myStaffingPro: A Year In Review

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Julia Friemering

2009 is officially wrapped.  Although many of us are happy to see 2009 end, there were some good things that happened as well.  For myStaffingPro, 2009 proved to be another prosperous year filled with new clients, enhancements, modules, and partnerships.

New Features and Free Enhancements:
- SEO Functionality
- CC/BCC for Email
- Edit in Place on BLA
- Copy Source Enhancement
- Metrics Reports
..and many more!
* Features and Enhancements are provided free of charge to all standard clients. Please contact your Client Services Manager if you are interested in activating any of the free enhancements or features.

New Modules:
- Employee Referral
- Offer Approval
- Vendor Portal
- Phone Interview Guides
- Mass Appointment Scheduling
- Hiring Manager Quick Response
* Modules are system configurations that can be added to your system for a fee. Please contact your Client Services Manager for more information on the modules features and pricing.

New Partnerships:
- Resume sourcing partner, TalentDrive
- Free job board posting to Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com
- HRIS system, Bamboo HR

To view the complete list, please go to mystaffingproenhancements.wordpress.com.

Filed under: Applicant Tracking, Applicant Tracking Trends, Product Announcements, Why myStaffingPro? | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Happy Holidays from myStaffingPro

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Julia Friemering

We would like to wish of our customers, partners, users, and readers a Happy Holidays from myStaffingPro applicant tracking system.  We hope that you have a safe, and healthy holiday season.

Filed under: Why myStaffingPro? | Leave a Comment »

An Honest Assessment of Your Company’s Online Application: From a Usability Perspective.

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Melisa Zachrich

In Part I of this series, we took a look at Corporate Career Sites and discussed some of the usability issues that can frustrate and confuse potential applicants. For this blog entry, Part 2, we’ll go one-step further and address the online application itself.

My investigation begins on CareerBuilder.com, where I search for and find a great job. Once I view the opening and opt to “Apply Now”, I am prompted to begin the application process. At which point I am told that I will be transferred away from Career Builder and to the company’s online application.

I must admit, my initial impression is good. The process is smooth and user-friendly; not at all disorienting, as can sometimes be the case. However, we have Career Builder to thank for this and not our company’s online application.

Note: This company is using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) vendor to host their process.

Still On CareerBuilder – Prompted To Begin Online Application Via This Modal Window

Modal windows are one of my favorite things! A modal window (shown above) is a child window that requires the user to interact with it before they can return to the parent/main window. Why would you want to do this? Primarily, when you want to transition people away from the main site/task to a secondary site or task, and then allow them to return to the primary site or task, thus guiding them through a predefined workflow. They’re great usability tools, so kudos to Career Builder.

Transitioning Away From CareerBuilder.com

This is nice. Not only am I told I’m leaving CareerBuilder.com, but I’m given the option to return or to close this frame at the top of the Company’s Career Site (upper right). I select “Remove Frame” and continue with the online application on the company site.

Immediately, I fear the love-fest is about to come to a gut-wrenching end as I am presented with the dreaded “profile” form. I feel my stress-level start to rise as I count no less than 6 sections containing 67 form fields on a form the length of the Great Wall of China!

Screen Shot of Section 1 of 6 – GIGANTIC FORM FROM HELL!

First Impressions:
a. I’m gonna be here a while. How much do I want this job?
b. As I scroll down the form (which obviously does not fit on one screen), all of my navigation (traffic signs that tell the user “You are here”) & instructions (…”and here’s what you can do here”) disappear. I’m driving blind people, and there could be casualties! Seriously though, for an applicant who has likely never been to this site, this is potentially disorienting and confusing. They’ve taken the trouble to show you the steps at the top, why not take it one step further and persist the navigation & instructions?
c. Is it me, or are the field labels breaking to two lines making it difficult to read them (above screen shot)? I’m not a fan of this form layout for a number of reasons. Section 1 has no label, Section 2 does. Section 1 is a different font size than Section 2. Section 1 has different input field alignment than Section 2. There seems to be no consistency in layout from section to section, or is it my browser and they did not test for browser compatibility? (I’m using Mozilla Firefox.)

