We are always surprised when we see how many companies and organisations are still collecting resumes by hand or email. With the amount of job seekers in Canada today many Human Resource departments are being inundated with hundreds of applicants a week. The expectation place on them is that each application or resume will be read to determine if the individual is a good fit for the organisation.

There are two main problems with this method. The first is that it takes a LOT of time to read through that many resumes.

The second problem is that the same applicant could be scored differently by the same person at different times of the day based on opinion and not on facts about their experience.

Please read the case study below and find out how you can,

Save Time and Money when Hiring.

Three years ago, Great-West Life & Annuity’s cost-per-hire reached $5,500, which includes print advertising, agency fees and relocation costs. Last year, after implementing an applicant tracking system (ATS), the Denver, Colo.-based insurer reduced cost-per-hire to $1,600. With 1,700 positions filled annually, these reductions have added up to $6.6 million in savings.”

Task	Daily Time (min)	Monthly Time (min)	Annual Time Hours	Summary Annual
				Low ($25/Hr)	High ($100/Hr)
Readingand Filing Resumes	30 – 70	600-1400	120 – 280	$7,000	$28,000
Sorting Resumes and Duplicate Tasks	150	3000	600	$15,000	$60,000
Communicating with Candidates	60	1200	240	$6,000	$24,000
Candidate Search Activities	60	1200	240	$6,000	$24,000
Total	300 – 340	6000 – 6800	1200- 1360	$34,000	$136,000

ATS (Applicant tracking software) saves time, and improves a recruiter’s productivity. How?

Applicant tracking software allows candidates to upload their resumes into a searchable database.  When a candidate applies to a specific job, those resumes flow through to the job list. This means no handling time or cost for the HR team members in the following:

• Storing resumes in folders in some form of manager such as outlook folders or hard drive folders
• Resume data self sorts to job lists allowing HR managers to quickly view and sort new applications
• The only cost is a handful of mouse clicks completed by the candidate taking 5 – 10 minutes
• The candidate saves time on future applications as their resume already is housed in the database
• HR team members are able to produce extensive reports in a matter of minutes

How Are You Losing without an ATS SYSTEM?

• Readingand filing resumes
• Searching to find resumes that “match” a job opening
• Sorting resumes
• Repeat tasks such as screening phone calls, duplicate interviews, loss of previous candidate notes, loss of resumes
• Inability to communicate with candidates quickly and on mass
• Finding that needle in the haystack

Time savings reading and filing resumes

It is estimated that it takes an average of one to two minutes of time to briefly review a resume and file it in the appropriate folder for future reference. It does take you another two to five minutes to re-locate that resume should you need to access it. This assumes you have a reasonably good filing system.

Should you view just 10 new resumes a day, and relocate the same number, this takes a minimum of 30 minutes and as high as 70 minutes per day  – this equates to potentially 23 ½ hours per month or 280 hours per year. If you value your time at $100.00 per hour, this is $28,000 potential dollars lost in filing and finding resumes. Even at a modest $25.00 per hour, you are potentially losing $7000 per annum on filing and finding resume data.

Time savings Sorting Resumes and Duplicate Tasks

Various methods have been listed to allow for resumes sorts when the HR team does not have an ATS system. Some include binders, printed piles, excel sheets, outlook folders and files up the wall. These methods are not fool proof and are subject to sorting and resorting of resumes, miss-sorting and time lost in managing the sort function. For those 10 resumes handled daily, you may have called a candidate once that has already been phone screened (30 minutes), interviewed a candidate that has already been interviewed (60 minutes), and spent an additional 60 minutes printing, sorting or recording resume data. This has now utilized an additional 2 ½ hours of your day, 50 hours per month or 600 hours per year – ($15,000 to $60,000 in costs that could have been mostly eliminated with applicant tracking software.

Inability to communicate with Candidates quickly and on mass

Applicant tracking databases allow HR team members to quickly select candidates, email one or many. This swift communication tool allows you to get to question and get responses from your candidate database quickly and efficiently. The ability to question and get answers from candidates in your job pool allows for time savings in quicker response rates, less time recording responses (they auto record), and an ability to talk to many potential candidates at one time, thereby increasing your marketing capability for your jobs. A reduction in time to hire and cost to hire in advertising are two direct benefits. This ability is estimated to save you a minimum of 1 hour per day or 20 hours per month, and 240 hours per year or $6000 to $24,000 per year.