Modern recruitment software provides multiple enhanced features for providing various benefits like a better candidate experience, streamlined hiring, timely notifications, and more. The latest cutting-edge systems like Pocket HRMS even employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) to parse resumes and shortlist candidates, which further enhances the efficiency of HRs and recruiters.
Resume screening is a critical feature of these modern recruitment software as they enable recruiters to quickly shortlist candidates. These systems can parse through a vast number of resumes quickly and shortlist the ideal candidates within a few minutes, enabling organizations to easily go through hordes of resumes they receive for vacant positions.
What is Automated Resume Screening?
Automated resume screening is the process of screening candidates with the help of software that reviews and analyzes resumes against a role’s requirements, which helps identify the most qualified candidates quickly.
These systems employ the latest technologies like Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Optical Character Recognition, etc., to parse resumes and cross-reference the applicants’ skills and experience with the job descriptions, to shortlist the right candidates for a specific position.
Automated resume screening provides multiple benefits to organizations as it helps manage a large number of resumes while ensuring that the screening process remains consistent, as well as reducing human bias. Hence, it is widely used by recruiters nowadays, as it makes the process of shortlisting candidates quick and easy.
Benefits of Automated Resume Screening
There are numerous benefits of deploying an automated resume screening system, apart from the improved efficiency it provides in shortlisting candidates. It can easily avoid unconscious human bias while ensuring consistency in the screening process. It can also shortlist better candidates in no time, whose skills and experience align with the job requirements, reducing the time-to-hire.
Here are a few hiring-related factors that are improved by deploying an automated resume screening software:
1. Cost and Time Savings
Automated resume screening results in time and cost savings as the system can go through and parse several resumes instantly, enhancing recruiters’ productivity and efficiency. It is especially relevant in larger organizations where the number of applicants can easily go into thousands. The enhancement in efficiency also results in reduced manual labour costs as the recruiters can shortlist candidates quickly and do not need to waste their time and effort on ineligible candidates.
2. Consistent Results
Another major benefit is the consistency found in parsing resumes with a dedicated recruitment software. Since the system evaluates all resumes based on pre-defined criteria, it can ensure consistency across the hiring process, ensuring that only eligible candidates get shortlisted. It also helps avoid unconscious human bias, resulting in a more diverse range of candidates.
3. Quicker Time-to-hire
Due to the increased efficiency of automated resume screening, recruiters can divert their productive time to developing better interview questions. Since the recruitment management system can go through a vast amount of resumes within a short span of time, recruiters can shortlist resumes quickly, which leads to a shorter time-to-hire.
4. Better Candidates
An automated resume screening system also ensures better quality candidates as it removes unqualified candidates from the huge pool of resumes received for any vacant position. To ensure that only the right candidates are shortlisted, these systems analyse for specific keywords, which match the experience, skills, educational qualifications, etc. that are required by the position, resulting in improved overall candidate quality.
5. Easy Scalability
Since resume screening is one of the basic functions of a recruitment software, it is developed to be scalable according to the company’s growth and its increasingly complex requirements. With the growing complexity of organizations, companies can easily scale their recruitment management system, making it easy for them to tackle the ever-growing slew of resumes.
6. Bias Avoidance
Having an automated resume screening system also results in bias avoidance as it works on pre-defined rules that have been fed into the system. It does not differentiate anyone based on their gender, caste, religion, etc., which ensures that only genuinely talented candidates get shortlisted. While there have been instances where candidates have actively bypassed the system by including the exact keywords in their resumes, they can still be caught once they face the interview.
How Recruitment Software Automates Resume Screening
Recruitment management software provides recruiters with an efficient approach to resume screening, enabling higher efficiency. Recruitment systems use multiple advanced technologies to make it seamless for the HR teams to find the right candidates. Hence, let us check out these technologies, followed by the actual process of automated resume screening:
➔ Technologies used in Automated Resume Screening
The following technologies are used to capture and analyze resume data effectively within these systems:
1. Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
OCR is the algorithm that enables recruitment management software to ‘capture’ the words in the resume as an image and recognize the words in them. It helps these systems to recognize words from any format of resumes, such as PDF, DOCX, JPEG, PNG, etc.
2. Natural Language Processing (NLP)
NLP processes the words shared by OCR and identifies the key words in the resume to understand their context. It enables these systems to ‘understand’ whether a resume aligns with the job requirements, helping it decide whether to shortlist a candidate.
3. Machine Learning (ML)
ML helps the recruitment management software learn from other algorithms, such as NLP and OCR, and optimizes the process for even more effective screening. It helps the system seamlessly scale with the increasing number of resumes, as well as understand whether a candidate is trying to game the system.
➔ The Process of Automated Resume Screening
Now that we understand the technologies used in resume screening, let us check out the process followed:
1. Collecting Resumes
The first step is to collect the resumes sent by the candidates through various sources such as direct upload, social media, career websites, job forums, etc.
2. Extracting Data
The next step involves the extraction of the data within the resumes, through the algorithms we discussed above.
3. Matching Profiles
These algorithms also help in matching candidate profiles with the job requirements, providing the recruiter with a robust idea of their suitability for that specific position.
4. Ranking Resumes
The suitability of a candidate is decided with the help of one or more ranking factors, which help identify whether a candidate’s skills and experience match the requirements of a specific job position.
5. Generating Shortlist
Finally, the system generates a shortlist of the ideal candidates and shares it with the recruiter. It enables them to focus their efforts on the right candidates.
How to choose the Right Resume Screening Software?
When choosing the right resume screening software, you need to ensure that the following features are supported by the shortlisted software. It helps you understand whether you are getting the best value for your money:
➔ Multiple Format Support
The recruitment system should support multiple resume formats such as PDF, DOCX, JPEG, PNG, etc. It enables the system to analyse all kinds of resumes uploaded by the candidates, ensuring that all resumes get parsed accurately.
➔ AI-based Screening
The recruitment management software should support AI-powered screening, as candidates have started gaming these systems by intentionally stuffing the required keywords to get shortlisted. AI-based recruitment software can overcome this shortcoming by identifying such resumes, further enhancing the effectiveness of the shortlisting process.
➔ Multiple Integrations
It should also support multiple integration options with popular HR applications such as HRMS Solution, payroll software, onboarding systems, etc., ensuring a seamless experience for the HR teams. It saves the time and effort of HR teams and recruiters, helping them concentrate on other aspects of the hiring process.
➔ Intuitive Interface
The system should also have an easy-to-use user interface, as that would make it easier to operate, enabling enhanced efficiency with minimal additional overhead. It also helps avoid costly and time-consuming training, as well as increases the adoption rate within the organization.
➔ Easy Scalability
The software should also be scalable according to the growing number and variety of candidates, based on the growing needs of the organization. As the business grows, the system should be able to cope with the increasing number of resumes received, as well as ensuring that it parses them in no time.
➔ Secure Database
Since the recruitment system handles confidential information about candidates via their resumes, it should also have a database that is secured by the best encryption protocols. On the other hand, it should also provide real-time access to authorized users to ensure complete connectivity for modern workplaces.
➔ Compliant Screening
Finally, resume screening should remain compliant with the regulatory requirements of the local rules and regulations. It should help organizations save candidate data securely, helping them avoid hefty fines and penalties.
Conclusion
Automated resume screening provides organizations with multiple benefits apart from efficient and effective screening. It enables recruiters to find the right employees quickly by shortlisting talented candidates who align with the organizational culture and the vacant job position’s requirements. Hence, you should choose an automated resume screening software like Pocket HRMS to shortlist the right candidates for your business.
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