If anyone has ever had to sign a contract of any kind, then they know how often it requires a signature – often on multiple pages. In the hiring and onboarding process, this means that valuable time and money are wasted waiting on those signed documents. Enter the electronic signature.

Obviously, technology companies are leading the way in using electronic signatures to increase hiring efficiency. However, other industries are starting to realize the time and money they could save when recruiting talent.

In an article titled, Electronic Signatures Gaining Ground In Hiring, Onboarding Process, in Employee Benefit News, it referenced that a wide range of companies are using electronic signatures, including those in higher education, financial services, and health care.

There are many reasons why companies are embracing this emerging technology.  For one, top talent doesn’t stay in the job market for long. If a company is still using a fax, or worse, an overnight envelope to shuttle hiring documents from the candidate to the company, then a faster competitor could move in during the hiring process and lure this potential employee away with a more lucrative offer.  Another reason is that in addition to the extra time the old methods take, they also cost companies money in terms of personnel needed to process the back and forth of these documents. While hiring may not be the primary goal for the need to be more efficient, any task that requires a signed document can probably be done faster and cheaper with an electronic signature.

As companies are looking to become more operationally efficient, electronic signatures are a great way to ease the burden of needless paperwork.