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AI Recruiting

Redefine Remote Work Management With These 6 Automation Tools

When working at the office, tasks can be accomplished easily using the internet. The physical presence of every teammate also helps a lot. When working remotely, all this cannot be possible.

With the emergence of remote working after the impact of COVID-19, you and your team members would undoubtedly be asked to carry out business tasks no matter where you are working from. Many organizations have discovered automation tools that can help continue business tasks from any remote location. By procuring and implementing these tools, you can redefine your remote working and help employees improve efficiency.

If you are seeking a system that is a perfect match for your business requirements, then you have come to the right place. In this article, we look at popular digital transformation must-have tools as well as understand how they can be beneficial.

Benefits of automation tools

Why Employers Need Long-Term Strategies For Remote Work Management

Here’s how digital transformation or automation tools will be valuable to your business progress. With businesses rapidly adopting digital transformation business automation software has become a key driver of efficiency and productivity. By automating repetitive tasks, streamlining workflows, and improving data-driven decision-making, these tools help organization stay competitive and agile.

Employees can improve customer satisfaction by providing them with personalized support or whatsapp chatbots.
Digital tools help businesses make smarter and more strategic decisions by providing data-driven insights.
Businesses will be able to get better ROI.
Growing companies can get a quality user experience, thus improving user adoption at an early stage.
The human errors that were bound to come in between the operational processes can be controlled.
As the time spent on operational activities can be reduced, employees can focus on more critical tasks and improve their efficiency.
Digital platforms help organizations build better collaboration and communication channels between employees.
It can be scalable, flexible, and comprehensive, which boosts overall business growth.

Also, read: 21 Tech Recruiting Tools To Scale Your Hiring

Top 8 automation tools for remote work management

Let us now take a look at the top 6 tools that can help you navigate through remote working easily and quickly.

HackerEarth – Best for recruitment

HackerEarth is one of the prominent tech tools that focus on improvising your recruitment strategy for hiring the best technical teams. Its plug-n-play approach goes the extra mile to enable you to build future-ready teams. Additionally, it is a customer-centric tool that addresses your requirements and provides round-the-clock support whenever needed.

Key features of HackerEarth

Seamless integration with the best ATS to keep your workflows intact
Organize and manage hackathons to find the top talent
Intuitive assessment platform to create coding tests, manage leaderboards and shortlist them
Evaluate coders using 13,000+ questions
Configure, invite and conduct coding interviews
Coding editor and diagram board to assess skills directly from the software
Run skill assessments and integrate a learning management system to cover skill gaps

Also, read: Hire The Best Coders For Your Team With HackerEarth’s Coding Assessment

factoTime – Best for time tracking

factoTime is an all-in-one time tracking automation tool that transforms the way you capture your employees’ attendance and total working hours. The system comes with features like a punch with a selfie and QR code attendance tracking, with which employees can clock in and clock out from any remote location or at the office. Moreover, its powerful reporting capabilities provide you with data-driven insights so you can make high-value decisions.

Key features of factoTime

Automate salary calculations based on different pay rates and the total work hours of employees
Create flexible and fixed schedules for the day and night shifts
Complete insights into data directly from the admin dashboard
Check each employee’s accurate day and leave status
Track employee’s location when they mark attendance using the GPS employee tracking feature
Record travel advances and expenses
Create a company calendar along with all the holidays

Wrike – Best for project management

Wrike is one of the most-effective web-based project management solutions that makes your tasks and project planning easier. With its customizable interface, you can empower your teams to do more and achieve more. It gives you end-to-end visibility of all your tasks so you can discover potential bottlenecks and become future-ready. The software helps you move ahead of your overflooded inbox with its user-friendly UI to access all data in a single place.

Key features of Wrike

Collaborate with teammates and manage project deadlines
Gantt charts, kanban boards, and templates to plan and organize tasks
Develop workflow paths and approvals
Real-time analytics to understand progress and performance
A one-stop online to-do list to manage all employees’ tasks
Manage billing and invoicing for all the projects effectively

Slack – Best for communication and collaboration

Slack is an innovative tool that enables organizations to bring their team together, no matter where they are working from, by establishing a better communication channel. It also ensures that all your messages and essential documents are present in one single location, so you don’t get lost in your inbox. Slack works best for small, medium, and large organizations.

Key features of Slack

Connect with people outside of your organization
Automate workflows for any task as per your need
Seamless integration with Google Drive, Salesforce, Zendesk, Asana, etc.
Develop public and private channels for your teams and ensure data security
Share documents directly through the channels
Huddles to connect to your team members through a live video or audio chat

Anydesk – Best for remote desktop access

Anydesk is one of the prominent remote access tools that help you access any device anywhere. While connecting, the system provides unparalleled speed and security so you can perform your business-related tasks without any hurdles. It is an easy-to-use and adaptable software that boosts your business growth. To access the client’s PC, you just need to enter a 9-digit code.

