Traditional recruitment and hiring processes have become outdated and are incapable of meeting the unique needs of modern retailers.
We're talking about challenges like:
- Seasonal demand
- Hiring for multiple locations
- Varied schedules for hourly employees
- Making sure managers don't hire just their friends & family (very common in retail)
- Hiring needs changing daily (as opposed to an industry like manufacturing, which is more consistent)
- Accounting for diversity
- And more
70% of retail executives say labor is their top challenge, with hiring and retaining employees being a persistent issue for retailers.
Chances are, your organization has not remained untouched by this troubling downward spiral. More and more retailers are struggling to hit hiring goals – while overspending on their recruiting efforts and suffering from recruitment processes that are too slow to compete in today's modern retail landscape.
For retailers to escape this trap, they must find a way to hire faster, more consistently, and cost-efficiently.
Fortunately, there is already a proven solution – one that retailers need only tap into to begin reaping its rewards: Recruitment Automation.
What is Recruitment Automation?
Simply put, recruitment automation is using technology to optimize and streamline hiring processes. It automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing HR professionals, recruiters, and hiring managers to focus on higher-value activities such as interviews and training. The process includes candidate sourcing, experience matching, automated screening, background checks, and much more.
Recruitment automation software is a game-changer for retail hiring, as it eliminates tedious manual tasks and allows managers to make strategic decisions that benefit the store's bottom line. It also helps to address pain points like high recruitment costs, long time-to-fills, poor hiring quality, and lack of the crucial data needed for decision-making for retail businesses. By transforming the hiring landscape, it brings about a shift that ensures retail hiring is more strategic, efficient, and advantageous.
Benefits of recruitment automation retailers simply can't ignore
When it comes to recruitment automation software, there's a lot of data out there to prove these solutions offer plenty of benefits for retailers looking to optimize their hourly hiring processes
Doing More With Less: Cost and Time Savings
Recruitment automation solutions not only improve efficiency but also drastically save time and money for retailers. By automating manual tasks, those in charge of recruiting can save hours of work each week, allowing them to dedicate time to other essential tasks. In addition, these automated processes can reduce recruitment expenses by up to 75%.
Without the added time requirement of recruiting, store managers can focus on other essential tasks of running a successful retail business, like inventory management, customer relations, meeting revenue objectives, etc. Traditional retail recruitment can't offer this flexibility and often leads to wasted time, stressed out employees/managers, and poor experiences for candidates as well as customers who will feel the impact of understaffed stores firsthand.
Faster Time To Hire
By automating traditional recruitment tasks, the best candidates are identified instantly, screened, and then automatically scheduled for their interviews, which speeds up the whole hiring process down to less than 60 minutes in many cases.
Enhanced Candidate Experience
Recruitment automation places the candidate experience at the forefront. The process reflects the retailer's dedication to respect and consideration even for candidates who don't ultimately join the team. This positive experience resonates beyond the recruitment phase, potentially turning every applicant, whether hired or not, into a satisfied customer who perceives the brand in a favorable light.
Data-Driven Insights: Guiding Informed Decisions
Recruitment automation's impact goes beyond the surface, diving deep into data-driven insights. These insights guide evidence-based decision-making, facilitating smarter hires and improved long-term outcomes. With comprehensive data, retailers can fine-tune their strategies, adapt to changing trends, and enhance their overall recruitment approach.
Eliminate Hiring Bias and Increased Diversity
Ensuring diversity and avoiding nepotism concerns in hiring can be tricky, especially for retailers with many stores. Using automated systems will help retailers stick to legal standards and unbiased hiring principles, keeping their hiring processes consistent. This not only reduces the chance of biased actions, but it also fosters inclusive hiring practices, nixing any risk of favoritism before it might start.
Must-Have Features of a Retail Recruitment Automation Solution
To successfully streamline their hiring process, retailers should seek a recruitment automation solution that caters to their specific needs.
Automated Screening
Automated screening removes biases and speeds up hiring by skipping manual screening. It also ensures fairness and equal opportunity by assessing candidates solely on skills and qualifications.
Frictionless Application Process (Quick Apply)
A simple application process with a quick apply feature takes under 2 minutes, reducing drop-off rates and improving the candidate experience.
