Author: Yolanda Carpenter

Best Applicant Tracking Software

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Here’s a business cliche for you: Employees are the greatest asset for every company.

Precisely why recruitment is so challenging for HRs or recruiters. The process is quite elaborate and comprises several steps ranging from job posting to managing and streamlining applications.

Let’s talk statistics:

A corporate job post receives 250 resumes on an average. And even after that, 45% of employers say that they can’t find candidates with the skills they need.

With the high influx of CVs, it’s crucial for HR specialists to raise their efficiency levels, which brings us to our next stat – recruiters only take six seconds to evaluate the candidate’s resume.

Now, six seconds isn’t necessarily enough for recruiters to make the right decision every time, especially because every business has unique needs when it comes to recruitment.

At the same time, technology is changing how we did things manually, which is why we now have a tool dedicated to automating the process of recruitment and hiring. 

An applicant tracking software, also known as ATS software, can help businesses reach a wider pool of qualified applicants as well as manage data from various sources – all at a single platform. 

This software is used by departments and hiring managers to carry out internal hiring. Even third parties, such as recruitment and staffing agencies, use an ATS.

According to research:

  • 86% of recruiting professionals agree that using ATS software has accelerated their hiring process
  • 78% of recruiting professionals found that using ATS software has given them access to higher qualified candidates

So adding top-level talent doesn’t have to be time-consuming and troubling anymore.

In this guide, we’ll review the best applicant tracking software on the market that can help a company employ the most suitable candidate for the job with minimal efforts.

The Top 5 Options For Applicant Tracking Software

  1. BambooHR – Anchor Link to Subhead Below
  2. Bullhorn – Anchor Link to Subhead Below
  3. SAP SuccessFactors– Anchor Link to Subhead Below
  4. Workable – Anchor Link to Subhead Below
  5. JazzHR – Anchor Link to Subhead Below

How to Choose the Best Applicant Tracking Software for Your Needs

Every business has unique recruiting and applicant tracking requirements, depending on specific factors like size, niche, and so on.

It also means that no ATS software offers an a-one-size-fits-all solution.

There are a few pointers that can help you determine the best applicant tracking software for your needs, though. Read on as we discuss them in greater detail below.

ATS Software Type

Every ATS software has been conceived to cater to a specific set of needs.

You see, while some software is designed to handle higher volume recruiting, which is typically carried out by enterprises, some are created to help small businesses specifically. 

Similarly, you’ll also find software focused on satisfying the needs of staffing and recruitment agencies.

We’ll do a more in-depth assessment of the different types of applicant tracking software later on in this article. (Anchor link to H2 below)

Hiring Frequency and Volume

A business that hires around 20 employees every year won’t have the same requirements as an enterprise that is hiring 20 employees every month. You need to figure out a software that meets your hiring frequency and volume.

Generally, ATS software has a maximum limit or restriction on how many active openings you can have at a time. Moreover, most of the brands offer additional features and tools to help businesses efficiently manage large-scale recruiting, which are understandably far more tricky to manage.

So how do you find software that is suitable for your company?

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • How frequently does your company hire new employees?
  • What is the average number of employees that you hire at once? Is the volume high or low?

These two questions will help you weed out software that doesn’t fit your needs instantly.

Feature List

Most ATS software offers add-on features to enhance the efficiency of your recruiting strategy. This can include candidate sourcing, applicant tracking, employee onboarding, recruiting analytics, and workforce planning.

Your aim should be to pick software that fulfills your recruiting needs in terms of efficiency and scalability. For instance, small businesses can opt for cloud-based ATS software that is more affordable and doesn’t require an on-site tech support team.

Contrarily, large-sized enterprises don’t need to go cloud-based since they have a higher budget and can afford an in-house support team to cater to their higher hiring frequency.

Budget

Every business has a budget for various processes. Whether its marketing or recruitment, teams have to operate within the constraints.

Try to find an applicant tracking software that fits within your budget while simultaneously helping you improve the efficiency within your organization.

The good news here is you have several options.

You‘ll find software that costs less than $0.50 per employee – provided you opt for an add-on to HR software – and also plans that have a monthly charge of $249.

What are the Different Types of Applicant Tracking Software?

Here, we’ll compare the different types of ATS.

Small Business vs. Midsize Business vs. Enterprise Business

Small business buyers are anywhere between 1-50 employees. Generally, this category doesn’t have a department dedicated to human resources and recruiting initiatives.

