Recruitment technology is a fast-paced environment and often involves significant investment in systems such as CRM, ATS and HRIS. Here at Cielo, where I work in Global Technology Enablement, we’re lucky enough to get to play with lots of cutting-edge tech -- from big-ticket items to those small, quick-win hacks that cumulatively make a huge difference to our talent acquisition teams.

Apps can be a great way of solving small problems in an inexpensive (or even free!) way. And it’s not just the recruiting teams who benefit. A couple of years back, I talked with one of our analysts about a data-scraping tool that transforms raw Google search data in to an amazing “headhunting longlist” with just one click. I showed him what it could do, and then when I bumped into him a couple weeks later I learned that he was thrilled. He said he had managed to get rid of a manual upload task he’d been doing for years, and been saving himself two hours every week just by using this tool. Needless to say, I was at the top of his Christmas card list.

Here are my top 5 apps for recruiters:

Data-Scraper: So you’ve performed a Google (Boolean) search of your favourite social media platform to get a longlist of candidates and are setting about the laborious task of updating the list to Excel … and then come across Data-Scraper!! Download 100s of candidate profile links in just minutes using this marvellous data-scraping tool. 

QPush: Imagine being on your ATS or CRM and simply highlighting a telephone number to push it onto your phone. Then think how many candidates you could call! Use QPush in conjunction with the Bit.ly app, and you can quickly send a short URL to a candidate for maps, company websites, job specs, etc.

TwittRss.me: There are some great RSS aggregators that allow you to collect all of your news feeds in one place, as well as apps that will inform you when updates have been made to a particular page (WatchThatPage.com). Combine these with an app that converts a Twitter feed to RSS and you’ve got all your market intelligence at your fingertips!

Loom: There are a few free apps on the market that allow you to record your screen and, in some cases, yourself at the same time. Rather than send a manager a long email, how about a two-minute video update?

360 Panorama: Using an inexpensive iPhone app, I recently captured a 360° view of part of our London office. This is a great way to show off the type of environment you work in!

It can be tough to sort through all the great options for apps out there, so I would recommend two approaches:.

  1. Find a problem you are looking to solve, then see if there is a technology to fix it.
  2. Set aside regular time to review what’s out there – check blogs, YouTube and app stores like Chrome and Apple and allow yourself time to be inspired

None of these apps should be seen as a replacement for the core skills involved in recruiting, but they certainly can help facilitate you being able to get the most out of your talents. And with competition for talent being more fierce than ever, any advantage you can find could be what lands you that perfect candidate.

 

Post contributed by Chris Watson, Global Technology Enablement Lead. Connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.