Top Tech to Boost Recruiter Efficiency

Talent Experience Live kicked off 2023 with a recruiter efficiency series, welcoming industry experts from Circle K, SASR, and more to weigh in on what efficient recruitment teams could — and should — look like as companies strive to make the most of their resources and hire faster.

So what innovations are making the most impact? From AI scheduling to video assessments, guests explored how to tackle hiring challenges and streamline workflows for more productive (and happier!) TA teams.

Check out the season wrap-up here, or get the key takeaways below.

Using Video to Streamline the Hiring Process

In just a few seconds, a video assessment can give a hiring manager a wealth of critical information, answering questions like “What is this job candidate’s communication style?” or “Would their personality mesh well with other team members?”

It’s like watching a movie trailer versus reading a synopsis.

And when video assessments are part of an intelligent talent experience platform, its power multiplies, according to John Harrington, Director of Product Marketing at Phenom. It centers all hiring stakeholders around a single view of job candidates for faster, more collaborative selection decisions.

“You’re able to arrive at the decision about who to schedule an interview with faster, without having to bring everyone together on a call. It makes it that much [easier] to communicate, collaborate, and arrive at a decision,” Harrington said.

How Video Assessments Let Recruiters Become Talent Advisors

Phenom clients have conducted more than 150,000 video assessments since the tool was debuted. That’s a lot of time saved, insights gained, and lessons learned in terms of use cases.

Those lessons learned have spurred exciting innovations like new screening options, new languages, and a new mobile app.

One clear outcome that’s emerged is that video assessments empower recruiters to function more as talent advisors — collaborating more closely with hiring managers, building relationships with candidates, and nurturing warm leads.

For example, in a recent total economic impact study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Phenom, a tech company completed more than 34k video assessments, saving over 5,000 recruiter hours in less than one year.

If you move away from administrative tasks, you can focus on more strategic things like aligning with hiring managers and hiring teams on what kind of candidates you’re looking for.

The Power of Automated Interview Scheduling

Top turn-offs for candidates? Being in the dark and being kept waiting. Automated interview scheduling can help solve those issues, and more.

“It’s all about making sure you can make that process a lot more smooth, a lot more seamless, and set expectations, and really follow through on them. And that’s where automation comes into play,” Harrington said. With AI scheduling tools, you can eliminate the time-consuming, manual effort previously needed to schedule time with candidates.

After all, speed is paramount. While they’re waiting to hear from you, candidates are applying and interviewing elsewhere. An automated approach keeps you nimble and gets your organization in front of high-quality talent faster, reducing time to hire.

How AI Scheduling Complements the Human Element

It sounds counterintuitive: let a machine take over interview scheduling … without losing the critical component of human interaction? Greg Chandler, Senior Manager of Executive Recruitment at Phenom, shared how Phenom AI Scheduling allows him to keep candidates at the center of his work by lifting the constant back-and-forth of manual scheduling.

“It allows the recruiter to really reinvest that time into focusing on the human element… I can be more precise when I follow up with [candidates],” he said, taking time to consider how he can positively impact the candidate’s experience.

But how much time do organizations stand to save with AI Scheduling when recruiters no longer need to manually coordinate availability, send meeting invites, keep track of RSVPs, and then (inevitably) reschedule an interview?

“We’re seeing that tens of thousands of hours are being saved,” Harrington said, sharing more results from the total economic impact study mentioned above. “The majority of interviews are being scheduled within an hour,” with a major manufacturing company saving 7,166 hours using AI Scheduling and booking 61% of interviews within an hour.

And recruiters aren’t the only ones who appreciate being freed from the manual back-and-forth. Eliminating scheduling hassles benefits job candidates, too, and conveys that you respect their time.

Why It’s Critical to Use an Integrated Calendar

If free calendar applications are out there, why invest in AI scheduling technology that integrates with a talent experience platform?

According to Bradley Cooper, Director of Information Technology at staffing company SASR Workforce Solutions, switching from an outside booking app to Phenom AI Scheduling streamlined the experience for his recruiters. They’re free from the demands of tracking and updating multiple calendars, gaining a holistic, real-time view of all stakeholders’ schedules. “It’s all right there,” Cooper said, including company-wide or team-specific meetings that could create conflicts.

“Personalization is key, both from being able to have what you need in the applicant or candidate the way you want it, but it’s also about having a conversation with someone at the organization who can help you along.”

Using an intelligent talent experience platform that integrates with your HR tech stack helps SASR recruiters achieve this powerful combination. Candidates get an easy, mobile-first apply process — after which recruiters can quickly reach out personally to help them take the next step.

Related resource: The Definitive Guide to AI for Recruiting

The Secret to Circle K’s High-Volume Hiring Success

When you’re staffing frontline store positions, losing just a day or two can mean losing out to competitors. But automating the candidate selection process with rules-based criteria (defining shift availability and location, for example) enables convenience store chain Circle K to find top candidates in just a few clicks — and be the first to connect.

Their use of Phenom High-Volume Hiring is so reliable that stores can skip interviewing and get right down to the job offer, according to Darin Averill, Director of Global Talent Acquisition & Strategy for Circle K.

“If a candidate is qualified as the strongest match candidate based on the criteria we’ve built, we can generate an offer based on that computer screening, basically skipping the interview and the meet and greet with the store manager,” he said.

On the store side, hiring is about automation and efficiency. On the support side for office-based roles, it’s about finding candidates with specific skill sets and background experience.

Circle K uses High-Volume Hiring and AI to identify candidate profiles in their CRM that match open roles. This really helps recruiters take advantage of talent pools, Averill explained.

“[AI] is super helpful in identifying the right talent for right roles based on field matches and candidate profiles.”

Businesses like Circle K still rely on printed “We’re Hiring!” store signs to attract applicants. But that’s where the paper ends and the mobile apply process kicks in for maximum efficiency.

“We need to make it very simple for [candidates],” Averill said. “So we advertise a text apply number, and a QR code, and both will take them either to SMS text apply or to our career site chat feature so that they can start engaging with an AI bot that helps them find a job … and gets them started on their application.”

There’s no denying that recruiting is a challenging job. But with AI-powered technology to automate manual tasks, they can spend time focusing on the people part of their job to find quality candidates faster.

Take recruiter efficiency to the next level — book a personalized demo today!

Maggie Blehar

Maggie is a writer at Phenom, bringing you information on all things talent experience. In addition to writing, she enjoys traveling, painting, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends.