I was struck by an article published last week about American Genius- a site dedicated to ‘focusing small, medium and large companies on consumerism’. The author highlights in a job search post how a lack of engagement with apps can damage an organization’s brand: When an applicant feels ignored, the author says, it can undo the good feeling built up over years of advertising and relationships public.

‘How simple would it be to include a thank you acknowledgment email?’ asks the article’s author.

The press is full of stories of job seekers bemoaning the lack of response from recruiters: discouraging and demoralizing for the applicant, a sad indictment against the ethics of today’s business world, and now it also seems bad for the image of the organization.

So how simple is it to include a thank you acknowledgment email? With statistics such as figures from The Association of Graduate Recruiters from their 2013 summer annual survey reporting that UK employers receive an average of 85 applications for each position advertised, and media stories such as The Guardian article about 1,701 ‘wannabes’ applying for eight coffee shop jobs, a fairly common occurrence; It would seem like a difficult task.

In fact, with a Human Resources (HR) document management and workflow solution, the answer is “very simple”: workflow configured to automatically send an acknowledgment of receipt, and without even pressing a button.

In fact, the workflow can automate the hiring process from a department manager kicking off the process with an e-form posting request, through the approval stages, to delivery of the post for advertising. Applications are collected online along with supporting documents, and each subsequent part of the hiring process can be fed into the workflow, and then into the onboarding process, which can also be automated through the workflow.

Human resources document management is complex and involves documents in a variety of formats, departments and locations, and most are confidential. An HR solution captures everybody Documents related to human resources, and regardless of the format: paper, email, fax, mobile, electronic form (Word, Excel, etc.). In addition to the aforementioned recruiting and onboarding, the workflow can automate other functions such as employee management requirements (leave requests, personal detail changes, etc.), leave processing.

The solution works with an organization’s existing HR software, providing secure, centralized document storage and 24/7 retrieval from anywhere in the company, from within the solution of human resources or through the human resources system of third parties.

Workflow delivers documents to the appropriate department, with time frames monitored and backlogs escalated for attention, and the solution can capture or import documents or export them to any external system, including, for example, Payroll.

Powerful security features mean that authorization can be defined at multiple levels and set at the department/individual/specific document level. BI and reporting tools provide the kind of data vital to today’s business management, enforcing approval policies and business rules, and creating complete visibility throughout the processing cycle.

So, confirmation emails, no problem! And how about an email at the end of the process to the 84 unlucky graduates, the 1,693 unlucky “hopeful” ones in the cafeteria?Thank you for your recent interest… we regret to inform you that on this occasion… we wish you all the best in your future job search…

Better for applicant morale, overall business reputation, and brand image.