December 2005 Column

RecruitTrack ATS 

Continuing in our efforts to assist the Fordyce subscribers in making informed and intelligent decisions as they relate to the selection of their next ATS, I am happy this month to review RecruitTrack by DGCC.com LLC. This system is designed to scale to fit the size of your company and configurable to capture the information most important to you. This product has both a desktop version and a web-based ASP version.  The desktop version can be set up for remote access as well. The ASP version doesn’t require you to install anything on your PC. You simply log on with a user name a password and go from there.  

RecruitTrack’s main features include an excellent resume parsing engine, integration with MS/Outlook, an excellent and easy-to-use search interface, and a journal that you can use and is designed to assist you in building relationships between you, your clients, and your candidates. All drop-down lists, including the journals, are completely user-definable and can be personalized for your company. The individual record and job order records also include custom fields that can be defined.   

Once you log in, you open up to a screen where you can access any of the information you are looking for. They use one screen for "individuals" to encompass both candidate (applicants) and hiring managers. I have seen this design model before and I believe it better utilizes what is known as "relational" database design technology. To designate a contact as either a candidate or hiring manager you simply check the appropriate box, or both. They also have an internal contact checkbox, which I think is a very good idea. This allows you to put personal contacts in your database and use the Outlook client to email message to those types of contacts as well. Most ATS systems require you to go outside of the software program to send a message to a relative or maybe your broker, etc.  

The interface for individuals is fairly simple and the initial screen contains all the contact information, status, and compensation information for that person. The rest of the record is in a tabbed format and has tabs for EEO (if you are a staffing firm as well), Journal, Skillset, Work History, Education, Background, and Attachments. You can attach any documents to any record. The only restriction is the size of your hard drive. The resume-parsing engine is able to extract contact information, work history and education. There is also a Match function on the individual record that allows you to match a candidate directly to one or more job orders.   

The Journal is an interesting feature I have seen in a couple, but not many, competitors. This feature allows you to log and keep track of your day-to-day activity. Everything and anything you do in a days work can and should be logged to the journal. Adding a candidate, sending a resume, setting up an interview, making a placement, etc. all goes in the journal and the good part is you don't have to type it in there.  Journal entries are logged by a simple drop box. To make your life easier, the journal is fully searchable. The journal can also be set to remind you to complete tasks, such as setting a follow up task to contact a candidate after an interview. 

A powerful feature is the Skillset tree. This is a skills coding system that is also completely user-definable. As in most tree views, it is not limited to one level; you can get as detailed as you need it to be. You can use it to track items that may not be true skills, but are important to the search process, such as relocation preferences, certifications/licenses, industry experience, foreign language proficiency, or years of experience. The tree view to gives you an at-a-glance snapshot of this candidates attributes. 

The Employers screen is very simple, as it should be. There is the company name, along with the associated phone numbers and address for the account. Nicely done is a full list of all the contacts in that company that you have in the database. You also have Journal and Job Order tabs in this screen showing all the present and past activity with this client, if any. There is also a Skillset tab for the employers. These skills can also be copied to any of the employer contacts as well. 

The Job Order screen is also very simply with tabs for Skillsets, Hires, various Contacts, Fees, Comp and other information you might need to fill this order. The compensation tab changes to accommodate the differences between temporary and permanent jobs.  The Job Order record has an Activity tab, that allows you to match candidates to job orders and then track them through the search process.   

Their Calendar is a standard, Outlook type item used in the usual manner and the Task screen keeps your to-do list and allows you to check off items as you accomplish them. The calendar is integrated with Outlook. The task list shows you any journal activities that have not been completed. You can send any of these tasks to your Outlook calendar. 

Searching the database is simple and intuitive. You can search Individuals, Employers and Job Orders with ease. You can conduct simple searches using a name, company or any part thereof. A more advanced search interface allows you to conduct searches against specific data fields and also add conditions including ANDS, ORS, and NOTS. You can also use the SoundEx search that searches for people with similar names. There is also a Skillset search feature allowing you to zero in on the skills a target candidate has. You can also combine the skillset and advanced searches. You can also search attachments directly. You can save your search criteria or create lists from your search results. The list can be exported to Excel or a standard text file for further manipulation. 

Pricing: Desktop licensing starts at $2000 for the 1st user and goes down from there to $1000 per user for more than 10 users. The ASP (web-based) licensing costs $200 for the initial setup and starts at $150 per month for the 1st user and $100 per month per user for additional users. These prices include the first year of support and upgrades. Annual support fees after the first year are $250 per user. If you have your database hosted by them the cost is $30 per month and there is a $50 per month charge is you want to be able to post your job orders to your webstie. There are additional fees for resume processing if you process over 500 resumes per month. There are also additional fees for database conversions.  

I want to thank Gilda Sebenick, Managing Partner at DGCC.COM LLC, for her help in writing this review. Anyone with any interest in this service can contact Gilda via telephone at (310) 539-8775 x 2 or (877) 558-1095 x 2 or via email at gilda@dgcc.com. You can also sign up for a free demo of their product at www.recruittrack.com.

TalentScope by WebHire

 

I recently had the chance to speak with the people at Webhire, the venerable talent management vendor, who recently introduced a new service that is available not only to their customers, but also the general recruiting industry as well. I wanted to share this with you, as it seems to be a new (for most of us) and innovative way of locating quality candidates from the Internet. TalentScope is a service that purchases Google keyword ad placements on your behalf. Webhire’s Google Qualified AdWords Professionals work with Webhire clients to determine the most appropriate keywords and content topics, then strategically place context-sensitive ads with the search engine. Keyword ads appear on the on the right side of the Google results page. An example might be that you have a nursing position open. A nurse might go onto Google and search for a term specific to a patient such as “aneurysm.” The nurse will undoubtedly get hits on her search, and your employment ad for a nurse will also appear on the same page as the results. An interesting concept I admit I never thought much about but could be of some interest to Fordyce readers. Below is the Webhire press release announcing the TalentScope service. I encourage anyone with any questions or comments about this service to visit their website for more information or contact Webhire at 1-877-WEBHIRE.

 

WEBHIRE BRINGS THE POWER AND EFFICIENCY OF KEY WORD ADVERTISING TO THE EMPLOYMENT MARKET 

Webhire TalentScope Maximizes Online Recruiting by Helping Talent Managers Reach Passive Candidates Faster and with Greater Accuracy 

Lexington, MA, October 03, 2005 – Webhire, Inc., a leader in talent management solutions, today announced Webhire TalentScopeÔ, a new service designed to let recruiters reach active and passive candidates through keyword advertising. Advertisers have quickly discovered the effectiveness of reaching a targeted audience with keyword advertising programs, such as Google Adwords. Now, Webhire brings that same power to employers looking to fill open positions.  

Webhire simplifies the process of buying keyword ad placements by offering a turnkey package customized to the jobs customers are trying to fill, monitoring results of the campaign and automatically reporting those results back to the employer. From the customer’s perspective, it’s as simple as posting the position to any of the 2,000 plus job boards in Webhire’s network.  

“We’ve made over 100,000 impressions of our brand to a targeted audience for a fraction of the cost it would take to reach that many people with traditional recruitment advertising,” said John Higgins, Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition at G&K Services, a Webhire customer and early adopter of TalentScope.  “We are excited about the possibilities of this program’s ability to extend our advertising budget, leverage our employment brand and to help us build relationships with these potential candidates over time.” 

Webhire TalentScope is the first in a series of talent relationship management products and services offerings that Webhire will bring to market over the coming year.  TalentScope enables staffing professionals to access passive talent, improve their employment brand, and build a pipeline of quality candidates through easy to use keyword advertising.  Webhire’s Google Qualified AdWords Professionals work with Webhire clients to determine the most appropriate keywords and content topics, then strategically place context-sensitive ads with major search engines.  Ads are linked to client-branded, custom microsites that encourage passive candidates to take action, whether it is getting information about the company, signing up for future employment alerts or searching and applying for specific opportunities.  

“Webhire has taken a technology that recruiters understand very well – job posting – and enhanced it with services that leverage the power of the Web’s largest search engines to attract both passive and active candidates,” said Mark McAuliffe, research analyst, workforce acquisition at HR.Com.  “Millions of searches are performed each day on Google.  Webhire has once again taken a leadership role in the market through innovation by combining the ease of job posting technology with the power of those search engines to provide a simple and cost effective tool for online talent sourcing.” 

The introduction of Webhire TalentScope directly supports Webhire’s belief that the future of talent management lies in the ability to strategically manage the entire employment life cycle; from initial attraction, sourcing and selection techniques to executing effective hires through a positive, meaningful candidate relationship, continuing through employee retention.  This new service gives companies of all sizes the opportunity to take advantage of sourcing talent through keyword advertising, resulting in the selection of more qualified candidates, and the ability to hire, promote and develop better employees for the long term. 

