Sense conducted a survey of talent acquisition leaders and uncovered a troubling trend. Nearly half of recruiting teams have experienced an increase in time-to-hire over the past year. Hiring is all about efficiency and even a seemingly minor delay can create a domino effect that negatively impacts every other aspect of the recruiting process.
Take candidate experience, for example. Our survey also revealed that candidates are continually expecting more from recruiters and hiring companies. But in the majority of cases, their expectations aren’t being met. CandE Benchmark Research surveyed 240,000 global candidates and found that only 26% of North American candidates and 21% of EMEA candidates were happy with the hiring experience they received. When candidates are displeased, they move on in their job search and “ghost” the hiring companies that don’t respect their time and effort.
And the negative cycle continues. Candidate attrition further extends the hiring process and results in crucial positions in the organization remaining vacant. And it all stems from inefficiency. The solution is to address these bottlenecks so you attract (and hire) top talent as quickly as possible.
When it comes to hiring, too many organizations are slow out of the gate. An excited candidate submits their application, only to have to wait days or even weeks to hear from a recruiter. This lack of communication is detrimental to hiring efforts. Research shows that candidates apply to about 20 jobs during their search and prioritize the ones that are quickest to respond.
Most recruiters know they need to be faster and more efficient when engaging candidates but that’s easier said than done. After all, you’re receiving hundreds of applications for each open role and need to take the time to find the candidates who should move forward in the hiring process.
When you do have a shortlist of candidates you want to meet, you run into a whole new set of challenges when coordinating interviews. You have to collect availability from the candidate, hiring manager, and interview team and piece it all together to find a date and time that works for everyone involved.
Need to schedule panel interviews or back-to-back interviews with different people? That makes things even more complex. Especially considering that spreading out interviews with an individual candidate over multiple days further contributes to their poor experience and gives them more opportunities to no-show.
The reliance on manual interview scheduling is ripe with obstacles and leads to numerous problems, including:
The fact is a manual approach to interview scheduling has no place in a modern hiring process. The savviest recruiting teams have already realized this and are embracing interview scheduling software to get time with candidates booked as quickly as possible.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and recruiting automation are completely transforming how recruiters work and engage talent. This groundbreaking technology not only fast-tracks the interview scheduling process, reducing the time it takes to get a meeting on the calendar from days or weeks to mere minutes. It also accelerates the initial stages of the hiring and nearly instantly converts a curious job seeker into an excited candidate ready to come in for an interview.
When a candidate lands on your career site, they no longer have to search through all your open jobs to find the one that is right for them. They can instead interact with an AI recruiting chatbot that will ask them some basic questions about their skills, location, and the type of job they’re looking for. It will then present them with open roles that they’re likely interested in and qualified for.
When a candidate is matched to roles that are relevant to them, their experience with your organization starts on a positive note and continues from there.
After a candidate is matched to a relevant role, the AI chatbot guides them through a brief and interactive application process. Instead of being asked to fill out a lengthy—and often cumbersome application—the candidate simply answers a handful of questions posed by the chatbot.
A chatbot-powered application process lowers your application abandonment rate and continues the positive experience the candidate has had to that point.
Now that the candidate has been matched to a relevant role and applied, the chatbot will instantly advance them to the pre-screening stage. It will ask them a set of pre-defined questions, specific to the role, and use AI to determine if they have the basic qualifications required for the job.
If they’re not qualified, the chatbot will use its matching capabilities to share other roles that the candidate is a better fit for. And if they are qualified, it will automatically advance them to the interview stage (more on that next).
Automated pre-screening saves recruiters countless hours reviewing applications and resumes. It also eliminates human bias from the process and ensures every candidate who applies gets the fair consideration they deserve.
At this point, the candidate has been matched to the perfect job, easily applied, and passed the pre-screening process—all within minutes of landing on your career site. It’s now on to the interview stage.
The AI chatbot integrates with your hiring team's calendars, gaining real-time insights into everyone's availability. It then presents the candidate with multiple dates and times for an interview that they can select from.
Automated interview scheduling software eliminates the back-and-forth email exchanges or phone tag that drain recruiter productivity and extend the hiring process. Even more, it boosts candidate engagement. The result? More satisfied candidates who are excited to come in and interview with the team.
As we mentioned earlier, asking a candidate to come back in for a second or third interview makes for a poor experience. It also increases the likelihood they no-show. Three interviews spread over three days give the candidate multiple chances to decide they’re not feeling up for another interview.
Again, successful hiring requires efficiency so if you want the candidate to meet with different hiring team members, you should book panel interviews or schedule one-on-one interviews in succession.
AI-powered interview scheduling can handle these complex scenarios. It will intelligently gather each hiring team member’s availability and present logical times for panel or sequential interviews. It can even distinguish between mandatory and optional interviewers to prevent scheduling headaches and find the perfect time for talented candidates to meet with their future colleagues.
Now the candidate is scheduled to come in and interview with the hiring team. As the date approaches, the interview scheduling software will send them automated reminders via text message or email.
These timely reminders not only ensure the interview stays top of mind for the candidate. The continuous communication keeps them excited about the idea of joining your team. By simply staying in touch, you’ll reduce interview no-shows and maintain the engagement established throughout the hiring process.
In some instances, candidates will need to reschedule their interviews. Using a manual interview scheduling process, that requires you to again coordinate availabilities with everyone involved.
But using AI-power interview scheduling software, the chatbot will handle the entire process and instantly accommodate the candidate’s request. When they reply to the confirmation text message or email and ask to reschedule, the chatbot will respond in real time and propose alternative dates and times they can select from. It will then seamlessly update every interviewer’s calendar so there is no scheduling friction.
Automated interview rescheduling keeps candidates invested in your company as their availability changes and ensures the hiring process continues to move forward without missing a beat.
The power of interview scheduling software extends beyond your career site to candidate’s mobile phones.
Suppose a candidate sees your “hiring” sign while they’re out and about. Instead of coming into your brick-and-mortar location to fill out an application or visiting your career site when they’re home—and then waiting weeks to hear from a recruiter—they can instead apply by texting a dedicated number or scanning a QR code.
An AI chatbot will instantly respond and take them through the automated hiring process we’ve already covered. It will share relevant roles they’re a match for, collect their application details, pre-screen them against role requirements—and of course schedule an interview.
By leveraging AI-powered recruiting automation, you’ll generate a bigger candidate pool by simplifying and streamlining the initial stages of the hiring process. You’ll even source candidates who aren’t actively job searching online. They just happened to see you’re hiring and took their phone out to explore the opportunity that was in front of them.
As a company that employs nearly 6,000 people across 200 locations and 30 states, Compassus’s high-volume hiring efforts require speed and efficiency.
Many of their candidates apply for multiple jobs and devote their attention to the organizations that are quickest to respond. They use Sense Chatbot to engage candidates in real-time, collect job application details, and instantly schedule interviews.
They now engage over 500 candidates each month, save their hiring team 20 hours each week, and have reduced time-to-offer by 75%. Watch the on-demand webinar to hear their full story.
Modern hiring practices have moved beyond manual interview scheduling to a technological-driven, candidate-centric approach. By taking advantage of AI interview scheduling software, you’ll bring multiple benefits to your recruiting process, including:
AI-powered interview scheduling software is a must-have for modern recruiting teams. Hiring is a multiple-step journey and recruiting automation technology is specifically designed to resolve bottlenecks and ensure each step is accomplished quickly and efficiently.
Want to learn how Sense can help you achieve a 55% faster hiring rate and a 74% decrease in interview no-shows? Get in touch today!
