4 Benefits of a Guest Portal In an Applicant Tracking System

The competitive nature of today’s talent acquisition game pushes recruitment agencies and companies to seek out approaches that streamline and optimize their hiring process while providing a second-to-none experience to candidates and hiring managers. 

This means cutting out unnecessary steps and finding a channel that connects and keeps all stakeholders in the same loop, 24/7. Why is this important? Well, the foundation of successful recruitment comes from efficient collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers. It determines the quality of the hire as well as the recruiters’ overall performance.

One of the effective ways to help increase the chances of your success is to embrace modern digital recruitment tools like an Applicant Tracking System. A solid ATS system comes equipped with a critical, time-saving feature: the guest portal. This feature brings all stakeholders together while keeping everyone in the same loop throughout the recruitment process.   

Is collaboration really important? What is a guest portal? How does it work? How does it bridge all stakeholders together? Will there be any issue if I don't implement Applicant Tracking System in my recruitment? Let’s scroll down and find out.  

The Importance of Collaboration In Recruitment 

A strong collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers is the core of efficient recruitment. For recruiters, it is essential to be on the same page with the hiring managers and achieve a common understanding of hiring needs in order to search and attract individuals with the right skill sets for the jobs. 

A well-oiled recruitment process generates many more benefits for all stakeholders. First of all, it reduces the risk of poor quality hires or letting talent without the relevant skills slip into the candidate list. 

By having seamless interaction at every juncture of the process - especially the shortlisting - hiring managers will be able to notify recruiters of which candidates they are interested in establishing relationships with. This would, in turn, help minimize recruiters’ biased choices while bringing more diversity to the candidate list. 

The second benefit comes in the form of better candidate experience. To successfully orchestrate efficient recruitment,recruiters need to see things from the candidates’ point of view as well. While you’re evaluating candidates, they are also evaluating you. Their decision to accept the job or to bail out heavily depends on what their experiences are like during the recruitment process. 

All in all, a smooth collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers can fast-track each stage while providing a superior experience to recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates. It is precisely for this challenge that guest portals became a critical part of ATS systems. 

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Poor Collaboration Brings In Trouble More Than You Think

In contrast to the above section, recruiting with poor collaboration will give you more trouble than your task list for the day can handle. Let’s start with the quality of hire. 

Inconsistent communication leaves recruiters and hiring managers on a completely different page when it comes to hiring needs. In the worst case, recruiters might not have access to efficient, digital tools that allow hiring managers to keep track of each stage of the hiring process, especially the shortlisting. 

Without visibility on the status of each candidate, there’s a low chance that - in this fast-paced digital world - hiring managers would be able to validate the quality of the candidates and inform recruiters in a timely manner.   

There is only one outcome when you put the wrong candidate in the wrong chair; you go back to square one and start the hiring process all over again. All the time and resources you’ve spent will be for absolutely nothing.   

Another natural risk of bad hiring decisions is conflict between recruiters and hiring managers. Each stage will be dragged out, and responses or updates from recruiters will reach candidates late, making them wait longer. 

Recruiters will lose talents sooner than they realize, as 60% of candidates would turn away from the application because the process takes too long. At the same time, 80% of job seekers wouldn’t even bother to reapply at the same company if they weren’t notified about their application status. 

Keep in mind that a bad candidate experience has a huge negative effect on an employer’s brand.    

Applicant Tracking System Is the Solution 

Up to this point, you’re probably wondering, ‘how do I avoid these issues and optimize the collaboration?’ Well, you don’t need to go through long hours of training or invest a huge amount of dollars.All it takes is an efficient digital tool, and you’ll be able to connect all stakeholders together to keep them in the know. 

One of the innovative tools available on the market that lets you up your recruitment game is the Applicant Tracking System. An ATS is designed to smoothen the creases in your hiring process and ease recruiters’ workload by automating tedious tasks like documentation and backfilling. This creates an opportunity for recruiters to focus on more important duties like establishing stronger relationships with hiring managers and candidates. 

A well-designed Applicant Tracking System comes with the guest portal feature that improves collaboration by keeping recruiters and hiring managers in the same loop throughout the hiring process. 

Who is a ‘guest’ in this situation, then? To explain it plainly, a guest is a user that has been invited to the candidate recruitment process. The guest will receive basic notifications and view publicly shared candidates' notes and attachments on the platform. The goal of the guest portal is to provide a seamless connection between recruiters and hiring managers from end to end.   

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Benefits of a Guest Portal 

1. It Closes the Gap Between Hiring Managers and Recruiters

A guest portal constructs a bridge that connects recruiters to hiring managers effortlessly. By adding hiring managers as guests into the guest portal, they will be able to gain visibility and keep track of what’s going on in each stage of the recruitment pipeline. 

Manatal comes with a collaborative feature that  consolidates every progress into an easy-to-read dashboard. The guest will be able to see all movements effortlessly. At the same time, Manatal’s guest portal also notifies guests of new activities and grants them visibility on shared candidate notes and attachments. 

Moreover, Manatal’s messaging feature also allows hiring managers to make contact with recruiters and stay on the same page in real-time, 24/7. What are your hiring needs? How many talents are you looking for? The answers to these questions will be settled quickly.  

2. Ensure the Quality of Candidates 

The quality of hire is built upon the quality of the candidates you shortlist. With Manatal’s Applicant Tracking System, not only are the guests granted access to the candidate database, but they can also leave notes on each candidate and notify which individuals they’d like to interview or get to know more.  

This will help recruiters and hiring managers identify the right talents and eliminate unconscious bias in choices while ensuring that new hires are the right fit for the roles.  

3. No More Chaotic Appointments

Overlapping appointments and clashing interviews are symptoms of a bad candidate and customer experience. Not to mention, it also delays the hiring process. The guest portal jumps into the recruitment process as a solution that eliminates the issue by allowing guests to view and keep track of scheduled activities throughout the recruitment process.  

Manatal’s guest portal feature enables users to grant access to guests for all of their scheduled activities. The chances of clashing interviews and appointments are minimized, giving all stakeholders a smooth and fast opportunity for collaboration. 

4. Forging a Long-Lasting Partnerships 

With all things considered, the guest portal is a crucial feature that provides users with a superior experience that results in a smooth hiring process. The end result will see all stakeholders going through a seamless and issue-free hiring experience.    

At the end of the journey, a recruitment agency that uses an Applicant Tracking System- especially one that comes with the guest portal feature such as Manatal’s - would become a reliable entity in the eyes of both clients and candidates. 

Hiring managers would likely come back and ask for high-quality service from the same agency once their hiring needs arise, while candidates who failed to be selected as new hires would be interested in reapplying for the same company.     

Click here to learn more about Manatal’s guest portal feature

Final Thoughts 

Smooth collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers determines the quality of hires. Not only does good collaboration offer benefits to recruiters and hiring managers, but it also provides a seamless and issue-free hiring experience to candidates, which helps strengthen the employer brand.  

At the same time, recruitment efforts that have a strong collaborative foundation help recruiters identify issues and eliminate unnecessary steps in the hiring process, which boosts the chances of successfully filling in open positions with the right talents over their competitors.  

One of the most efficient strategies for optimizing collaboration in the recruitment funnel is implementing a digital tool like Applicant Tracking System that comes with the guest portal feature. 

Manatal is one of the leading Applicant Tracking Systems that comes with the guest portal that allows hiring managers to keep up with every progress and stay on the same page with recruiters when it comes to evaluating and selecting candidates. Rest assured that the collaboration throughout the funnel will be consistent, and the quality of your hire will be nothing far from superior. 

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