swatrecruiting's Fordyce Letter ATS Reviews*

Velvet Search Management Technology
by Prospect City  04-06

Offered this month is a review of an ATS product that is a bit more than just your run-of-the-mill ATS product or service. Prospect City is a network of over 1000 recruitment professionals including Research Professionals, Executive Recruiters, Staffing Executives, and HR Executives linked together with a common goal, making more placements. Their core service, the Velvet Search Management Technology software, which this review will center on, is a fully web-based (ASP) that will contain all of your day-to-day search projects, candidate and job order pipelines, and other search contacts. Aside from their core service, which is available only as part of a membership in their network, they also offer related ancillary services including a project management service that support your mailings, proposals, data entry and data management; a financial management arm that supports all your firm’s bookkeeping efforts including payables, receivables, and payroll processing; and also a research service that has research professionals standing by to provide leads and candidates for your job orders either via an hourly rate or project basis. Along with the researchers there is a message board that allows members to communicate with one another and share information on job orders and candidates. The core service integrates seamlessly with the other components of their support services. 

First off, as I stated above, Velvet is completely web-based with nothing to install on your local PC and no worries about any hardware, software, backups, other technology issues. To use the system you simply open the Prospect City website, log in, and start using the software. The main page opens up to a very simply interface that gives you all of your activity at a glance including active projects (job orders), call list, lists of people and messages to follow up with, and recent people you have contacted. If you click on a project, you get a complete picture of what is going on with that project including contact information, description of project, candidates submitted, prospects to follow up with for the project, sources of prospects (a new one to me), and ex-prospects (another new one). You can also attach pertinent documents to the project file. At any time on any screen you can click on a contacts name and jump to a complete profile on that person, including all the standard candidate information.  

Adding a candidate is easy and can be accomplished at any time as there is always links to new candidate, new orders, and new project links available in plain view. You can enter a minimal amount of information for starters and although resume parsing does not appear to be available, part of their ancillary services is to allow you to outsource your data entry function to the Prospect City staff.  Entering new companies and projects (orders) are done in a similar manner. 

Their search function is more simplistic than most products I have review. There is a small “find” text box in the upper part of the screen, you simply type in your search terms and you are returned not every scrap of information in your database relating to the term, presented in an easy to read format and allows you to locate most anything you are looking for very quickly, including resumes of your candidates. The search feature also text searches all resumes for keywords so you do not have to fill out the employment history of candidates if you do not want to. 

What I like about this service is that is it is so very simple. A trait that I tout often in this column. Some ATS vendors have so many bells and whistles on their products that it is often too difficult to know all the features available, much less learn how to use them all. Velvet seems to be a simple place to store your people (candidate and job order contacts), your companies, and your projects (job orders) and offers a very simple and efficient interface to search them all with ease. 

The price for this service, per their website, is a one-time $1000 set up fee and a $200 per month per user fee. They do charge for data conversion if you are moving from a different systems. There are also additional fees for the project management, financial management and researching services mentioned above. A nice touch is their 24/7 technical support, a true rarity in this industry. 

One more point worth mentioning. Although Velvet is simple, their development team is on stand-by and ready to serve any customization requests of their clients.  Each of the clients starts with the base Velvet system and has added new features and functions (lists, complex searching/queries, branded client worksites, firm nomenclature, etc.).  As a result each firm ends up with a custom, proprietary system without any of the heavy costs associated with building and supporting a "home grown" system.  Most custom features are implemented within 24 hours. Most changes range from free to $150). 

Prospect City, with the Velvet ATS and the other services just mentioned, could be the answer for any firm wanting to concentrate more of their time on placements and less time on the day-to-day administrative, bookkeeping, researching and other non-productive duties one always encounters in running a recruiting office, both large and small.  

I want to thank Bob Stein, President of Prospect City for his assistance with this article. Anyone interested in more information can contact Bob via email at rstein@prospectcity.com or via voice at 630-805-1963. You can also visit the Prospect City web site at www.prospectcity.com for more information.    

ConexPlus  02-06

I have written about this ATS product once before, but not in a couple of years. Due to the continuing interest in recruiter databases, combined with the fact this product should be in your queue if you are consider a new ATS, I wanted to provide this updated review. ConexPlus is one of the few products in this category that I know of that was designed from the ground up by a very successful recruiter and business owner, Jake Amir, who continues to be the driving force behind this product. Jake originally designed and developed this software for his own very successful staffing and placement operation, and from there, grew into the retail product offered today.  

Anyone that has read my many reviews on ATS products over the years knows that I especially like those databases that are simple, intuitive and easy to use. This is the case with ConexPlus. The database opens up to your Candidates window in a list view. There are a number of boxes above the list where you can enter in text and apply a filter for a quick search of your list. I have seen this feature in other databases and it is an excellent way to provide a quick candidate look up. Adding a new Candidate is simple. You can add a new one manually or by parsing a resume from your network or hard drive. The candidates’ resume is also saved to the record and allows you to keep a copy of the original resume plus one of the formatted resume that you send to your clients (you can associate as many documents as you like with each candidate). The Candidate screen is simple and easy to read. The top half is contact information and the bottom half is a tabbed format including tabs for employment/education, notes, skills, references, attached documents, job orders (submitted to), and then also employee and billing info if you provide staffing services.  

The Companies/Clients window is small with a tabbed format as well. I like the fact that you can designate companies as source or client status, or you can customize your designation as well. There are tabs for contacts (within the company), notes, directions, benefits, job orders, hires, locations, and marketing contacts. Adding a new company is easy and similar to adding a new candidate. The Job Orders view has a nice feature…a tree view window on the left with all your active client companies. As you click on a specific client company, its associated job orders are listed just as the candidate and company list views. You can easily add or edit jobs like you can in the other screens. Job Orders can also be cloned copying all information as a recurring job order expires and a new one is needed. 

One of my favorite features in this database is one I have not seen elsewhere. There is a Views feature where you can easily view all of your Jobs by Jobs Category, Candidates by Job Category, Candidate Submission Status, My Consultants (for staffing firms), and other staffing-related views. This is a great way to get a quick snapshot of your activity. 

The system is tightly integrated with Microsoft Outlook.  Upon creation of a task, you have the option to also put the task in Outlook task manager and Outlook schedule.  This feature allows you to easily synchronize your activities with your hand held as well as to block times on your calendar when you have meetings with a candidate or a client. 

All e-mail interactions are accomplished via Microsoft Outlook.  The system allows you to create mail/merge templates that will be filled with information from the database and will be sent to your contact via Outlook so you have complete history of all communications with your contacts in the Sent box of Outlook.  Also, instead of reinventing all the features of Outlook and replicating its features, the integration takes care of it. 

I really like this…for the larger offices that have multiple recruiters and account executives; the system employs a feature called Notify where it allows the recruiters to notify account managers about new candidates and allows the account managers to notify the recruiters about new job orders. 

The system contains numerous reports to gage the performance of every recruiter, account manager and the firm as a whole.  You can look at profitability, submission, job coverage, placements and other important factors in a variety of ways.  ConexPlus also deploys a new technology that allows the managers in an organization to view the activities of their subordinates and reply to their activities in real time.  This is a huge time saving feature that cuts down the time utilized in staff meetings yet provides management and recruiters with all the information they need to both track activities and enhance performance. 

