Happy new year everyone this is the first episode of the new year and I have a special opinion episode to start us off.

But let me start with some housekeeping items namely events I need to tell you about.

• I’ve got some discounts for you. Talent Acquisition Week is coming up at the end of January 28-30 in san francisco and you can use the code RECTECH to save 15% off a ticket...its 3 conferences in one week SOCIAL RECRUITING STRATEGIES CONFERENCE, EMPLOYER BRANDING STRATEGIES CONFERENCE and TALENT SOURCING STRATEGIES SUMMIT - learn more at talentacquisitionweek.com
• IAMPHENOM - the Phenom People conference will be held in Philadelphia on March 3-5 so if you want to save 25% use code RUSSELL - register at iamphenom.com
• I will be attending both events and conducting a number of interviews while attending

RecTech Live Webinars

• Jan 16th at 1pm come see a demo of CandidateID a talent nurturing tool that also offers a free recruitment crm. CEO Adam Gordon will give us a preview of their software suite
• Jan 23rdt at 1pm come see a demo of Talenya - sourcing chatbot...very cool tool for employers...CEO Gal Amog will demo, they are targeting corporate TA professionals so if that you then tune in
• Register at rectechlive.com

Cool tool alert - Tiny Scanner Plus is a 5 dollar app that will make your life easier if you do a lot of scanning. Your smartphone is an extension of your office. One of the most useful apps we found recently is Tiny Scanner Plus. Take a picture os a document and convert an image to a PDF that you can email or export.

Contracts, agendas, letters, mark-ups, articles, receipts, kids' schedules or tournament brackets—scan it and send it in a snap. Name, organize and search your scans on the go from your phone. The app costs $4.99 in the app stores. Apple | Google

• Before we get started let me mention my other sponsor...WorkHere, the hyperlocal candidate delivery tool.
• Through their geofencing ad platform ….They help employers reach people through online ads with pinpoint precision where they live, work, and shop.
• Workhere will advertise your jobs on the screens candidates use the most: their mobile phone. That messaging is then delivered into the social and mobile apps they use the most often.
• From there, a human chat team will then qualify and engage those folks and send them back to your ATS via sms, email or redirect.
• So, head over to workhere.com and tell them you heard it on the RecTech podcast

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ONE ATS APPLY TO RULE THEM ALL

Now that 2020 is here and the candidate experience is top of mind for many talent acquisition teams, lets talk about the ATS experience for job seekers. To get more specific, lets focus on the apply experience.

For too long, the average job seeker has had to navigate a myriad of logins from disparate systems of record, forced to create and remember passwords and usernames in order to apply. But jumping through these hoops has made job search a painful one for candidates. It's time to start reversing that trend.

The 'login to apply' feature prominent on most applicant tracking software is an element of days gone by. It is a relic of software past, and if I had a choice I would ban this barrier to apply.

The modern job seeker has zero interest in creating another user account to apply to your company. They simply want to upload their resume quickly and move on.

Appcast, the programmatic ad platform says that only about 6.6% of candidate traffic converts into an actual apply on desktop. And its even lower on mobile at 4.7%. Though there are a variety of factors as to why someone doesn't apply, making them login is certainly a big reason they don't.

There is a use case for having to create a login. But only if its a seamless process. The ideal solution would require adopting an industry wide single sign-on process shared by all recruiting software vendors.

Indeed has their apply button, so does LinkedIn. Why don't ATS vendors band together and create one of their own? Imagine a world where each ATS could have their own version of Easy Apply! Two things would happen in my opinion.

Job seekers would rejoice. Applications would rise.

There are hundreds of ATS platforms in the market so this idea presents quite a challenge. For it to gain traction it would have to start with the bigger players like WorkDay, Brassring and Taleo's of the world to lead the way.

The rest of the industry would be sure to follow if they saw the major recruiting software companies sponsor such an open source initiative.

If I were the CEO of companies like iCIMS, Greenhouse and others, I would take this suggestion seriously. Job seekers have the RIGHT to an efficient and speedy apply process. A single shared apply account could make that a reality.

Pipe dream? Probably. But its worth throwing the idea out there for the powers that be to contemplate.

Recruiting software companies must adapt to the times or risk becoming extinct in this new world of experienced based software.

That will do it for this edition of the RecTech podcast.....Thanks again to our sponsors Workhere and Emissary. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts…….if you are an iTunes subscriber leave a review and I’ll thank you on air.

Thanks for listening….and remember, always be recruiting.