Section 1 & Part of Section 2 (My eyes hurt when I try to vertically scan this form. Anyone have an Advil?)


d. However, this one is the most disturbing of all. Some of the field labels are red and others are not. Are the red fields required? We may safely assume, but can we?

Required Fields Are All Marked Red, Right?

Side Note: “Future Access” is their sneaky way of saying you are creating an account and will need to remember this information when you return.

Yet, when I submit the form, I find that many of the not
red fields are in fact required. Notice below that First Name, Last Name, Address 1, City, State, and Zip Code are all required. We would know this how? The labels for those fields are not red; there are no red asterisks, so we have zero indication prior to submission.

I call this the “You-Make-A-Me-Wanna- Scream” Form Validation Message

Overall, I give this online application form a Usability Grade of C- or D. Here’s why:

1. Too Long! Of the 67 fields, only 14 are required. This tells me they are collecting a bunch of stuff they don’t actually need, at the applicant’s expense. (My opinion here is that of a usability person by the way, not an HR person. ;-) Reality is this – the longer the online application process, the lower your completion rate. Collect what you need – when you need it.
2. Lacks instructions, clear user feedback, and intuitive form validation.
3. Poor formatting and layout – this creates a lot of visual load on the user.
4. Disorienting to the user due to disappearing navigation and instructions, and the need for excessive scrolling.
5. Forces the user to create and remember their account information to return. (Sadly, without even disclosing this to them.)

There is one redeeming factor. At the top of the form (although I think it could be more obvious) you are given the option to upload a resume.

Upload Your Resume

This pre-populated 8 of the 67 fields for me, leaving me with a mere 59 fields. Sigh…I’m starting to think employment is overrated.

Melisa is the Product Usability Manager for myStaffingPro applicant tracking system.  For more information on myStaffingPro, please go to http://mystaffingpro.com.

Filed under: Applicant Tracking, Usability | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Conquer the Post Recession Applicant Pile Up

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Julia Friemering

Great news- things are starting to turnaround!  Before you receive the almighty “go ahead” to post opening, how are you going to prepare yourself for the applicant response rate?

To prevent an applicant pile up; organize and process your applicant data with an applicant tracking system. Most applicant tracking systems provide:

  • Interface to manage and post active job openings
  • Tools to qualify applicants based on education, work experience, and eligibility
  • Method to review, update, and email applicants
  • Functionality to track the applicant throughout the hiring process
  • Reports to analyze applicant, sourcing, and EEO data

With these features, you can:

  • Reduce your time to fill
  • Significantly drop your cost per hire
  • Eliminate painful administrative tasks
  • Access all applicant data 24/7 from any computer
  • Maintain a consistent applicant workflow process
  • Manage EEO data and reporting

Please contact us to learn how myStaffingPro applicant tracking system can prevent an applicant pile up.

Filed under: Applicant Tracking, Hiring Best Practices, Why myStaffingPro? | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Is It Time for An Applicant Tracking System for Your Organization?

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Julia Friemering
The original post appeared on Recruiting Trends by Jill Gengler.  This blog has been reposted with permission from Recruiting Trends.

You may, or may not know that the adoption of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) provides the means to alleviate unnecessary expenses currently embedded within the hiring process. An ATS can also greatly streamline the hiring process, multiply the efforts of a small recruitment staff, and give valuable performance feedback to managers.
Yet, with the many favorable reasons for adopting an ATS, there remain many companies which have not yet taken this step. Several reasons are offered for why they have not yet adopted an ATS, with the leading 3 reasons as follows:

 