Availability Matching
Availability matching streamlines retail scheduling by prioritizing applicants whose schedules align with the shifts you need to fill. This results in a faster and more efficient hiring process focusing on candidates who fit your scheduling needs.
In-App Interviewing
In-app interviewing saves time, connects candidates and hiring teams virtually, and allows for managing high volumes of interviews. This frees up staff to focus on business-critical tasks.
Experience Matching
Experience matching aligns candidates' skills with job requirements, reducing training time and enhancing team performance. It saves time by only interviewing candidates with the right skills and ensures efficient selection for diverse retail operations.
Automated Scheduling
An automated scheduling feature saves hiring managers and candidates time and reduces stress. It allows candidates to schedule interviews based on the manager's availability, resulting in a smoother and more efficient hiring process.
Rapid Background Checking
Background checks are essential for hourly hiring. Recruitment automation software can integrate third-party background checking for faster, accurate, and compliant results. Quick and seamless background checks lead to a secure, reliable workforce and a faster hiring journey.
Secure In-App Texting
In-app texting links candidates and hiring teams for direct and secure communication. It eliminates the need for multiple channels and facilitates collaboration within a single platform. Retailers can easily communicate with candidates without exchanging contact information, ensuring seamless conversations that can be referred back to.
Data-Driven Candidate Insights
Recruitment automation and predictive analytics can help you eliminate hiring guesswork. Analyzing hiring data allows you to identify and remove bottlenecks and adjust your recruitment strategy. Real-time data insights provide valuable information, from salary expectations to recruiter performance. With recruitment automation, you can access essential KPIs like cost per hire and time to fill positions. This gives you the power to make better-informed decisions.
Built-in Compliance and Regulation Features
Recruitment automation helps retailers navigate the legal landscape of hiring. It promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion while ensuring compliance with regulations and standards. This reduces the risk of human error and speeds up the hiring process, establishing your brand as a responsible and compliant employer.
Is Recruitment Automation Right for You
Is Recruitment Automation Right For You?
If you're a retailer or any organization that relies heavily on hourly workers, recruitment automation might be your next strategic advantage. But how do you know if it's the right solution for your hiring needs? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- High Cost per Hire: Are you finding that every new hire is costing your business more than it should?
- Long Time to Fill: Is your hiring process, from an application to onboarding, more than 48 hours?
- Low-Quality Hires: Do you often find that your hires don't meet your expectations or fit the company's requirements?
- Time-Consuming Manual Tasks: Are you or your HR team drowning in manual tasks that could easily be automated?
- Overwhelming Number of Open Reqs: Do positions stay open for extended periods because your team is overwhelmed with the high number of requisitions they have to manage?
- Candidates Dropping Off: Is your slow hiring process causing potential candidates to drop out because they can't wait and need a job immediately?
- Budgetary Constraints: With budget cuts, are you under pressure to achieve more with fewer resources?
- Lack of Visibility/Data: Do you find it challenging to make informed decisions because of an absence of meaningful data or insights on your recruitment process?
- Budget Limitations for Recruitment: Are you working with a tight budget that demands a reduction in recruitment costs?
- Time Constraints: Is your recruitment time limited because you or your team have other pressing business tasks that demand attention?
If you answer yes to any of the questions above, recruitment automation might be the exact solution your organization needs.
Improving your retail recruitment
As the retail landscape continuously evolves, staying ahead means adopting the right solutions that not only keep pace but set the trend. Recruitment automation is that game-changer, seamlessly connecting retailers to the right talent at the right time.
For a deeper dive into how you can redefine your hiring process, download The Ultimate Retail Recruitment Automation Guide. It provides an exhaustive breakdown, covering everything you need to know about recruitment automation for the retail sector.
And if you're curious to see the future of retail recruitment in action? Schedule a demo for AppyHere and witness firsthand the transformative potential of this software, designed specifically for hourly hiring. In this demo, you'll find out why AppyHere is the top choice for retailers seeking an End-to-End hourly recruitment automation platform and how it's an innovative new way to hire hourly retail employees "On Autopilot", that will enable you to achieve your hiring goals, without the hassles.
