Affordable Applicant Tracking

Like other flavors of HR software, applicant-tracking systems are migrating to the Internet. RecruitingCenter, from Denver-based Recruiting Solutions International Inc., is one of several packages that eschew the client/server approach in favor of the application service provider (ASP) model.

When Recruiting Solutions was founded in 1998, client/server systems dominated the applicant-tracking landscape. "We designed our application, RecruitingCenter, specifically for delivery over the Internet," says Monty Heninger, Recruiting Solutions' vice president of marketing. "Developing an Internet application is very different from developing a client/server application. To go From one to the other requires that a company change its culture."

The Appeal of the ASP

As an Internet product, RecruitingCenter is a practical alternative for small- and medium-sized companies that previously could not afford full-blown applicant tracking systems. Heninger says, "By staffing our company accordingly, we've been able to maintain a significant price/performance advantage."

The ASP model is not without its drawbacks. Heninger concedes it can be difficult to link an ASP application to a human resource information system (HRIS). Thus, RecruitingCenter tends to appeal to recruiting firms and departments in small- and mid-sized companies where managers are willing to decouple recruiting as an independent application. Heninger said Recruiting Solutions has about 2,500 users in more than 250 client companies.

Synchronizing Databases

One of those clients is Highland, an information technology (IT) staffing company based in Longmont, Colo. Highland selected RecruitingCenter because of its ability to synchronize recruiters' databases, says Chet Volpe, Highland's recruiting manager. Previously, he explains, Highland kept resumes on a server in Microsoft Word format. It mined the resumes with search tools it picked up on the Internet, but the firm had been unable to find an affordable solution that offered synching. "We're too small, and operate on too slim a margin, to be able to afford more than $100,000 for a networking solution," Volpe says.

Volpe saw RecruitingCenter demonstrated at a conference. "It appeared to address all of our process issues. It could provide access from anywhere, both for our account managers and our recruiters. With its price point, the level of problems it solved and Recruiting Solutions' responsiveness, [picking RecruitingCenter] was a 'no-brainer.'"

Before acquiring RecruitingCenter, Highland manually formatted resumes to present them in a consistent format to clients. RecruitingCenter now presents candidates' resumes to hiring managers via HTML-formatted e-mail. After reviewing the resumes, a hiring manager can click to indicate a lack of interest in a candidate or ask Highland to provide more information, arrange an interview or make an offer. By clicking another button, a hiring manager or a Highland recruiter can look at all open job requisitions and up-to-date activity on each.

Bang for the Buck

Like Volpe, Erika Schlarmann, manager of recruiting at SunAmerica Inc., was first attracted to RecruitingCenter by its level of functionality and low cost. Shortly after joining the recruiting department at SunAmerica, a securities firm based in Century City, Calif., Schlarmann set out to find an ASP-based applicant-tracking service to replace the company's mostly manual system. "We looked at another web application and compared prices," she says. "RecruitingCenter did a better job for $15,000 than the other system did for $40,000 per year."

Schlarmann's department processes about 25,000 resumes annually. (Volpe estimates High-land receives about 6,000 per year.) "We're not dealing with storing [the resumes] on our system," says Schlarmann. "Security isn't a problem."

Recruiting Solutions hosts the web page that candidates visit to fill out an application. "The information is accurate, compared with systems that go out and populate an application with information from the Internet," says Schlarmann. "I've seen other systems do that, and they get it wrong."

The resume and application then are sent to the recruiter handling the job for which the candidate has applied. The recruiter then can select candidates to present to the hiring manager and route the other candidates' resumes to the database. "If there is a need for that candidate's skills six months later, the information is available," Schlarmann says.

Schlarmann and Volpe agree that RecruitingCenter's e-mail-based paradigm is one of its key strengths. "Resumes are much easier to handle, and more accessible electronically than they are on paper," Schlarmann says.

Schlarmann jokes that recruiters at SunAmerica would revolt if RecruitingCenter were no longer available. "But the most positive comments come from candidates," says Schlarmann. "Usually, when they apply online, they have the feeling that they're sending their resume into a black hole. With RecruitingCenter, they get a response from a real person--even though the e-mail is generated automatically--and they have an e-mail address they can use for follow-up. That cuts down on the number of phone calls we'd otherwise have to handle."

Ever-Evolving

A relatively young product, RecruitingCenter is still evolving. In fact, Volpe says he has been impressed by Recruiting Solutions' willingness to make many of the adjustments Highland has requested. While he looks forward to RecruitingCenter eventually having more reporting functionality, Volpe says, for now, it isn't difficult to dump the database into Microsoft Access and run reports from there.

Schlarmann says RecruitingCenter's reporting capabilities meet the needs of her hiring managers. More problematic for her is that, while RecruitingCenter tracks the sources of resumes, it lacks the ability to match resume sources with candidates ultimately hired.

Schlarmann's wish list for the product includes the ability to automatically remove candidates from a job once the job order is closed. Currently, candidates must be removed manually or else they will continue to appear as if they were in consideration. Schlarmann also would like to see the system automatically generate "thank you" letters to candidates who were interviewed but not selected.

Summary

Recruiting Solutions' RecruitingCenter is a web-based applicant-tracking system offering many of the same features its client/server-based cousins provide. Because it is web-based, RecruitingCenter is well-suited to smaller organizations without the infrastructure--and budget--to support a traditional client/server package. Its customers are enthusiastic about the product. Highland's Volpe says, "A vendor would have to show me an incredible price point--or a service I never even dreamed I needed--before I would make a change."

John Day is a technology writer based in Decatur, Ga.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group