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Definition of BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis)
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) is a non-invasive method used to measures the body’s composition, particularly the distribution of body fat and lean mass. It involves passing a low-level electrical current through the body and measuring the resistance encountered by the current. Because fat and lean tissues conduct electricity differently, the impedance encountered provides insights into the proportion of these tissues in the body.

BIA is commonly utilized in health and fitness contexts to estimate metrics such as body fat percentage, muscle mass, and hydration levels. It’s important to note that while BIA is convenient and quick, its accuracy can be influenced by factors like hydration status, food consumption, and the precision of the equipment used.

What is the purpose of the BIA test?
The primary purpose of the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) test is to assess and analyze the body’s composition, specifically the distribution of body fat and lean mass. BIA provides valuable information about the proportions of these components within the body, helping individuals and healthcare professionals gain insights into various health and fitness aspects. The main purposes of the BIA test include:

Body Composition Assessment:
BIA helps determine the ratio of body fat to lean mass, including muscle and bone. This information is essential for understanding overall health and fitness levels.

Monitoring Changes:
BIA can track changes in body composition over time, helping individuals assess the effectiveness of their exercise and nutrition plans. It’s commonly used in weight loss or muscle gain programs.

Health Risk Evaluation:
Excessive body fat is associated with various health risks, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and metabolic disorders. BIA aids in identifying potential health risks based on body fat percentage.

Customized Nutrition and Exercise Plans:
BIA results can guide the creation of personalized nutrition and exercise plans. For instance, if a person has a higher body fat percentage, they might need a different approach compared to someone with lower body fat.

Hydration Assessment:
BIA can provide insights into hydration levels by measuring the body’s water content. Proper hydration is crucial for overall health and athletic performance.

Fitness Progress Tracking:
Athletes and fitness enthusiasts can use BIA to monitor their progress, optimize training regimens, and ensure they are achieving their goals effectively.

Clinical Use:
BIA is also utilized in clinical settings to monitor changes in body composition due to medical conditions, surgeries, or treatments.

Research and Study:
BIA is used in research studies to gather data on population health trends, body composition changes across demographics, and the effects of interventions.

Wellness Assessments:
BIA is integrated into wellness programs to offer participants a comprehensive view of their health status beyond just weight on a scale.

It’s important to note that while BIA is a convenient and non-invasive method for assessing body composition, its accuracy can be affected by factors like hydration status, food intake, and equipment quality. It’s recommended to use BIA as part of a broader assessment strategy, considering other factors such as physical measurements, medical history, and overall health.

What are the advantages of BIA?
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) offers several advantages, making it a popular method for assessing body composition and certain health parameters. Some of the key advantages of BIA include:

Non-Invasive:

BIA is a non-invasive technique that involves attaching electrodes to the skin’s surface or standing on a specialized scale. This eliminates the need for needles, injections, or other invasive procedures.

Ease of Use:
BIA is relatively simple to perform and doesn’t require specialized training. Many BIA devices are user-friendly and can be operated by individuals with minimal instruction.

Quick and Convenient:
BIA measurements can be obtained quickly, usually within a matter of minutes. This convenience makes it suitable for regular monitoring and assessments.

Affordability:

BIA devices range in cost, but compared to some other advanced methods like DEXA scans or underwater weighing, BIA is often more affordable and accessible.

Whole-Body Analysis:
BIA provides insights into the whole-body composition, including fat mass, lean mass, and water content. This comprehensive view is valuable for understanding overall health.

Hydration Assessment:
BIA can estimate hydration levels in the body, which is essential for maintaining optimal health and physical performance.

Suitable for Different Populations:

BIA can be used across various age groups, fitness levels, and health conditions, making it versatile for both clinical and fitness assessments.

Tracking Changes Over Time:
BIA allows individuals to track changes in body composition over time, which is especially useful for weight management, fitness progress, or recovery from illness or surgery.

Motivation and Goal Setting:
The visual representation of body composition data from BIA can motivate individuals to set and achieve realistic health and fitness goals.

Applicability in Various Settings:

BIA can be used in clinical settings, fitness centers, research studies, and wellness programs, making it adaptable to different contexts.

Minimal Discomfort:
BIA is generally painless and comfortable. The low-level electrical current used in the analysis is typically imperceptible and safe for most people.

Potential for Large-Scale Studies:
BIA’s ease of use and efficiency make it suitable for large-scale population studies, helping researchers gather data on health trends and interventions.

Despite its advantages, it’s important to recognize that BIA has limitations. Factors like hydration status, food intake, and certain health conditions can influence its accuracy. Additionally, while BIA provides estimates of body composition, it may not be as accurate as more advanced methods like DEXA or MRI scans. As with any assessment method, using BIA as part of a comprehensive approach and considering multiple factors is recommended for obtaining the most accurate insights into body composition and health.

How does a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) scan work?

It is worth spending money on BIA scans?
Whether it’s worth spending money on Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) scans depends on your specific goals, preferences, and circumstances. Here are some factors to consider:

1. Goals:
Tracking Progress: BIA scans can be useful for tracking changes in body composition over time. If you’re focused on improving your fitness, losing weight, or gaining muscle, regular BIA scans can provide insights into the effectiveness of your efforts.
Health Monitoring: BIA can also provide estimates of metrics like visceral fat levels, which are associated with certain health risks. If you’re interested in monitoring your health in this way, BIA could be beneficial.
2. Accuracy and Consistency:
Relative Measurements: BIA provides relative measurements, meaning it’s more useful for tracking changes within yourself over time rather than giving you precise measurements. The accuracy of BIA can vary based on factors like hydration levels and the quality of the device.
Consistency: To get reliable results, it’s important to perform BIA scans under similar conditions each time, such as consistent hydration and timing relative to meals or exercise.
3. Cost:
BIA scans can vary in cost. Some gyms or health centers offer BIA scans as part of a package or membership, while others might charge a separate fee for each scan. Consider whether the cost aligns with your budget and the frequency at which you plan to get scanned.
4. Alternative Methods:
DEXA Scan: Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans are another method for assessing body composition. DEXA scans are generally more accurate than BIA but can be more expensive and involve exposure to low levels of radiation.
Skinfold Calipers: Skinfold measurements, taken with calipers, estimate body fat based on the thickness of skinfold folds. While less high-tech than BIA or DEXA, they can provide cost-effective estimates of body composition changes.
5. Professional Guidance:
If you’re considering BIA scans, consulting with a fitness or healthcare professional can help you interpret the results and make informed decisions based on your goals.
In summary, BIA scans can be valuable for certain individuals who are looking to track changes in body composition and gain insights into health metrics.

What are the limitation of BIA?
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) has several limitations that should be considered when interpreting its results and deciding whether to use it for body composition assessment:

Hydration Status: BIA relies on the assumption that the body’s hydration level is relatively constant and that most of the variability in impedance is due to changes in lean tissue and fat. However, changes in hydration levels can significantly affect BIA readings. Dehydration can lead to overestimation of body fat, while excessive hydration can lead to underestimation.

Body Shape and Fat Distribution: BIA assumes a certain pattern of fat distribution throughout the body. Variations in fat distribution, such as carrying more fat in the abdominal area (visceral fat), can affect the accuracy of BIA measurements.

Muscle Mass and Fitness Level: BIA calculations are based on population averages, which might not accurately represent individuals with varying levels of muscle mass, fitness, and activity. Athletes and highly muscular individuals may have skewed results due to their higher muscle conductivity.

Accuracy and Calibration: The accuracy of BIA can vary based on the quality of the equipment, the algorithms used, and how well the device is calibrated. Not all BIA devices are created equal, and cheaper or less advanced devices might provide less accurate results.

Individual Variability: BIA results can be influenced by factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, and body type. Algorithms might not accurately account for these variations in all cases.

External Factors: Factors such as recent meals, exercise, alcohol consumption, and skin temperature can influence impedance and, consequently, the accuracy of BIA measurements.

Pregnancy and Medical Conditions: BIA might not be accurate for pregnant women, individuals with certain medical conditions (e.g., kidney disease, edema), or those with implanted medical devices.

Lifestyle Changes: BIA results are best used for tracking changes over time in the same individual. If someone significantly changes their hydration, exercise, or dietary habits, the results may not be directly comparable.

Comparative Measures: BIA provides relative estimates of body composition changes within an individual rather than absolute measurements. While it’s useful for tracking trends, it might not accurately indicate a person’s exact body fat percentage or lean mass.

Alternative Methods: While BIA is convenient and non-invasive, other methods like Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and underwater weighing offer higher levels of accuracy, although they might come with different limitations and considerations.

In summary, while BIA can provide valuable insights into body composition changes over time, it’s important to recognize its limitations. Individuals using BIA should be aware of factors that can influence accuracy and consider the context in which they’re using the results. If precise measurements are essential, consulting with a healthcare professional and considering alternative methods might be advisable.

Benefits of Applicant Tracking System for agency recruiters

Every day recruiters are flooded with hundreds of resumes for various jobs advertised. Now, they have this huge responsibility of selecting the right top talent for the company and the right company for the candidate. It is virtually impossible for recruiters to scan each resume manually and shortlist them. This is where the Applicant Tracking System comes into the picture or as some call it, a recruiting software or recruitment software. Since the job of a recruitment agency is two folds, to speed up the whole process of finding and hiring the right talent and to make sure the hired candidate and selected company makes the best fit.

A recent online survey conducted by Recruit CRM revealed that more than 98 % of recruitment agencies with 10 recruiters or more used and Applicant tracking system. The percentage was significantly lower at 76% for agencies with lesser recruiters.

The difference between using ATS and not using ATS

The functionality of an Application Tracking system is somewhat similar to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system but with a slight change in main focus towards the search functionality. This article aims to highlight 20 basic advantages of the Applicant Tracking System that will make you realize the importance of having one for your business.

1. Saves Time For Value Added Work

The topmost advantage of an automated Applicant Tracking System is that it saves a lot of time when compared to conventional application processing and hiring procedure. An average of 75-88 % of resumes received is not qualified for the job. (You can find a good guide for resume screening here.) By eliminating the manual posting and listing on job boards, then filtering out the irrelevant applications, this whole process is done in a matter of seconds rather than spending hours on it.

Recruiter Time-Share Per activity

2. Flexible system for both Employer and the Agency

Recruitment agencies obviously gain a lot by using an Applicant tracking system. However, even for the client, it is a blessing as short listings, interview feedbacks and all other co-ordinations can be seamlessly handled online. Imagine the efficiency improvements if you do not have to deal with lots of emails, excel sheets and remember notings, appointments etc which are now handled on a single platform. View our article here on How a Recruitment Agency chooses an ATS & CRM?

3. Better Overview of Applications

Through keeping all the documents in the applicant monitoring program, you have all the details you need in one location. You can easily switch between apps, compare candidates, change candidate status, select candidates, and scan candidates without leaving the program. In turn, you remove the risk of a submission being missed or trapped on a team member’s desk, so you will be aware of any repeat applications. Many ATS have a simple Kanban view. You can view a sample here of Kanban View.

4. Easy Job Posting

An Applicant Tracking System lets you upload the job openings on several platforms with a single click. You do not need to set up and manually log in to individual accounts from each social platform and post the job. Moreover, you also do not need to keep a track of each social media platform and results generated from each post individually. An automated Applicant Tracking System will gather the analytics from each platform and then represent it collectively. Various countries have their own popular job boards but the bare minimum requirement is that the ATS must be capable of automatically post your jobs to google jobs which is one of the most searched places by job seekers for jobs. To know more about google jobs read this article. Moreover, you can add details like a job description, salary, location, and the list is never-ending, one time only. You receive all the job applications in your ATS.ATS like Recruit CRM allows you to integrate a career site page on your website. You can use your website to collect the online applications.

Source: Google Jobs

You can save some serious cash in recruitment marketing. Job boards will provide you with plenty of traffic for your job openings.

5. Improved cost per hire

Since we all know most businesses cannot invest hundreds of dollars ongoing through the expensive screening process, every time they have to hire new talent. Similarly, these businesses cannot afford to hire the wrong resource because of an inefficient screening process, as it could cost them much more afterwards. Tim Sackett, one of the most famous recruitment experts in the world says Applicant Tracking System to be one of the most affordable and amazing recruiting technologies ever. He believes that this technology has made even SMBs able to carry out a competitive recruiting & staffing process. According to him: “SMB shops can move faster to integrate the latest and greatest tech on the market. It’s such an exciting time to be in talent acquisition, the availability of world-class technology is transforming how we all recruit on a daily basis.” Ever since the introduction of the Applicant Tracking System in the market, the cost per hire has reduced tremendously.

Minimum Cost of Recruiter per month $2000- $3000. Cost of Applicant tracking system – $100 – $150 per month per user. Do you really think an ATS cannot improve your recruiter’s sourcing efficiency by more than 5 % per month and make-up for the cost?

