How do you balance human and automated interactions?

Automation is, first of all, about the budget that needs to be allocated for recruiting, and it is always limited. In this article, I have selected several tools that are effective in terms of price and quality. I prefer a targeted search, rather than covering unnecessary resources for which you will have to pay. Your planning might be as follows: determine the budget, then identify the recruiting steps that need to be automated (most often: sourcing, screening, selection). You also need to determine which recruiting method brings you the most applicants: social media & job boards or LinkedIn headhunting. By answering all these questions, you can narrow down the list of automation tools and choose the best one for your requirements.

So, depending on the recruiting stage that needs automation the most and on the sourcing methods, I suggest the following automation tools for consideration:

1. Sourcing stage.

a) Social Media & Job Boards. If the branding is well developed in the company, a lot of applicants can be obtained through job postings. You can get over 200 and sometimes 800 applicants in a few days! If you don't implement automated filtering first, you'll actually have to screen over 800 resumes! And don't count on AI software to review those resumes for you. Practice shows that there are many factors that will affect whether a resume will be accepted by you for consideration or rejected. And often these indicators are difficult to determine during resume screening software. Instead of using expensive resume screening resources, use free job posting on LinkedIn. Based on the filters you pre-set, LinkedIn will automatically filter out all irrelevant resumes. This is possible thanks to the "Screening question" function. If you're getting few applicants, you may need to work with the marketing department to improve the company's branding. However, no marketing strategy is embodied in 1 day. So use LinkedIn's Promote feature. The good news is that you can try it for free. Another popular and effective Job Board for any region, with the ability to ask questions at the stage of submitting a resume and filter applicants, is Indeed (publication of vacancies is free, promotion is paid). When selecting a Job Board, consider the location of employment. For any region, LinkedIn and Indeed are optimal choices. It's important to note that LinkedIn Job Posting attracts a large number of applicants even without promotion, distinguishing it from other Job Boards.?

In the context of Social Media Recruiting, Chat GPT can greatly facilitate your work by automating the process of creating texts for posts and messages for headhunting, saving you valuable time.

b) Headhunting. This method is best used when the job requirements are highly specific, and posting the job on job sites and social media didn't yield relevant candidates. Take the example of an IT Business Analyst vacancy where 80% of the time will be spent on integration analysis. This role may require a search for system analysts with experience in Business Analysis (BA). To optimize the process, use the previously mentioned Screening questions on job posts, asking about relevant experience with API Integration and Postman, making them mandatory.

For headhunting, consider using LinkedIn packages that offer Unlimited People Browsing, such as Sales Navigator Core or Recruiter Lite, which help to to filter candidates based on years of experience. Sales Navigator Core is a good choice, if you need to create a list of donor companies: filtering candidates based on specific company industries, employee growth percentages (This is especially relevant when searching for business development managers for outsourcing companies), etc. You can also customize Boolean searches by selecting specific words from the company description on LinkedIn. When you have compiled a list of donor companies, include it in the candidate filter (filter by leads).

By utilizing LinkedIn solutions like Sales Navigator Core or Recruiter Lite, you can automate sourcing by setting up filters and saving leads. The built-in CRM helps track candidate statuses. For automating sourcing from other platforms like Twitter, Email distribution, Facebook, Github, Reddit, Slack, etc., you can use the Phantombuster tool. This will streamline the candidate search process and significantly enhance your efficiency.

2. Screening stage:

If you have set up automation effectively in the previous step, you won't need to invest in screening automation separately. You will already receive answers to screening questions at the stage of filtering applicants using Job Boards and by directly sending questions to selected candidates in Linkedin CRM. Personally, I prefer conducting pre-screening interviews in platforms like Zoom or Google Meet (Calendly can also be used for managing multiple calls per day). During these interviews, I ask both general questions and specific ones tailored to each candidate's unique experience and motivations. For instance, if a candidate is working in multiple companies, including their own business, while considering full-time vacancies, it's essential to find out their future work plans. Similarly, if a candidate has had short tenures in specific jobs, understanding the reasons for leaving those positions is crucial. Such interviews cannot be programmed or automated, making them unsuitable for automation.

3. Selecting stage:

Organizing the selection process may involve an HR interview. As in the previous step, I believe that assessing competencies (if you use this method) or any other assessments should be done personally and not by AI. It is important to filter candidates effectively in the first stage to ensure a small number of individuals proceed to the selection stage, where you can personally engage with them without bots or automation. Candidates appreciate the individual approach, and sometimes, calling them after each interview to get their impressions is valuable. At this stage, you can set up automatic email surveys to gather candidate feedback. Various tools like Notion, ATS, MailChimp, or even Gmail's scheduling feature can be utilized for this purpose. Many ATSs offer the convenience of preparing interview invitation templates in advance, with only the date, time, and recipients needing modification. My positive experience with CATS ATS has shown that automation in this stage relies on the tools the company uses, which can be tailored to specific needs.