Lastly, the Maintenance screen exists for managing employee information, candidate status and sources, skills and skill categories, job categories, holidays, submissions status, relationship types, job order priorities and status, and note types and categories.  Almost every drop down list in they system can be customized by you and it is done in real time. ConexPlus employs a sophisticated security system that allows every organization to tailor the security and auditing tracking to their requirements.   

Pricing: the vendor offers multiple pricing options with discounts starting with a purchase of 10 licenses or more.  Standard license is $1,950.00 per user for installed systems.  The vendor also offers a hosted version (identical software, data is hosted either by the vendor or a 3^rd party) at $95 per user per month.  

I want to thank Jake Amir for his assistance with this article. I think anyone on the hunt for a new ATS solution should put this one in his or her queue. Anyone with any questions or comments can reach Jake via email at Jakea@conexplus.com or via voice at (314) 503-5325. You can also visit the ConexPlus web site at www.conexplus.com.  

Bullhorn 8.5  01-06

This month we have the honor of reviewing the venerable ATS provider, Bullhorn, one of the industry leaders and one we have written about in this column before. Bullhorn just released their latest and greatest, version 8.5 which I am going to write about today. They provide a fully integrated, Web-native front office solution, comprising integrated email, calendaring, applicant tracking, customer relationship management, and job order management…meeting the needs of all sized of staffing and recruitment firms, including temporary and permanent placement. 

The focus of this column will be on the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). This is the staffing and front office solution that you leave open on your desktop all day long and can also be accessed from a wireless device. As a result, they refer to it as the “virtual office that drives your company’s growth”.  Since it is a web-based product there is nothing to install on your local PC and all you need to get started is an Internet connection and your web browser. 

After entering your user name and password, Bullhorn opens up to an integrated email client, similar to Outlook, with your folders on the left and your messages and preview pane on the right. Its functionality is similar to Outlook and other email programs, and is designed for you to start working with it immediately. 

I jumped right into the Candidates area, which is feature rich. Other than adding a new candidate (either manually or with the Resume Wizard), you can view your complete Candidate List, which is searchable. From the Candidate List view you have many options. I started by clicking on a link to view a candidate. The next screen opens to your candidates’ overview, which is laid out nicely and easily configurable with the admin layout toolkit. You have a quick and easy view of pertinent data including the resume, status, notes (the last 10), salary information, contact information, category (title), location preferences, and other information as well. There are an unlimited number of “tabs” of data per candidate (the demo account showed 14) including attachments, education, notes, references, matches, edit (for updates to record), test scores, work history, and others. You may not need each tab for every candidate but they are there if you do and can be hidden if you don’t.  

I’ll take this opportunity to mention a nice feature. One of the tabs is a “login” tab. You can assign your candidate a user name and password, and then they can log into a candidate portal and update their own record, which then becomes part of the permanent record. The Resume Wizard (resume data parsing feature) seems to work well. I parsed a couple of resumes and the new records appeared with no errors, including skills, which is impressive.  

Searching your candidate records is easy and intuitive. Nicely done is a Quick Search feature accessible directly from the candidate List View where you can run a search for data from any field in the candidate record simply by typing in a word or two and then clicking the Find button. There are also both a Search and a Custom Search feature enabling a much more comprehensive search of your database including attachments and notes. If you run the same types of searches over and over again, there are Saved Queries you can access and run with one click. Overall, a great suite of searching features guaranteed to allow you to access any candidate that you are looking for. 

I won’t spend a lot of time on the Clients screen as it has many of the same views, data and features of the Candidates screen. I do like the Activity tab, where you can view all of the activity with this client, including current or previous interviews and placements. Interestingly, they have this one area for both hiring contacts and companies, which I think is well thought out design. Many database products have separate screens for this feature, separating the two but since they are so closely associated, I appreciate the consolidation of information. The Job List (job orders) is also similar to the other screens mentioned above. You can have only the Open jobs listed if you wish or look at job orders by type (temp, temp-perm, perm, contract, project, search, etc.). 

Let me also mention that as I have been working in various screens I have noticed that if you open a screen and don’t close it, it remains open while you are able to open while you are able to open and view other screens. There is a list on the left side of your screen of all of your open pages and you are able to bounce from one to another and really get some work done when you need to. 

Their placement form is very simple, as it should be, with a total of thirteen fields, not all of which are mandatory. I should also mention that all records (candidate, client, contact, job, placement) are easily configurable. Placements can be as simply as salary and fee percentage or more complex depending on the user’s needs. The placement form can also be filled out automatically directly from the Candidates’ screen. Invoicing is then handled directly from the placement form information. I also like the fact that if you split fees it has an area for 3^rd party referral fee payments. 

Integration is a cornerstone component of this product. Not only is the email client and candidate communication integrated with the database but they also offer fax integration with eFax, online timecards for those who support staffing services, and integrated invoicing and payments. 

Reporting is one of the strong points. I noticed at least a couple of dozen reports available including activity, mail merge, mailing labels, job listings, placements, sales, etc. I also want to mention they have an excellent Help feature that I used several times in the course of this review, and is very thorough and easy to navigate.  

Bullhorn subscription pricing is based on enabled users, and entitlement - Full Users, Admin Users, Email Users and other roles – and costs approximately $135 per user, per month. Discounts are available for larger firms based on user commitments.  Implementation costs vary with the complexity of your business needs but typically vary between 15 and 30 percent of the annual lease cost. 

This service is so packed with features that I knew that I was not going be able to cover them all in this article. Some features of note that I do not have the space for include an excellent integrated Calendaring/Task List feature, wireless connectivity, ticklers, activity tracking, customization, and many others. 

I would encourage anyone seeking a first-class front office solution to consider and investigate Bullhorn. They can be reached toll-free at 866-538-7795 or you can visit them on the web at www.bullhorn.com.   

RecruitTrack ATS  12-05

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.  

Gopher 12-04 

For this month we have a review for an ATS that has been around for quite some time but never reviewed before in this column. I have been hearing about this database, Gopher by BlackDog Recruiting Software, for years and am happy to finally be able to review this product. Billed as a complete recruiter's contact management, call management, and calendar system. This service is a 100% web-based with a twist, they also are able to host your entire suite of software products. More about that later but please read on. 

Even though there is no local database software, you do need to install Citrix to use this product. This is a free and easy download and install that allows you to connect to their system. From there, simply open the web page and log in. Normally at this stage you would open your database but in this case you are opening to an entire Windows desktop with not only an icon to start Gopher, but also any other software program you use. Again, more on that later. Once you click on the Gopher icon the program opens and you log in again. You open up to an interface that includes your calendar and daily planner, a good idea for any database. Here is your list of tasks to accomplish for the day. 

I always like to start with the candidates, called Profiles in this program. Adding a new one is easy. Click the Plus sign, a blank record appears, fill in whatever you need, including a customized skills listing (Keyword Dictionary), and save. Using their iRex add-on, you import a resume any number of ways and a new profile (record) is created with all Keyword Dictionary entries highlighted, a copy of the text resume is copied to the profile, the original resume is saved, a Calendar record is created noting the new profile for follow-up, a Note Pad record is created noting the date of entry, the work history is extracted and saved in a Snap Shot, and the skills highlighted are compared to open job orders, all with virtually one click. Once entered and worked a bit, you can access data about this candidate easily, including a resume, memos, positions, and a great tracking page with access to information including Resumes Sent, Interviews, and past Placements. A nice feature – you can stack your new resumes and using the Auto Import feature the system checks periodically for resumes to add and does this automatically. There is no separate tab, screen or table for companies in this database as all companies can be searched from the client interface. Clients, along with their corresponding Companies are entered in the same way; with job orders having a Client/Company relationship, either manually or via iRex. Whenever a new job order is entered, the entire database of profiles is automatically checked for matches. When entering multiple candidates from the same company, they have a nice Copy Record feature that automates populating the new Client record. Another feature I haven’t seen lately is your ability to import a scanned or faxed document.  