Benefits of using an Applicant Tracking System 6. Improved Quality of Hire

As a saying goes: “Early Bird Catches the Worm” According to research, 80% of recruiters claim to have an improved quality of hire ever since they incorporated Applicant Tracking System in their businesses. Another research says that the application of a talented and qualified class candidate stays for 10 days approximately. By speeding up the recruitment process that too with the high quality you can easily grab the talented opportunities which could have been occupied by other competitive business. And yes, organizations are now sharply defining their quality of hires using varied metrics. An ATS helps you build your talent pool faster.

Quality of Hire 7. Improved Inter-Department Communication

A strong interior is what leads to a confident exterior. One of the main problems faced during the recruitment process is insufficient information and poor communication between the departments, for example, your agency and the hiring manager. An Applicant Tracking System allows improved communication among the recruiting team members and also with others who are involved in the whole process. It also allows, to send messages easily to multiple people and assign tasks in an organized timeline. Moreover, all team members can participate, leave notes, ratings and also feedback on each applicant. Most ATS nowadays integrate seamlessly with google/outlook calendar and various email systems. You end up with less paperwork and a more organized process.

8. Faster and better decisions

When it comes to hiring a workforce for a company, there is no chance of mistake and a single wrong decision can prove detrimental to the company’s financial position. An Applicant Tracking System gives complete access to all applications and presenting them on the same front helps in making better and faster systems. GetApp, a comparison site for small business software, found that respondents who used an applicant tracking system (ATS) were seeing clear benefits — 86.1% said their ATS had increased the speed at which they hire. Read talent blog here. In short, an ATS streamlines the various processes of your recruitment agency giving you the confidence to make data-driven decisions.

9. Promotes Collaborative hiring

Collaborative hiring allows a company to have a more organized approach towards developing a more diverse and talented team. Applicant Monitoring Programs come with innovative apps that make it easy to employ collaboratively. HR departments or corporate recruiter can effectively and efficiently exchange feedback and reviews with each candidate and lead a joint decision-making process in which each recruiter has a voice. Here is a list of collaborative tools useful for recruiting teams.

Source: workable 10. Entire Recruitment Cycle speeds up

The benefit of having all applicant’s information centralized and organized in a single platform allows recruiters to have faster access to the hiring process overview. Once the Applicant Tracking System has installed everything from receiving applications to narrowing down suitable candidates, scheduling interviews and hiring the right person for the job everything catches up a pace that makes the whole cycle faster. Automated contact capabilities also improve the recruiting process, allowing it easier to have general follow-up and transfer applicants to the next level. Finally, the Candidate Tracking Program helps recruiters to build and manage a more effective workflow. Hiring and recruiting becomes much easier when done with recruitment & staffing software.

11. Improved Candidate Experience

A user whether hired or not will have impressive user experience with an automated Applicant Tracking System. A more efficient hiring and application process is the key to success for your business. These same candidates can speak favourable words about your business which will help you attain a strong position in the market. Read this for The far-reaching impact of candidate experience. An ATS lets you automate crucial tasks like sending an email when a candidate is rejected, this ensures a better candidate experience. Recruit CRM has some great ready-made email templates, or you can create your own. If you need any email templates, we have them here.

Also, refer to The Great Candidate Experience

12. Improved Employer Branding

A strong Employer branding is what makes a favourable impression of the company. Having an attractive employer branding is so important that it helps a business secure a strong position in the market. A good employer brand will make a significant difference by encouraging a passive employee to join the business. Using ATS, you can evaluate, assess and develop your branding strategy by integrating it with career pages and providing a superior Onboarding experience.

13. Lower bounce rates on Job ads

Nothing is more frustrating than a job advertisement that gets bounced now and then. This throws away all the hard work in the trash. This could lead to starting the whole process from scratch. Applicant Tracking System is a simple and improved solution to a better understanding of how to post and carry out job advertisements and what ways to have a better result from them. Using ATS will help you maximize the time spent on the web page and thus increase the number of applications. Here is a very informative article on reducing the bounce rate and getting more and relevant applications.

Bounce rates

Writing better job descriptions will also hugely help in achieving lower bounce rates. Glassdoor has created this resource page for writing great job descriptions.

