Applicant
Tracking Systems (ATS)
Still,
after years of heavy action, if there is one area that has shown itself to be of
continuing interest to the Fordyce subscribers it has to be recruiter databases,
or ATS’s (Applicant Tracking Systems). It is still the single largest category
of calls and emails that I get from the Fordyce readers.
Questions about Boolean syntax are no more. Most every call or email I
get these days is regarding the painful, frustrating and confusing process of
selecting the right recruiting software.
Does
this still sound like you?
·
You use Act!,
Goldmine or even Outlook as your main database and your employees use their own
copies of the above that are not networked. If you are a manager, you may not
even have access to your own employees database.
·
You use an old
DOS database because you have been using it for so long but your employees’
use whatever they can.
·
You are using an
older Windows database that is not supported by the developer any longer.
·
Your existing
software vendor wanted to increase your license fees drastically.
·
Your existing
software vendor is going 100% web based and your not interested.
·
You use MS/Word
and MS/Excel extensively for your tracking needs.
·
You don’t
currently use any software for candidate/client tracking and have found the
index card method the best to date.
I
have heard it all. We continue to write as many reviews as we can but still
don’t scratch the surface of what is out there and plan to continue to do so.
It is not the purpose of this article to review, recommend or even mention any
particular software, but more to offer some of the more important items to look
for when making your selection.
Like
I said a painful, frustrating and confusing process awaits you. Whatever you end
up with you will have to live with for a long time. For those of you (most I am
sure) that are currently using some type of recruiting software, a
time-consuming (and potentially expensive) conversion process is in your near
future. Your decision is made much more difficult by the fact there are
literally dozens and dozens of options for you to select from. Recent studies
conducted by myself point to the fact there may be as many as 250 different
systems that serve the permanent placement, temp/staffing, corporate and/or
retained industries.
There
are now, for at least the last five to six years or so, three basic types to
choose from.
Local/Networked:
These systems have been around for many years, starting out as DOS databases and
evolving to very sophisticated Windows packages. This type of application
resides on your local hardware and may or may not require other specialized
software. Some systems use SQLServer as the database and require Windows server
software. These systems may also require dedicated hardware, depending on the
number of users. Many systems, however, can be used and even networked, without
any hardware upgrades, unless your systems are unusually out of date. In this
model, you would be responsible for the software installations, maintenance,
upgrades, etc. The safety of your data would also be your responsibility.
Regular backups and offsite storage are advised. In addition to the purchase
price, which normally increases depending on the number of users, there may be
annual support and / or upgrade fees.
Web-Enabled:
This type uses local software installed on your machine but instead of using
your intra-office cabling for networking you use your Internet connection. You
own your own server and can have cabled users but any remote users can connect
using your Internet connection. Can be either a monthly fee or purchased
package. Backups are your responsibility. Purchased packages normally have an
annual maintenance/upgrade fee.
Web-Based:
Commonly referred to as an ASP (Application Service Provider). Some packages
install software on your pc but others are 100% web based. They either use a
browser interface (a customized Internet Explorer) or a programmed interface but
in both cases your data resides on a server on the Internet somewhere. Many
people I have spoken with are uncomfortable with their data on the Internet, for
security’s sake but I have never had a problem with that issue. I feel if your
data in on a large Internet server it is probably safer there than on any
machine you have in your office. Also, all your users in your office can share
the same data. Networking without all the networking hardware in your office.
This is an excellent model if you have employees working in different locations.
You can access your data from anywhere you have an Internet connection. Pricing
here runs from a low of about $40 a month up to over $100 a month for each user.
The cost is recurring but there is no up front purchase cost. In general, with
exceptions, these systems are somewhat slower than non-web systems.
In
both models you may be hit with a fee for converting your existing data to the
new format. There is normally some data loss here as your current database may
have more or fewer fields than the new database.
Let’s
talk about ACT!, Goldmine and Outlook for a minute. These products are in the
Contact Manager software category. ATS’s are great contact managers, but much
more. To this day many recruiters use these products, as they are quite
excellent in doing their job of keeping the recruiter in touch with both their
clients and candidates, however, unless you employ an expensive third party
solution or add-in, these products don’t do a very good job of keeping track
of job orders, resume submissions, client interview and placements…integral
parts of managing your desk or your business. There are simply better solutions.
Still
using Word and Excel docs, so are many others. Before databases, I did as
well…had all my candidate submissions, interviews and placements recorded but
each document was an island. Had to type the same thing over and over. No big
picture here.