Key features of Anydesk

Full flexibility and customization that suits your needs.
Leverage interactive access where you can control the keyboard and mouse of the client’s PC
Control and manage all the essential business data
Password-protected access
Chat with your client and invite a user effortlessly
Best for remote working business culture
Available on desktops and mobile phones

Uniqode – Best for QR Code Automation & Digital Engagement

Uniqode: Best QR tool for automating offline-to-online workflows across distributed teams. Whether you're managing hybrid events, capturing leads, or enabling self-serve experiences through printed materials, Uniqode simplifies it all. It allows you to create dynamic QR codes that are editable even after printing, track scan activity, and integrate with tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier.

Ideal for remote teams and marketing departments, Uniqode eliminates repetitive tasks and ensures a seamless transition from physical touchpoints to digital actions.

Key features of Uniqode

Create and edit dynamic QR codes in real-time
Bulk-generate codes via Google Sheets or API
Automate workflows using integrations like Zapier, Salesforce, and HubSpot
View engagement data with built-in analytics dashboards
Use smart rules to customize user journeys based on location, time, or device
Enterprise-grade security with SOC 2 and GDPR compliance
Collaborate with teammates using folders and role-based access controls

Help Scout – Best for customer support

Help Scout is one of the comprehensive and flexible solutions to improve and automate customer support. This helps organizations to create a personalized experience like never before with the help of features like live chat, messaging, knowledge, and shared inboxes. Agents can work on a single platform and increase their efficiency by 52%.

Key features of Help Scout

Collaborate effectively with your teammates, send emails, private notes, and tagging
Create workflows, organize emails, and prioritize tasks
Insightful analytics and ready-to-generate reports about emails, chats, etc.
Integrate with your favorite apps
Sort and find any past conversation
Get insights on customer satisfaction using feedback

ProofHub – Best for project management

ProofHub serves you as a centralized dashboard for planning, scheduling, delegating tasks, and monitoring the progress of your tasks. Further, the built-in chat and collaboration features such as Discussion, Notes sharing, and comments with @mention ensure that your team members are all on the same page. Further, you can automate repetitive tasks to save time and effort.

Key features of ProofHub

Communicate and collaborate in real time
Built-in time tracker for performance tracking
Custom field reporting to understand the productivity of your team
Centralized repository for storing and sharing project files
Multiple task list views – board view, table view, calendar, and Gantt chart
Define access and custom roles to restrict permission and access to confidential files and project details
Online proofing tool to streamline review process

Benefits of hiring automation for different departments

Human Resources: Streamlines recruitment, onboarding, payroll processing, and performance management, enhancing employee engagement and talent management.
Sales and Marketing: Automates lead generation, customer segmentation, and campaign management, leading to increased sales efficiency and personalized marketing strategies.
Finance: Simplifies budgeting, invoicing, and financial reporting, reducing errors and improving financial decision-making.
Customer Service: Uses chatbots and AI for quick responses to customer inquiries, improving customer satisfaction and service efficiency.
Operations: Optimizes supply chain management, inventory control, and logistics, leading to smoother operational workflows and cost savings.
IT and Technical Support: Automates routine IT tasks, cybersecurity monitoring, and support ticketing systems, enhancing system reliability and response times.

Takeaways

Different automated tools can bring valuable changes to your business outcomes. But for that, you need to understand your requirements and find a suitable solution based on that. As evaluating all the available tools can be a tedious and time-consuming process, these tools mentioned above are some of the most beneficial ones after implementation.

FAQs

Q1: What are automation tools?

A: Automation tools are software solutions designed to streamline and optimize various tasks in an organization by reducing the need for manual intervention.

Q2: How do automation tools benefit businesses?

A: They improve efficiency, accuracy, and productivity while reducing costs and human errors.

Q3: Can automation tools be integrated with existing systems?

A: Yes, many automation tools are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing business systems and software.

Q4: Are automation tools suitable for all sizes of businesses?

A: Yes, they are scalable and can be tailored to fit the needs of businesses of all sizes.

Q5: How do automation tools impact employee roles?

A: They often shift focus from repetitive tasks to more strategic activities, enhancing job satisfaction and career development.

Tech Assessment

Effective Workplace Communication Tips For Remote Teams

Team members who work remotely face communication challenges every day. The digital work environment brings a host of challenges for organizations and they need to proactively take steps to promote collaboration and two-way communication! A culture of open, honest, and transparent communication fosters the exploration of new, creative ideas necessary for innovative thinking. Recent research shows that the right workplace environment can boost employee productivity by up to 25%. Regular communication between teams can lead to higher job satisfaction, which reduces absenteeism, sick days, and turnover. In addition, when people feel understood at work, they will also put effort into understanding clients or customers. Today's modern tools make communication more accessible than ever, so there's no excuse not to implement them sooner rather than later. How can you make meaningful connections when working with your teammates at different locations and rarely interacting face-to-face? Communication can be tricky to master in remote teams, but it is not impossible. Effective communication can help remote teams become closer and improve collaboration. Remote teams have unique communication needs. Managing such teams requires understanding the challenges and nuances of communicating effectively.

