Maximizing the Value of Recruitment Software Search Technology

Our customers frequently identify search functionality as one of the most important technology tools for better operations. Businesses utilizing recruitment software technology with advanced search capabilities tend to stay ahead of competition. That’s because the many benefits of these innovative solutions enable recruiters to both find talent and locate key opportunities to market top candidates to sales prospects. However, searching and sourcing for candidates is frequently the biggest operational challenge in the recruitment industry. The quality of the search experience is critical for productivity, candidate experience and client relationships. Moreover, the three most important elements of top-notch search technology are speed to outperform competitors, quality results that are relevant to inputted search queries, and search capability for business development for better relationship management to ultimately increase sales opportunities.

With new tools that allow recruiting professionals to pull in candidate details from all manner of sources, the depth of information available is, in many cases, overwhelming. Results can often be confusing and inconsistent, and many staff members do not know how to effectively search in all these areas. There is growing frustration that the increasing data volume is resulting in an apparent decrease in data quality. Rather than just searching the internal database, consultants are searching social media and multiple expensive job boards to quickly find talent for job orders. Below are four ways to maximize the value of recruitment software search technology to prevent recruiters from utilizing expensive external resources.

1. Use consistent skill codes for better search results

Structured data searching requires time to carefully extract the candidates’ relevant profile data and populate the relevant fields in the database. Structured searching can be very powerful, but requires a lot of manual input and administrative work to be fully effective. Whether undertaking a manual search or using resume parsing technology, the quality of the results depend upon the consistency of the data coding model. Records need to be consistently labeled to improve the efficiency and speed of the search process. For example, without consistent data coding, recruiters searching for candidates who have previously worked at Microsoft are equally likely to find candidates with Word and Excel skills. Without context – or setting up a skills code – a recruiter is faced with an array of resumes that are completely irrelevant to the job specification.

2. Ensure that staff are well trained on performing Boolean searches

Free Text Keyword (Boolean) Searches that are done well can also be very powerful. This type of search is less time consuming, but will often return matches to keywords without context and therefore can present the user with a search result that is large and unqualified. Quite often, consultants haven’t honed their skills to effectively use free text searches and find the process extremely frustrating as a result. Utilizing Boolean search strings is most effective when users are comfortable and confident in their ability to perform free text keyword searches. Make sure entry-level team members are given every resource necessary to become Boolean search experts to better utilize the wealth of information already within the internal database.

3. Ensure data is regularly updated for accuracy

When a recruitment company’s team members lose confidence in the quality of the internal database, the implications are significant. Ineffective use of business development CRM data can result in missed or lost revenue and inefficient business development direction. This also becomes costly for recruitment agencies when staff begin turning external data sources, such as job boards, before searching for internal data, often resulting in additional costs. If recruiters are solely relying upon external sources, they are not offering more than their competition because the competition – and the client – also has access to the same talent pool. Duplicate data also clutters up recruitment companies’ internal databases when recruiters download resumes – at a cost – from external sources without checking whether the contact already exists in the system. The result is multiple expensive downloads of the same resume. By failing to correctly store information and relying increasingly on expensive external data sources, the company is incrementally reducing its value. A competitive staffing agency with a more sophisticated approach to data collection will discover and place the best candidates far more quickly and increase profitability.

4. Utilize a technology solution that offers contextual search capabilities

The market has developed a number of new search tools in response to the changing data environment, but contextual search is a far more intelligent form of searching within the recruitment industry. Contextual searching tools can search on unstructured or raw data, as well as structured data, and base results on understanding what is contained within the text (rather than the filename or associated fields). These benefits enhance productivity through speed and improved accuracy of match results through more links between candidate and job specification to identify more relevant candidates. Furthermore, candidate records do not need to be accurately skill-coded (or coded at all) to be returned in search results. And since this system creates such a streamlined process for users, recruiters do not require advanced Boolean searching skills, effectively shortening the learning curve during training.

Contact us today!

Your recruitment agency’s internal database is the hub of all recruitment activity, and companies need to ensure the right processes and tools are in place to enable recruiters to gain maximum benefit from the wealth of information within their own system. Recruitment software search technology delivers superior candidate searches and matches, improves marketing insight and supports better business development. If you would like to know how our staffing software is improving productivity in the recruitment industry through optimized technology solutions, then contact us today!

 

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