The UK recruitment industry is an exciting place to be right now. As a fast-paced and growing sector, where competition for top talent and lucrative client contracts remains fierce, it’s no wonder that recruitment agencies are increasingly investing in innovative technology that can help give them an edge.
Which is where recruitment process automation comes in.
Recruitment automation offers a way for agencies to operate more efficiently, as well as to streamline their core back office functions, by replacing time-consuming manual processes with automated ones. This type of technology has the additional benefit of being able to scale alongside the evolving needs of a recruitment business.
Already trusted by many of the most successful and ambitious recruitment companies across the world, automation in recruitment could be the secret to taking your agency to the next level. In this guide, we’ll explain more about what recruitment automation is, show you how you might apply recruitment automation tools to positive effect within your own business, and explore some of the key benefits that using recruitment automation brings.
Jump to:
What is recruitment automation?
Who uses recruitment automation software?
Why is recruitment automation important?
What are the benefits of automating recruitment processes?
How do you automate recruitment processes?
Where is automation used in recruitment businesses?
What is the best software for recruitment agencies?
What is recruitment automation?
Automation now forms part of all our daily lives and for businesses - including those within the recruitment industry - the advantages of using such technology were quick to be recognised.
In simple terms, automation refers to a technical solution that is designed to streamline key business functions and processes by reducing the need for human involvement – automation runs from pre-programmed rules in software. It can manage the most time-consuming and resource-intensive parts of business operation and is often coupled with Artificial Intelligence - AI (designed to simulate human logic) and machine learning ML (a type of AI that continiously learns to become in intelligent) solutions too. Some common types of business automation include accounting and bookkeeping automation, workflow and task automation and marketing automation.
Many different types of software now offer automation as a key selling point. In the case of recruitment agencies - which function in a very unique way and therefore need a specialist solution - automated recruitment platforms are available that can support both front and back end activities.
One example of its use for front-end activities would be the sourcing of candidates. Recruitment automation technology can help make this process faster, less expensive, and easier to manage when dealing with high volumes of candidates.
An automated recruitment system can also support the delivery of tasks in the back office for recruiters too; for instance, by helping simplify the authorisation of hours worked, invoicing and payroll in line with current regulations and compliance requirements.
As an industry that is so heavily reliant on time-consuming and resource-intensive tasks, it’s easy to see how having automated solutions and using AI in recruitment as part of the ‘tech stack’ has the potential to radically enhance performance.
Who uses recruitment automation software?
Some of the biggest users of recruitment automation software are recruitment companies but the technology can also be capitalised on by in-house teams who may be direct sourcing.
Whilst there may be some shared tools, such as a recruitment CRM, that are useful for both groups, the way these two types of users implement recruitment automation software is likely to be quite different.
For recruiters in particular, technical solutions such as automated resume screening software can offer a major competitive advantage in a saturated market. Not only will you be able to provide your clients with a better quality of candidate, but you’ll also be able to service their needs more quickly, earning you a reputation as a recruiter who delivers credible talent fast.
As recruitment agencies are specialists, you will find the deeper into the recruitment process you go the more specialist recruitment agency automated software is needed to support you, especially when it comes to your back end business functions and for managing your contractors. This is one area where both automation and machine learning in recruitment could really help you.
Why is recruitment automation important?
As well as saving you time, improving efficiency and increasing accuracy, recruitment automation has an important role to play in supporting agencies to gain a competitive edge.
Firstly, as automation runs of off data entry and trigger points, it can support you to make the most of big data, leveraging your data to your own advantage, such as by revealing trends, behaviours, efficiencies and new opportunities.
Secondly, it can help push up quality standards by driving process consistency across the business, while helping you set ambitious but achievable targets that will further aid productivity.
Thirdly, it can support your recruitment and retention efforts. For any modern recruitment business, there will be an expectation from your employees, candidates and clients that you are utilising the latest technology, to provide a seamless and professional experience.
Building a solid foundation for your agency, with recruitment automation at its heart, will set you on course for success and is something that will also be vital if you are aiming to scale your operations, now or in the future.
What are the benefits of automating recruitment processes?
Recruitment automation can completely revolutionise the way you source, screen, and onboard talent, as well as run your business operations seamlessly. Here are four major benefits that using recruitment automation can offer:
1. Save money, time, and resources
By far the biggest benefit of automating your recruitment processes is increased efficiency.
The AI technology that powers recruitment automation software works faster, smarter, and with greater accuracy than the human brain. It doesn’t get distracted by a colleague coming over to ask a question, nor does it need to take a lunch break. The software can work continuously, without pause, even out of hours when the rest of your team is sleeping.
In this regard, recruitment automation can help you to significantly cut back on time-intensive tasks, freeing you up to focus on other profit-making areas of your business. It can also perform most manual tasks better than a human (and in a fraction of the time) saving you resources and money while sending your productivity soaring.
2. Do things better and with greater consistency
All too often in business, people stick with the same way of doing things - even if a newer, more efficient, solution comes along. Recruitment automation forces you to challenge your way of thinking (and the status quo in your organisation) by prompting you to examine your current workflow processes to see how they could be more effective.
AI recruitment software and other forms of automation could unlock the potential in your organisation, helping you to embrace better and more consistent ways of working that deliver tangible, positive, outcomes. Trust us, once you’ve integrated the technology into your workflows, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
3. A failsafe way to ensure compliance
Recruitment and HR is an industry sector that’s governed by many strict compliance laws, particularly around the safekeeping and storing of people’s personal data. Failure to adhere to these regulations could have serious reputational and financial implications for your business.