Workplace communication: Why it is essential for success

Effective communication is paramount to achieving business objectives, fostering a corporate culture, creating accountability, ensuring work gets done, and increasing revenue. When a company makes improving communication a mission, it does more than prevent future misunderstandings and conflicts. Instead, they position themselves for sustainability and long-term success. Start by conducting an internal communications audit to determine whether your internal communications serve the company's needs or need adjustment. A communication channel audit asks a few basic questions:

How well are you getting the information you need?

How effective are the following channels of communication?

Do you find it easy to find information or contact the right people when necessary?

Here are a few critical points for effective workplace communication.

Empathy is key

Remote work is bound to have a learning curve. Some will adapt quickly, and some will need time to get used to it. It is essential to be empathetic toward all employees trying to minimize this learning curve. During the transition, let them know you will be available for assistance and that they can voice their concerns. A little compassion can go a long way during this stressful time. We should try to create an open dialogue and keep the lines of communication open.

Also, read: Corporate Compassion In The New ‘New Normal’: Where Do You Stand?

Don't micromanage

Managing remote teams is challenging since you can't just walk up to people and see what they are doing during the workday. Some people try to contact their teammates multiple times a day to check their progress. Even though it may work for urgent tasks, it isn't a good idea. Regardless of how they work, they are responsible adults. The key to effective remote working is trusting your team members, and not harassing them with repeated calls and emails. Use collaboration and tracking tools, but resist overly intrusive means and too many calls.

Make internal messaging a priority

An office is where someone can share their views if they are not comfortable speaking in a meeting. But in a virtual environment, this isn't easy. They must be able to have one-on-one discussions. Using messaging tools that let people communicate outside the group is the best way to do so in a remote team. In addition, using a messaging system can help employees communicate quickly and efficiently without straining their inboxes. Using it may even spark more communication among employees once they learn how easy it is. For example, you could use tools like Slack or WhatsApp to accomplish this. According to David Grossman's report, "The cost of poor communications, "companies incur an estimated $62.4 million annually due to workplace communication barriers, which profiled 400 large companies with 100,00 employees.

Specify communication tools for remote workers

Having too many communication tools means too many places to share information. Employees often miss messages when conversations are dispersed across multiple platforms. It is also possible for employees to become overwhelmed by messages from everywhere. There should be tools for synchronous and asynchronous communication for remote teams. You can also use ControlHippo to streamline your communication with sales and support teams.

Instant messaging applications should be used for asynchronous communication.
Project management tools can be utilized to share work updates.
Email must be used only for critical communication taking into account email security protocols..
For synchronous communications like team meetings or 1:1 discussions, consider using video applications or a reliable cloud phone system.

Encourage virtual team-building activities

One of the biggest problems remote workers face is loneliness, which results in disengagement, reduced productivity, and employee turnover. Developing personal and social bonds among team members is the only way to combat loneliness. When team members connect, they can communicate better, discuss problems, and find solutions before they become huge problems. It is possible to conduct synchronous and asynchronous team-building activities in virtual teams, just like there are activities for people in an office. Video conferencing possibilities are practically endless, especially with a good WiFi connection and a bit of imagination.

Weekly virtual trivia nights
Game nights
Theme-based virtual happy hour every week
Encourage non-work-related conversations through video coffee dates

Reward employees for achievements

We celebrate all kinds of events at work - birthdays, festivals, sporting events, and accomplishments. However, most remote teams neglect to do so since it's complicated. People believe it makes no sense to celebrate a birthday or a festive occasion if you are working remotely or if it falls on a holiday if you have no way of decorating the office or eating together. Nevertheless, good teams find a way to show appreciation, even as simple as singing "Happy Birthday to You" or sharing a photo of a celebration. Applaud individual and team achievements. Send physical cards and gifts that people can hold in their hands.

Also, read: 7 Employee Engagement Strategies For WFH Tech Teams

Implement a support system

Create a support system for tools and processes that your team uses. You can building a knowledge base or FAQ that helps your team learn how to use the tools. Most of the tools you use come with support systems, such as a self-help portal and customer service. However, you may still want to create content that shows how your business uses the tools. Set up a single point of contact in the team to coordinate any help team members may need to access policies and processes. Share links to policy documents and procedures so they can be easily found. Creating a telephone directory and listing everyone's contact details would be wise—outline clear guidelines as to who to contact during an emergency.

