You’ve been hearing a lot about how programmatic tools can revolutionize your recruiting. And these days, the idea of trying to recruit and hire without tech is virtually unthinkable. Yet if you’re in the process of trying to build your organization’s tech game, the idea of building (and maintaining) your talent pipeline using a technology stack (also known as a “data ecosystem,” or a framework of systems and data processes that work together to provide business solutions) can be pretty daunting.

The first step is focusing on a few key areas of your recruiting needs to get the right tech stack for your organization’s needs and challenges. A good starting point is the recruiting funnel, which can help you shape your plan around your organization’s needs. Let’s look at some of the relevant tech tools available at each stage of the recruiting process.

Building Awareness

The initial stages of recruitment are where tech can provide the best, most efficient boost. In the past, so much initial outreach is a shot in the dark: Will this job site be good for us? Who’s engaging with our listings? How are people finding our site and listings? A comprehensive programmatic platform like Pandologic can help take some of the mystery out of this early stage. Real-time engagement data and reporting can help you determine faster than ever what’s working, what’s not, and where your resources are best spent. Programmatic advertising, or using a platform that can analyze data and essentially make job listing decisions based on parameters you set, frees up valuable time and decisionmaking resources for your team.

Attracting the Right Candidates

Social media is a key tech element at this stage. Your employer brand is everything when it comes to finding and targeting the right candidates, and there’s no better place to present (and refine) your employer brand than social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Yelp, and even Facebook or Instagram. Your social media lets you set the narrative of who you are, what you value, and what kind of people you want on your team. Social media can be managed manually, but automated tools that schedule posts, automate fast initial responses, and measure engagement data make the process much more efficient.

Then, recruitment marketing and email platforms can improve candidate outreach by targeting people in particular groups to communicate your employer brand and opportunities directly. These platforms are especially helpful in converting passive candidates to active applicants.

Tracking and Supporting Applicants

Once you’ve got your listings out in the world and your brand humming along on social media, your tech stack needs might change a bit. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) have become a necessary part of improving time-to-hire metrics, turning stacks of resumes and cover letters into a bonanza of data. These platforms let you set keywords for further review, provide easy reporting and analytical tools to see who’s applying and send automated responses to applicants.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be one of the most effective tools at this stage. From interview scheduling to chatbots that can administer pre-interview tests or answer applicant questions, programmatic AI gives you freedom from the kind of necessary, low-level tasks that can bog down the process of getting the right applicants in your door. Keeping applicants engaged and feeling supported throughout the process is key, and having an instantly responsive system in place boosts your capability there.

Screening Applicants

Applicant tracking software doesn’t just do the initial conversion of resumes into useable, reportable data. Programmatic takes that data and helps you drill down to the nitty-grittiest factors to help match candidates to open positions. For example, programmatic recruiting platforms can take existing applicant data or existing employee data, and provide predictive analytics. Then, chatbots and video interviews give your organization the flexibility of performing pre-screening tasks quickly and remotely, without the logistical commitment of bringing someone in for an interview.

The best tech stack will be one that integrates all (or at least most) of your organization’s recruiting needs. It’s a tech backbone, so to speak, and one that will streamline your processes and free your team up for the parts of the process that require expertise and a more human touch.