Be
wary of resume database software. These are inexpensive databases that store,
then let you search against your resumes. Not that they don’t have their place
for certain applications but speaking for myself, I do not have resumes for many
of my day-to-day contacts such as hiring managers and / or HR contacts. Probably
better for recruiting only.
A
few pointers:
Look
for a simple, intuitive interface. My favorites are those that present a
candidate or job order on one or two pages. Any more than that and there is too
much clicking going on and too much time is necessary to add a new contact. You
need a name and contact information, maybe skills, education and notes right up
front. Many software developers don’t understand this.
Resume
Parsing…what a boon for recruiters. Probably should be wary of considering a
package without it. For the most part it gets you out of most data entry.
Normally, you would paste the text of a resume into a text box in a new record
in your database, click the parsing engine button, then see the prospects name
and all his contact information magically appear in a new record. Fill in the
skills, education and whatever else you need for that persons record and you are
done. I couldn’t live without it.
What
good is putting data in a database if you can’t get it back out again? Look
for a comprehensive search interface at the very minimum. One that allows you to
search on any field in any record. Keep in mind your not just looking for phone
numbers. You are searching for people working for a target company…maybe those
that graduated from a particular college. Need a candidate with specialized IT,
accounting and/or engineering skills…you need to be able to search for those
as well. That’s at a minimum. A quick search feature is handy as is a feature
that allows you to perform text searches against the resumes in each contacts
record.
You
absolutely, positively must be able to attach files to a record, and preferably
not just resume files. An unlimited amount of attachments is nice but certainly
several at a minimum. You might attach a person’s original resume, plus his
newly formatted resume. Fields for attaching faxes, text files, email messages,
web pages should also be available.
You
need a solid support team. Nothing is more frustrating that being out of
business due to a software problem and not being able to get your vendor’s
technical support personnel on the telephone. You need a commitment from your
vendor that they will provide ongoing support for your product. Check references
here.
Nothing
I can write here today will make your selection process an easy one but the best
advice I can give you is to determine what your basic needs are…then go from
there.
SearchExpo.net
This month I will
review SearchExpo, an excellent proprietary, subscription-based database with
over 2.7 million companies and almost 9 million people. With this service,
researchers and recruiters can generate targeted lists of companies,
descriptions of products and services and the names of top management
professional with just a few mouse clicks. You can also zero in on lists of
potential candidates quickly, allowing more time to focus on the placement
process itself. The researchers at SearchExpo have compiled a database of
millions of companies from such well known sources including, but not at all
limited to, Thomson Financial, Nelson Information, OneSource, Harte Hanks, Gale
Research, Lexis-Nexis, Harris InfoSource, Custom Databanks, and Chain Store
Guide. They claim to be the fastest research tool available and keep in mind
that your results are downloadable to many popular software formats.
I received a
trial membership for the purposes of this review and tried a number of searches.
Their web-based interface is very intuitive and easy to use. There are eleven
different types of searches you can run through this interface.
The main search
feature allows you to search the database by Industry (including SIC,
products/services, and size), locations (including state, region, area code, zip
code radius, county, and/or map), and finally the keyword search. Included in
the keyword search is a thesaurus feature that allows the database to assist the
user with generating more relevant results. You can search using any or all of
the available search criteria. They also have a simple search interface where
you can simply type in keywords and/or locations and see what results you get.
"Find a Person" and "Find a Company" are also easy to use by
filling in simple keywords including phrases, AND's and OR's. For the MIS/IT
recruiters a special feature includes the ability to type in a city and some
hardware or software and get a list of IT shops to target for marketing or
recruiting. The"Search Wizard" is an easy to use interface that walks
you through the database search process. There are also two separate searches
for Canadian companies if you have client needs in that country. There is a news
search feature if you are looking for articles on your target company or
executive.
There is a
feature to research the "Top 10" reports by choosing the type of
company you are searching for, along with a state or region. I am told more
industries will be added soon. Lastly, there is a search feature to search for
business information resources in six different categories. As you see this is
an extremely comprehensive interface, more so that many of the competitors in
the business area.
