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Overview of Recruitment Management Systems

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Contents

Overview of Recruitment Management Systems 4

Features of Recruitment Management Systems 6

Benefits of Using Recruitment Management Systems 8

Trends in Recruitment Management Systems 10

Top Tips for Evaluating Recruitment Management Systems 15

Business.com Checklist for Recruitment Management Systems 18

Glossary of Recruitment Management System Terms 22

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Overview of Recruitment Management Systems

Recruitment Management Systems (RMS) and software include a suite of applications to automatically identify, screen, interview, and evaluate job candidates. RMS systems can also be used by schools to recruit students and by nonprofits to recruit donors or manage volunteers.

RMS is often called by similar names, including “e-recruitment,” “online recruitment,” and “talent acquisition” (TA) software. RMS is most often sold as a service now (so-called “software as a service,” or SaaS), although it is still sold both as standalone software and as a service on private networks, in addition to being available on the cloud.

Beyond the functionalities of the software itself to manage attracting and hiring new employees, RMS can generate reports and other analytics to assess the effectiveness of recruitment campaigns. They can manage and track interactions with job boards and employment agencies, as well as track recruiter activities, employee retention rates, and other HR-related information. Findings can establish performance benchmarks and determine where best to find the most suitable and qualified candidates.

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RMS is typically integrated into the organization’s human resources management systems (HRM) as well as the enterprise’s larger information management systems. While the scope of large global enterprises usually dictates either purchasing the standalone software or contracting with a private network, smaller companies can take advantage of free Web-based services. These free services make their money offering ancillary third-party services (i.e., posting jobs to LinkedIn or Monster) as well as “priority support” service contracts.

RMS pricing is all over the place, from free to $100/month per person. Many companies offer a free trial, hoping that once you have invested the time to learn the system, you’ll be reluctant to switch services. Other firms have low entry-points, such as a few dollars per month, for limited capabilities. Typical pricing for full-featured services ranges from $20 to $75 per month per user, and from $50 to $500 per month for an organization.

While the scope of large global enterprises usually dictates either purchasing the standalone software or contracting with a private network, smaller companies can take advantage of free Web-based services.

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Features of Recruitment Management Systems

¾ Standardized templates to create job descriptions.

¾ Ability to distribute job postings automatically to multiple corporate sites, online job banks, and social media.

¾ Online job application forms, with ability to capture key data (name, address, skill sets, etc.) from submitted resumes.

¾ Bulk emailing of job openings to past candidates, qualified individuals, job boards, employment agencies, and other third-party agencies.

¾ Ability to store and organize job openings and submitted job applications.

¾ Manage third-party recruiters or recruiting agencies.

¾ Receive and track referrals and recommendations from employees, associated companies, and other third parties.

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¾ Analytics to assess and rank applicants.

¾ Applicant and job tracking.

¾ Interview management.

¾ Background checking services, including credit reports.

¾ Candidate portal to submit additional forms, establish and update personal profile.

¾ Mobile interface to communicate with candidates, receive/update resumes and candidate profiles, provide new job notices, and submit job applications.

¾ Scheduling interviews, including confirmations, reminders, and rescheduling.

¾ Ability to generate a contract for employment.

¾ Report generation capabilities.

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Benefits of Using Recruitment Management Systems

RMS software greatly reduces otherwise labor-intensive data entry and recordkeeping associated with such tasks as:

¾ job opening creation and submission

¾ job advertisement

¾ identification, screening and selection of qualified job candidates

By eliminating the possibility of duplicate record creation and/or inconsistencies or errors in data entry, the efficiency of candidate identification and tracking is greatly improved and more accurate.

It also ensures full compliance with all EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) as well as other federal and state hiring regulations. In addition, RMS provides a host of management reports for both external and internal reporting purposes.

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Moreover, once a candidate is hired, all employment data collected by the RMS software seamlessly transfers to the company’s internal HR and payroll systems. A recent study indicates that 3 out of 4 organizations don’t feel they’re adequately measuring the effectiveness of their recruitment efforts.

HR departments need to know which recruiting efforts are working best. Without a well-conceived recruitment management system, the lack of good metrics makes decision-making difficult.

A quality RMS should provide not only industry-standard measures, such as cost-per-hire and time-to-fill, but also track the sources of referrals and compare that automatically with efforts to attract recruits, such as job fairs, job boards, outside recruiters, direct email, direct mail, search advertising, broadcast advertising, and display advertising, and other marketing communications.

HR departments need to know which recruiting efforts are working best. Without a well-conceived recruitment management system, the lack of good metrics makes decision-making difficult.

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Trends in Recruitment Management Systems

There was a time when business owners stuck a “Help Wanted” sign in the window and the applicant pool walked through the door. That method still works in some places, but the vast majority of hires now

require a much more complex process of attracting applicants, reviewing applications, scheduling interviews, vetting references, making written job offers, and generating employment contracts -- all while complying with numerous shifting government regulations.