Trying to manually manage compliance within your organisation can be challenging as within any recruitment agency there are multiple, moving parts to think about. With so much scope for human error, even the tiniest oversight - however innocent - could result in repercussions.
Recruitment automation software could help you to manage risk and compliance more effectively by automating things like the removal of customer data from your systems upon request, capturing time stamped legal approvals, auto generated government compliant reporting.
4. Helps you deliver a better client and candidate experience
The recruitment market is more competitive than ever, with hundreds of agencies competing to secure clients and the top talent for each role. Having a powerful automation tool at your disposal puts you at the cutting edge of talent acquisition.
And having the recruitment automation tools that help you perform faster, more efficiently and in a compliant way means your clients and candidates get the service they deserve – doing wonders for your reputation in the market. Delivering on your promises goes a very long way keeping your hard-won clients and candidates happy – which intern supports your retention rates, leading to business growth.
How do you automate recruitment processes?
Making recruitment automation a success rests on sourcing the right technology and combination of software, to address your specific business needs. For this, you need to work with a provider who is experienced and can demonstrate a track record of success in delivering best practice automation specifically for recruiters and HR professionals.
Introducing automation into your recruitment workflows shouldn’t be any additional work for you. Technology today exists to make your life easier. To this end, the recruitment automation partner you choose should provide a solution that integrates seamlessly with your core systems and applications, to help you maximise profitability.
Where is automation used in recruitment businesses?
Recruitment automation can improve efficiency for both the front- and back-end activities of your business, helping to streamline manual processes and cut out time-intensive admin, in order to boost your team’s output and productivity. So, where can it be useful?
Front-end
The capabilities of recruitment automation to support front end processes are clear. Here are just a few ways the technology could save you time and effort in the delivery of your day-to-day tasks.
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Marketing You can use marketing automation to create and post recruitment related content to promote your company as well as nurture key clients and candidates with automated communications. Applications such as Paiger uses AI assistants to not only help you create and post content, but find client leads, market intelligence and new candidates too. |
Sourcing and advertising Automation can save you time when it comes to advertising vacancies, by generating draft job ads for you or by integrating with software such as Broadbean to automatically share your job ads with multiple job sites at once. The software also has the capability to pull in candidate CVs from across the web into one centralised location, so you can easily manage the responses your job ad receives, without cluttering up your inbox. |
Candidate selection & management A time-intensive aspects of recruitment, automating these processes with a CRM like Bullhorn can be a complete game-changer for recruiters. There’s little about the candidate selection process that can’t be managed by automation. From filtering out CVs and shortlisting candidates, interview scheduling, to emailing successful and non-successful applicants, recruitment automation can support every candidate touchpoint. |
Back-end
While there are clear benefits to recruitment agencies automating their front-end processes, there are also many benefits to integrating a recruitment back-office software platform with recruiter, contractor and client interfaces, as part of your tech stack. Here’s why:
What is the best automation software for recruitment agencies?
The ideal time to begin integrating automation within your business is when you are first starting out but it’s never too late. The most important thing is that you invest in automation software sooner rather than later, because there’s no denying the positive impact this technology will have on your business.
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Automation software for start-up organisations If you’re embarking on your own journey, do the smart thing and start-up as you mean to go on. Recruitment is a competitive market, dominated by some heavyweight major players. Automation technology offers new recruitment businesses one of the biggest trump cards to break into the industry and steal market share from the established competition. Building a business model around recruitment automation technology also makes for a far smoother integration than adopting the technology down the line when your processes are already ironed out and embedded. |
Automation software for established businesses If you’re already a few years into running your recruitment company and you’ve been doing everything manually to date, don’t feel that you’ve missed the boat on recruitment automation. While it’s true that your business might have grown faster if you’d had automation in place from day one, it’s never too late to stop what you’re doing and pivot to a way of working that you know will future-proof your business for the long-term. That’s exactly what automation will offer you. |
Identifying the right recruitment automation tech stack
In terms of the best recruitment automation software to invest in, there are a lot of competing technologies and applications out there. The best approach is to invest in a triad model, consisting of a recruitment CRM, a specialist back office system designed for recruitment agencies, and accountancy software such as Xero.
Whatever combination of software you select, it’s vital to make sure they all integrate with each other to enable seamless data flow between applications. This will ensure you fully benefit from making your manual processes automated.
If you already use some form of software, you may want to think about switching or upgrading to a new or better solution. Signs that it may be time to switch your recruitment automation software provider include:
- You have existing systems that can’t communicate directly with one another
- You’ve outgrown your manual spreadsheet solutions
- Your current software suppliers are giving you poor customer service
- No investment is being made to upgrade or improve your current software solution
Many of the scenarios above point to software that’s past its prime and which might actually hinder rather than help your recruitment management workflows. Having a technology that isn’t maintained by its software developer could also represent a heightened security risk to your business, as systems that are infrequently updated are commonly targeted by hackers.
If this applies to any of the technologies your business is currently using to handle sensitive information like banking details, payroll logs, or employee records, we highly recommend that you make it a priority to switch to a new provider who can offer a more secure, specialist solution.
If you are interested in learning about 3R's automated recruitment software and support solutions, simply request a demonstration from one of our experienced team members.