On the other hand, mid-size business buyers and enterprise business buyers have employees anywhere between the 51–500 and greater than 500 range, respectively. While the former is headed towards rapid growth, the latter is more developed. Besides that, mid-size businesses often seek to hire an internal recruiter, whereas enterprise business buyers already have a hiring team and a dedicated IT department.

The hiring frequency and volume for each of these businesses is obviously different.

Staffing agencies, for example, would do well with software plans that offer them sourcing, tracking, and hiring. For corporates, however, hiring may have to be customized further.

It’ll be better for larger companies to opt for plans that allow them to customize their career pages and employee referral portals, followed by pre-screening assessments, e-signature verification and background screening, and lastly, HRMS integration.

In-house Recruiting vs. Recruiting Agency

Some applicant tracking system software is created for in-house recruiting that allows them to enjoy higher personalization and automation. Other software focuses on servicing with recruiting agencies and firms with scalability for high-volume and white labeling for getting clients.

Although you’ll also find ATS software that offers capabilities for both the groups, it’s better to find one that’s right for your company.

All-In-On Option vs. Specialty Tools Availability

Different businesses will require different add-ons depending on their hiring process. While most ATS software does come with additional specialty tools like SEO, payroll, HR, and CRM, some don’t. 

SEO tools are useful for all businesses since these make job advertisements more successful. Not only will companies be able to build up wider reach, but they’ll also attract new candidates to their ‘Careers’ page.

Similarly, CRM capabilities are an essential component for inbound recruiting that allows companies to carry out long-term candidate tracking and build their talent pool.

Core Applicant Tracking vs. Full Recruiting Cycle Support

You’ll find two types of ATS products: one that focuses exclusively on tracking candidate’s application materials, and two, that provide support for other aspects of the recruitment life cycle.

You can also differentiate between the software based on feature lists. Interviews, document signing and management, note-taking, scheduling, and integration are some common differentiation points.

After carrying out extensive research and taking demos, we can confidently recommend the following five applicant tracking software to transform the way your company recruits and hires employees.

Keep reading as we discuss the features, benefits, and pricing of each software below:

#1: BambooHR – The Best Overall Applicant Tracking Software

BambooHR can provide the ultimate solution to your human resources department for handling the company’s recruiting and onboarding needs. While it may not be the cheapest option, you do get features that make the investment more than worth it.

The ATS system of BambooHR provides ideal solutions for small and mid-size businesses. It has a well-organized and visually appealing set of tools for handling application information throughout every stage of the hiring process. 

BambooHR allows you to post job positions on the go too. You’ll have access to top-level talent from the leading job boards and sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Indeed, and Twitter – all at your fingertips. The software has a hiring mobile app that is available for both Android and iOS.

Sending offer letters directly within the platform as well as collaborating with your team for recruiting, sending automated alerts, and so on is also possible.

Additionally, since BambooHR is a complete human resource management software, you‘ll be able to manage your new employees for their full duration with your company.

Prominent Features

  • User-friendly
  • Streamlined processes that are easy to learn, along with easy pre-boarding and onboarding facilities
  • Customizable email templates
  • Automated emailing system
  • Message scheduling to multiple candidates
  • Job boards and social media integration

Pricing

BambooHR offers two packages: Essentials and Advantage.

While both the packages are feature-rich, the ATS isn’t available with the Essentials plan. So if you want applicant tracking, you have to get the Advantage plan. Keep in mind that this software may not be the best solution for your company if you only want ATS.

Unfortunately, BambooHR doesn’t feature pricing on its website. In case you want a free quote, you‘ll have to contact them.

Pros

  • Impressive design
  • Easy to set up
  • Open API that allows simple integrations with HR tech vendors
  • Provides an all-in-one solution for HR departments

Cons

  • Pricey
  • ATS software isn’t available with the entry-level plan

#2: Bullhorn – The Best Applicant Tracking Software for Large Enterprises

Bullhorn is a powerful, easy-to-use applicant tracking system that helps you streamline all recruitments from a single interface that can either be a desktop, mobile device, or any internet browser. In fact, it’s a tailor-made solution for staffing businesses and traders.

The software allows you to keep track of candidates throughout the recruitment process, along with initiating team member collaboration.

You can use Bullhorn to fill jobs and automate the onboarding process. It offers 100+ pre-integrated solutions for customizing the software to accommodate specific needs. Even calculating bills for time tracking and invoicing are also possible.

All in all, you can manage clients as well as candidates with Bullhorn.

That being said, we would recommend this software for staffing and recruiting agencies only. 

