The great Michael Jordan said it best, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
Employers nationwide spend countless hours and dollars to ensure their organization has the best chance of not only succeeding, but becoming champions of their industry. In order to reach championship-type levels, it’s important for employers to realize that their employees are the lifeblood of the organization; however, finding candidates who are willing to go the extra mile to reach such plateaus is no easy task.
No matter where you punch the clock every day – warehouse, retail store or office space – it all starts with talent … acquisition.
Finding candidates who will develop into hardworking, skillful employees takes time, teamwork and intelligence. So many of us get caught up in our day-to-day activities and remain focused on hitting numbers and deadlines, that we forget the specific qualities required for the task at hand. Maybe employees are required to attain certain certifications with a credible job history. Or perhaps employers look for certain personality traits in their applicants that will mesh well with their existing teams.
Every organization’s talent needs are unique. Finding an applicant who passes the test and is the game-changer you desire can take several weeks or even months. It is important to know this going into the hiring process in order to have realistic expectations.
Make Prioritizing a Priority
Another thing I talk to employers about regarding acquisition and hiring is having the intelligence in place to find and qualify high-caliber candidates. Whether your business uses recruiters, staffing firms or its own human resources department to gather applicants’ information, you must organize and prioritize the information that is coming in and going out.
To manage their intelligence, many organizations are exploring the options of applicant tracking systems (ATS). The benefit in having a complete ATS is that all of your applicant information – job history, résumés and qualifications – is stored in a single location.
With the right ATS system, it’s easy to scan and read through applicant information without wasting time on candidates who lack the talents you desire.
Then there is the financial factor. Time is money, so spend your time on tasks and jobs that will bring your organization the greatest return on investment. A good ATS system allows you to spend the majority of your time with talented candidates, not hours weeding through those who don’t fit.
Additional Benefits
Even if you are not hiring Jordans on a daily basis, an ATS can benefit you in other ways. Many organizations struggle making sure candidates all go through the same process of interviewing, testing and qualifying.
Not to worry; a solid ATS tool can do this for you, allowing you to create “steps” for applicants to follow, even if you have multiple supervisors or managers involved in the process. No more printing, faxing and delivering résumés or cover letters to several people. An ATS system keeps all your applicants’ information within your database so you always have it at your disposal, now and in the future.
How many times have excellent candidates applied, but you simply didn’t have the right position open? Intelligent organizations will keep this kind of valuable information on file so that when the right position opens, they quickly can access the prior applicant’s information.
Employing exceptional people who take your organization to championship-quality levels starts with employing an intelligent applicant tracking system. Save your company time, reduce paperwork and treat every candidate fairly and consistently with an applicant tracking system that also shoots top talent to the top of your candidate pool.