Gathering applications, reviewing candidates, interview scheduling—if it was all done manually, even the fastest-working HR representative would soon be overwhelmed. Luckily, there are tools on the market to help you streamline and automate hiring. An applicant tracking system (ATS), for instance, is a popular piece of hiring software that helps employers sort and manage applicant information. By streamlining the hiring process, a good ATS reduces manual labor and gives your team room to breathe. But not all applicant tracking systems are suited for healthcare. Here are the ten applicant tracking features you should look out for when shopping for a healthcare ATS.
1. Automatic (and Healthcare-Specific) Job Distribution
Manually posting to different job boards costs time and money. Different job boards also have varying features, requirements, and interfaces. It can be a pain to sort through them.
But while many ATSes can distribute your jobs to major job boards, it’s less common for an ATS to connect with healthcare-specific boards. A healthcare-specific ATS should be able to target heavy hitters like Indeed and LinkedIn, while also distributing to MyCNAjobs, HireNurses, and more.
Learn more about automatic job distribution
2. Automated Messaging
A staggering 75% of applicants never hear back from an employer after applying to a job. About 60% never hear back after an interview.
This is a huge problem, and can hurt your reputation—especially if you want to return to these candidates for future positions. However, it also takes an enormous amount of manpower to manually respond to each message.
The solution? Automated messaging.
An ATS can help you use text and email templates to automate rejections, receipt of application, and other messages without sacrificing your team’s time.
Learn more about automated workflows
3. Text Enablement
In 2019, the number of employers who recruited through texting increased by 56%. Texting has become an important piece of hiring.
Texting lets you reach candidates who aren’t spending time at their desktop or email. This is especially important in healthcare, where your candidates might already be working in active roles and spending time away from computers, on their feet.
But while many ATSes let you text candidates from the platform, many cap the number of messages you can send (or charge extra for more texts). Look for ATSes with high caps or unlimited texting to avoid any logistical issues.
Learn more about text enablement
4. Effective Search Functionality
Regardless of whether you’re a single-facility business, or if you have multiple facilities across different states, you need to be able to sift through candidates quickly and effectively, sorting by facility, qualifications, and more.
Candidate search is likely one of the applicant tracking features you’ll use most often. Ideally, candidate searching will take you to an applicant history page. There, you can quickly scan candidate records, see messaging history, and mark “do not hire” if need be—a particularly useful function when candidates apply for different positions over time.
5. Easy Apply (or 1-click Apply)
According to Indeed, applications with 20 questions or more are abandoned by 40% of candidates. By contrast, when AT&T decreased their screener questions, they got more candidates, and, importantly, more qualified candidates. Who knows what incredible talent you could miss out on with an unwieldy application process?
A great ATS should come with easy apply—a minimal-click feature that allows candidates to quickly submit their information. This makes the application more accessible for candidates and easier to complete on mobile.
Ideally, your ATS will let you add a few simple screening questions, ensuring that only qualified applicants are able to apply.
6. Career Page Branding
Your ATS should fit into your existing materials without much trouble. A compelling career page is what your applicants will see when they click on your ads, so it’s a vital part of recruitment marketing. Look for a healthcare ATS that offers professional, attractive career page you can add to your existing website and brand.
Learn more about career page branding
7. Social Integration
Over half (57%) of candidates use social media as part of their job search. That number increases to 73% for candidates aged 18-34.
It’s in every healthcare organization’s best interest to ensure their materials are optimized for social. Social integration is one of the most important applicant tracking features.
Look for an ATS that lets you use QR codes to attract Snapchat users, easy apply to engage job seekers on LinkedIn, and enable applications directly through Facebook. With these options, you’ll be able to reach candidates who are passively scrolling on social media—not only those actively browsing jobs.
Learn more about social integrations
8. Integrated Onboarding and Employee Management
In healthcare, hiring is only half the battle. You need to onboard quickly and manage effectively. Patient care hangs in the balance.
One way to improve efficiency and quality of care is by making staffing as streamlined as possible. Look for an ATS that comes with a larger suite of technologies alongside applicant tracking features. When everything is brought together under one platform, your life becomes a whole lot easier. Some convenient integrations to look for include shift scheduling tools, credential and license verification, payroll software, and onboarding software.
Learn more about onboarding and team management
9. Interview Scheduling
You’re busy—and so are your candidates. Interview scheduling can quickly become a headache for recruiters. But if interview scheduling is the headache, an ATS can be the cure.
A solid ATS should automatically invite candidates to schedule an interview. Once the interview is on your calendar, you can ensure that both you and the interviewee receive reminders, decreasing your chance of the dreaded no-show.
When your ATS automatically handles prescreening questions, candidate communicaiton, and interview scheduling, you can move applicants from application to interview with very little manual effort.
Learn more about scheduling interviews
10. Access to Real Experts
The best software is intuitive and easy to use. But the best software companies don’t leave you to figure it out on your own.
For healthcare professionals, it’s vital to have a customer success team that’s familiar with staffing practices in your industry. Someone without industry experience may not be equipped to understand the urgency of hiring in healthcare.
Your success team can keep you up to date with new features and optimize your process to ensure you’re hiring as effectively as possible. Ideally, your customer success representative will stay with you the entire time you use the platform, allowing them to truly understand your needs.
Better Hiring With Apploi
The best ATS for healthcare offers applicant tracking specified to your industry. Apploi can help with applicant tracking, onboarding, employee management and more, all tailored to the healthcare industry. Interested in learning more about how to recruit, hire, and onboard staff quicker than the competition? Contact us today for a free demo of our end-to-end solution.