Generally speaking, there are better options on the market for internal reporting, making Bullhorn a bit too much for in-house hiring managers and HR departments. Plus, the premium price may be too expensive for smaller businesses who have limited budgets.

Prominent Features

  • Automatic candidate tracking on the application system
  • Allows you to add new candidate resumes from job boards
  • Mobile recruiting software for viewing and managing candidate records
  • LinkedIn and email integration
  • Dashboard reporting
  • Facilitates addition of notes to records
  • Real-time updating of records
  • Reporting and management options to check the recruiting team’s progress

Pricing

Bullhorn offers three plans: Team, Corporate, and Enterprise.

The rates for Bullhorn plans aren’t available on the website. You’ll have to request a pricing quote to get more details.

Pros

  • Excellent user interface
  • Gmail and Outlook integration
  • Intuitive features like bowling alley layout for easy and efficient data input 
  • Unlimited customizations

Cons

  • Very expensive
  • Lacks iOS or Android mobile applications

#3: SAP SuccessFactors – The Best Cloud-Based Applicant Tracking Software

SAP SuccessFactors aims to provide all-inclusive ATS software to give companies wider access to top-level talent with minimal efforts. In fact, in terms of reliability, this software might be one of the best options available to you.

SuccessFactors has a plethora of support and features, such as comprehensive applicant management, onboarding portal, global talent sourcing, and candidate relationship management. You can also avail of performance metrics, employee engagement, and payroll management.

In other words, it’s a holistic, cloud-based HR management system that facilitates all processes of the recruiting cycle.

We particularly like how deeply insightful the software can be for talent acquisition thanks to its analytical reporting and progress tracking features.

Prominent Features

  • Centrally managed global job distribution and access
  • Effective and efficient candidates relationship management
  • E-signature solutions
  • Online offer letter and other documentation
  • Key insights into 4000 job boards, social media platforms, and campuses spanning across 80 countries
  • Responsive career site creation facility

Pricing

SAP SuccessFactors is available as SaaS through a monthly subscription based on the number of users. It‘s priced at $3 per user per month, but you can also avail of the HCM suite that costs $84.53 per user annually.

Pros

  • Comes with a great feature list for small to medium-sized businesses
  • Intuitive setup wizard
  • Provides descriptive video tutorials
  • Superb performance tracking features
  • Great option for fast-growing companies

Cons

  • Steeper price tag than its competitors
  • Doesn’t include add-ons offered by rivals

#4: Workable – The Best Applicant Tracking Software for Small and Midsize Businesses

Offering the best value for small and medium-sized businesses, Workable is an easy-to-use recruiting software solution. It’s a holistic tool that can be accessed on mobile devices as well as desktop.

You get a wide array of applicant tracking (AT) solutions, along with access to a large pool of premium job boards. Besides this, you can also customize the dashboard to boost the efficiency of your hiring process further.

Workable aims to help businesses of all sizes find, evaluate, and automate recruitment and hiring.

Companies can fill in their pipeline with one-click job postings on nearly 200 sites through AI-powered search. Moreover, team collaboration for applicant evaluation, gathering feedback, and automating manual tasks like scheduling interviews and getting approvals is also possible.

Workable also has various add-ons that can make your account more functional – provided you‘re ready to pay for them.

Basically, your company can stay on top of the entire recruiting process right from posting ads to onboarding employees. It’s also a good option for scalability since you can upgrade to an annual plan to get access to advanced features like one-click candidate sourcing and applicant tracking tools too.

Prominent Features

  • Data protection with access rights for hiring team
  • Confidentiality control
  • Organized reporting lines, with role assignment, job creation, and job posting
  • Productivity and activity report generation
  • One-click postings on multiple job boards
  • Interview scheduling with email-calendar synchronization
  • Offer letters and single sign-on (SSO)

Pricing

Workable has two pricing plans: Hire As Needed and Hire At Scale. While the Hire As Needed plan costs $99 per job, per month, the Hire At Scale plan doesn’t have clear pricing.

You can also take advantage of free demos and a 15-day free trial program to test the software before committing.

Pros

  • Easy-to-understand UI
  • Robust integration
  • Offers great email and interview templates
  • Well-organized

Cons

  • Not very customizable
  • Search across tabs needs to be improved
  • Inefficient support functionality

#5: JazzHR – The Best Applicant Tracking Software for Internal Hiring and Staffing Agencies

JazzHR can assure you seamless job requisition, interview scheduling, and other aspects of the hiring process. You can use this software for organizing and tracking all of your job openings, candidates, resumes, customers, and contacts.

