidates have questions or concerns. Partner Integrations Integrated with third-party applications to expand capabilities. Cross-Entity Search/Use Search across all entities to create very granular audience segments for use in workflows. Staffing/Recruiting Specific Functionality Leverage a solution built to handle client contacts, candidates, submissions, placements, jobs, and more. Website Tracking Track the behavior of candidates and clients that visit your website and use that information to take automated action. Feedback Collection Capture satisfaction or NPS scores from candidates and customers to keep tabs on the pulse of your business. Field Updates/Write-Back Automatically keep data accurate by updating field values and writing back data to the ATS from survey responses, data age, or online behavior. Smart Tokens/Merge Tags Personalize every communication using field values directly from entity records and dynamically use information relevant to the candidate or client. Built-in Surveys Build surveys to capture work availability, upload resumes, pre-screen candidates, post-interview satisfaction, and more. Herefish by Bullhorn has created a single, streamlined and efficient way for us to run our business. Chelsea Johnson Marketing @ Snelling I just absolutely fell in love with Herefish. I thought to myself ‘this is exactly what I’ve been doing for 40 years, only now I can automate it.' To be frank, I couldn’t hire or train enough people to do what this could do. Len Adams CEO @ ACG Resources How Bullhorn Can Help Your Automation Journey We're pushing innovation in the staffing industry and helping firms automate busywork. Herefish by Bullhorn Herefish makes it easy for modern staffing firms to automate workflows, create a pool of talent, and enhance experiences throughout the entire recruiting cycle. Explore Herefish Bullhorn VMS Sync with Submittals The only closed-loop VMS integration available to staffing firms and is empowering firms to fill job openings at over 350 of the world’s largest companies. Explore VMS Sync Bullhorn Onboarding Create electronic pre-hire and onboarding forms, populate fields on forms automatically with job and candidate data, and provide candidates with a secure portal to complete and sign documents easily, allowing them to start their new role sooner. Explore Onboarding Simple ROI So what could automation do for your firm? Just enter the number of users in your ATS and let's find out. How many ATS users do you have? Per year you could save... Hours Saved Productivity Dollars Saved And you could automate... Emails Sent Texts Sent Surveys Sent Fields Updated Notes & Tasks Created Internal Notifications Sent In other words, automating engagement and busywork equals… Days The Office Episodes Tesla Model S Gold Bars Marketplace Partners The Bullhorn Marketplace is home to over 100 pre-integrated solutions that can help you to innovate and differentiate from your competition. With the Marketplace partners focused on recruiting automation, you can build a customized tech stack to power your team’s unique workflows. Mya Mya Systems provides a conversational AI platform that helps  transform the recruiting process by automating outreach and communications across the end-to-end candidate and employee lifecycle. Learn More → Daxtra DaXtra automates the employment application process by helping you source the most relevant candidates quickly and easily through semantic search, powered by machine learning technologies. Learn More → Textkernel Textkernel’s tools help you accelerate business development by finding the best candidates faster and matching your available candidates to all other jobs — both in-house and on the market. Learn More → SourceBreaker SourceBreaker seamlessly integrates with your CRM, ATS, and other databases, improving candidate pools by over 200% and identifying vacancies that match candidate profiles at the click of a button. Learn More → Great Recruiters Great Recruiters automatically captures candidate feedback in real-time, automates the review process, and makes it simple to act on real-time testimonials. Learn More → 3DIQ 3DIQ makes it beyond easy for recruiters to edit, format, and get real-time feedback on resumes while gaining unique visibility into hiring decisions without ever leaving Bullhorn. Learn More → Recruiter Insider Recruiter Insider collects candidate and client feedback throughout the hiring process to help recruiters identify and provide help to those who might need it during the recruitment process. Learn More → Xref Xref delivers data-driven candidate insights, allowing organisations to make fast, smart and confident hiring decisions. Learn More → Kyloe Streamline your processes with Kyloe’s Bullhorn products. Use Kyloe AwesomeDocs to automate document creation, saving, and signing, and Kyloe DataTools to clean your data and optimise the performance of your automations. Learn More → Additional Reading Uncovering What to Automate in Your Staffing Firm -- Jul 24, 2020 Recruiting Automation Stats: Bullhorn vs. Bullhorn -- Jul 07, 2020 Automating CCPA Compliance using Herefish -- Jun 10, 2020 25 Things Every Recruiting Firm Should Automate -- May 21, 2020 Building & Maintaining Relationships in a Work From Home World -- May 21, 2020 Automating Your Data Hygiene Using Herefish -- May 01, 2020 Automation: How the Past is Shaping Our Future -- Oct 23, 2019 Let's Chat Automation is changing the recruitment and staffing landscape. Contact us today to learn how you can start automating busywork and take back more time. Start Automating