There are two kinds of people on this planet: those with internet access, and those without. The former is more than half of humanity, with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency, confirming that 51.2 percent of the world’s population was already online by the end of December 2018.
And as we write this blog in the middle of 2020, the number is expected to have gone up further.
With more than half of the world already on the internet, it makes sense for businesses to not just have an online presence, but also use online strategies and tools to their advantage. Some businesses are already doing it by using online tools to streamline their different business processes. One such tool that’s been extensively used is an online recruitment software.
Why online over offline?
Businesses have the option of picking either an offline software, i.e. the on-premise version, or an online software, which is available on Cloud. The former is best suited for organizations having their own IT team and dedicated infrastructure for IT applications. Whereas, the latter is a perfect fit for organizations that don’t have such elaborate infrastructure in place.
Also, going for an offline software usually requires heavy investment upfront, with respect to the license purchase, annual maintenance cost, and the other hidden expenses. An online recruitment software, on the other hand, gives the users the choice to opt for a subscription model, and pay on a monthly/yearly basis, thus being friendly to their pockets.
The online version has other benefits too
As compared to its offline counterpart, online software delivers greater benefits, such as greater flexibility in terms of access from anywhere & anytime, data management, and integration, among others. Let’s discuss in detail the more specific benefits of an online recruitment software:
Mobility: Recruiting the best talent can’t be restricted to a time bracket of say, 9 to 5, and to a location, say office. It is more of a 24×7 job, and your job as the talent scout requires you to be available for the right prospect beyond your work hours, just as you attend something important related to your home during work hours.
However, you don’t enjoy that mobility while operating with an offline software, which resides at your office premises. Accessing what you need exactly when you need it by simply logging into the platform from your laptop or even your smartphone, no matter where you are in the world, is something only an online recruitment software can make possible for you.
Effective data management& security: Being a recruiter, your need to properly manage prospective candidates’ data such as names, numbers, and resumes for immediate as well as future use. Managing this data – which can be huge as well as cumbersome – in a secure manner can be a difficult job in the absence of a cloud-based recruitment software.
By taking advantage of online software, you can easily store, and organize all your data in one secured and encrypted place, and ensure that it can only be accessed by you and your team. This way, you can also protect the confidential data, and avoid losing the right talent to your competitors.
Improved hire quality: Thanks to COVID-19, most recruitments happen online these days, and the online space is vast. As it can offer endless possibilities, as you can cast a wider net while looking for the right candidate to match your requirement, wider is not always better, as you may end up finding too many irrelevant candidates, thus diluting the quality of your talent pool.
With your data stored at one place, you can’t just ensure the right resume or candidate doesn’t get lost in the pile of papers, but also expedite the recruitment process, as the online recruitment software enables you to find better candidates in a much shorter period of time by using filters such as background, or specific skills.
More bang for the buck: As mentioned above briefly, an offline recruitment software can be expensive, as it requires considerable investment upfront on the license purchase, annual maintenance, administration, data storage, and updates and upgrades front, among others. However, online recruitment software shows a cost-effective way.
By giving the users the choice to opt for a subscription model, and pay on a monthly/annual basis, the online recruitment software delivers significant cost savings as well as flexibility. Not only does it offer 24×7 uninterrupted support, but also covers automatic upgrades to the software and platforms in the annual cost. These cost savings allow businesses to be more competitive in their recruiting.
Integration options: While recruitment is an important function, it is not the be-all-and-end-all for your HR department or the business. There are many aspects that need to come together in order to run the business smoothly. But all the parts working together in tandem seems a difficult task if you are using either an outdated system, or an offline software.
An online recruitment software allows you to integrate all your systems into one place. It connects each business function to one another, and also with application tracking software as well as online job portal or a similar third-party job board, allowing your prospects to apply in real-time, and move seamlessly to the next step.
Real-time updates: When it comes to recruitment, time plays a crucial role. Filling the vacant position with the right candidate at the right time is important. In such a scenario, operating with an offline software may not be the best bet, as you may not get to consider all the applications while filling open job positions.
With an online recruitment software, most job posts and replies appear in real-time, as and when the candidates apply for it. The system automatically updates any action taken on a candidate, thus allowing you to increase your efforts to take timely and appropriate action for attracting more candidates or stop candidates from applying if the position has been filled.
Easy implementation: Downtime, caused due to any reason, can be costly for the business. And when it comes to making the transition to a new on-premise recruitment software, it could be a daunting task, as the time consumed can be significant. Also, the hiring team may require time, and face issues while getting adjusted to the new system and processes.
But an online, Cloud-based recruitment software helps avoid all of it. It is extremely easy to implement, and can allow your team to be up and running in virtually no time. It doesn’t require long software installation times and can be ready with minimal downtime, which means you can get back to making smarter hires, in a flash.
Time-saving: Recruiting the right candidates using manual, or outdated methods or applications, is an extremely time-consuming process. Think of it, you can’t go through hundreds of resumes manually. Apart from that, you’d want to stay updated about any development in real-time, besides automating posting jobs on several job portals simultaneously.
An online recruitment software can access, and scan thousands of resumes having desired qualifications in minutes, which is time-consuming & costly otherwise. It can post a job to a range of job-portals with a single click, and even simplify scheduling interviews, and save you hours. Also, with real-time updates to the system, you can reduce the time to identify and hire the right people.
To sum up
Managing the recruitment process is a tricky as well as difficult proposition when performed either manually, or by using offline systems. An online recruitment software solution such as BatchMaster HeRd can easily automate your organization’s hiring processes, improve your Human Resource operations on the whole, and allow you to focus on hiring & retaining the right talent. Get in touch with our experts for a free demo, today.