This intuitive ATS tool can automate every manual process connected with hiring, allowing recruiters and HR managers to curate recruitment processes and source qualified candidates efficiently and quickly. No wonder it’s trusted by over 5000 organizations across the world!

JazzHR is an excellent option for staffing agencies and internal hiring. It has an unlimited user feature that allows businesses to bill on a per-user basis, which simultaneously eliminates any additional charges.

The software is also highly customizable. You can tailor-make a process to suit your team’s needs and preferences when it comes to recruitment and hiring.

Prominent Features

  • Efficient candidate sourcing, along with employer branding facility
  • Job posting and syndication
  • Collaborative hiring
  • Job-specific recruitment teams
  • Compliance management and reporting
  • Interview scheduling and other assessments
  • Job offers and e-signature solutions

Pricing

JazzHR has three plans on offer: Hero, Plus, and Pro.

At $39 per month, the Hero plan caps the maximum open jobs at three. While this might be suitable for small teams, it still doesn’t offer an applicant tracking system.

For ATS and other benefits like interviews and assessments, all-access support, and so on, we would recommend the Plus and Pro plans, which cost $219 and $329 per month, respectively,

You can also request a free demo and get a free trial for 21 days.

Pros

  • User-friendly and flexible
  • Job posting integration and job syndication
  • Auto-reject functions for unqualified candidates
  • Allows you to keep track of interview notes

Cons

  • Reporting feature needs to be improved
  • Lacks mobile app support

Wrapping Up

Finding the right talent is crucial – more so because employees serve as the foundation of an organization.

We hope you were able to find an ATS software that suits your companies recruitment and hiring needs from this guide.

Irrespective of your choice, an application applicant tracking software will help you select the best candidates from a talent pool of thousands of people in a surprisingly efficient manner. So, why wait? Get your ATS now.

The post Best Applicant Tracking Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

Exactly How To Earn Residual Income With A Work From Home Based Business Opportunity?

Just How To Earn Residual Income With A Work From Home Business Opportunity? Allow’s encounter it, there truly isn’t anything around that defeats the capability to gain recurring earnings. As soon as is one of the most effective cash making principles in presence and also it has actually made several business owners unclean abundant, obtaining …

The post Exactly How To Earn Residual Income With A Work From Home Based Business Opportunity? first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

Brilliant! How to Start a Business with No Money and Bad Credit in a Recession

Is it really possible to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession? Absolutely! Pandemic or no pandemic, this is possible.

Learn Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession

Do you know how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession? We can help you build business credit, even if your personal credit is not so hot.

This is through building business credit.

Building business credit means that your firm gets chances you never felt you would. You can get brand new equipment, bid on buildings, and cover the company payroll. And you can do this even when times are a bit lean. This is specifically helpful in holiday business enterprises, where you can go for several months with merely hardly any sales.

Because of this, you should really tackle developing your business credit. Enhance and maintain your scores and you will have these opportunities. Do not, and either you do not get these opportunities, or they will cost you a lot more. And no small business owner wants that.

You will need to understand what affects your company credit before you can make it better.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Credit History Length Matters

This is basically how long your business has been using company credit. Needless to say newer firms will have short credit histories. While there is not too much you can particularly do about that, do not stress.

Credit reporting agencies will also inspect your personal credit score and your own background of payments. If your own personal credit is excellent, and particularly if you have a reasonably lengthy credit history, then your personal credit can come to the rescue of your company. That is, you did not just get your first credit card not too long ago.

Naturally the reverse is also right. So if your personal credit history is poor, then it will impact your business credit scores until your company and consumer credit can be separated.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Your Payment History is Important

Tardy repayments will affect your company credit score for a good seven years. If you pay your small business (and personal) debts off, as quickly as possible and as completely as possible, then you can make a very real difference when it concerns your credit scores. Make sure to pay on schedule and you will experience the benefits of promptness.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Your Personal Credit Can Influence Your Business Credit

Are you having a bad business year? Then it could wind up on your personal credit score. And just in case your small business has not been around for too long, it will directly affect your business credit.

How do you fix this? By building business credit.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Build Business Credit

Business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t connect to an owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the small business. Truly, it is the best method of how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession.

As such, a business owner’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Due to the fact that small business credit is independent from individual, it helps to protect a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business bankruptcy.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another advantage is that even start-ups can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building small business credit, when done the right way, is a plan for success.

Individual credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional factors like credit use percentages.

But for company credit, the scores actually just hinge on if a small business pays its invoices timely.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

The Process

Growing company credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A company must actively work to develop company credit.

Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much more efficient than developing individual credit scores.

Vendors are a big aspect of this process.

Doing the steps out of order will cause repetitive denials. No one can start at the top with business credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Business Fundability

A business has to be fundable to lending institutions and merchants.

That’s why, a company will need a professional-looking web site and email address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a merchant such as GoDaddy.

Plus, company telephone and fax numbers must have a listing on ListYourself.net.

In addition, the business telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).

A small business will also need a bank account dedicated purely to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for operating.

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the identical, appropriate name of the small business. And they must have the same small business address and telephone numbers.

So bear in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Dealing with the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and get an EIN for the small business. They’re totally free. Pick a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A company can start off as a sole proprietor. But they will probably wish to switch to a sort of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to diminish risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it comes to tax obligations and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a company as a sole proprietor, then at the very least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the business name. Consequently, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all small business financial obligations.

Also, per the IRS, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 possibility for corporations! Avoid confusion and noticeably lower the chances of an IRS audit at the same time.

Starting the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a business into their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for the company. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

In this way, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you should build trade lines that report. This is also referred to as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start to get retail and cash credit.

These kinds of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time. Like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first off, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are commonly Net 30, instead of revolving.

So, if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid fully within 60 days. In contrast to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To kick off your business credit profile properly, you ought to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with hardly any effort. You also need them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

This is vital for how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

How to Start a Business with no $ and Bad Credit in the time of the coronavirus Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Accounts That Don’t Report

Non-Reporting Trade Accounts can also be helpful. While you do want trade accounts to report to at the very least one of the CRAs, a trade account which does not report can nonetheless be of some worth.

You can always ask non-reporting accounts for trade references. Additionally credit accounts of any sort should help you to better even out business expenditures, thus making financial planning less complicated. These are companies like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move to retail credit. These are companies which include Office Depot and Staples.

Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the company’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then move onto fleet credit. These are businesses like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix and take care of vehicles. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the small business’s EIN.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession Credit Suite

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN. Get money even in a recession!

Cash Credit

Have you been sensibly handling the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move onto more universal cash credit. These are businesses such as Visa and MasterCard. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are often MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it if being reported and take care of any inaccuracies as soon as possible. Get in the habit of checking credit reports. Dig into the details, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less than it would cost you at the CRAs.

At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business.

Update Your Record

Update the details if there are mistakes or the information is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. And for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any errors in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs often want you to dispute in a particular way.

Get your business’s PAYDEX report at: www.dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html. Get your company’s Experian report at: www.businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm. And get your Equifax business credit report at: www.equifax.com/business/credit-information.

Disputes

Disputing credit report errors commonly means you send a paper letter with duplicates of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the original copies. Always send copies and keep the original copies.

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically itemize any charges you contest. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

Dispute your or your small business’s Equifax report by following the directions here: www.equifax.com/small-business-faqs/#Dispute-FAQs.

You can dispute inaccuracies on your or your business’s Experian report by following the directions here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp.

And D&B’s PAYDEX Customer Service telephone number is here: www.dandb.com/glossary/paydex.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit sensibly! Never borrow more than what you can pay back. Monitor balances and deadlines for payments. Paying in a timely manner and fully will do more to raise business credit scores than almost anything else.

Establishing small business credit pays off. Excellent business credit scores help a company get loans. Your lender knows the company can pay its financial obligations. They understand the business is for real.

The small business’s EIN connects to high scores and lenders won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your small business for many years to come. Learn more here and get started toward growing company credit.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Looking for Some Ideas?

And we would be remiss if we didn’t give you any business ideas! Here are seven great ones from Shopify which we loved.

How to Start a Business with no Money and Bad Credit in a Recession: Takeaways

Once you understand what impacts your small business credit score, you are that much nearer to creating better business credit which will help you learn how to start a business with no money and bad credit in a recession. Don’t let COVID-19 get you down.

Now go get ‘em, tiger!

 

 

The post Brilliant! How to Start a Business with No Money and Bad Credit in a Recession appeared first on Credit Suite.

How to Build Corporate Credit and Run a Corporation

Business owners old and new often wonder how to build corporate credit.  This is just one of the many questions that pop up when running a corporation.  Thankfully, there is more information available than ever before on running a corporation, from building corporate credit to understanding your financial statements, and everything in between.  

5 Tips for How to Build Corporate Credit and Make Your Corporation Fundable

Even if you are already up and running, you may be surprised at how some of these tips can help you.  There is a lot going on out there that can affect your business. Most of it you may not even realize.  There are several pieces to the puzzle. Often business owners cannot tell or see when one doesn’t fit simply because they can’t see the whole picture.  Most often, they don’t even know there are parts of the puzzle they cannot see. If they do know it, they have no clue how to gain access, find the issues, and fix them. 