Once you get the data into the database, searching couldn’t be easier. In most databases, the search interface is a separate page, where you need to enter your search criteria. Not here, your search page is the same as your Profile page. Click the Find button, your screen is filled with blank fields, fill in any search criteria into any field, including wildcards (*) and then click the Complete button and your search results come back in single-form view, which you can easily change to a list view with one easy click. For those with a need to search skills you use the same Keyword Dictionary for searching those. You can also search all the resumes directly for any keyword you like. Great interface…simplest I have seen in a while. Reporting is handled with Crystal Reports, Excel and Access. Although there are numerous included reports, user-created reports are completely customizable.  

It’s later now… What really sets this group apart from many of the others is their ability to not only host your ATS software, they allow each user access to an entire Windows desktop as I described earlier. Once you login, use your day-to-day software including, but not limited to, Outlook, Word, Excel, Gopher, etc., remotely. What that means to the user is that locally, all you need a basic, simple and inexpensive solution including a pc or laptop, a Windows OS, an Internet browser and an Internet connection. I imagine Cable or DSL would be preferred but you can even connect with a 56k modem. Besides the Gopher review, I did open and work with Word and Internet Explorer remotely and surprisingly, did not perceive a decrease in performance. This could appeal to those of us who feel particularly challenged and generally uninterested in always keeping up with the latest software, patches, etc.  

Pricing starts with a one-time cost of $1,200 for one user with an additional $50 per month for their upgrade plan, which offers access to the iRex feature. For a one-user, networked version the one-time costs is $1,500 and the upgrade plan charge is an additional $70 per month. The pricing decreases from there depending on the number of user and networking needs.

I want to thank Ken Peck of BlackDog Recruiting Software for his assistance in preparing this article.  Anyone with an interest in more information on this service can visit their website at www.recruiting-software.com. Those with any questions or comments can reach Ken directly via voice at 970-349-0364 or via email at ken@recruiting-software.com.   

SmartSearch Online 10-04 

This writer gets more queries from the readership about recruiter databases than any other topic…by far. In our continuing effort to get the Fordyce subscribers the information they are looking for I am pleased to review an industry-leading product, SmartSearch Online.  

SmartSearch Online (a product of Advanced Personnel Systems, Inc. APS) is marketed as a total Internet recruiting solution. In addition to all the basic requirements you need to run your business, candidates, contacts, job orders, etc. it has an extraordinary number of advanced features, many of which are completely customizable, that allow you to run your software the way you run your business. This is a 100% browser-based web solution and does not require any software locally installed. No additional hardware is required although most users should have at least a cable or DSL connection.

Getting down to business, adding a candidate is easy. Click to add a new one, click to upload a local file (resume), select your file, then click the upload button. There is your resume, ready for processing. This is your opportunity to preview the resume and make sure it is the correct person. Click the process button and your new record is created. APS has developed their own parsing engine (many ATS vendors outsource this function) which seemed to work flawlessly. The new record contains the contact information, candidate source, SS#, career start year and highest degree attained. You are able to quickly fill out the rest of the record by selecting from customizable drop-down menus. As general or specialized as your business is, that is how general or specialized your menu items can be. To enter a job order you first pick your contact. Once selected, your job order form is presented with all the available information for that contact. From there you add the order specifics, and outside of the job description/requirements, are able to populate the form with easily customizable dropdowns.

Their search interface is great – extremely user-friendly yet comprehensive. Designed to quickly search the complete text of your resumes using virtually unlimited words, phrases or even complex Boolean constructed searches in 6 MUST have fields, 6 NICE to have fields and 3 MUST NOT have fields. You can also include almost any combination of data from the candidate record such as date ranges, state and/or zip code, relationship, years of experience, education, even skill codes in addition to your keywords. Alternately, you may use a natural language Interface to search by narrative text, like job descriptions. Your search results are shown in a frame on the left side of your screen. By clicking a name on the list you display the appropriate record on the right side of your screen. You can also save searches if you run the same type repeatedly. As I said…great interface.

SmartSearch Online’s integration with Outlook is very convenient, creating reminders for interviews and other important dates while working with candidate, contact and job records. A simple tool allows you to import contact or candidate records from either MS Outlook or a comma-separated file (CSV). You can also create mail merge files from this information. Reporting is considered a hallmark of SmartSearch Online. The system allows for the creation of a virtually unlimited variety of reports detailing performance measurement, diversity and compliance, sourcing effectiveness and up to the minute statistics on hiring activities to name a few. These are actual reporting tools – not canned reports.

The Administration feature of this application is the heart of the entire program. This is where you can set up your database to behave how you want by populating dropdowns and configuring workflow automation. Also accessible from this area are your reports and graphs, any employee accounting/hours information, users, lists, questions for candidates, vendor management, greetings, and broadcast information.

This program is set up to be of value to firms ranging from as few as two recruiters up to a corporate, enterprise-level of usage. Basics described, SmartSearch Online offers a wide variety of related services with their membership. I was unable to test these for the purposes of this review but offer a list of these items for your review. Other available services, some of which require extra cost, include:

Career Center - Fully integrates your recruitment efforts with the World Wide Web. Candidates visiting your corporate website can search for jobs, submit resumes, create an account which allows them to apply for jobs, update their resume, and create a job profile which notifies them when a job meeting their requirements is entered.

Comprehensive Candidate Screening – You can create and manage candidate screening questions ranging from simple yes/no to multiple choice to narratives. Candidate replies are automatically recorded in their permanent record.

Hiring Manager Portal – Your clients can visit your website, log on and manage the jobs they want your help filling. You can also give them access to performance statistics and even allow them to review resumes and leave you feedback.

Wireless Access – You now can have wireless access to your database information if you need it.

Accounting Gateway – Integration with payroll and/or other accounting or HRIS systems.

Email Auto-Reader - Allows users to email Word, RTF, TXT or HTML files directly into the system.

Batch Upload Utility - Allows users to import groups of resumes into the system from a user’s hard drive.

Time Collection - Part of the optional SmartSearch Online Accounting Gateway, this allows employees to enter their weekly hours and managers to approve them

Recruiting Village – A user community provided as part of the service. Includes the use of a shared candidate database with hundreds of thousands of resumes and unlimited job posting to the well-visited Recruiting Village job board.

Background Screening – You can order straight from the software in conjunction with Arrin Systems.

Job Posting – Software integrates directly with your corporate website to dynamically post your open jobs. Also in partnership with GO Jobs, you can also post to external sites.

Vendor Management System (VMS) – Manage vendors and subcontractors. Invite them to participate in filling jobs, monitor their performance and the candidates they have submitted.

Pricing for this service is somewhat above average but you seem to get a lot for your money. There is a one-time setup fee of $3500 then a user fee of $100 per month per user for up to five users. The monthly user fees go down from there for additional users. Included in the setup fee are two hours of Career Center customization and two hours of telephone-based user training included in the Set-up fee. There are extra costs for data migration, custom programming, hard copy resume scanning, batch uploading, the Email Autoreader, wireless access, the Accounting Gateway and the VMS module. 

