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Benefits to Online Hiring (Vs. Paper Applications)
Hiring the best employees for your company can be somewhat of a nightmare, especially in high turnover industries such as restaurant and hospitality. Traditional methods of hiring like paper applications, local newspaper ads and radio/television ads, are quickly becoming a thing of the past. In the new era of the internet, there are a plethora of tools available for hiring managers to do all of their hiring exclusively online. Below I will outline the benefits of why you should do this for your company/organization. Leave your thoughts in the comments and anything that might have been left out!
1. Reach a Broader Amount of Applicants
With over 245 million internet users in the United States and a higher than normal unemployment rate, it is no wonder that internet job boards are extremely popular .
By using an online hiring tool, you can expose your job to an incredible amount of applicants, and that pool is only increasing, especially in larger metropolitan areas. Right now you may be thinking, “what about people coming in asking for an application?” Simply direct those applicants to apply to your online hiring site, if they truly want the job, they will take the effort to apply online. If they don’t, would they have made a great employee to begin with?
2. Reach Better Quality Applicants
If your store is only accepting paper applications, it can be a hindrance not only to the amount of applicants you receive, but also to the quality of the applicant. Today’s job seekers are internet savvy; they want to work for companies that are “up to date”. Additionally, online applications can provide a more comprehensive pre-screening for applicants than paper applications, saving you valuable time when searching for that perfect employee.
If you aren’t accepting online applications, you are ignoring a large segment of the job-seeking population and potentially missing out on great talent!
3. Superior Organization
Keeping paper applications organized is so cumbersome. What do you do with the applicant files for people who were rejected? Put on hold? Hired? This can quickly add up to a lot of files to keep track of.
Many online hiring systems come with online storage for all of your applicant files. You can easily go back and take a look at past hires and other applicants, all organized and easily accessible. This will save you plenty of time and let you stay on top of your entire hiring process. Don’t even get me started on the metrics and reporting capabilities, we could be here all day… but seriously, how about being able to download the entire year’s hiring summary? Online hiring systems can provide you with some powerful metrics to let you make more informed decisions about your hiring methods.
4. Robust, Customizable Software Available
There is software out there for every sized business, whether you are a small company with 10 employees, or a large one with 500+. An online hiring system can be customizable so you can only receive information from applicant that you want. Additionally, you can add options that you might not have even been aware of. How about video or audio cover letters? The sky is the limit with online software, and most of them are user friendly and provide training for employees.
5. Reduce Your Carbon Footprint!
As an added bonus, going paperless will greatly reduce your carbon footprint and save some trees. So not only will you be hiring more quality applicants the way YOU want to, but you’ll also be saving the earth in the process. So what are you waiting for? It’s easy to make the switch, see you online!
Sources:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm
http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-news/commentary-analysis/online-jobs-are-on-the-rise/