Whether you are building your corporation in Delaware, which has long been a business building giant,  Wyoming, which is fast catching up, or any other state, these tips can be useful.  

How to Build Corporate Credit and Fundability Tip 1: Set Up Your Business for Success

Let’s go back to the puzzle example for a minute.  When you are first starting a large, complicated jigsaw puzzle, you don’t set up just anywhere.  You try to find somewhere that will ensure successful completion. Think about it. Would you just dump out the pieces on the floor and get to work? 

This would for sure be the fastest way to get started, but it would not foster success. Pieces could get kicked around and lost under furniture.  It would take forever to find where the pieces you have fit, and those walking by could unknowingly cause all kinds of trouble with one ill placed foot. 

Seasoned puzzlers know that you set up on a table that is used only for the puzzle.  You gently put the pieces on the table, and you take the time to turn each one over while separating the edges from the middle.  

When building corporate credit, you have to set your business up to be fundable and successful, just like with a puzzle.  If you don’t, you could end up having to do a lot of work over again. 

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

Steps to Setting Up a Fundable Business

Of course, if your business is already in operation and you find you are lacking in some of these areas, you may end up needing to do a little extra work to get things on the right track.  Take stock now, and get busy making sure all of these things are in place. 

A dedicated business address and phone number is necessary.  

Using your personal address and phone number will not work. Make sure your business contact information is listed in the business 411-directories as well.  This is important for more than just making sure customers and potential customers can get in touch with you, as you will see later. 

Your business needs an EIN.

An EIN works like your personal SSN, but it is only for your business.  Many business owners think that it’s fine to just use their SSN, especially in the beginning.  However, once you start looking into how to build corporate credit and how to make your business fundable, you’ll see that you definitely need to get an EIN.   You get an EIN for free, easily, at IRS.gov. 

Incorporation is a must. 

This is hard for some new business owners to swallow, and if you are reading this and there is only one thing on the list you need to work on, my guess is this is it.  Here’s why. It is so easy and affordable to run as a sole proprietorship that a lot of business owners never give it a second thought.

If you are currently operating as a sole proprietor, be aware that you will lose the time in business you acquired while operating as a sole proprietor.  In addition, any payment history, negative or positive, will be lost as well. You will have to start over building business credit at square one. This occurs because a corporation is a separate entity from the owner. 

In addition to tax benefits, it also helps protect your personal assets in case of a bankruptcy, because your business is a separate entity on its own.  When it comes to building business credit, that separation is a key piece of the puzzle. It ensures that business accounts report on your business credit and not you personal credit. 

It is necessary to incorporate, but it doesn’t matter which form of incorporation you choose when it comes to building corporate credit.  An LLC, S Corp, and C corporation all function the same way for this purpose. Make the decision based up how much liability protection you need and your budget, as they all offer different levels of protection at varying costs.  You do have to choose one though. 

A Note About Registered Agents when You Incorporate

When you incorporate, you will have to list a registered agent.  It’s probably not a good idea to list yourself. It may seem easier, but there are several reasons this doesn’t really work well. 

First, you have to list an agent for each state your business is registered in.  If you register in more than one state, obviously you cannot be listed as the agent in each one. You can only live in one place at a time. 

Next, a registered agent has to have a physical address.  A P.O. box will not work. Additionally, you run the risk of letting something slip through the cracks.  This is especially true if you are trying to coordinate with agents in several different states. There is a lot to keep up with.  The better option is to hire a registered agent service. They can easily coordinate in different states, offer a physical address, and ensure you have all the information you need when you need it. It’s an extra cost, but absolutely worth it.

Open a business bank account. 

This isn’t just an account that you call your business account but use for personal stuff too.  Your business needs a dedicated, official business bank account. Not only will it offer the separation needed for when you dig into how to build corporate credit and make your business appear fundable, but there are other benefits as well.  For example, there are some types of funding you cannot access without a business bank account, like a merchant cash advance.  

In addition, many lenders and business credit cards want to see a business bank account.  It will be helpful to already have business expenses separate when you do your taxes as well. 

Don’t forget to get a D-U-N-S number.  

This is huge when you want to build corporate credit.  The D-U-N-S number is a number that Dun & Bradstreet issues to each company in its database.  You cannot have business credit with D&B unless you have this number. Since they are the largest and most commonly used business credit reporting agency, you definitely need it.  You can apply for free on their website. 