 “There are many tools and technologies available that enable recruiters to effectively connect with active job seekers,” said Susanne Bowen, Chairman and CEO of Webhire. “Our customers, especially those in highly competitive hiring situations, are in need of solutions that give them access to the elusive passive candidate. We are excited to announce a service that enables them to quickly gain entry into the world of the passive professional. Effective penetration of that audience significantly improves the quality of their talent pipeline and provides a compelling competitive advantage.” 

For more information on candidate sourcing and talent management solutions, visit www.webhire.com. 

Weddle’s 2005/6 Guide to Association Websites 

It has been a while since I reviewed something from Peter Weddle, surprising knowing the prolific author he is. He recently sent me his CD containing his brand new guide to association websites, a wonderful resource for passive candidate recruiters. There isn’t much to write about here as it is simply a document containing profiles of over 1800 websites operated by professional, technical and trade associations both in the USA and abroad.  

This guide gives you the association name, physical location, and URL (website) for each entry. It also notes whether the association offers a job board, resume database, and/or networking service. These sites are also categorized by their occupational, industry, and specialty.  

Looking for an accounting association? Go to the A’s, look up Accounting/Finance, and be prepared to be kept busy for a while. There are literally dozens of industry categories…something for everyone.  

This item retails for $49.99 and is available on the www.weddles.com website. I want to thank Peter for providing a review copy of this terrific resource. Anyone with any questions or comments can reach Peter via email at weddles@optonline.net or visit his website for more information. 

New Big Biller ATS Feature 

I noticed in the most recent issue of Top Echelon’s “Networking News” newsletter that they have added a new feature to their excellent ATS, Big Biller. We have reviewed Big Biller in this column in the past and I would encourage anyone in the market for an ATS to give this one a look. 

The new feature regards resume parsing. When you get a new resume in the door that you want parsed into your database (of course, you have to be a Big Biller user) you simply email the resume to a parsing email address and their system automatically parses the resume into your database. You can email just one or up to 20 resumes at a time. I wanted to mention this feature as in all the ATS reviews I have done I do not believe I have ever seen this feature before.  

You can check out the Big Biller ATS at www.bigbiller.com. 

tinytechjobs.com 

I saw this in my email recently and thought I would share it with you. Seems to be a very specialized science and engineering job and resume site. They claim over 30,000-targeted visitors per month. Straight from their email: 

tinytechjobs is the place to find candidates with R&D skills in science and engineering. From microtechnology and biotechnology to IT and nanotechnology, tinytechjobs reaches diverse talent in top schools, government labs, and in the semiconductor, microelectronics, chemical, biotechnology/pharmaceutical, cosmetics, optoelectronics/photonics, energy/environmental sciences, automotive/transportation and many other industries. These are the people you need to fuel your R&D pipeline. And they frequent tinytechjobs.

One job posting costs only $150, stays up for 60 days and is viewable across our network of 15 partner sites. That's 15 postings for the price of one!

With tinytechjobs you can:

·        Instantly post jobs online in real time

·        Manage postings with an easy-to-use interface

·        View candidate applications online and by email

·        Access job activity statistics for each posted job

·        Search our resume database containing thousands of qualified candidates

Contact tinytechjobs today to get started filling those small tech jobs: 510.868.1043 or sales@tinytechjobs.com. 

TIP
www.yahoo.com
 

Used to be everyone searched AltaVista for resumes…these days it’s all Google but actually one of the oldest search engines on the Internet is at www.yahoo.com. This service used to use Google results but now uses its own search technologies to spider the web for results to your query. Their search box is right on their home page and you can check the help page for the search string features.  

I recently typed in (resume OR homepage) +programmer +java (without the underline) and was returned 2.4+ million hits. Obviously a lot of refining is in order here but it gives you an idea that searching for resumes is not for Google only. Note they use the + (plus sign) for ANDs but still use OR spelled out for ORs. Standard is the use of parenthesis for OR groups and quote marks for phrases. Using the example above you would substitute the keywords of your choice for the words programmer and java and add others as you wish for your needs. Maybe some geographic parameters would be in order.  

Add this to your passive candidate search methodology and you won’t be disappointed.