  1. An ATS is expensive: While this was once a very valid reason for many small and medium-sized businesses this is no longer the case today. ATS vendors have realized that one size does not fit all and have thus developed several versions (or tiers) of service in their ATS to address the unique needs of smaller organizations, as well as provide a growth path as these companies scale their operations.
  2. Integration costs: This also was true in the past, however ATS vendors have worked together to create and support industry standards like HR-XML, permitting software systems and packages to exchange information more easily, thus reducing integration costs.
  3. Hiring needs are cyclical; ATS costs don’t coincide with business needs: Fortunately, a number of ATS vendors have enhanced their product/service offering so that they can offer their services on a basis other than an annual subscription. There are now a number of vendors who can fill your business needs on per-use basis, thus giving you the freedom to use the ATS when you need it, without worrying about subscription costs when you don’t.
With the variety of service levels, payment options and quality of Applicant Tracking Systems available, you too could take advantage of the benefits of recruiting via an ATS.
Consider this:

 

  • »Job applicants today use job portal sites such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com heavily in their job searches. Having an ATS that interoperates with job portals helps to put your organization in a better position, when competing for top talent.
  • »Cost per hire drops immediately and significantly. According to www.workforce.com, the pre-ATS total cost-to-hire for trained employees averages just over $10,000. The post-deployment average cost can drop by as much as 60%! Even in good times, savings like that are sure to make even the most difficult CFO happy.
  • »Not only are cost savings significant, but so are the time savings. On average, most ATS users shave two weeks off the process – thereby making recruitment and on-boarding much more efficient.
  • »Many of the new ATS’s are web-based or Software as a Service (SaaS) applications which are easy-to-use and do not require any software installation or internal IT support. Web-based ATS’s can also scale with a company as it grows, adding more capacity and features proportionate the needs of a changing organization.
  • »HR professionals love the streamlined process. The workflow of the hiring process is modeled by the ATS and can schedule tasks, auto-generate email and postal mail, as well as pop-up reminders when tasks are due. These features allow HR professionals to focus on value-adding activities they alone can perform, rather than the mundane time-killing tasks before the ATS.
Explore and discover what an ATS can do for your organization. Typical ATS core features include:

 

  1. Corporate Career Center
  2. Proprietary Resume Databank
  3. Job Requisition and Posting
  4. Integrated Add-On Modules (Integrity Testing, Background Screening)
  5. Affirmative Action Compliant
  6. Automated Recruiting
  7. Effective tools for On-boarding New Hires
  8. Track and Report for Superior Performance
  9. Reach Passive Candidates
  10. Streamline the Hiring Process
Organizations that adopt an ATS are reporting cost savings of 60%, time savings of 66%, and a noticeable improvement in the quality of candidates entering the system, which in and of itself may justify the decision to implement an ATS.
With over 80 ATS on the market, selecting the right one for your company may seem like a monumental task. However, resources like CareerBuilder regularly publish profiles and advice on ATS options.
As the economy stabilizes and we prepare for the coming upturn in the economy, smart companies are now laying the foundation today for their hiring plans tomorrow.
Look into it!

The original post appeared on Recruiting Trends by Jill Gengler.

Filed under: Applicant Tracking Trends | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Now, using myStaffingPro makes even more sense

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Julia Friemering

We asked our new HRIS partner, Bamboo HR, to write a blog about their product and why ATS users would be interested.  Please enjoy the informative and entertaining blog from Ben Peterson.

Bamboo HR is a leading HRIS that streamlines your new hire process by integrating with myStaffingPro applicant tracking system.  Easily transfer your new hire data into a powerful and easy-to-use tool that is configured specifically to your needs.  And the good news is Bamboo HR is free for 30 days.  You can see for yourself how easy it is to use Bamboo HR and myStaffingPro in perfect harmony.

So, how do you really know if you really need an HRIS? Here are a few of the unmistakable signs:

  • You’re using myStaffingPro to manage applicant data, but not currently using an HRIS to streamline HR administrivia that just drains all your time. (We know you have better things to do!)
  • Your desk is covered in countless forms, files, resumes, and piles.  In fact, maybe you haven’t seen the top of the actual desk in years. :)
  • You have better things to do than spend 20 minutes sifting through the file cabinet looking for a hire date or particular form.
  • Your myStaffingPro system doesn’t currently interface with your HRIS.
  • You’re using another HRIS that is expensive, hard to use, out-of-date…and did we mention expensive?
  • You have lots and lots of spreadsheets that track things like benefits, training completions, terminations, employee contact information, any company assets, and more.  If you have spreadsheets…you’ll love Bamboo HR!