Get a professional business website. 

This has to be more than just something you throw together on a free hosting service.  You need to have someone professionally design and launch your site, and pay for hosting.  The goal is to make your business appear fundable to lenders, and if a lender does any research on your business and either cannot find a website, or finds a bad one, it will not look good.  

How to Build Corporate Credit and Fundability Tip 2: Consistency Across All Channels

Many applications for business credit are denied for suspicion of fraud rather than for a poor credit score.  How do you avoid this? Setting up your business properly is a great start. There is a little more to it however.  

Lenders and credit reporting agencies have access to way more information than you realize. If something doesn’t match up, it is going to throw up red flags.  Your business name, contact information, and phone number should be the same everywhere. That seems easy, but consider how much is really out there: 

  • licenses
  • insurance
  • 411-directories (Remember I told you it was about more than just people being able to find your contact information.)
  • rent or mortgage contracts
  • business website
  • other public records

Take some time to check all of these things to ensure that everything lines up.  Another thing that seems small but can actually cause trouble in the world of corporate credit and fundability is the business email address.  You definitely need one, but it should be the same as the owner’s. It can’t be from a free service like Gmail or Yahoo. Pay for an email address that has the same URL as the business website.  

How to Build Corporate Credit and Fundability Tip 3: Work in the Right Order

The biggest piece of this corporate credit building puzzle is working the right order.  If you are an existing business, you probably already have some business debt. Chances are though, unless you have already followed these steps, it is in your personal name and thus affecting your personal credit and not your business credit. 

When you start researching steps to building corporate credit, you’ll likely starting seeing terms like vendor credit tier, retail credit tier, fleet credit tier, and cash credit tier. These are terms that relate to what order you should work in when applying for credit in your business name.  If you immediately begin by applying for standard business credit cards with no limitations, you will be repeatedly denied. This is similar to trying to put together the center of a jigsaw puzzle first, without a picture for a guide. You’ll never get it. 

Every puzzler knows you work the corners first, then put the edges together and work from the edges in. When it comes to how to build corporate credit, you start at the bottom tier and work your way up. 

The Vendor Credit Tier

This is the bottom tier.  It helps you get the ball rolling.  You see, corporate credit doesn’t build passively like consumer credit does.  This means, unless you have actively worked at building it, you likely have no credit in the name of your business. It is almost impossible to get credit without credit, so what do you do? Then answer is the vendor credit tier. 

This tier is made up of retailers that will extend net 30 terms on invoices without a credit check. The best part is, they will report your payments on these invoices to the business credit reporting agencies like D&B, Experian, or Equifax.  This, in turn, begins to build your corporate credit score. 

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

The Other Tiers

corporate entity credit Credit Suite

Once you have 8 to 10 retailers from the vendor credit tier reporting, you can work in to the next tiers.  After vendor credit comes the retail credit tier.  This includes credit cards from retailers that only allow you to use the cards at their stores.  For example, you can only use an Office Depot card at Office Depot, Office Max, or on those websites. 

Get a few of those under your belt and you can apply for cards in the fleet credit tier.  This tier includes cards from companies like Fuelman and Shell that only allow you to use them for automobile repair and maintenance costs and fuel.  

Once you have several of these reporting you are ready for the final piece of this particular puzzle.  That’s the cash credit tier. These include standard business credit cards that have lower rates, rewards, and no limits on where you can use them or what expenses you can use them for. 

How to Build Corporate Credit and Fundability Tip 4: Make Responsible Decisions

If you complete all of these steps you will have strong corporate credit and a fundable business.  However, it doesn’t stop there. Indeed, at every step along the way and into continuity thereafter you have to make responsible decisions in every area of your business.  

This is of particular concern when it comes to how to build corporate credit.  The reason is, you are racking up credit accounts left and right in an effort to build a strong business credit score. During this process, there is a huge potential for a couple of big blunders.  

One trap that is easy to fall into is buying things that do not really benefit your business just to build the credit.  It’s seems like and easy trap to avoid, but you can be in it before you know it. Of course, you have to use the credit for it to do what you need it to do, but do so wisely.  Make a conscious effort to think about how each and every purchase will benefit your business and help it grow. 

The other potential blunder is to dig the debt hole too deep.  None of this will matter if you can’t make your payments consistently on-time.  In fact, it will do more harm than good. Take some time to figure out how much you can afford in debt payments each month and spread that out over the accounts you are using for credit building.