During this same time, applying for a job has gone from applying in person to applying through the mail to applying online and now applying from a mobile phone. Integrating recruiting with social media offers benefits (easier screening) as well as drawbacks (an embarrassing stumble can cause recruiting nightmares). To stay competitive, modern recruiters need to embrace new technology.

Some important innovations include:

“Going Mobile.” Today, the primary communication tool is a mobile device, either a smartphone or tablet. Consequently, it’s absolutely essential for your RMS system to have mobile capabilities.

Applying for a job has gone from applying in person to applying through the mail to applying online and now applying from a mobile phone.

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Mobile access to the Internet is increasing exponentially, and is expected to surpass fixed Internet access in 2015. However, small-screen access, as from a smartphone, is a poor medium for tasks that require concentration. The recruiting “short tasks” that should be modified for the mobile environment include the ability to:

� apply online

� search jobs

� sign up/receive job alerts

� interact with recruiters/potential employer

� obtain application status

� schedule, cancel and reschedule appointments

� obtain company information.

¾ LinkedIn. It’s the premier business networking site. The mobile LinkedIn app is a particularly valuable and widely used platform. There are a few LinkedIn “wannabes,” such as Facebook’s “Social Jobs Partnership” app which, while not to be ignored, are basically just aggregators of traditional job boards that offer some networking features.

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¾ Social Media. While LinkedIn is social media for professionals, more general social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest are equally in play for job searches and referrals. More companies are looking to export job postings directly from the RMS to the company’s social platforms, such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Companies are spending time and money developing communities online, and want to integrate those communities with their recruiting efforts. Recent research shows that almost 75% of organizations review potential job candidates’ presence on social networks. A study conducted at Northern Illinois University found participants could more accurately predict a job candidate’s success in a position by browsing their Facebook profile than by evaluating personality surveys. According to a CareerBuilder survey, “In 2011 [...] 70 percent of US job seekers search for potential employers on Facebook, and 72 percent of job seekers will talk with a friend about a company on Facebook.”

¾ Open API (Application Programming Interface). This is a set of technologies that basically enhance collaboration among so-called Web 2.0 platforms used for social media and other virtual communities. Perhaps the most notable user of open API is Facebook. Given the trend toward social media, any RMS software should be open API-compliant.

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¾ Video. Preliminary screening interviews are frequently conducted over the telephone. There may be situations, particularly when recruiting nationally, when you’d like to interview someone face-to-face, but geographic differences make that impractical. Video conferencing provides the next best thing to the in-person interview. Skype and Facetime are popular and easily accessible consumer video-conferencing applications. There are also professional HR video systems such as Async Interview, HireVue, Interview Stream, Sparkhire, and VidCruiter, among others

¾ Location capability. Some kind of location filter allows you to restrict searches to a defined geographic area. The drawback, of course, is that you may filter out some great candidates looking to relocate to your area at their own expense.

Video conferencing provides the next best thing to the in-person interview. Skype and Facetime are popular and easily accessible consumer video-conferencing applications.

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¾ SaaS (Software as a Service). An overall trend in the IT industry, SaaS is when a vendor hosts not only the software, but your data in the “cloud,” i.e., a large series of connected servers owned/leased by the vendor. You pay a service fee, as opposed to buying the software outright. Initial setup fees are usually lower because there is no on-premise software installation/integration required.

Access is provided through the Internet. While you don’t “own” the software, the chief advantages are lower administrative costs and quick and easy scalability as your needs change. Moreover, SaaS typically features social collaboration capabilities that are essential to talent acquisition functions. The disadvantage is that while it is probably true that no system is 100% secure, there is some minimal extra risk in porting your data to an outside source.

Access to SaaS is provided through the Internet. While you don’t “own” the software, the chief advantages are lower administrative costs and quick and easy scalability as your needs change

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Top Tips for Evaluating Recruitment Management Systems

¾ It’s better to buy a system that fits you now than one you may never grow into. You may not need all the bells and whistles of a full-featured RMS, especially if it’s too complicated to use without expert guidance. Assess your goals for the coming three years, and find a system that matches your ambitions.

¾ Standardize content. So where does an applicant from “VA,” “Va.” or “Virginia” live? Obviously, in Virginia. What’s not so obvious when you get literally thousands of applicants who might variously enter their state of residence as “VA” or “Va.” or “Virginia,” is that when you do a keyword search for “VA,” you miss all those applicants who entered “Va.” or “Virginia,” or, even worse, misspelled “Virginia.” As Maren Hogan points out, “[I]f data is entered incorrectly, it won’t line up when you try to search that data.”

