News & Resources
Mariah Beahen
Senior Recruitment Consultant
“Always remember that the focus should be on a great candidate experience,” Mariah says. “Technology and digital tools can be efficient, but they may not always be effective! Begin with a digital strategy that considers your candidates first, and set them up to succeed.”
The strategic application of digital tools enhances Mariah’s work at Summit Search Group every day. She connects with clients across Canada via digital chats, streamlines scheduling with automated calendars, and encourages video applications to help candidates make the maximum impact.
“We can always be growing, and we can always be learning –– that’s a huge part of technology,” she adds. We sat down to get some of Mariah’s key tricks for taking the candidate experience to the next level with today’s most innovative tech.
Evaluate and Enhance Your Hiring Process
“The market is competitive for top talent right now. You need to always be improving your process – and doing it fast,” Mariah begins. “Improving your process in the modern tech-savvy era is all about enhancing the candidate experience. You should be considering how to make things faster, easier, and smoother.”
That’s not to say that technology doesn’t benefit recruiting specialists, as well. “For the hiring team, getting an interview scheduled can be costly from a time perspective. Automation, for example, can streamline your process and have a significant impact on getting qualified, best-fit talent hired quickly. The more complex and difficult a hiring process is, the more chances you’ll have of losing amazing talent,” she adds.
Mariah specifically emphasizes having a complete understanding of the talent pipeline through the candidate’s lens. “It’s so crucial to remember that technology in recruitment is not solely about efficiency and effectiveness. For recruiters and talent acquisition specialists, the focus should be on a great candidate experience from beginning to end. You need to understand your pipeline.”
Today’s Technology and the Recruitment Pipeline
“Don’t even think about implementing automation tools or advanced technology without going through your application process, yourself!” Mariah warns. “Really understand which parts of the pipeline you can improve through tech. Your pipeline begins the minute a candidate gets a job invite. It includes the full experience, through the front-end and into your recruiting process.”
She breaks down the evaluation process step by step, from the very beginning. “First, assess your current process, and figure out what’s working and what’s not. Map out your existing workflow to find out how long each step takes for candidates. In doing so, you will isolate where you can clean up time for everyone! When you find those points, you can turn to technologies to automate your process.”
These are Mariah’s key questions to evaluate every pipeline:
- What repetitive tasks are slowing the hiring team down?
- How do candidates access our careers? Is it easy to navigate? Do we know where candidates are dropping off?
- Do we have a standard recruiting workflow? Are there tools that could improve it?
“Analyzing your full candidate application process will help you understand the ease with which they navigate the experience, and isolate where they get lost,” Mariah emphasizes. “For example, are you noticing a pattern where candidates tend to drop off? Can you implement a chat bot or support tool there to make the experience more user-friendly? Anything you can do to enhance your hiring process should be considered.”
Digital Tools for Recruitment and Hiring
With what may seem like an ocean of digital technology and tools to choose from, these are some of Mariah’s favorites.
Sourcing and First Impressions
“Personalized, thoughtful email is so valuable to making connections,” she says. “For example, a candidate could email a video thank you for an interview using VidYard, a free recording tool. It’s a great way to integrate new technology into communication strategies we already use.”
She also notes that video won’t do all the work –– quality writing counts, too. “When reaching out, sending emails or preparing job advertisements, using a tool like Grammarly reduces typos and provides an extra level of polish for recruiters and candidates alike. It proofreads your text and will notify you of any errors.”
Video Interviews and Making an Impact
“At Summit, we use video interviewing tools, and I think it’s the way of the future,” Mariah highlights. “Some companies only accept video applications now –– not even resumes. At the end of the day, you can portray your character and personality much better with these tools. It’s an exciting future; it stands to completely change the hiring process.”
Candidates aren’t the only ones to benefit from video technology. “Video job applications significantly focus the talent applying for a certain position,” she adds. Spark Hire and JabaTalks are two of her favorite tools for both pre-recorded and live video/audio interviews.
A candidate’s digital impression reaches beyond the interview, of course, and there are now tools to help recruiters cover more digital ground than ever. “A crucial component of the modern screening process is ensuring a candidate has a clean social media presence, and now it can be done quickly,” Mariah notes. “AmazingHiring is a great chrome extension which enables a hiring manager to review a candidate’s social media footprint across over 40 social networks.”
Scheduling and Maximizing Time
“Once you’ve screened applicants and are ready to schedule interviews, utilizing scheduling software can significantly cut down time,” she mentions. “These tools enable candidates to schedule an interview based on the hiring manager’s availability. Automating your interview scheduling reduces wait times and ensures candidates move to the next step of the hiring process as soon as possible. Book interviews in your calendar with tools such as Acuity, Calendly, TImeTrade, or GoodTime, which is particularly useful for complex interview booking schedules.”
“Honeit takes it a step further by scheduling interviews in addition to recording interview answers,” Mariah adds. “Instead of the hiring manager frantically writing notes, answers are recorded in audio clips to reduce the chance of missing anything important. I’d also recommend Track365 for great transcribing.”
Onboarding and Getting to Work
Technology offers a powerful launchpad for onboarding new talent, too. “Using AI tools throughout onboarding will optimize new hires’ experience by keeping it interactive,” Mariah points out. “To ensure new hires have an easy onboarding process, consider engaging, interactive and personalized tools such as Oracle HCM. This tool is used by several tech companies to assess the learning of new employees and predict their progress.”
Her other recommendations include:
- Enboarder, a tool which shares learning and development progress and enables employers to ask for feedback throughout a new hire’s experience
- Appical, an app that allows companies to use videos, checklists, quizzes and even interactive assignments to maintain an interactive pre-boarding experience
- SmarterMediumPerStart, a tool which offers an interactive online learning experience prior to a new hire’s first day
“At the end of the day, technology and digital tools allow us to connect in a more genuine, personal way,” Mariah concludes. “Applied strategically, we can streamline time, save paperwork, and enhance everyone’s hiring experience –– especially that of our candidates.”
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The Recruiter’s Toolkit: Mariah Beahen on Leveraging Digital Tools and Technology
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