I used the search
feature to search for Executive Search Firms in Missouri. Obtained 263 results
for that one. The results are presented in a table format with the company
contact and other information available by clicking on the company name. I did a
company search on Monsanto, a large headquarters where I live. I got back 95
results, all different Monsanto locations nationwide with links to contact
information as well. I then used the IT search feature to search for Oracle
shops in the St. Louis area Surprisingly, I got back 176 results, more than I
thought there were in this area. Using the News Search, I searched for a small
company I know locally and found three very relevant, interesting articles about
this firm, again this was surprising as this is a very small company. Due to
time constraints I didn't try all the searches available but if I were a paying
customer of this service I know I could find good uses for all of these
features, either to create a marketing plan of a recruiting list.
For what it's
worth, Scott Love, one of our industries leading trainers, has given a strong
endorsement for this product and Lou Adler, another industry icon, has stated he
gets better results from this service than some of the competing products.
A quote from Jeff
Skrentny, another industry leader:
“As a result of
that trial, I located a system architect as a referral from one of the contacts
I found through your product, and the end result was closing a $33,000 fee
before the end of the year. (The candidate) will begin his new job with
one of my top clients next Monday, and I am confident of his success for one of
my most important clients. Without SearchExpo,
I know I would not have located (the candidate), and I am not sure if I would
have closed this deal with the other candidates I had in process.”
Pricing for this
web-based service is up to $4000 for an initial user annually depending on
features required. Additional users in the same office are $1,000.00.
Lesser services can result in lower pricing packages.
I
want to thank Jake Burke, the VP of Business Development for SearchExpo for his
help in writing this article. Anyone with any interest in learning more about
this excellent service can reach Jake via voice at 703-891-1192 or via email at
jake@searchexpo.net. You can also visit the SearchExpo website at
www.searchexpo.net.
Broadlook
Profiler
I
realize this product probably sounds familiar as we reviewed Profiler last year
when it was know by its original name, Broadlook Engine. The Profiler is now
part of the Broadlook suite, still, in my opinion, the Cadillac of Internet
research software products. Still in many ways in a class by themselves. I
wanted to write again as they have integrated many new features in the latest
release of this product.
The Profiler starts with a single company or a list of companies and delivers
real-time contact information such as, titles, phone numbers, company
affiliations, email addresses, and business events such as.
One
big improvement in the new version in more accurate data parsing. This is the
process where the software extracts information from a website. Another new
feature is the ability to automatically pull biographies for search results. I
need to mention the scoring systems as well, not a new feature but also much
improved. The software ranks your results according to 750+ criteria points. The
scoring makes it so that the good contacts rise to the top of the results and
the incomplete or incorrect results are separated to the bottom.
For
the purposes of this review I chose the ATS industry for research. Last month I
wrote a review on another Broadlook product, Ballista, which was used to create
a list of about 270 or so companies that market some type of ATS software. I
started by importing this huge list into Profiler. I loaded the new plan and
started the process. This took literally hours. Keep in mind it is searching
each of the 270 sites individually and culling vast amounts of information from
each one. Believe it or not, Profiler returned over 4700 potential contacts from
these websites but there was no filtering at this point. To make the list more
usable I ran the export again, this time requiring at least a name and email
address, a good starting point for any contact, and was returned over 560 names
and email addresses. Keep in mind this is not some out-of-date, purchased list.
This is a real-time list of up to date contacts for you to dive into. All I
would have to do now is use the newly created Excel spreadsheet to create a big
email list, author a message and hit the send button.
Excel
is great but Profiler also exports to over 50 ATS’s and CRM's including PC
Recruiter, RESUMATE, BullHorn, Goldmine, ACT!, cBizOne, Gopher, COATS and many
others.
When
you want some quick information on a specific company…use the Quick Search
feature. Type in the company name and website address and get back a list of
names, phone numbers and email addresses for many of the company employees.
Anyone
with a need to perform this type of research and analysis for their industry
specialty or client or client competitors should take one of their demos. They
provided an excellent training session prior to using the product, which was a
group, Internet-based meeting. Although the product searches the Internet it is
installed locally.
Profiler
is available on an annual subscription basis for $1,995 per user and is
available in a five-user pack for $4,995. Mention you heard about Profiler from
the Fordyce Letter for a special pricing offer. I want to thank Andy Theimer,
Creative Director at Broadlook Technologies, for all his help in writing this
article. I would encourage anyone with a need for this type of research tool to
visit the Broadlook website at www.broadlook.com
or contact Andy at 262-754-8080 x210 or via email at atheimer@broadlook.com
for more information.
Tip
NumRange, an
obscure Google command that is used to search for a range of numbers. This is
made to order for zip codes but can have other uses as well. I went to
google.com and type in: