Next Steps in Hiring

People who are thinking of installing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)need to step back and think for a second.

An ATS is a system that is built to manage resume flow and gives the recruiters the ability to sort, sift and prioritise candidates on the basis of keyword searches.  Great  technology, perhaps… but built to speed up a flawed process.  The same hiring answer is arrived at, just faster.

What people should want is an Applicant Relationship Management system.   An ATS, if you will, that has ties to social networks and a database of interested people.   It would give the candidates a chance to interact in an uncommitted way with the company – register to get cool stuff and targeted communication – then give them a chance to get interviewed online when they are ready to do so.  Meanwhile, the company learns a huge amount about their various demographic target groups and gets a chance to grow relationships over time.  Then, good human capital management can start happening, with job fit and Lean HR principles in place.

That is when the front part of hiring gets really interesting, and high quality candidates start emerging from the sourcing process.  None of this has ties to the expensive world of the online job boards...which is why it is even more interesting.

Does anyone know of someone already doing this?  Let me know...