Revolutionizing staffing: Exploring recruitment software for the modern firm

Essential tech considerations for high-volume staffing firms

For high-volume staffing agencies, it’s no secret that the workload for individual staffing recruiters can be intense. This is especially true for agencies hiring gig workers or in high-volume industries like healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing.

To be effective and land the best talent, you need a top-notch tech stack that can consolidate and streamline how you manage your processes from end to end.

In this article, we’ll explore what to consider when selecting recruiting software for staffing firms, examining the benefits, challenges, and future trends.

Benefits of software for staffing firms

The staffing industry is booming. It pulled in nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars ($248.7 billion) last year and is expected to grow by over a third over the next four years.

But competition is booming, too. In the healthcare sector alone, 30 new staffing agencies emerged in the last year. To stand out from the crowd, agencies need efficient processes that are second to none and the tech stack to manage them.

Here’s how top-grade staffing software can make all the difference for recruiters:

Improved efficiency and productivity

• Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help streamline recruitment workflows for greater productivity. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks like resume screening, candidate communication, and interview scheduling, recruitment software frees recruiters up to focus on more strategic tasks.
• For instance, Independence Township in Michigan regularly hires large numbers of seasonal workers. They needed a scalable, accessible, and user-friendly system to facilitate the paperwork for new hires. With WorkBright, they could send key paperwork to candidates ahead of time, and successful candidates could complete their I-9 requirements remotely. They were able to reduce the onboarding time by 40 minutes per employee.

Enhanced candidate management and tracking

• An ATS makes it easy to track candidates as they move through the hiring process, ensuring no one falls through the cracks and everyone gets a positive and efficient applicant experience.

Streamlined recruitment processes

• Recruiting software helps staffing firms consolidate their end-to-end hiring processes so that there is a clear and traceable path from job posting to onboarding. For example, WorkBright’s unified dashboard lets you and all your team members track candidates’ progress through the pipeline.

 Real-time analytics

• Staffing software can provide up-to-date data and analytics, so you can identify emerging recruitment trends and track key metrics like time-to-hire. This visibility allows you to make informed decisions, and provide authoritative reporting to your clients to demonstrate their return on investment.

 Integration with other systems

• Good staffing software must be able to work seamlessly with your other business systems, such as payroll and learning tools so that you can offer candidates and staff a cohesive and efficient ecosystem.
• For staffing companies focused on reducing candidate dropoff and streamlining their onboarding, WorkBright offers a fully white-labeled embedded solution, which integrates directly into your staffing company’s own app. This provides candidates with a more cohesive experience, driving faster I-9 verification and reducing candidate dropoff during the onboarding process.

Recruiting software: key features and functionality that staffing firms need

Of course, not all software for staffing firms is created equal. Let’s look at some of the functionality you might want to consider:

• An applicant tracking system manages the full span of your recruitment process, from job postings to onboarding, and keeps candidate information centralized, synced and accessible.
• Job board integration helps you expand your reach, so that the best qualified candidates see your postings quickly, wherever they are. For example, WorkBright integrates with over 500 hiring boards so that candidates can apply directly.
• Candidate sourcing and management tools enable recruiters to be strategic when sourcing candidates. Rather than posting and waiting for talent to see the ad, you can use search functionalities, keyword and hashtag searches to find the talent you’re looking for — and even to spark interest in passive candidates.
• Real-time communication and collaboration is another must-have, for smooth workflows among your recruitment teams. Look for tools that offer instant messaging, shared calendars, and collaborative document editing.

For example, Allied Employer Group used WorkBright’s employee onboarding software to set up a single system for all its sister companies. This enabled employees across the group to view and complete paperwork wherever they were based, making their onboarding system easier than ever before.

• Workflow management is vital for efficient recruiting. Software that lets you automate busywork, schedule and manage interviews, conduct background checks and complete and validate I-9 forms, and ensure that nothing falls by the wayside.
• Candidate experience and engagement is also vital. In today’s highly-flexible job market, jobseekers are in the driver’s seat — especially in understaffed and high-turnover industries like healthcare and hospitality. Creating an engaging and efficient experience for applicants, with personalized communication, status updates, and feedback mechanisms, can make a big difference to your conversion rate.
• Reporting and analytics reveal what lead generation strategies are working best. By measuring metrics like conversion rates, time-to-fill, candidate satisfaction, and placement success rates, you can track your effectiveness and highlight where to up your game.

What to consider when choosing recruiting software

When you’re shopping around for the best options for your staffing software, there are several points you need to consider:

Scalability and flexibility

• Is your software agile and flexible enough to grow with the agency, and handle a greater number of clients and candidates?

Embedded options

• Is there an option to integrate a staffing software solution into your existing HR systems, so you can deliver a more seamless experience? For example, WorkBright’s embedded Smart I-9 tool speeds up form completion, increasing both conversion and compliance.

User experience

• Does the software offer an intuitive, user-friendly interface with good online training resources and collaboration options?

Integration capabilities

• Can the software seamlessly integrate with your other critical business systems, such as payroll and CRM?

Customization options

• Can you tailor your software to fit your brand and align it with your workflows and processes?

Security and data privacy

• Does the software protect confidential information, especially as it deals with I-9 forms and employment eligibility, payroll and other critical information, in line with legislation?

Cost and return on investment

• Does the cost of the software offer good overall return on investment (ROI), in terms of efficiency, time-to-hire, and client satisfaction?

Recruiting software: challenges and limitations

For all that it adds to the hiring process, staffing software can come with some drawbacks:

Bias

• AI-powered tech can only be as good as the data it’s learned from. If there is bias baked into the data, the system can replicate that bias, as a Harvard study into bias in healthcare staffing found.
• Regularly auditing your decision-making process and data, monitoring outcomes with good analytics and ensuring diverse staffing teams are ways that you can limit the bias that can creep into your staffing systems.

Lack of connection

• Using technology invariably limits the personal connection and interaction between candidates and their potential employers. While AI might be efficient at filtering qualified candidates, it’s not as good at assessing the soft skills and personalities that might make other candidates a good fit.
• This is why you should ensure your staffing software that enables you to create a personalized experience for candidates and provides them with easy ways to communicate.

Tech problems

• With any software platform, technical issues and glitches can impact users, meaning candidates are unable to apply or recruiters can’t be as efficient. Similarly, tech advancements can demand more frequent updates and upgrades.
• To make sure you can stay on top of these issues, it’s a good idea to select a no-code or low-code platform, so that you can make changes or improvements yourself without having to call in IT or tech specialists.

Recruiting software: future trends and innovations

With remote and hybrid work here to stay, and more and more Gen Z candidates entering the workforce, applicants and agencies alike need to make use of mobile-enabled apps, tools and application processes. For example, agencies and employers can make innovative use of mobile video for applications or verifying employment eligibility documents.

AI tools and integrated solutions are becoming ever more indispensable for staffing firms to boost the efficiency and impact of recruitment processes. Staffing agencies and businesses are looking for more flexible solutions that can integrate with their existing systems to make them more agile.

Streamline your staffing with WorkBright

Agility, flexibility and speed is vital to success in today’s staffing industry. Technology is evolving quickly, and staffing agencies need to be able to keep up to speed with new developments.

That means having a scalable, embedded applicant tracking system like WorkBright, that can reach the right candidates wherever they are, and offer them a simple and seamless application process.

With WorkBright, Allied Employer Group was able to create a user-friendly, mobile-ready system in just two weeks. Their new ATS helped them reduce their onboarding time to just 10-15 minutes per new hire, making their recruitment more efficient than ever.

To find out how WorkBright can help streamline your agency’s staffing, request a demo.