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One way to minimize the potential for inconsistent and/or incorrect data entry is to eliminate “free-form” fields wherever possible and replace them with “drop-down” menus of required responses. Drop-down menus ensure the same choice is used by all applicants/recruiters; for example, the only possible selection for a Virginia state of residence is “VA.” If for some reason the software won’t allow a drop-down menu, it should specify a format that won’t allow any other kind of entry. For example, the date field must be entered in “mm/dd/yyyy” format; any non-conforming entry results in an error message.

¾ Scalability. One way to “right-size” your RMS to your company’s size and needs is to subscribe a modular system that allows you to pay for only those features you need, while allowing you to purchase additional capabilities as your operation grows. It is much better to adjust services within your current system than to migrate to a new provider every time your needs change.

¾ Ease-of-use. Well, vendors always claim their software is easy to use (ever hear of a vendor that advertises, “Our software is so good, no one really knows how to use it right?”). Besides asking for a demo, other ways to determine how user-intuitive an RMS system really is includes:

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� Customer satisfaction ratings and awards

� Success stories

� Customer retention rate

� Internet searches of price/functionality comparisons.

¾ Integration. Make sure your RMS software plays well with others. It should seem obvious that the system you use to recruit employees should seamlessly communicate with the support systems used while they are employed. However, that is often not the case. Organizations can feel pressured to select and implement a system in a short period of time. In doing so, long-term implications such as integration with the existing HR system and third-party recruiters is often ignored.

¾ Make it easy for the job applicant. Nobody likes to jump through hoops, even in a tight job market. An online application process that is overly difficult or in some way unwelcoming can discourage qualified applicants. It also diminishes your company brand, making you appear stodgy -- not tech-savvy -- and indifferent to existing as well as potential employees.

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Business.com Checklist for Recruitment Management Systems

My Needs Vendor 1 Vendor 2

Features

Create/manage/publish multiple job descriptions

Candidates searchable by:• Name

• Skill sets

• Job title(s)

• Keywords

Accepts resumes:• Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx formats)

• OpenOffice

• Text files

• HTML

• PDF

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Import resumes from: • Email

• Upload from desktop

• Cut and paste

Ability to add documents (cover letter, work samples)

Automatic detection/removal of duplicate candidates/submissions

Regional/international searching capabilities

Ability to create notes

Background search

Referral management

LinkedIn integration

Social media (Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter) interface

Candidate self-service

Interview scheduling

Contract/job offer generation

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Onboarding functionality:• Self-service completion of new-employee

forms

• Employee orientation scheduling

• HR notification/coordination of new-employee profile, benefits, equipment issue, ID and passwords authorization/issue

Languages other than English?

Software

SaaS (Web-based portal)

Software package installed/integrated with your IT infrastructure

Cloud storage

Integration with HR software:• Employee profiles

• Timesheets

• Payroll (ADP, PayChex)

• Benefits

• Employee performance evaluations

• Vacation calendar

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Modular/scalable

Open API

Mobile support/compatibilities

Intuitive navigation

Reporting

Configurable customized reports

Hiring workflow

Status reports across openings

Skills needs/assessments

Geographic filter

EEOC

Other federal/state programs

Email alerts/reminders

Customer Service

24/7 real-time telephone/email/chat support

Fee to migrate existing data?

Free training

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Glossary of Recruitment Management System Terms

ATS: Applicant Tracking System. Manages job applications and resume data. Data is collected from the company’s website and/or extracted from job board applicants.

Cloud Computing: Also called “distributed computing,” this is essentially a shared network maintained on a large series of servers. The sharing of servers and infrastructure among multiple users results in economies of scale and the dynamic reallocation of resources as needed. The ability to “move around” a myriad of technologies that are not physically present at the user’s location gave rise to the notion of a “cloud” of services users can “see” but that are in some sense ephemeral.

EEOC: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal government agency that enforces laws against job discrimination based on race, gender, religion, age, or national origin.

Employee Engagement: The concept that engaging employees to assess and improve job satisfaction results in positive business outcomes. Example: An effective onboarding process correlates with higher employee retention.

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I-9 (Employee Eligibility Verification) Service: Online completion and verification that a new hire has submitted IRS Form I-9 form required to verify worker eligibility status.

Job Boards: Employment website that posts jobs from various companies and allows interested job seekers to complete a corresponding job application and submit a resume. Major job boards include CareerBuilder, Indeed, Monster, and Yahoo! Careers (formerly HotJobs).

Job Title Search Engine Optimization: Strategic optimization of job postings produces higher rankings of job ads in search engines such as Google.

Onboarding: The process of introducing new employees to their job assignments, including corporate orientation, completion of new employee paperwork and issuance of identification/security cards, passwords, computers, mobile phones, or other new hire equipment.

Open API: Application Programming Interface. A set of programming technologies to enhance collaboration among websites.

OFCCP: Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. U.S. Department of Labor program to ensure employers doing business with federal government comply with all nondiscrimination laws and regulations.

SaaS: Software as a Service. Software and associated data hosted by a vendor on centrally located data warehouse, or cloud; client accesses software and data via a Web portal.