Having an applicant tracking system (ATS) can make your company’s recruiting process easier and more efficient than ever. By optimizing your ATS and configuring user-friendly tools, you no longer have to wait for the perfect applicants to come to you. Instead, your system can help identify the most qualified candidates, so you can hire new employees in a quick and efficient manner.

Below are four ways you can optimize your ATS for ideal job candidates.

1. Collaborate Tools

Ensure that you’re using an ATS with proper collaboration tools. Such tools include which enables hiring managers to make decisions, share notes, and provide interview feedback online. Easy-to-read dashboards help control recruiting programs and analytics dashboards give access to at-a-glance data that’s related to recruiting performance.

Tools such as these help to improve collaboration and effective communication within the hiring process, so that your company can better avoid hiring failure. With a collaborative ATS, recruiters, hiring managers, and others all have access to the same, up-to-date information which prevents confusion and enables the hiring process to be both accurate and effective.

2. Improve Workflow

Whether you’re an employer looking for a new hire or the director of a recruiting company, you’ve likely experienced the errors and mistakes that commonly occur during the hiring process. Though mistakes like forgetting where a prospective applicant is in the hiring process or neglecting to follow up with a particular applicant are common, they can greatly hinder the efforts to finding a suitable candidate.

Optimize your ATS by creating custom workflow statuses that help you refine and better maintain workflow. From reviewing a resume and scheduling the first interview to sending the applicant a skill assessment or request for a second interview, a customizable ATS lets you keep track of exactly where each candidate is in the hiring process. Optimizing your ATS to improve workflow will also let you monitor how long it’s been since you’ve last made contact with the candidate, so you can stay present and prevent losing individuals that could be the perfect fit for the job.

3. Focus On Fundamentals

Hiring adequate employees can be tricky, especially if you’re solely focusing on how individuals look on paper or if they’ve included particular keywords within their application. Frankly, resumes and keywords won’t provide you with the candidate you’re looking for. Instead, use your ATS to target the fundamentals that make individuals fitting for the job.

As previously mentioned, optimizing your ATS can help you save valuable time on internal collaboration, candidate communication, and current job postings. This means you’ll have the time and resources you need to focus on the fundamentals involved in hiring and learn more about prospective applicants through phone screenings or social network monitoring. You can also used optimized tools like video interviewing to get a better idea of who the person is behind the resume.

4. Open Applicant Access

Have you had past trouble filling positions with the right person? As a business professional, chances are you have. And while many employers blame this void on the lack of skilled candidates, chances are your subpar, out-dated ATS played a role too. By optimizing your ATS, candidates won’t have to struggle through a lengthy, stringent, difficult application process. Instead, they’ll have have the same simple, custom experience that you do.

By using your ATS to customize job-specific questions, update job descriptions, and personalize requirements, you can prevent unnecessary barriers from deterring qualified applicants. With an optimized ATS, you’ll have access to every candidate who could fill the job requirements and they’ll have access to a quick and easy application process.  

Computer technology is constantly evolving. New programs, software, hardware and devices are hitting the market every day to make every aspect of people’s lives easier to manage.

Successful business owners know to research the latest tech trends to find which innovations will streamline their operations and which aren’t worth the investment. This is especially true for small businesses that often have fewer financial resources and less time to waste than bigger corporations. It’s not always easy to know which new tech will save money in the long run.

For entrepreneurs who have yet to invest in the cloud, small business experts urge them to consider this program, that can drastically simplify many of their daily processes. If they partner with an IT support in Woburn, they can access additional IT services catered to their business needs, all while saving overhead costs.

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“Owners can access the files from anywhere on any device.”

What the cloud means for small businesses
As reported by Entrepreneur, one of the biggest benefits of cloud computing is the convenience. By storing important information on a tech cloud, business owners can access the files from anywhere on any device. Gone are the days of carrying a hard copy storage device that can get lost of damaged – if the laptop is accidentally left at the office, owners can just log in from their home computer if they need to. This is also great for traveling and quickly accessing data from a smartphone or tablet.

The mobility of the cloud helps decrease operation costs, since business owners no longer need to invest in additional storage hard drives or storage equipment. This isn’t the only area where the cloud can save money, however. With less physical equipment, entrepreneurs can also bring down electricity costs. There are fewer upgrades to install and no more repairing or replacing damaged machinery. While there’s still a need for essential devices to access the cloud and perform many functions of the office, cloud computing cuts down on redundancies and replaces obsolete gadgets.

Making the switch to the cloud
It may seem daunting to worry about converting hard drives over to a cloud space, but these programs are designed to be user-friendly. Business owners should research the companies and programs that are available to them and choose one that will meet their data and budget needs.

According to tech entrepreneur and founder of Due John Rampton, “it’s important to start by deciding what needs to go on the cloud and what can simply be archived. Most businesses have records that are important to save but won’t need to be accessed frequently enough to warrant taking up space in cloud storage. Invoicing paperwork can easily be placed in the cloud securely and quickly without any loss of downtime for example.”

Once it’s been determined what can go on the cloud, business owners will need to follow the instructions set by their cloud-hosting company to transfer the files over. They’ll want to keep backup copies of the most essential records and test the files on the cloud to make sure they uploaded properly. Once files have been proven to be cloud-accessible, administrators can then remove the appropriate copies from the hard drives.

The cloud allows users to access files whenever and however they want.

Cloud security
An important part of a computing cloud is keeping it safe. How Stuff Works reported that the best way to do this is with strong passwords. Passwords should only be shared with essential personnel and should be changed every few months.

As always, business owners should educate their staff on safe online practices. No one should try to access any unknown emails, links and files to prevent virus infections.

When you’re running a small business, there are a thousand different things taking up your time: managing employees, introducing or perfecting products or services, updating your website, and much, much more. Legal responsibilities often get pushed down on the list of priorities, but it can be risky for a small business to put off these obligations.

Not making the right choices when it comes to legal concerns involved in running a business can hurt you and your company. See what legal mistakes many small businesses make and how you can make sure your company is on the right legal track.

Not Establishing the Right Legal Structure

Business legal structure affects things like how much a small business will pay in taxes, how much paperwork it will have to complete, and how much liability it faces in the event of a lawsuit. There are four common legal structures: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and limited liability company (LLC).

Each type of business structure has certain advantages and drawbacks. It’s important to weigh the features of each legal structure and determine how these features may affect your small business according to BusinessInsuranceQuotes.

For example, if your business is likely to incur potential liability, a sole proprietorship or partnership–legal structures in which the owners are personally liable for the company’s financial obligations–may not be a great option for your business. In the event of a lawsuit, you could face huge liabilities resulting in significant financial losses without the right legal structure behind your business.

You can find specific information about choosing a legal structure for your business by visiting the Secretary of State website for your state or seeking out personal advice from an attorney.

Not Obtaining a Patent, Trademark, or Copyright

To avoid the possibility of your small business’s product, service, or other item of value becoming public domain, you must patent, trademark, or copyright that item or concept. Without a patent, trademark, or copyright, another business could use and profit from your name, logo, or work without facing legal allegations.

Your small business must legally protect what it rightly owns to avoid potentially having your entire idea or business stolen. Here’s how to protect yourself:

• Patents. File a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after doing a thorough patent search and seeing that your invention or idea qualifies for a patent.
• Trademarks. Register your trademark on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after checking the Trademark Electronic Search Database to ensure your mark has not already been registered.
• Copyrights. Simply create your work. Once your piece of work (such as a book, movie, software program, painting, or architecture drawing) is “fixed in a tangible form,” or produced, written, drawn, etc., it is protected by U.S. copyright laws.

Not Having a Shareholders’ Agreement

If your company has more than one shareholder, you should have a shareholders’ agreement. Although it is not a legal requirement for companies, a shareholders’ agreement serves as a set of rules for how the shareholders of your business will interact with each other, helping settle any disagreements that may arise.

Shareholders’ agreements are typically comprised of multiple sections, which serve the purposes of identifying the parties of the agreement, the goals to be met by the agreement, what shareholders are to do in certain circumstances, and so forth. To draft an agreement, seek the advice of an attorney.

Not Selecting Outside Investors Carefully

Seeking outside investors can be risky for your small business. If you are in need of financial assistance, using outside investors may seem like a good idea at the time, but it could result in legal complications later on. In the event that your outside investors disagree with the way the business is being run, they could threaten legal action. If you’re considering using outside investors, be sure to select them very carefully.

Not Properly Handling Federal Payroll Taxes

Small businesses are required to make federal payroll tax payments to the government, making sure that all income and federal and state taxes are properly reported and paid. Failure to retain payroll tax records, misclassification of employees, and failure to provide W-2 forms to employees could result in severe penalties for your company. Also, if your business does not remit payroll taxes properly, you could be personally liable, resulting in a criminal investigation of your business by the IRS.

To avoid such complications, consider using a payroll service or hiring an experienced human resources manager or payroll manager to handle these responsibilities.

Where Small Businesses Can Seek Legal Advice

When dealing with legal matters for your small business, you can always seek out professional advice from an attorney who specializes in small businesses. Forums for asking legal questions and advice are also a great resource for small business owners. You can find a wealth of valuable information on free legal advice sites such as FreeLegalAid.com.

Although the success of your business may depend on a list of endless tasks, be sure addressing legal responsibilities is a priority to keep your company protected and running smoothly.