Also, use business accounts only for things you would buy anyway.   When you order from vendors in the vendor credit tier, order only things you are already using in the course of everyday business. Use the same rule of thumb for cards in the other tiers as well.  There is no reason to accumulate unnecessary debt.

Pay Attention to Financials

There are a lot of business owners out there that do not understand what their financial statements are telling them about their business. If they pay any attention at all to them, they are simply relying on what their accountant or bookkeeper tells them.  

It is essential for a business owner to understand their business financial statements.  Without this understanding, it is almost impossible to make responsible decisions. 

How to Build Corporate Credit and Fundability Tip 5: Monitor Your Credit

Credit monitoring is important both while you are building corporate credit and after you have a strong, established score. At each step of the credit building process you need to know which accounts are reporting.  This is how you will know it is time to move on to the next tier.  

Credit monitoring is also essential to maintaining that consistency that is needed for fundability.  If you see a mistake on your credit report, you can have it corrected. If you notice old information, you can update it. 

Check out our best webinar with its trustworthy list of seven vendors to help you build business credit.

How to Build Corporate Credit and Making Your Corporation Fundable Go Hand in Hand

It’s true.  You can have corporate credit and not be fundable, but your business cannot be fundable without strong corporate credit.  The best way to ensure your business is fundable is to start working to build strong corporate credit from the very beginning.  Many of the steps to building fundability and building corporate credit are the same, and you need both to run a successful business.  

 

The post How to Build Corporate Credit and Run a Corporation appeared first on Credit Suite.

Tips and also Simple Guidelines On How To Calculate Payroll Taxes

Tips and also Simple Guidelines On How To Calculate Payroll Taxes

Handling an organisation tiny, tool or huge needs you to pay your tax obligations, as well as your workers tax obligations. State as well as government tax obligations are really stringent as well as you do not desire the IRS battering on your door since of some blunders. Maintain your pay-roll documents as well as tax obligation repayments as your recommendation so you have evidence of the settlements as well as reductions you have actually done.
Pay-roll tax obligations are the tax obligations that every company are needed to subtract from the staff members income as well as pay to the state and also the federal government, you are needed to do this in part of your workers. Apart from keeping state as well as government tax obligations, social safety as well as medicare tax obligations are subtracted likewise from the wage as needed by legislation.
In mentioning to compute pay-roll tax obligations, each of your worker needs to finish an IRS kind W-4. In the W-4, you can determine the quantity of the government earnings tax obligation, and also due to the fact that a lot of states have earnings tax obligation frameworks that are based on the government tax system, you might additionally utilize this type to determine the state tax obligation to be subtracted from the income of your workers. Required to determine pay-roll tax obligations are the percent presently utilized for the social safety and security and also medicare.
Apart from those, the regulation needs the company to pay government and also state joblessness tax obligation; this is component of the pay-roll tax obligations. Federal and also State joblessness tax obligations (FUTA and also SUTA) are based on the quantity of joblessness insurance claims that are submitted by workers that you have actually launched or discharged.
For some organisation proprietors, doing the pay-roll as well as to determine pay-roll tax obligations simply obtains in the method of the day to day company he or she has to do. While for some this is worth the cash, little organisations with a little labor pressure must simply do their very own pay-roll. What they obtain is the high-end of focusing much more on their organisation without the demand to stress concerning exactly how to determine pay-roll tax obligations.

Taking care of a service tiny, tool or large needs you to pay your tax obligations, as well as your workers tax obligations. Pay-roll tax obligations are the tax obligations that every service are needed to subtract from the staff members wage and also pay to the state as well as the federal government, you are called for to do this in part of your workers. Apart from holding back state as well as government tax obligations, social safety and security and also medicare tax obligations are subtracted additionally from the income as called for by legislation. In the W-4, you can compute the quantity of the government earnings tax obligation, as well as since the majority of states have earnings tax obligation frameworks that are based on the government tax system, you might likewise utilize this type to determine the state tax obligation to be subtracted from the income of your staff members. Apart from those, the legislation needs the company to pay government and also state joblessness tax obligation; this is component of the pay-roll tax obligations.

The post Tips and also Simple Guidelines On How To Calculate Payroll Taxes appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

The Benefits Of Cash Flow And Working Capital Management

The Benefits Of Cash Flow And Working Capital Management Numerous profession money firms aid to supply credit score financing, export financing, credit history security, billing collection solutions, and so on. Profession money firms likewise assist in relaying the profession leads, create brand-new organisation as well as advertise the firm to brand-new company teams or service … Continue reading The Benefits Of Cash Flow And Working Capital Management