Top Tips for Successful Recruitment Software Selection

Recruitment Software SelectionFor a recruitment agency, choosing your recruitment software should come in right after selecting your company name in terms of importance. Running your business effectively shouldn’t come down to an Excel spreadsheet or a list of names on a clipboard on your desk. To move ahead of your competitors you must have a ‘grown up system’ and use a database designed to improve and enhance your workflows, and increase the speed at which you find the right candidate for the right job.

Find a Vendor that will be your Partner

To some, choosing the “best” system consists of looking at all the vendor software packages and buying the one with the most or newest bells and whistles. With so many products available on the market, it’s important to look much deeper than what the software may offer –you need to look at the partnership you’ll be entering into as well.

Most importantly, clarifying the selection process begins with the simple recognition that the best system for your organisation is the one that provides real solutions to the challenges you now face and will help you reach the goals you are trying to achieve. An analysis of those goals will provide the framework for setting the criteria for system selection and will lend credence to the process for you and your staff. A structured business analysis will yield a list of requirements that you can use to compare the functionality of various software packages.

Involve the Right Selection Team

Your decision to look for a new recruitment software solution probably began with both business and technical factors. The people involved in those issues are the most likely players in the selection process. Involving key stake-holder representatives will lend balance to the final decision and create buy-in from all constituents.

Decide who will be involved, and what part they will play in the selection process. What steps will you take, and how will you involve everyone else in the team? How will the final decision be made, and who will actually make that decision. Make sure you have your budget planned out, and have a deadline of when the final decision will be made to help keep you all on track.

Is Your Company Ready For Change?

Installing a new software system, whether replacing your current system or going through a major upgrade, creates the opportunity to re-engineer your business processes. Just attempting to mirror your current processes may deny you the opportunity to gain significant efficiencies and productivity enhancements.

In addition, a new system may produce a temporarily negative impact on productivity, as staff adjust to the changes. The size of that impact depends on your staff’s attitude. When staff are inclined to embrace change, chances are that a new system will show a positive effect quickly; when staff resist change, the opposite can be true.

Contact Vendors & Compare Product Demos

As you contact vendors, freely discuss your primary requirements, technology needs, overall structure and plans for growth. It is especially important that you share as much information as possible about the current challenges you may have with your system as well as your business operations and strategy. The more the vendor knows about your business and your future plans, the more likely it is that they can effectively help you achieve your business goals.

These preliminary conversations will help you decide whether to proceed with each vendor. When you’ve determined that you would like to know more, arrange for a demo.

When possible, you or your staff should use the system yourself. There is a big difference between watching someone else perform the commands and actually doing them yourself. What may seem simple when you are watching may be quite complicated when you’re the user. The caveat is that, without training and/or guidance, your hands-on experience may be frustrating. Remember that there is always a learning curve.

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