Wrapping up

Nowadays, as offices are becoming more and more online environments, workplace communication is becoming more critical, alongside digital tools and proper training. Improved workplace communication increases productivity, profitability, and employee retention and potentially saves businesses millions of dollars.

Hiring Strategies

What Tech Companies Need To Know About Quiet Quitting

Picture this: your employee is on vacation. Before taking their time off, they submitted all the tasks assigned. But, the manager reviewed their work after they left and drops them messages after messages. Two cases would happen:

Case 1: Employee checks the messages and edits their work while on vacation.
Case 2: Employee turns off their notifications, enjoys their vacation, and checks the messages after returning.

When employees choose the latter approach, they quiet quit their work.However, numerous misconceptions are floating about the term. People trying to explain quiet quitting

Let’s understand what exactly quiet quitting is and what you as a tech company need to know about it.

What is quiet quitting?

Employers' and recruiters' perspectives on quiet quitting: employees quitting their job or being lazy. It’s neither.When employees quiet quit their job, they do exactly what their job description says. They don't choose to overwork, cling on to after-work calls, and shut their emails once they head home.In other words, quiet quitting is all about maintaining healthy boundaries and creating a work-life balance.

What does quiet quitting look like in practice?

Because quiet quitting focuses on creating a healthy work-life balance, employees practicing it usually:

Say no to projects that do not come under your job description
Leave work on time
Don't check their emails and slack messages after work hours

Quiet quitting in tech: Why does it happen?

Higher expectations: Imagine a manager overworking, staying late (even on weekends), and working while employees enjoy their weekends off. Because they are driven toward their job, they expect their team members to have a similar approach.
But here's the thing: not every employee has similar career aspirations and not all of them want to work day in and out—especially Gen Z.
Unable to take full advantage of health and wellness benefits: Half of the employees fail to utilize the health and wellness benefits companies provide. They may go on once-a-year vacation but it (still) leaves room for burnout.
Poor management: According to Gallup, quiet quitting is a consequence of poor management. Managers fail to show leadership skills their team needs where empathy and compassion count first. That's why, when employees overwork, managers fail to recognize their efforts—leading to disengaged employees.

Also, read: 7 Ways To Reduce Burnout In Your Tech Teams

How can tech companies respond to quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting in tech: Why does it happen?

Tech companies have been changing their approach to creating a healthy work environment for their employees ever since the companies transitioned to on-premises. Why?

Working remotely helped employees create healthy boundaries that have been disturbed after their return to the office.

For those interested, here's an insightful thread on what quiet quitting means for people working in different sectors. So what can you do to make sure your employees are engaged and minimize quiet quitting?

#1 Transition to a 4-day work week

Companies have already started transitioning to a 4-days work week model. Employees in these organizations work for four days and have the remaining days off. This gives them ample time to rejuvenate. Does this mean they‘ll need to work extra hours on the 4 working days? Not at all.A great example: MyCheckins, a Bangalore-based SaaS company functions Monday to Thursday for 32 hours.

#2 Switching teams internally

Are the employees disinterested in working with your team? Instead of pushing them to give quality output, get them to work with another tech team in your department for a few days. If they feel engaged working with the other team, help them make the switch to the other team.

#3 Run employee pulse surveys

Running regular employee pulse surveys is a great way to keep a tab on what's happening on the ground level. By reviewing the survey, you can find the loopholes and work on improving the reasons for disengagement.

#4 Recognize them for their efforts

Many times, employees work hard only to feel unappreciated. When they put in extra effort, they expect two things from their managers—to be appreciated or rewarded with a pay rise.When neither happens, they pull themselves off from the overwork they had been doing. To tackle these situations, managers must learn to appreciate their team members more and reward them whenever relevant.For example, when a team member does incredible work on a project, send them a thank you note or celebrate their efforts in front of fellow team members.

Also, read: 7 Employee Engagement Strategies For WFH Tech Teams

Can quiet quitting ever be positive? Let’s see…

In the context of technology companies, where the phenomenon of quiet quitting has been prevalent, specific positive effects can be observed. Quiet quitting often results in less immediate disruption to ongoing projects and workflows. Teams can continue their work without the abrupt departure of key personnel. Employees who quietly quit may stay on for an extended period during their transition, allowing for the transfer of critical knowledge and skills to team members, ensuring continuity in project execution.For employees, quiet quitting provides time to reevaluate their career paths within the tech industry. They can explore new opportunities while still fulfilling their current roles, leading to a more informed career shift.

What are some of the negative effects of quiet quitting in tech companies?

