Christmas may have been a month ago, but SmartRecruiters has one more little present for its users: a new product release.

On January 25th, SmartRecruiters rolled out its Winter 2018 product update to all users of the platform. The release came packed with quite a few developments – including custom data reports, and integration of regional social networks such as DACH’s Xing and China’s WeChat – however, one of the most extensive updates concerns parallel processing and universal profiles.

What Exactly Are Universal Profiles and Parallel Processing?

Parallel Processing allows a candidate to apply for multiple positions within a single company. This new development takes full advantage of our new Universal Profiles, which allow you to quickly and easily see every application made by a particular candidate via a new ‘All Applications’ tab.

On an industry-wide scale, only around 15% of candidates make multiple applications with a single employer, although that number fluctuates depending on the sector, industry and job type. For example, companies which tend to source younger, graduate applicants are likely to see higher numbers of parallel applications, especially for entry-level positions or internships. Universal profiles will be particularly useful to these kinds of SmartRecruiters customers.

How Does It Benefit Candidates and Hiring Managers?

Universal profiles are designed to benefit both the candidate and the hiring manager at the same time. For the candidate, the benefits are clear: they can now apply for more positions within their favorite company, increasing the chances of nailing down that dream job. What’s more, hiring managers can keep better track of your applications, reducing the chance they’ll be lost in the ether. These developments will also result in a better candidate experience by providing additional transparency and ease of communication.

These benefits also carry over to the hiring manager. The increased collaboration and transparency means embarrassing mistakes can easily be avoided, such as two separate hiring managers sending offers or templated rejection emails to the same candidate. Now, thanks to Universal Profiles, each hiring manager will know where a particular candidate is in the process of all their applications with the company, as well as who is handling these applications, allowing them to better tailor their responses and communications.

All-in-all, this leads to an increase in candidate satisfaction, which leads to better employees and ultimately, hiring success.

Additionally, for companies undergoing expansion, restructuring or reorganizing, universal profiles could be an invaluable tool for dealing with many current employees reapplying to different positions within the company.

An Opportunity to Change Up Your Recruitment Process

Parallel processing also offers the opportunity to get creative with your hiring processes. For example, it could be used to foster internal competition between hiring managers for particular candidates, imbuing your staff with new drive and determination in their recruitment efforts.

If that’s not your style, the very same functionality can be used to encourage new levels of collaboration and cooperation. The ability for each manager to see where a particular candidate has applied means communication between users is seamless. So, if a candidate has applied to multiple roles, hiring managers can now easily discuss which position for which the applicant is actually best suited.

How Was Universal Profiles Rolled Out?

Universal profiles and parallel processing will became available from January 25th as part of our Winter 2018 product release. We understand the changes could impact upon existing workflows, and so a two-month opt-in grace period will be available from the date of release. Customers eager to jump in and take advantage of all parallel processing has to offer are free to do so from day one, however, those who want to take longer preparing, training, or testing the changes on test accounts will also have the time they need.

After the grace period, parallel processing will be rolled out to all customers as part of the SmartRecruiters platform.