14. Streamlined Recruitment Process

Applicant Tracking System makes the whole Recruitment process easy to manage and execute. With a streamlined development between the successive tasks, the HR department can easily manage and review multiple applications in a few hours which could otherwise take days. This helps the recruiting agencies work faster and at an efficient rate. To be precise, an ATS will help you get rid of spreadsheets.

15. Riddance from unnecessary resumes

Most of the time, people apply for a job blindly, without paying heed to what are the requirements of the job and whether the applicant meets all of them or not. in such cases, there is a lot of frustration on HR’s end who has to filter through hundreds of applications and then filter out the relevant to job applicants followed by filtering the most suitable ones for the task. For the Candidate Tracking Program, recruiters no longer need to continuously search their addresses for something else. The recruitment CRM collects resumes you collect and displays applicant data in a manner that makes comparisons short and convenient. However, nowadays there are tools available that allow candidates to tailor resumes as per job descriptions so as to beat the ATS search algorithm. Therefore it could be important for recruiters to create their own search queries (rather than use automated ones that are based on Job descriptions). Boolean search can be a powerful tool to help recruiters with the shortlisting. Here recruiters can enter their own criteria for search each time and save that as well.Recruit CRM parses your resumes and stores them in the system to make boolean search perform faster and more accurate. The parsing is accurate and collects most of the data from the resume. This also helps you build your resume database with each resume you parse.

16. Easy interview scheduling

How wise it is to give chance to some of the most talented minds in the market, but how tough it gets when allotting time slots to each one of the candidates then making sure no time clashes with the other so each candidate gets equal opportunity to express their abilities. When taken from HR, most of them believe calling each candidate and fixing their interview timing is a lot of more hectic tasks than scheduling the interviews itself. This consumes a lot of time and also gives rise to much confusion leading one or two mishaps during the scheduling inevitable. Applicant Tracking System can send automatically generated emails to the shortlisted candidates which can inform them for interviews thus saving a lot of time and hurdles for the Human Resources department.

17. Better Utilization of Budget

When it comes to recruiting solutions, it is difficult to identify the right direction as to where to spend the budget. This confusion can lead to a lot of unnecessary spending by a company which leads to losses for the company. By sending job advertisements to multiple mediums and channels a business can spend a lot of value when in reality it should have only invested in the right social platform. Applicant Tracking System finds out the most suitable platform to invest in through several personalized data collection techniques. Thus making your tech stack scalable.

18. Wider Scope of Audience

A limited reach will only bring the limited talent. If a business wants to hire the best, it needs to spread its wings in the market and let a wider audience know how they are looking for a compatible individual. And widening your scope in today’s competitive world is a tough task. With so many mouths to hear from, the audience often gets confused about what to pay attention to and what to ignore. An Applicant Tracking System makes reaching the right audience possible easily through SEO techniques. Moreover, it can easily source resumes from various social media platforms & job boards with automated integrations. An ATS helps you tap into the world of social recruiting. Many ATS like Recruit CRM come with social media integration, where you can post a job from your ATS directly to your favourite social media sites in one click.

19. Auto-generation of Accurate Reports

Applicant Tracking System not only helps with the process but it also gives a hand when it comes to keeping a check and balance of the entire workflow. Applicant Tracking System is efficient in creating Auto-generated accurate reports in real-time. This is done by collecting data from different parts of the process containing job posting to monitoring the execution of the whole task. ATS system can analyze the efficiency of social platforms and how well they are generating performance while allowing analyzing each platform differently. This helps companies identifies loops and holes in the processes and use them to improve the lacking. In short, it helps you to manage the recruitment process & hire faster. Workflow automation is one of the major components of any recruiting software application.

20. Improved GDPR & EEO

Data Privacy is the biggest concern when it comes to providing information to a new untrusted source. Especially when the whole procedure is automated most of the people are not convinced that their data would be not be revealed to any other sources or publicly which makes them hesitant towards proceeding with this medium. Despite new GDPR regulations being enforced and data security as a whole being more internationally regulated, it is important to find a way to manage the personal data safely and efficiently. See how recruitcrm.io handles GDPR & EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) Compliance.

Having a secure cloud based Applicant Tracking System lets businesses stay away and safe from all unnecessary processes of shuffling through unwanted applications that waste a lot of time and resources. Besides that, it also speeds up the whole process. You can find all the tools that match your needs and interests and provide a user-friendly platform for both employers and agency leading them towards a market system of the improved hiring process. All of these benefits are crucial to your company’s long-term success. You end up with recruiting the best talent after all.