While there are positives, quiet quitting often leads to a reduction in employee productivity, as workers only perform the bare minimum required by their job roles. In tech companies, this can slow down project timelines and innovation cycles.When some employees engage in quiet quitting, it can negatively affect the morale of their colleagues who may feel overburdened or demotivated by the lack of shared effort and enthusiasm. In the tech industry, where precision and innovation are key, quiet quitting may lead to a decline in the quality of work. This could manifest in more bugs in software or less creative solutions to technical problems.What’s even more important to understand is that quiet quitting is often a precursor to actual quitting. Tech companies might face higher turnover rates, leading to the loss of skilled employees and increased costs in hiring and training new staff. One of the biggest assets in tech is innovative thinking. Quiet quitting can lead to a stagnation in creative ideas and initiatives, which are crucial for a tech company’s growth and adaptation to market changes.The ripple effect of reduced productivity and quality can potentially reach customers, leading to dissatisfaction with the products or services, which is particularly detrimental in the competitive tech industry. Managers may find themselves spending more time micromanaging or addressing the consequences of quiet quitting, instead of focusing on strategic planning and fostering a positive work environment.

Become a healthy employee-first company

As a company, HackerEarth has a healthy employee-first perspective on things. If employees are indulging in producing lesser output than what their job says (instead of creating healthy boundaries!), relook into the few ways we shared above to create a meaningful and healthy work environment.

On our latest episode of This Is Recruiting, we spoke at great length with Crystal Lay, CEO of GBS Worldwide about what talent teams can learn from the Quiet Quitting trend to improve employer branding and workplace culture. Watch the full episode here!

Hiring Tools

How To Keep Your Application Process Mobile Friendly

Mobile phones are no longer just a ‘telephony device’ used for communicating with your friends and family. It has transformed into a robust channel that helps in accomplishing a wide array of tasks in a multitude of domains. This includes something as conservative and traditional as the hiring domain.

Businesses across the globe are switching to mobile-friendly application processes because it helps them reach the ‘unreachable.’ Not everyone who has applied to your company has a working laptop or a consistent broadband connection 24X7. But all of them will have a smartphone with them throughout the day. And that’s why it makes total sense to make your application process mobile-friendly.

But the bigger question is ‘how.’ In this article, we bring you 6 ways to keep your application process mobile-friendly.

Tips for a mobile-friendly application process

Tips for a mobile-friendly application process

#1 Keep the application process short

As an employer, this tip might come as a surprise. It might even make you a little nervous. After all, you might wonder - ‘How will I know everything about a candidate and make an informed hiring decision if the application process is short.’ The trick is to ask the right set of questions that will clear all your doubts for an initial assessment. You can always ask more during later calls. Cloud telephony platforms like FreJun log and record all your calls with candidates. You can use this information to make the right decision without making the application process too long.

Also, when you do not keep your application process short, it might impact your chances of attracting top talent. No one likes to spend hours on an application. According to a survey, more than 73% of job seekers tend to not complete their application process if it takes more than 12 minutes.

Also, read: Streamline Your Recruitment Process With These 7 Tips

#2 Allow applicants to upload their resumes from the cloud

‘Hiring and ‘resumes’ are often considered to be ‘inseparable twins.’ One cannot live without the other. As an employer, resumes are the first thing you see about a candidate. It is a key document to decide whether the candidate is a good fit or not. However, a document as important as a resume can also become a reason for incomplete applications.This is because most people complete their applications on their mobile, and they might not have a digital copy of their resume stored on it. That’s why you need to give them an option to upload their resumes via cloud platforms like Dropbox or Google Drive. There’s a good chance that they have a copy of their updated resumes on these drives, and can instantly upload it. This ensures that there are no unwanted interruptions in their application process.

#3 Communicate with candidates via text

A study has shown that the open rate of text messages(98%) is way more than emails(20%). There are two reasons for this -

Texts tend to be more personal than emails. Historically, text messages have been considered a way to communicate with your loved ones. This automatically makes people warm up to text messages more than official emails.
Text messages will be delivered no matter what. For instance, an SMS will be delivered to the candidates irrespective of whether their phone is ‘smart’ or not.

So make sure to open a two-way communication channel with your candidates through text messaging.

#4 Promote your application process as mobile-first

In a survey, it was found that the companies promoting their job opening as mobile-friendly saw an 11.6% increase in job applications. A company that has made an effort to make its application process mobile-friendly will be an employee-centric company. Job seekers will not only love to be a part of such a company but will also be loyal, making them great hires.It’s becoming incredibly challenging to find qualified applicants. Employers have to do everything to make sure they land the right candidate. Having a mobile-friendly application process and advertising them is one of the easier ways to draw talent. Who knows, it might even give you an edge over your competition who is yet to enter the race of mobile-friendly application processes.

#5 Leverage an ATS for quick screening

Many ATSs can parse a resume, capture key information from it, and populate it in the corresponding fields of an application form when the candidate uploads the resume. This shortens the time required to complete the application form as most of the fields are already filled.However, it is important to choose the right ATS tool as many of them tend to map the details to the wrong fields. Instead of making the application process simpler, it becomes an unwanted chore as the candidates have to remove the pre-filled information and then enter their details manually.

