We don’t often toot our own horn in this blog, but we’ve found that a large portion of HR professionals don’t fully understand what an ATS is, what it does, and why they might want one. Knowing this, we hope these three brief points will help shed some light on the process of buying HR technology.

Are you thinking about purchasing Applicant Tracking Software? There are probably a lot of excuses and questions given to you to find out if it’s really worth buying. Here are three common reasons why an ATS decision is delayed or reconsidered – and why they are a myth at HireGround (we can’t speak for the other guys).

1. It will take months to install! While some of the larger HR software providers DO take many months to complete their implementation, our process takes only a few weeks, if not faster. One reason is that it’s a cloud-based software – meaning all you need is an internet connection. No lengthy downloading and installing, or IT team needed. It also helps that we are a small company, and can give focused, one-on-one attention to our new clients.
2. It’s such a process to add and remove users, what if I hire a new HR assistant, or want to involve new Hiring Managers? Not only is it quick and easy to add, delete and modify ATS users, but you can do it yourself, without calling support, requesting confirmation or waiting for activation. Of course, there are a ton of other customizations you can perform yourself as well.
3. How do I know it’s secure? This is an extremely important factor to research when comparing companies – your data needs to be owned by you, and stored securely. Along with a long list of data security best practices, HireGround follows the PIPA and PIPEDA guidelines for security and privacy in Canada.

These are just three of the questions that are often asked about ATS, and HireGround ensures they remain a myth for our clients. Fast implementation, easy to use software and security & privacy form the base of our customer-focused approach. Just a few things to consider if you are in the market for applicant tracking software.

Check out our other unique software features here.

HireGround will be at the HRIA Trade Show in Edmonton on April 17th & 18th. Come stop by our booth #724.

More info on the conference here.

Where do all your best new hires come from?

Software Advice’s HR blog is running a survey to find out how popular and how effective the various recruitment channels really are. Take their short survey for a chance to win an i-pad mini!

Go to the Recruiting Channels Survey now.

The results of this survey will help determine where your recruiting budget is most effective, and where others are having the most hiring success.

This post was originally published on LinkedIn, by Greg McKeown. Read original article here.

Some resume lies are blatantly obvious, and often hilarious. But some false statements are much harder to uncover. The article below is from Zoominsights and helps to shed light on the most common resume padding areas.

You’ve seen your fair share of padded resumes. Maybe you’ve even missed a few dubious claims, and hired someone who wasn’t quite who they said they were. You’ve probably even seen some memorable and outrageous claims. A ZoomInsights survey asked recruiters about some of the most outlandish claims they had ever encountered, and came up with more than a few gems. From a 21-year-old with a decade’s worth of experience in systems networking to someone who managed a $350 million budget from a clerical position, recruiters who have been in the business for a while have seen it all.

According to Liespotting.com, a whopping one third of all resumes contain lies. And in difficult economic times, when finding a job is even harder than usual, candidates may be tempted to fudge their resumes even more. According to Net-Temps.com, “In a survey of 414 staffing and recruiting firms conducted by StaffingU, 92% reported a significant increase in fraudulent information being included on resumes and employment applications.”

But while some exaggerated claims may be easy to spot, others are more subtle—they take a keener eye. So how can you spot an exaggeration or outright lie?

Warning signs

There are a few places in a resume where candidates are most likely to lie. These are the details that companies are unlikely to verify. When was the last time you called up a college to verify someone had graduated or asked for transcripts that verify a GPA? Here are some tips for spotting some of those instances:

• Colleges and universities you don’t recognize
• Unfamiliar company names
• Responsibilities that don’t match a job title

If you see any — or more tellingly, all — of these possible giveaways, it’s time to pay Google a visit and do some research. Stephanie Hutchings wrote on Mau.com, “While it is becoming more common in a down economy for job seekers to embellish their resume, do keep in mind that misunderstandings are part of life. Make sure that you ‘do your homework’ before determining that a candidate has lied on their resume.”

Doing your homework

Of course, there’s really only one way to be sure your candidates are being completely straight with you, and that is to fact-check their resumes. One of the easiest areas for applicants to fudge details is where they list projects they have been involved in. And the only way to know if they’re telling the truth about that experience is to question them about it in interviews, and to follow up with references.

But sometimes you need to verify job claims long before you reach the interview process. And that’s where the Internet comes in handy. Tools like ZoomInfo can help human resource professionals weed out candidates that may be exaggerating — or even outright lying. ZoomInfo’s businesspeople profiles — more than 65 million of them — include work history, education, affiliations and up to 12 years of web references including items no longer displayed elsewhere. In many ways, it’s one-stop-shopping for recruiters who might be a little suspicious about a candidate’s claims.

In the end, the best way for recruiters to avoid bad—and possibly costly—hiring mistakes, is through diligence. Whether you’re using Internet resources to verify claims, or asking pointed, detailed questions during the interview stage, the only way to make sure your candidates are who they say they are is to do your homework.

With the amount of people on social media sites like facebook, Linkedin and twitter we have the unique ability to stay connected to our network easier then ever.

You can share a funny picture or a cool video with your friends. You could invite them to a party, or tell them about a concert that you went to. We are sharing so much with each other and so frequently but are we truly contributing to people or are we just creating more noise? How often do you actually help someone who needs it? There are many of us who have friends that are out of work or even in work looking to make a change. When was the last time you posted a link to a job or opportunity instead of a funny video?

So how come when you are on the job hunt you find yourself suddenly alone?  We have a unique opportunity to share jobs and help the people we know that are looking for their dream careers.

What I would like to suggest is this, if come across one that sounds like it might interest someone you know, then take the time to share it with them.