Five Ways to Encourage Recruitment Teams to Embrace New Technology

Humair Ghauri, Chief Product Officer, CareerBuilder

While the goal of HR software is to make recruiters’ jobs easier, the added stress of having to learn a whole new solution can have employees already trying to juggle workloads running for the hills. So, how can you encourage your team to embrace new tools that will ultimately streamline their workloads in the long run? These are a few best practices for rolling out new recruitment technology that will help workers see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"There will always be setbacks when implementing new tools and software to staff, but it doesn’t have to be a painful process"

1.  Involve your team in selecting tools

One way to create natural evangelists for new technology is to involve potential users as early as possible. We recently found that a quarter of employers attributed lack of involvement in the initial purchasing process as the biggest hurdle to technology adoption. Nearly the same amount identified internal ambassadors as the best solution to the problem. So, ask employees to join sales meetings and ask for their initial reactions. Not only will the end-users provide the feedback you need to select the right tools, you’ll have a better chance selling them in on the software if they were involved from the beginning.

2. Ensure the user experience is appropriate for your team

Applications such as Facebook and Twitter are popular for a reason—they’re easy to use. No matter how perfectly one particular tool might seem to fit, your employees won’t use something that is not intuitive for them. Be sure to consider a product’s user interface—and your employees’ level of tech savvy—in the selection process. Not all software will be immediately instinctive, but they shouldn’t require a thick manual, either.

3. Balance out the transition from the old software to the new

Just as your body needs time to adapt to cold water, it will take time for your staff to adapt to any new solution you introduce. Instead of shoving employees directly into the deep end, give them the opportunity to play around with the new solutions and begin weaving them into day-to-day activities slowly. This gives them the opportunity to test the new solutions with a safety net, eliminating some of the anxiety that comes with change.

4. Make training easily accessible and tailored to employee needs

Most features and reporting go unused not because employees don’t care or want to use the software, but simply because they don’t know how. While there is no one-size-fits-all training method, err on the side of more training than less. Work with your vendor to schedule a series of training sessions customized for each group of end-users, and create a central location for all training material so recruiters can easily reference the content.

5. Choose a vendor that works well with the team

As with any relationship, if you choose to use a vendor, make sure the individual assigned to your company is compatible with your staff. Ask yourself: does the vendor empower your staff throughout training and setup, and for as long as you need them? If not, it’s probably a good indicator to find a new partner. Jumping through hoops to accommodate a vendor can cause significant delays and headaches, and there are too many options available to be tied-down to something that just isn’t working.

There will always be setbacks when implementing new tools and software to staff, but it doesn’t have to be a painful process. By involving end-users upfront, providing adequate but flexible training, and maintaining a strong relationship with the vendor, staff will be excited, rather than overwhelmed, by new technology.