Also, read: Remote Work & Recruitment: An ATS Story

#6 Keep your talent pool warm

Segregate previously rejected candidates or candidates who were not a good fit for that role into talent pools. A talent pool contains all the important details about the candidate, such as potential roles they could fill, their skills, personal details, etc. When you put job seekers into these talent pools, you don’t have to start the recruiting process from scratch next time an opening comes up. Just search this talent pool for qualified candidates and contact them directly for an interview.It is easier to keep them engaged by sending them company updates and open roles to keep your company top of mind.

Conclusion

By making your application process mobile-friendly, job seekers are more likely to convert into your applicants. And when the pool of applicants widens for a job opening, you automatically ensure that you have access to top talent in an increasingly competitive job ecosystem.

Hiring Tools

Role of AI In Hiring Software Engineers

Artificial intelligence has generated a lot of buzz lately. Popular AI techniques like computer vision and object recognition have revolutionized the scope of working across healthcare, science, retail, and education to improve the accuracy of success.

More than just a supercomputer generation, AI recreated human capabilities in machines. Nowadays, AI-powered software is used to automate the daily set of business operations and ease product hassles of departmental stakeholders. One of the departments for which AI works wonders is human resources (HR).

Many recruiters and HR professionals have decided to transcend into an AI mechanism for better optimization of business assets and growth. In practice, some have already integrated artificial intelligence software with their existing tech stack and employed a better-qualified workforce without stretching their budget or time.

Hiring a qualified candidate for any important role demands cross-communication and the correct exchange of information. Invest in a viable talent intelligence software that can help strategize your candidate sourcing for maximum engagement and conversions.

How does AI-based recruitment solve hiring challenges?

The entire office suffers when talented employees leave. Never mind the cost of hiring, onboarding, and upskilling a new member. Having a talented coworker leave increases the risk of employee attrition and a questionable reputation.

As the great resignation continues, many companies are turning to AI-driven HR software to increase retention rates and reduce costs. Looking beyond the conventional HR practices and managing every part of the software engineer lifecycle is a key to increasing talent acquisition margin.

Many modern and secure AI recruitment solutions easily connect the dots between companies and suitable candidates for particular job roles. In some cases, Data-driven recruiting and HR analytics use tangible company analysis and skills insights to solve recurring recruitment challenges and create high-quality talent pipelines.

All in all, AI fights employee turnovers for the better and optimizes recruitments to increase employment opportunities.

Also read: Common virtual recruiting pitfalls and how to avoid them

Components of an AI recruitment strategy for software engineers

How can AI-based recruitment Streamline the Talent Acquisition Process?

Hiring activities of a company are mainly outsourced to third-party AI recruitment agencies that run machine learning-based algorithmic expressions on candidate profiles. ML algorithms are pre-trained on massive datasets that increase the candidate selection efficiency and reduce the endless sifting and browsing of resumes.

Let’s look at how AI skills up the candidate game of a particular company in detail :

Pre-screening chatbots: AI conversational chatbots can bridge the gap between the recruiter and the applicant. It replaces the “recruiter phone screen” stage in the hiring process and screens candidates with a human touch. Built with evolving NLP technology, it screens a candidate’s ability to fit into their contesting roles by recognizing their pattern of communication.
Resume parser: The resume parser scans candidate resumes and social media profiles to analyze their experience and education. It generates specific codes and parses information according to the organization’s competitive shortlisting guidelines. It also categorizes a few samples for further processing and internally sorts them to produce the required output.
Filtering: The resume samples are further filtered based on custom criteria of age, background, qualification, etc., and forwarded to the concerned team. This candidate data can be stored in the cloud using reliant blockchain technology. The samples are clustered together to obtain a small set of profiles submitted for final evaluation.
Automated panel assignment: As the profiles finalize, an automated evaluator panel is assigned to individual candidates for further screening. Softwares such as Greenhouse recruiting and Skillate help connect evaluators with candidates for additional rounds of interviews. Such cloud-based solutions aid in faster execution of interview rounds and declaration of results while saving up time and effort.
Automated candidate assessment: Candidates usually appear for a pre-assembled cognitive aptitude test to check their cross-skill ability. Now companies are preparing these tests using AI writing tools that curate extremely logical questions to test candidates’ reasoning ability.
Automated candidate scoring: After the test, the machine learning algorithm analyzes the correctness of every answer and populates an unbiased and trustworthy score. It recommends the score to the assigned panel, who then amends it to a normalized score.
Personalized campaigns: Given the success of candidate evaluation, the system rolls out offer letters to selected software engineers with a note of personalization to make them feel connected and satisfied with their achieved milestone.
Dashboard and analytics: Advanced reports track every stage of the recruitment funnel and provide data-driven metrics regarding hiring campaigns to optimize future outreaches.