I want to thank Paul Smith, the National Accounts Manager for SmartSearch Online, for all his help in preparing this article. Anyone with any questions or comments regarding this package can check out the website at www.smartsearchonline.com. Or you can reach Paul via voice at 760-941-2800 or toll-free at 800-875-0588, or, via email at psmith@aps2k.com.  

RESUMate 6-04

Anyone who reads this column with any regularity knows that I review recruiter database software almost every month, as the interest in that topic remains high among the Fordyce subscribers. Most of the software reviewed in this category is extremely complex for many recruiters as many packages try and be so many things to so many people. Most recruiters I know, including myself, do not use their software systems to their full potential. For those that don’t need all the bells and whistles, nor the price tag associated with options and features you don’t want or would never use, here is one, RESUMate, that would suffice for any resume-driven recruiter looking for a simple solution for a very reasonable price.  

RESUMate is a simple, easy-to-use database program that parses contact information from resumes and stores that information in a database. Exactly what many recruiters are looking for. I really like the way they have accomplished something few before them have accomplished…to put all the pertinent candidate data on one screen. It is a busy interface for sure but not too busy. 

Aside from parsing the usual contact information, which I tested a number of times with excellent accuracy, it can also parse out user-defined keywords and then highlight them in the new record. Text resumes (attachments are linked) are part of each record. Some of the data fields are customizable, enabling you to enter the information important to your business. Unlimited space for notes, logs, references, etc.  Six date fields note past and future contacts, which feed into a built-in calendar. Once the record is created, you can search any field in the candidate record. You can send emails and open web pages directly from the candidate record. It also has a dialing feature where it will dial the telephone for you if you have the correct hardware setup.  

The RESUMate Lite version reviewed goes for $295 for the first user and $99 for additional network users. They also have a RESUMate Pro version available for $795 and $195 for additional network users that integrates client, contact and job order records with the candidate records in the Lite version. There is also the optional Import Express add-on ($200 with purchase) is handy for those performing imports for multiple resumes.   

I want to thank Charlie Schaldenbrand for his help in writing this article. Anyone interested in more information about RESUMate can visit their website at www.resumate.com or contact Charlie direct via email at charlie@resumate.com or voice at 800-530-9310 x208. 

cBizOne by cBizSoft 5-04

Due to the continuing strong demand from the Fordyce readers for information on recruiter databases, I have been trying to review an ATS each month. This month I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to review a database I had heard of but had never seen, cBizOne by cBizSoft (www.cbizsoft.com). It is one of the most complete and comprehensive systems I have reviewed to date. That, combined with speed, ease of use, and a very familiar "Windows" design, make for a solid system.  

This product is a web-enabled client-server application that can be used either stand-alone or networked.  Your database is also accessible from anywhere using the Internet. cBizOne can be hosted on your desktop or network or hosted by cBizSoft or a third-party hosting company. For virtual companies and remote users, regardless of hosting model, they utilize data replication to continuously update information back and forth from your desktop to the server.  The beauty in this configuration is that you always have access to your data, regardless of whether you have an Internet connection. When you are connected, your data is synchronized with the server so it can be shared with others in your office, or, if you run a solo shop, you can have access from multiple PC's. When you are not connected, the system if fully functional, and all your adds and changes are synched up with the server the next time you are connected.  

There is no main screen, per se. You start the program and get a two-pane view with all your folders on the left and all the data in those folders on the right. They have folders for Companies, Contacts (hiring managers), Candidates, Requirements, a Calendar and Sent Mails (there is a built in email client that works hand in hand with your Outlook program). Once you select the folder you want to look at, all your data appears on the right in a datasheet view. One very handy feature is the patent-pending Live Search Bar, at the top of each data page. You simply type in a few letters in the text box above the field you want to search (Name, State, Skills, etc.) and you are able to locate almost any contact or candidate within seconds.  

Adding a new candidate is easy. You can add new records either singly or batch up many together and by using the GrabIT feature can create new records extracted directly from emails, folders or web pages. Once you add your new candidate record all activity and correspondence with that person is recorded. The good part about that is that on each candidate record you have information on all your email correspondence, what requirements/companies they have been submitted to, all interview and placement activity, plus all the standard fields for contact information, job history, skills, education, etc. 
 

The database is highly customizable. New records can be created using use a set of fields to capture data in a Win-Form, which can be completely customized by the user to include industry, company-specific or any other fields of your choosing.  An example might be custom fields for certifications or licenses. Also, you can create a web form that can reside on your own website. Candidates can enter their profile/resume into your web page and the candidate will be automatically added to the database.  

The Companies folder allows you to link all your clients within a company and the linking information lets you see all your Requirements and Submittals for that company. The Requirements form is very straightforward and similar in functionality to the Candidates form in that it also capture data via custom fields or can be entered via your website. 

Once your Candidates, Companies, Contacts and Requirements are in the database it’s time to do some searching. This is accomplished in any one of several ways. I have already mentioned the Search Bar, a great feature to find data fast. You can also use the Advanced Find (a comprehensive search against the Candidate records, notes and resumes) and / or the Document Find (a text search against your hard drive or server) features. A nice touch is the highlighting of your keywords in the search results. 

Once the search is complete, time to make some submissions. A few clicks and you're there. On sending the Candidate to your Contact, the Candidate is automatically linked to the Requirement, Contact and Company. They offer a highly customizable email template, including your logo, that really make your submissions stand out from the competition.  A copy of the sent email is logged to the software and your external email client. Tracking the candidate through the placement is made simpler when the components are linked and easily accessible.   

A unique feature of cBizOne is it's direct integration with Outlook. Through an Outlook toolbar AddIn called cBizBar, you can use GrabIt, parse resumes, directly add clients to cBizOne, link emails to any database entry, etc. 

I could go on but I'll stop here for now. Having said all of the above, they have the lowest monthly fee for this type of service that I have seen to date. Their standard, published fees are $30 per month per user. There are no fees for setup, support, upgrades, training, or data import. Unheard of up to this point. Also, there is no minimum contract. Service is billed month by month. For $10 more per month you can get a SQL Server based system (as opposed to the Access based system) if you have a larger office.  Hosting and remote administration services are also available. 

They offer a free 60 trial of their software that can be downloaded from www.cbizsoft.com. My thanks to Bob Nelson, cBizSoft, Inc. Director of Marketing, for his help with this review. Anyone with any questions or comments can reach Bob via voice at 972-713-3888 x 24 or via email at bob@cbizsoft.com. I would strongly encourage anyone that has any interest in a solid, versatile, comprehensive ATS should definitely put this software on your review list. 

Big Biller 4-04

For this month, I had the pleasure of reviewing the Big Biller applicant tracking system from Top Echelon. Can I say I was a member of this venerable organization for many years and my lack of participation at this time is in no way to be considered a lack of respect and admiration for this top flight recruiter network. I remember the days when all the resumes came in the mail, and then they introduced the MS/DOS database and sent us diskettes each week. We could even upload resumes and resume data sheets to the main system with a built in FTP program. Then came the first couple of Windows versions, which looked exactly like the DOS version, only more colorful. This was all leading up to their current offering, Big Biller.  

You might ask why a review for a software product for a proprietary network. Answer…Big Biller is no longer just for the Top Echelon members; they are now offering the system on the open market. A first for them. This is strictly web-based. Nothing to install on your local system. Home or work…you can access your data at any time. I spent a couple of days on their system and here is what I came up with.  

You log onto the main menu and see everything you need to begin your day right in front of you. From this screen you can Add, Find, Search, View and Email People, Companies and / or Jobs. Handy to have is the list of the last fifteen records you looked at.

I started with the People section of the database and tried my hand at adding a couple of new candidates. If you want to take advantage of the resume parsing feature you first browse for the resume on your hard drive, which pops a text copy of the resume into the new record, then, on clicking the parse feature, the new record is automatically populated with the contact information for that candidate as well. It is up to you to complete the rest of the record including, but not limited to, person type, employment, relocation, education, positions, compensation, skills…as much or little as you desire.  

Please note I said “people” section and not “candidate” section…I like the way they have checkboxes on each record to denote the type of person you are entering. Candidate…Hiring Authority…Recruiter…just check the appropriate box. Many databases I have reviewed in the past require you to maintain separate databases for candidate contacts and hiring contacts. This has always been frustrating for me as on the occasion you have a hiring contact who happens to be your candidate as well (the audacity), you had to enter a new record for that contact. Two records for one person (one in the candidate section and one in the hiring authority section) in the same database? A big no-no in my book. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a relational database.  

Another strong suit is the way they handle the search process. You can enter data until the cows come home but unless you have a way to get it back out again…you are wasting your time. As an IT recruiter I am always hung up on how a database handles a candidate’s “skills”. This typically would be where I denote COBOL or UNIX or some other skill(s) the candidate has that I am going to search on at a later date. Enter text searching. A foolproof way to search for anything and everything. Big Biller allows you to text search your resume, comments, skills and any other bit of data you have entered. Don’t get me wrong, they still have fields that you can enter data into and search directly, but why take the extra time to enter all that in when it is all in the resume already. I think this is a trend we’ll all see more and more. Less field searching and more text searching. It works fine for Google, Alta Vista and all the big Internet search engines and it works for recruiter databases as well.  

Clicking on the Jobs section, I get a listing of all my open job orders. Adding a new order is easy. Enter the job title, company, contact, some type of job description and your done. Many fields for skills, industries, educational requirements, compensation, among others. If this is a new client where you do not have the company name in the database, it is easy to add on the fly. To add the job order contact you click on that field and are presented with a list of contacts in that company. A new contact for that company is very easy to add on the fly as well. Searching your jobs is fairly straightforward as well. You can text search all your records or search specific comp, relocation or any other defined field.  

Pulling everything together is easy as well. Getting search results is just the first step, you still need to get these people out to client sites, set up interviews and place them. On each person’s record is an activity button. Using the built-in email client, this is used to send a candidate’s resume to a client site, with a notation of the resume being sent automatically copied into the record. Using the same interface, you can track that submission through the rest of the placement process by logging interview and placement activity.  
 

Enhanced communication is one of the keys to this software. You can communicate with who you need to, when you need to, and keep a record of the entire correspondence. You can easily pull information directly from the database including both resumes and job orders, then send it to multiple recipients. You can also create groups, send emails to search results, and personalize the emails if you wish. Included is an excellent built-in planner where you can plan, track and view all activity available for you and other members of your firm.

They have an excellent and very competitive pricing plan which is $50 for first user and $10 additional for each additional user, per month. This is one of the lowest monthly fees I have seen for this type of service. There is no setup fee and data conversion is a flat fee of $275.00 plus 2 cents per record for each database converted.

I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone seeking this type of service to check out the Big Biller software. My thanks to Mark Demaree, Vice President at Top Echelon Network, Inc., for his help in writing this review. Anyone with any questions or comments should contact Todd Bossler via telephone at (330) 455-1433 or email at tbossler@bigbiller.com. You can also visit the Big Biller website at www.bigbiller.com.

ConexPlus  12-03

Anyone still looking for an excellent ATS, and I know there are many of you still out there, should take a close look at this product. Developed by recruiters for recruiters this package has many excellent advanced features many of us can use. The name may sound familiar as we reviewed this service a couple of years ago and am happy to provide this updated information for you. In last month's column I wrote about their new pricing plan, which is one of the most competitive in the industry. 

There is a familiar look to this product. If you are at all familiar with MS/Outlook, or most any other Windows program, you will get used to ConexPlus fairly quickly. It uses expandable "tree view" and tabs in order to allow you to look at your data from different viewpoints.  

I was allowed access to their network for the purposes of this review, but there was no test data available so I was unable to run searches for candidates and/or job orders. Some of the main features you will find include: 

* Integration with MS/Outlook, one of a very few systems that have an integrated or linked email system. Very handy when locating a history of candidate or client contact.

* Mail Merge with MS/Word. Build your client and candidate mailing list and then send periodic announcements and or bulletins to either with a few mouse clicks.

* Ability to search candidates, resumes, job orders, clients and contact...very easily and efficiently.

* Integrated task manager to keep track of commitments to clients and/or candidates.

* User defined fields for candidates, clients, contacts and job orders

 You can enter an unlimited number of candidates and associate each candidate with a vocational category. You can also add an unlimited number of database-defined skills for each candidate. That goes for attachments and notes as well as you can attach any number of them to each record.  

Another excellent feature is the resume parser. You can easily add a new candidate or job order to your database by parsing the contact and other information directly from the resume or job order text into the database. A "must-have" feature in any database, as far as I am concerned. For each candidate you can also add reference and referral information, something not seen in a lot of the competition.  

Using the tree views available you can, with a few mouse clicks, track all the candidates sent to each job order and tracks the job orders per candidate. You can view all the employees of a given company, be it client or otherwise. View all the job orders from a given company and/or manager. All this is without running any searches but by simply clicking on a different view.

Although I did not run any reports their reporting appears to include many reports most managers would kill for. Profitability reports, sales performance, recruiter performance, candidate source analysis, gross profit/gross margin reports, real-time sales and recruiting activity and a number of others. These productivity reports and statistics really tell a recruiter or manager how their business is running and points specifically to where in the process the flow may be breaking down, leading to less placements. Find your strengths and weaknesses in a hurry with these tools. 

Using an excellent auto processing feature, which is customized by each user, you can pre-define activities and/or events that occur upon the placement of a candidate, closing of a job order and candidate status changes including automatically notifying other recruiters and/or management of the changes.  

Also, this product is one of the few that I have reviewed that specifically caters to the temp/contract industries, for those of you in that line of business. There are fields for pay rate, bill rate, anniversary and other employee-type information.  

As I mentioned before, and in last month's column, they now have one of the most aggressive pricing plans in the business. They charge $995 for 3 hosted, fully licensed users for one year. Most of the other players I have seen are close to $100 per user per month. This product comes in a web-based mode, which is the one I reviewed, but also comes in a local, networked version for those that are not comfortable with their data out on the Internet. 

I want to thank Fred Sussman, their VP of Sales for his assistance in writing this article. Anyone with any questions or comments can reach Fred via voice at 314/495-0910 or via email at freds@conexplus.com. You can also visit the ConexPlus website at www.conexplus.com. 

Bullhorn Staffing 5-03

Bullhorn Staffing is a 100% Internet based applicant tracking ASP we have written about in this column before. A strong continuing interest in this software category from the Fordyce readers and a lot of new and useful updates to this package, including substantial upgrades to flexibility and integrations features, warrants another look.  

This software system seems to do a good job in integrating sales, recruiting, marketing, data mining, management reporting, and back office integration. At first glance it seems to be laid out in an intuitive manner and is very easy to use. I also wanted to mention the entire user interface is customizable according to the way you do business.  

I wanted to mention first how they had integrated a complete email system into their software. This is a boon to anyone, like me, who uses email extensively. There are other systems that allow you to attach email messages to a record but you have to save the message first and then attach it to the record. Here the entire email program is integrated so all your communications with each candidate or contact automatically becomes part of the database record.  

On logging in you get the Bullhorn desktop, which has an integrated calendar with all your tasks for the day in plain view. Your hot candidates, client contacts and job orders are also highlighted in the desktop view, as are notifications of any new emails in your inbox. 

New candidates are easy to add manually but nothing will beat the ease of simply emailing a new candidate’s resume to Bullhorn and have it automatically parsed for contact info and skills and then added to the candidate database immediately. Their search engine offers an extensive array of search parameters mirroring the information on the candidate entry form, which, surprisingly, not all of the ATS search engines allow. From the Candidate’s menu you can also access all of your saved queries, which when run, generate updated results each time or, you can access a group of candidate lists, in which the entire list of names is saved as a permanent record for future reference. Another candidate related feature I like is their distinction between a “lead” and a “candidate”. There is a separate area for website resumes, unsolicited emailed resumes, extra ad responses and stashed resumes of passive candidates that have not been “processed” so can’t actually be called a “candidate” yet. These leads are searchable as well and can be added to the candidates’ database at any time.  

As always, the clients tab is fairly simple and is related to your marketing / job order contacts. You can easily view a list of all your clients then click each individually for a menu offering activity, contacts, and other client related activity. You can also add new contacts from this view. 

The jobs menu items pull everything together. Outside of adding new jobs to your database and viewing a list of your open jobs and searching them, you keep track of all the resumes that have come up on searches against a job order and also keep track of all the resumes you have submitted to clients for each job order. I like how they have related the placements activity into the jobs area, as that is how it should be.  

In this upgrade they have continued with their “tearsheet” concept that allows a user to easily create a group of resumes to be sent to a client site, as part of a presentation or to another recruiter.  

The service also comes with a great reports feature, including job order, activity, and placement reports, mailing label reports, timecard reports for contractors, business analysis reports and others as well. You can also create and print your invoices from within the product.  

Pricing is customized based on users, usage and level of customization but can range anywhere from $90 per user per month and $200 per user to install up to $150 per user per month and $500 per user to install. I am told that most customers successfully implement Bullhorn in less than 30 days including training, data migration, and any desired configurations.  

I want to thank Greg Hanson, CEO of BullhornSTAFFING, Inc. for his assistance in writing this review. Any subscriber seeking this type of service is encouraged to visit the Bullhorn website at www.bullhorn.com or you can reach Greg via voice at 617-464-2440 or via email at greg@bullhorn.com with any questions or comments. 

ASKSAM 1-03

The major problem with most of the recruitment databases is that they are too complicated. Most try and be all things to all people and can't. I look for simple and found it here with the Resume Tracking System from askSam Systems of Perry, Florida. The software is a great tool that simply imports your resumes into a database then uses an interface to search the text of those resumes for the keywords you need.  

To mention a negative up front this software does not perform any type of data parsing. Each resume is imported into a file with a corresponding data entry form. You have to manually fill out any fields you need for each candidate, which can be anywhere from zero to dozens of fields per candidate, depending on your needs. If all you want is an easy way to search your resumes for skills why use a product with all the bells and whistles you will never use. All data entry forms are totally customizable...add new fields or delete existing fields at will.  

Importing a file is as simple as clicking on an Import menu item and the resume is pasted into your resume database. Once your resumes are in the database you use a simple search interface to perform the keyword search and are then presented with a list of matches for further review. You can also keep an unlimited number of notes for each candidate. They also have a Power Search feature enabling you to run precise searches against the custom fields you fill out for each candidate, if any. You can search for any word, phrase, number, or date, or, combine your search terms with the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT, and use wildcards, fuzzy searches, proximity searches. Once the resumes are in the database you can use the full-featured WYSIWYG word processor to edit and format the resumes. A mail merge feature allows you to send a resume to multiple companies or process letters to applicants. 

Besides importing entries from word or text documents, you can also scan or type new data into the system. Also, included are applications to track almost anything including job orders, employee skills, names, and addresses. Reports are pre-defined listing job requisitions, open positions (by company or by location), experience and other information as well.

Overall, an excellent product. It doesn't do everything some of the other database products do but doesn't try to either. Their list price is $595 for a single user. There are additional fees for network users and premium support. They do offer discounts for multiple licenses. If you are in the market for this type of product I suggest you visit their Web site at www.askSam.com and download a trial version of the software. Installation is simple. You can also reach Marlinda Bullock at 800-800-1997 or 850-584-6590 or via email at marlinda@askSam.com.  

StaffSoft 10-02

For most of the last twelve months or so we have written about a number of Web based ATS systems. Recently, I have heard from several agency owners expressing reservations about having their data stored outside of their office. They just don’t feel comfortable trusting an outside service with this responsibility. I don’t necessarily share those fears but for those individuals and any others that feel the same way this month we write about an excellent ATS system, StaffSoft, that can be used either stand-alone or networked. 

One of the things that stood out immediately when I first loaded the program is its simplicity, an important feature to me. I have always thought that many of the software vendors make their software overly and unnecessarily complicated...cluttering the screens with too many fields and luxurious features. Not so here...a half screen interface with enough fields to suit anyone.

As always...I will run through many of the features available in this program. 

A contact manager is provided for each module. You are able to add unlimited notes throughout the program with date/time and user added automatically.  Form letters are provided specific to each module, and are completely customizable and allow attachments. All contact information may be retrieved and filtered at any time. The displayed information can be filtered by any required option including a date range. There are a number of Contact descriptions, however, additional descriptions or reasons may be added free form from within the Contact Manager. A number of user-defined fields are available for each module, including searchable fields. International phone numbers and postal codes are accepted. Origination dates for records are automatically recorded. 

The StaffSoft Web feature enables the user to automatically post a selection of, or all jobs, to the users web site, invite applicant response and allow the submission of personal data and résumé for a job or jobs selected by the applicant.  The recruiter may then download applicants considered suitable into the Applicant/Candidate database creating a complete record from the information received. 

Regarding client records...you can record each client by contact name, title, address, contact information, industry, skill and rating. Each client can have multiple addresses. You can print or e-mail form a template letters to clients automatically. You can sort client information for easy information retrieval and add any special notes you need to for a given client. Fee schedules are always handy. Neat is the ability to show not only all current employees but also all former employees as well. You can send emails with attachments to clients from within the software package. Nice also is the ability to access you job orders from within the client module. 

Regarding Applicants, information may be added by the importation of résumés from the Internet, scanning and the use of OCR, or downloaded from a submittal entered on a client’s web site. Records applicant information including name, address, home phone number, cell phone number and e-mail address. Skills are also imported from résumé information. StaffSoft has the ability to process .doc, .rtf and .txt documents for résumé importation. Additional fields exist for social security number, work phone number, mobile phone number, fax number, and pager number. Records may be imported one-at-a-time or in batches. StaffSoft detects duplicates and prints out a log report for each import activity. Applicant information may also be added manually at any time. You can also import resumes in several languages with unique characters and accent marks. You can enter of applicant’s skills; educational information and industry experience, and mark them active or inactive. The software generates automatic follow-up dates, creates automatic To-Dos,  and schedules appointments from within the applicant screen all of which can be written out to Microsoft Outlook 98 or higher. The career history for each candidate automatically records most recent employment including title, salary, start and end date. External career history information may be added manually. Important to me is the Résumé Sent History. Automatically records résumés sent to clients on behalf of an applicant. Shows interview date (if any) and applicant’s status. The software allows you the ability to automatically create a résumé from existing applicant data. A customizable Referral field and a Referral field for Commissioning purposes is available. A Licenses/Certificates screen allows the user to keep track of applicant’s licenses and certificates.  Furthermore, you can automatically copy the reference information into the Sourcing module for further recruiting. You have direct access to résumés documents via a selection of word processing programs. You can search from within the applicant record. StaffSoft calls it They call it a ‘Reverse Search’, offering the ability to search and find viable job orders using the applicant’s skills and education as a reference.

For those sourcers out there (aren’t we all), some neat features. The software records all resource information for easy sorting and viewing.  Transfers automatically to client database or applicant database or both.  Includes unlimited memo fields, major skill, expertise, and referral information. 

For job orders you can display all orders for a particular client in one screen including job title, unlimited job description field, job location, job skills, degree and major required, industry experience, date job order posted, start and end dates, number of positions needed, number of positions filled, active job order, permanent or ongoing, job status - open or closed, salary range - annually or hourly. From within the Job Order you may use Candidate Search or Keyword Search. Candidate Search automatically includes the skills requested in the job order specification. Search criteria, such as active status, origination date, job title, area code, city, state, zip code may be selected to refine the search. Additional criteria may be activated to include a search on a degree and/or major requested or on an industry requirement. You can search and print a list of open jobs from within the Job Order screen as at the current date (default) or a selected date. Keyword Search uses the information in the applicant résumé to carry out a search using the same job order criteria. Additional search criteria may be added at will. The results of a Candidate Search and a Keyword Search may be merged. Neat is the ability to create a ‘slide show’ of prospective candidates to allow a review and selection of the most suitable candidates for transfer to the candidate list. Candidate résumés may be emailed or faxed directly from within each candidate screen and the contact information may be automatically removed, including the applicant name, if desired, leaving only the StaffSoft designated ID number. Applicants may be notified automatically via e-mail asking if they are interested in a particular job in which they qualify. You can develop Account Development Reports, recording and categorizing all recruiter phone calls made on a specific job order. Generates a report over a selected time frame with space for opening and closing narrative. Works with the Contact Manager. Fee Schedules per Job Order override the default client fee schedule. 

Searching is easy. The software allows searches on virtually every field of the Applicant / Client / Sourcing /Job Order databases.  This includes all unlimited notes, descriptive fields, and User Defined fields.  Includes a slide show for viewing the records and a print selection for printing the results. Keyword searches may also be made from within the Quick Search module. Unlimited search criteria. You can also search on all user-defined designated fields.

An optional accounting module is available for setting up an interface with a popular accounting application. You can also generate invoices automatically when a placement is made.

Although I have mentioned mostly the features specific to a permanent placement operation, the software also has many features available for anyone involved in temp placement. Temp Tracking, for example, allows the user to view ALL their Contract/Temp placements on one screen at one time.  Filtering features allow the display of assignments by client, by job title or by shift. There are five shift options. 

Reporting integrates with MS/Excel and offers a sophisticated statistical/graphical module.  You are able to easily create virtually any report desired.  With the click of the mouse, you’ll be able to arrange data fields, sort, create totals, and filter items. Client Reports listed by most asked skill displays either a one line report including client name, contact name and title, phone number, credit and prospect ratings total placements or a comprehensive report including client name, contact name, contact title, industry, phone number, total placements, last contact, credit and prospect ratings.  Client Reports by recruiter displays all the same information as by skill only report alphabetically by recruiter. Job Order Reports filtered by open or filled orders (filled refers to closed job orders).  May be printed by month or year-to-date. Placement Reports by month or year-to-date.  By Recruiter displays recruiter’s name, date of placement, name of worker placed, fee charged, status of account, job type (perm or temp).  By Client displays recruiter’s name, date of placement, candidate placed, job number, type of job, start and end date, client’s name, fee, status of account, and job type. 

Lastly...the utilities. You can store recruiter information including recruiter ID, security access level of recruiter, commission percentages and commissions earned report. System Setup allows custom information to be added including company name and address details. Setup time stamps in memo fields and Word Processor to be used. Setup dialing and fax options. Setup tasks and appointments to interface (export to Outlook 98 or higher). The System Tools perform system maintenance including checking data integrity, repairing tables, editing a table, recalculating invoices, archive utility, change ownership, reset temporary workers’ days of absence, trim leading edge on quick search files, clear all applicant résumé text, reset # of active users, database back-up, unlock records, update years of experience for applicants’ skills and industry experience, send all tasks and appointments to Outlook 98 or higher. 

As always...a few paragraphs cannot do justice to this software program or any other but hopefully I have given you enough information to at least make a decision on downloading the trial version and taking a look. 

Pricing starts at $2,250.00 for a single user. I am told that breaks down to $1.000.00 for the program and $1,250.00 for the user. Additional users can be added at additional cost. Also, there is a $1,000.00 mandatory annual maintenance fee for continued use of the software. 

For more information you can contact Shelbye Russell at (800) 856-9696 or via email at shelbyer@staffsoft.com. You can also visit their Web site at www.staffsoft.com. 

ProHire by RecruitMAX 3-02

Long time readers of this column might recall at least a couple of reviews for RecruitMAX, an excellent web-based applicant tracking system. Now, for your pleasure, I am happy to be able to write about another fine product from these people, ProHire. This product was developed with the small agency in mind, both in its ease of use and pricing.  

ProHire is a 100% web based solution, requiring only an Internet connection and a browser to access your data. There is no software to install locally on your system. It uses Microsoft SQL; a database that can support hundreds of thousands of records without losing data and or suffering performance degradation. 

Some of the slick features include its seamless integration with your company website. Any job you enter into this system is automatically posted to your company’s job order page on your website (it is actually a page on their site that looks exactly like your own page). Truly web based…you do not need to download any software to your PC. It offers a centralized database shared by all members of your firm, in real time. Recruiter A knows what recruiter B puts in the database within minutes. You are networked with other ProHire customers and have the ability to share both your candidates and job orders on line if you choose. Any fees are split directly with the two participating firm with no commissions paid to ProHire.  

One of the coolest features is the Artificial Intelligence “concept” search, not seen by me in any other system of this type, at least that I have reviewed. Reduces human error, gets around parsing errors, learns new terminology and acronyms.  

You can also create email templates, complete with logos and graphics, for mass mailings. Another neat item…the ability to create searchable questionnaires for both candidates and job orders to gather that information that never seems to be on the resume and/or client-provided job orders. 

Adding a new candidate is simple. Click on New Profile and a small pop-up window appears…type in the name and email address then click Check. The systems checks for other candidates with that same name and if no one is found a blank new record appears, with the name and email in there already. The candidate record is well designed as all the data for each candidate fits on one long page. No hourglass while looking for skills or phone numbers. You can also customize the data shown for each candidate in the setup utility, by checking or un-checking boxes next to the data that you want…or don’t want to see. There is also a section where you can enter search criteria for that candidate to facilitate future keyword searches. For example, if you enter accountant in the space. Any future search using that keyword would garner this candidate. You can also assign each candidate a password and allow him or her access to his own record to update, add a resume or apply to a job order, from within your database. There is also a space to paste the resume into and you can also add any number of attachments to each record. 

Searching is also easy. These people understand recruiters have different search styles and capabilities. They have provided an assortment of search tools from the quick and easy 'Quick Search' to the powerful and comprehensive 'Advanced Search’. They also have an intelligent search agent that allows users to quickly generate a list of matching records with very little effort. In a matter of seconds you are able to access a candidate’s resume, job history and contact information, all on one screen. 

Some of the productivity tools include a personal planner, to-do lists, forecasts and an excellent reporting system. You can easily record, view and audit any contact correspondence between yourself, candidates and clients. You can also view all planned events for the day and long-term task lists on one easily accessible page. You can also determine the probability of generating revenue within a given time frame or run a report detailing past performance. 

Pricing is simple…there are no setup fee and the monthly fee is $100 per user. There may be an additional charge for data conversion. 

 They also have some ancillary services built into the software, which the user can turn on or off as desired. Their Job Launcher feature posts each of your job orders to hundreds of free Job Boards and any FEE Boards that are already established at a cost of $250.00 per location for unlimited postings. Their Resume Scanning service for hard copy resumes offers a 24-hour turnaround and costs $250.00 one time set up and $1.50 per resume. Expertise/ Skill coding for Candidates, Clients and Job Orders costs $25.00 per month and coming soon their Web Searcher feature will allow the user to search the entire internet for resumes, including the Job Boards that the recruiters already have accounts with, all simultaneously, instead of individually, for $100.00 per user per month. 

My contact for this article, Sean Sheridan, has been very helpful in getting me the information I needed for writing this review. Sean can be reached via email at ssheridan@prohire.com or via voicemail, toll-free, at 1-877-394-5644 Ext 107. For more information on ProHire, visit their Web site at www.prohire.com.

Bullhorn Staffing 2/02

As the ATS marketplace become more crowded each day, it becomes more difficult for the recruiting organization to make an informed decision. Questions about ATS software are still extremely common on the recruiter discussion boards and in emails that we receive regularly. Realizing that, your Internet recruiting columnists try and alleviate some of the pain by regularly reviewing products and services in this category. For this month’s column we are writing about BullhornSTAFFING. I liked the fact that with their system you no longer have to adapt your business processes to conform to someone’s software. Instead, BullhornSTAFFING adapts to your way of doing things.  

I originally bumped into these people on the AIRS discussion board. I believe someone had posted a question about Sendouts.com. As a long-time user I was pleased to be able to offer my comments. The next day I received a note from the Bullhorn marketing rep trying to sell me the system. As I remain satisfied with the Sendouts system I explained that I was not in the market for a new system but offered to review the software for this column. 

Bullhorn, Inc. was founded in 1999. They offer a highly advanced, patented software engine that resides behind a totally customized enterprise-level application. They are backed by GE, Internet.com and a number of other institutional investors. 

One thing that hits me right away when logging on is it’s sheer simplicity. To me simpler is better. I hate a long learning curve. Not that I am stupid, I just don’t have the patience for it. Your initial screen contains everything you need to begin work for the day including your appointments, your critical tasks, your hot candidates, leads to follow up on for the day and your hot job orders…all well placed and easy to read.  

Go to the candidate’s screen. Again…very simple. All your candidates in a datasheet view with easy access via pop-up screens to your candidate’s resume, contact information and numerous other data types. I haven’t seen the pop-up idea by any of the competition. I like this a lot. As with all web-based products there is a delay each time you change screens, even with a fast connection. With the pop-ups you can quickly get the info you need without leaving your main candidate screen. A real time saver if you are making a lot of contacts in a call session. 

Your client’s screen contains the basic information you need. General information for each client including size and industry, plus a separate screen for all your contacts within that client with a notes area to log contact notes. Ditto for the job orders. The first screen has all of your open jobs on one screen then you can click to each job one by one. Thankfully, all the job order information is contained in one easy-to-read page. No silly page flipping just to see salary or skills information. Again, very important for a web-based program.  

An interesting concept, not seen with other programs is their ‘TearSheet’. This is a patented technology that is used for presentations to clients, making hard copy word docs obsolete. Your client receives an in depth profile featuring a digital portfolio, skills overview, and a confidential notes section. These TearSheets give your clients a full understanding of your candidates skills and abilities. 

The last screens are the administrative, where you can view a number of excellent reports (they can even recreate your current reports, ensuring data consistency), you can import calendar items, clients or candidates into Bullhorn from Outlook or actually any text file, and you can clock your projects if you charge your clients by the hour (this also sets them apart). 

See…I told you it was simple. I believe this program was designed with the Web in mind. For most of their screens…all the information you need is on one page. Others I have seen require several pages of information for each job order or candidate. Very tiresome when you have to watch the hourglass for each page to load. 

Pricing for Bullhorn Staffing is designed to be competitive with other quality ASP systems. The one time Installation charges start as low as $2500 and move up depending on the number of offices and the amount of customization the client requires. Data Migration from your current system to Bullhorn can be done by Bullhorn’s expert technical staff at a rate of $150 per hour with a typical 10-person firm requiring 10 to 20 hours of data migration. Monthly user fees vary again based on the amount of customization and selected options, such as job board posting, and start at $150 per month per recruiter.  Mention that you read about Bullhorn in the Fordyce Letter and you will receive special promotional pricing with substantial savings. 

You can get more information on Bullhorn Staffing by visiting their website at www.bullhornstaffing.com. My contact for this article Kevin McCarthy can be reached via email at kmccarthy@bullhorn.com or via voice at (617) 464-2440 ext. 116. 

ConexPlus 10-01

Never heard of ConexPlus, I am not surprised as it is a fairly new entry into the crowded Recruiter/Contact Management/CRM category of software products. Make sure you give this one a look - it definitely offers solutions you may never have considered. I believe more recruiting and placement companies are using some type of advanced automation now than ever before and the ones that aren’t are probably looking around.  ACT, Goldmine, Access...all big losers in our industry in the last several years. There are so many options. A newcomer has to have something the others don’t to have any impact in this market, which is why I chose to write about ConexPlus, as I feel it is an excellent product and although new, will appeal to a lot of people. 

ConexPlus is a client server application written to help manage your candidate and customer relationships. In addition to the standard screens for candidates, clients, and job orders, there are many built-in processes that exist to help streamline your business. One thing that I really liked was that is has the look and feel of MS/Outlook, a program I use daily and am very familiar with. It has the same three-pane interface with a view bar on the left, a folder list in the middle and the business end at the right. ConexPlus is very easy to navigate and understand. Another familiar interface item, also like Outlook, is the tree-view presentation of your data. You have quick access to all your data treed out in any view you want.  Talk about an easy way to see what you have going on.   

The bar on the left is your list of “views” a very important concept in this database. Job Orders by Category; Candidates by Job Category; Submissions by Candidate; Submissions by Job Order; Saved Searches w/Results; Active Candidates...all one click away. Then, these views can be filtered by various fields. I especially like the Job Order view that lists job orders in colors showing their current submission levels. Red is for zero submissions, black is under the threshold, and blue is at or above the threshold. You set the threshold.  For anyone with consulting employees, there are views for that as well. Another big plus for me was it’s solid integrated with MS Office 2000’s MS Outlook 2000 and MS Word 2000. E