Collecting information about candidates has never been more important or relevant. Staffing companies are now beyond “the information age”. Today the world of staffing is completely saturated with social media, email and electronic communication through websites. Branding has never been more vital. The floodgates have opened whether companies want to participate or not. That being said, no staffing company can afford not to have a complete electronic applicant onboarding process in place.
Filling out a basic application and uploading a resume from a website is old news. A formal on-line onboarding process is a new challenge that staffing companies face. Setting up such a function requires good planning and a strategic implementation. It’s not a matter of having the applicant fill out a few fields of information and then uploading their resume. Applicant onboarding has taken on an entirely new course.
The essence of on-line onboarding is more than just having the applicant fill out a few fields on a web form and then uploading their resume. Usually this results in an email being sent to the staffing company and data has to be keyed in manually and the resume uploaded. On-line onboarding is different. A complete onboarding application includes company branding and marketing, collection of detailed information, and on-line forms with e-signatures. It could also include the integration of testing and background checking. All of this somehow makes its way into your staffing software. It should be a seamless process.
With the onset of Millenials and GenXers into the workforce, it is necessary to address a new culture. This includes gathering information about applicants in a new way. Whether the applicant is on-line or at your office electronic methods of gathering data that filter into your software is really the only way to go today. The industry has never been more fast-paced, nor has the competition ever been tougher. Not only are you competing for client business but you are competing for the best applicants that the workforce has to offer. Offering applicants of marginal quality will result in less placement opportunities.
There are many benefits to on-line onboarding. One of the benefits is that the applicant will be entering all of the information into your system instead of you. This immediately provides more time for the business of placement instead of data entry. It also provides you with the information that you need in your system so that you can have valid and current data available for database searching. The more information that you have at hand, the better position you are as a company to compete against other companies offering similar candidates. Not only does this make for a better fit for your client’s order; but provides additional information to market and sell your candidate’s skills with confidence.
What should your onboarding look like? Start with your staffing software. What information is collected in your software and more important, what data would you like to have collected? Do not be concerned that your on-line application is long. If the candidate is serious about employment, they should be willing to provide you with the information you need in order to find them a job. Your on-line application should also start with a resume where applicable. The benefit of this is that the resume can be parsed automatically so that as many fields as possible can be filled in for the applicant as a convenience to them. All they have to do then is fill in the remaining information. It is also important to have the application available on-line or in kiosk style at your office.