Investment funding to build better AI recruitment solutions

The potential of AI recruitment has been witnessed by different stakeholders and investors around the globe. A considerable percentage of the workforce operating in large software industries has witnessed this transition successfully and opened doors for new funding opportunities.

B2B SaaS companies like XOPA, a Singapore-based AI recruitment platform, announced $4.2 million Series A funding led by ICCP SBI Venture Partners. Phenom, another global HR technology company, raised over 100 M in series D funding, giving it a valuation of over 1 billion! This drastic revolution has impacted the decision-making of top investors and funders for better ROIs.

Meeting the tight budgets of a particular organization and easing the hiring stress on the HR professionals has made artificial intelligence more portable for employment.

Challenges of using AI in recruitment

Ethical concerns and bias

One of the most significant challenges in adopting AI for recruitment is the potential for bias and ethical concerns. AI algorithms rely on historical data, which can contain biases related to race, gender, or socioeconomic factors. If not carefully managed, AI systems can perpetuate these biases, leading to unfair and discriminatory hiring practices. It’s crucial for organizations to implement strict ethical guidelines and continuously monitor AI systems to mitigate these risks.

Data privacy and security

AI in recruitment relies heavily on collecting and processing vast amounts of candidate data, including personal information. Ensuring the privacy and security of this data is paramount. Organizations must comply with data protection regulations and invest in robust cybersecurity measures to prevent data breaches and protect candidates’ sensitive information.

Skill gap and training

Implementing AI in recruitment requires the upskilling of HR professionals and recruiters. Many organizations face challenges in providing adequate training to their staff to effectively use AI tools and technologies. Bridging the skill gap and ensuring that the recruitment team is proficient in utilizing AI systems is essential for successful implementation.

Transparency and explainability

AI algorithms can sometimes be seen as “black boxes” where decisions are made without clear explanations. Lack of transparency and explainability in AI-driven recruitment processes can lead to distrust among candidates and employees. To address this challenge, organizations need to ensure that their AI systems are transparent, and decisions can be explained to candidates and stakeholders.

Finding the balance between automation and human insight

Finding the right balance between AI-driven automation and human judgment can be challenging. While AI can streamline and enhance many aspects of recruitment, it should complement, not replace, the expertise of human recruiters. Ensuring that AI augments human decision-making rather than substituting it is a key challenge for organizations embracing AI in recruitment.

By addressing these challenges effectively, organizations can harness the benefits of AI in recruitment while maintaining ethical standards, data security, and the human touch necessary for successful talent acquisition.

The promise of a better-engineered workforce

AI is a cue card to a tech-optimized future of recruitment. It is the ultimate go-to that can help build an employer’s brand faster and recruit a skilled workforce.

Not just recruitment, AI can seamlessly automate, manage and scale your workforce planning and payroll management to diversify business outcomes and set a new trajectory for sustainable growth. It can be your strength to navigate through the complexities of the new world order and ignite a light of empathy in an otherwise computerized recruitment process.

DEI Hiring

What We Learnt From Target's Diversity And Inclusion Strategy

Having a diversity and inclusion strategy for an organization helps foster a diverse workplace where everyone feels comfortable and accepted and to leverage diversity as a driving force for growth and competitive advantage.

Before a recruitment firm develops a diversity and inclusion strategy, it's critical to recognize the negative effects of non-inclusive policies, processes, and behavior by recognizing the barriers and opportunities that influence the diversity of hire and continuing talent management.

This comprises a thorough examination of policy and procedure documentation for all or portions of the employee life cycle, from recruitment to retirement.

Target

There are numerous reasons why it should be a long-term plan, one of which is that firms now have more access to talent.

What is Target's D&I Strategy?

Target values diversity and strives to provide equal opportunity for all employees.Their DE&I strategy is divided into four sections:

Creating a welcoming environment for visitors
Working in a welcoming environment
Ensuring that their workforce is diversified.
Using their power to establish a positive difference in society.

How to Implement D&I strategy in Your Workplace?

