Do you have your hands on the resume of that promising candidate that came in last month? Are you buried in paper trying to wade through all those resumes and applications you have collected? Are you just crossing your fingers and hoping that the really sharp guy whose resume came too late for your last posting will respond to your new ad?

So how many job candidates have you lost because of an inefficient processing system in your personnel recruiting office?

Every business can probably point to cases where they have lost potential employees because of processing issues in their personnel management operations. HR staffs try to keep on top of things by keeping resume files on promising candidates and using resume files as a key sourcing tool when job vacancies arise.

Now there is a way to use technology to bring order and structure to your HR recruiting operation and make it more reliable and efficient. Check out PCRecruiter for more information on this.

“Hiring fundamentals that include a systematic process for hiring and consistent execution of the hiring process result in superior employee wins for your organization,” Susan M. Heathfield said in a post at About.com.

Putting an automated recruiting system to work in in your HR department will give you the tools you need to customize a systematic process for your hiring.

The right system will allow you to track and manage contacts, compile a searchable database of prospects, compile candidate profiles, collect required information from candidates, and put your application process online.

With the right systems in place to collect and organize information on your applicant pool, you will have a much better chance of attracting and recruiting the best candidates for your company.

Is your staffing software helping you find the right employees, and more importantly, is it helping the right employees find you?

Recent research finds that employers are able to hire the best candidates when they advertise their job openings in a small number of places. That being said, it’s important for companies to make sure that their staffing software programs allow easy integration with most or all of these sources. Check out https://www.pcrecruiter.net for more info.

Today’s state-of-the-art staffing software solutions are capable of doing much more than just making the recruiting process easier and cheaper for your company. The best solutions will have the ability to integrate your job openings in the places where candidates are looking most, mainly job boards and social media sites.

According to Weddle’s 2011 Survey of Recruiting Trends, a majority of employers still prefer to post their jobs on commercial job boards – more specifically, targeted niche job boards – because that’s where the highest quality candidates are found.

The survey revealed that employers find the best candidates in the following places:

  • 40.7 on job boards
  • 12.9 percent through an employee referral program
  • 11.1 percent by posting jobs on their own websites
  • 9.3 percent on social networking sites
  • 5.6 percent through staffing firms
  • 5.5 percent by advertising job openings in newspapers

Furthermore, 77.3 percent of employers are posting more than half of their job openings online, while only 6.1 percent aren’t using the Internet at all for recruiting. The results have been great, with 50.8 percent of employers hiring more than half of their new employees online. And those employees are pretty talented, with 54.1 percent of employers labeling new hires found online as above average or among the company’s best workers.

So what’s the reason that employers are having such good luck finding high-quality candidates in these places? The answer is simple – because these are the same places job seekers are turning to in order to find work.

When it comes to job seekers, the survey found that:

  • 69 percent find the Internet helpful in their job search
  • 69.7 percent think they will find their next job through an online job board
  • 34 percent found their current job online
  • 58 percent visit at least one job board up to eight times per month

So, if your staffing software provider doesn’t allow easy integration with job boards, social networking sites, or other popular  recruiting sources, it might be time to think about finding a new provider.

The applicant tracking system market is continuing to grow, and as providers offer newer and better solutions, many companies are thinking about switching the service they currently use.

That’s the most important information to come out of “Talent Acquisition Systems 2011: Market Realities, Implementation Examples and Solution Provider Profiles,” a report released last year by Bersin & Associates. The report looked at survey responses from HR professionals and recruiters from organizations of all sizes and in all major industries.

According to Sarah White, who works as principal analyst of talent acquisition for Bersin & Associates, a lot of companies are choosing to work with providers that offer better support and a higher level of integration, and ATS companies that offer a large selection of products are doing the best. It’s commonly accepted that applicant tracking systems are just as important to the recruiting and onboarding process as interviewing and social networking.

Here are some key figures from the survey:

  • The ATS market increased by 11.1 percent to $837 million during 2010, which was slightly lower than the $861 million originally predicted by experts. The difference can be attributed to the slowing economy.
  • The survey predicted that the ATS market would grow by 12 percent to $937 million by the end of 2011, as high-end companies consolidate and low-end companies continue to expand.
  • About 50 percent of companies were planning to switch to a new ATS provider over the year, as new options and new technologies emerge.
  • The amount of time it takes to convince a company to commit to an ATS provider has increased from six months to up to three years.
  • A large majority of ATS providers offer a mobile solution in order to keep up with growing popularity.
  • More and more ATS companies are merging in order to offer a more robust suite of solutions to customers, such as search engine optimization or video services.
  • As social networks continue to become more and more popular, most ATS companies are offering the ability to integrate with LinkedIn, Facebook, or other sites.
  • Analytics have become more important than ever in evaluating a company’s application, interviewing, and hiring process.
  • Learning Management Systems are growing by 10 percent per year, while Performance Management and Succession Management Systems are increasing by 12 percent.

So, as you can see, applicant tracking systems and other similar technologies that make the recruiting and onboarding process easier, cheaper, and more efficient aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. If you’re not already using this technology, now is the time to jump on the bandwagon!