Employers utilize diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to meet regulatory requirements as well as to improve the bottom line by having a more varied, equitable, and inclusive workforce. There are four basic stages to developing a diversity and inclusion strategy (DE&I) strategy:

Gathering and analyzing data to evaluate the need for change
Creating a strategy that aligns with the company's goals.
The initiative's implementation
The plan's evaluation and ongoing audit

These primary phases are broken down into action steps that employers can take to build a DE&I effort in the following ways:

1. Hire for diversity

Workplace diversity starts with hiring. Recruiters must use ATS to promote diversity in hiring.This is so important because companies can talk about diversity all they want if they don't commit to making a real change in their own business And it all starts with employing a broad pool of individuals.How do you recruit for diversity? Here are a few suggestions:

In your employment postings, emphasize diversity
Use a variety of employment boards (such as Diversity Working, Hire Autism, Recruit Disability, etc.)
Request a variety of recommendations
Implement blind resume parsing
Organize a variety of interview panels for prospective candidates
Recruiters must know how to avoid biases

Slack sought out candidates from outside programmer pipelines recruitment through all-women coding camps and initiatives that train black and Latino programmersTarget maintained its industry-leading representation within its board of directors; one-third of its members are women, and nearly half are Latino or Black.

Recommended ebook: 10-Step Diversity Hiring Handbook

2. Compile Data

An employer can better understand the diversity of its employees and the equality of its internal processes by collecting data on employee demographics, as well as identifying any areas of concern or trends.These data have previously included federal and state-protected categories.Other criteria, such as personality type and thinking/learning style, may also be useful, though national comparison data on these may be difficult to come by.If this is the case, a manager needs to track its own data on these categories over time to see if any changes are required.A recruiter can make use of some of the best Applicant Tracking Systems to track down the candidate's data.Demographic data may include the following:

Age
Ethnicity/national origin
Family status
Gender
Language
Personality type
Physical characteristics
Race
Religion, belief, and spirituality
Sexual orientation
Thinking/learning styles
Veteran status

This data would be useful for gathering information about the current company culture regarding DE&I.In 2020, Target released its first disaggregated Workforce Diversity Report (based on 2019 data) that breaks down racial and gender data across all levels of their organization, allowing them a deeper look at what's going well and what they can do better.Tracking and analyzing this data against Target's goals and commitments is one way they stay focused on the right areas as the whole team grows together.

3. Identify Needs and/or Problem Areas

Underrepresented or problematic locations can be discovered once data is collected.Employers should start with a high-level look at demographics like age, gender, race representation, and equity and then dive down by location, department, and role. Problem regions can be identified by asking questions like:

Is management dominated by elderly white men?
Is it common for the accounting department to hire women solely?
Have opportunities for persons who speak English as a second language been limited?
Is the West Coast branch's workforce more racially diverse than its East Coast counterparts?

Employee surveys can provide extra information that can help discover other areas of concern. Employee perceptions of culture may or may not correspond to survey findings.If they do, the employer will have a better idea of what needs to be changed; if they don't, the company may want to hold employee focus groups to better understand the disconnect.If the statistics show little to no diversity in sexual orientation or religion, for example, it's probable that people don't trust the organization with such sensitive data.The diversity of Target's workforce has stayed stable from the previous report; 50% of their team members and 25% of their leadership team are people of color, and 58 percent of their team members and 50% of their leadership team are women.

Also read: Embracing DE&I At The Workplace – #1 Back To The Basics

4. Implement Ideas

Policy and practice changes, employee training, targeted recruiting, and employer-sponsored DE&I awareness activities for employees are all examples of DE&I initiatives.To build momentum for the effort, develop an action plan to accomplish these initiatives by setting realistic goals and starting with the aspects that have the highest business value or are easily feasible.An example of the plan is given below–Initiative: Improve the R&D team's cultural competence and decision-making to guarantee that the team can better leverage existing team diversity and capitalize on varied ideas.Action items: Cultural awareness and competency training, team-building exercises, ongoing dialogue regarding diversity and inclusion with the R&D team one on one as well as during team meetings.Timeframes: Team-building exercises: yearly staff retreat and monthly meetings; continuing dialogue: as needed and ongoing during staff interactions and meetings; cultural awareness and competency training: within six months to make sure that the team can effectively harness existing team diversity and capitalize on varied ideas through patience and inclusive decision-making.According to Target," It's the people that count. We value the 400,000+ individuals who come together as a team to serve our guests."

Also read: A Note On Our New Leave Policies

5. Start Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are extremely valuable organizational resources that can assist a company in bringing together diverse viewpoints, experiences, and ideas from all levels of employees.Typically, these groups are organized around a shared social identity, such as gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, or a life stage, such as parenthood.Make sure that all of your company's ERGs are inclusive and that any full-time employee is welcome to join!The Estée Lauder Companies offers 30 employee resource groups with approximately 4,500 employees participating in total across all geographic regions. Employees founded each group, which includes groups for women, veterans, families, LGBTQ+ people and allies, and more.

Also watch: #Inclusion: An honest conversation | Upstox x HackerEarth

In Final Words

Before companies implement any of these workplace and diversity ideas, they must ask their employees what they want and which of these initiatives they want the company to implement first.The company must take the specific needs of each underrepresented group into consideration.There is no one-size-fits-all workplace diversity and inclusion strategy. Talk to all employees, listen to their needs, and start from there.

Guest Author