Visit www.bamboohr.com today for your free 30-day trial or for more details on this tremendous HRIS.

We love myStaffingPro!  A special “thank you” to the myStaffingPro team for being so great to work with.

About Bamboo HR:
Bamboo HR is a leader in SaaS-based HRIS for small to medium-sized business, delivering new levels of HR efficiency for a fraction of the cost of enterprise solutions.  Streamlining HR processes under a single roof, Bamboo HR is the HRIS for companies wasting time and money on administrivia.  For more information visit http://www.BambooHR.com.

Filed under: Partnerships, Product Announcements, Why myStaffingPro? | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

2010 Planning: Tips to get your ATS Budget Approved

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Ruth Ann

Year-end is fast approaching and the door will soon close on budget approvals for your 2010 fiscal year.  How do you “sell” your leadership on the value of an Applicant Tracking System?  When the bottom line is the primary focus, you need to make the case for your ROI on the investment in new software.  When compliance is the major issue, you should be able to make that case with ease!

ATS Return on Investment CAN be quantified, measured, and calculated:

  1. Department efficiencies can reduce costs when a manual process is eating hours of the day that could be more productively utilized using an applicant tracking system.
    • ROI Question:  How many hours per month are spent manually handing applicant resumes and processing new hires?
    • Compliance Question:  Are the processes you are manually facilitating consistent and not inflicting adverse impact on candidates?
  2. PAPER costs money and has to be touched, signed, filed, and hopefully easily retrieved.  Most ATS systems can facilitate a completely paperless hiring process, even addressing new hire paperwork.
    • ROI Question:   How much paper, ink, wear and tear on a copy machine, professional printing costs, forms purchased, etc is used in your offices?
    • Compliance Question:  Can you actually document that your candidate processes are in fact meeting OFCCP guidelines?
  3. Advertising costs can be reduced using an online process.
    • ROI Question:  Are your jobs getting any tracking on the web?  SEO tools and maximized Web 2.0 programs come with most hosted Career Pages.
    • Compliance Question:  Is your internet job exposure meeting the requirements of the OFCCP?
  4. Web-based software products are not a drain on your IT resources.
    • ROI Question:  How much storage space is needed to manage resumes and HR documents?
    • Compliance Question:  Does your IT department have the knowledge to support the needs of your HR department in the area of compliance?

Make your case using quantifiable information, and throw in the fact that companies without an efficient online process are perceived as lagging behind others when it comes to their recruitment processes.

Go for it and good luck!

Filed under: Applicant Tracking, HR Trends, Hiring Best Practices, Recruiting Trends | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

An Honest Assessment of Your Company’s Career Portal – Is it Frustrating and Confusing to Potential Applicants?

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Melisa Zachrich

Anyone who has ever tried to search for a job online has probably experienced the “agony of defeat” more times than they’ve experienced the “thrill of victory”. In fact, there are endless frustrations associated with the online job hunt, from finding the career portal from the corporate home page, to figuring out the job search interface, to creating a profile (often required before you can apply), not to mention the application process itself. For the purposes of this blog, let’s focus on finding the career site and searching for an opening. I have a feeling after all of this, we (the poor applicants), may be too tired to apply for a job.

Here’s a quick hit list of usability issues that can annoy and discourage your applicants.

Making the path to your career portal so obscure even Columbus could not find it.

A link to the career site should be clearly visible from your company’s homepage. Unfortunately, there seems to be a strong desire by web designers to display the link in a font size of point 6 and bury it in the footer. This might work, assuming the footer shows up when the page is initially loaded, but if the user has to scroll down to find it, there’s a good chance some people will miss it all together.

Where’s the link to Careers?

Way down here >> keep scrolling, keep scrolling…

Wouldn’t something like this be better?

Requiring applicants to create a profile.

This is a trend that applicants find very discouraging. In order to apply for what may be 1 job on your company’s career site, they’ll need to create a profile and remember their login.

To test the ease of creating a profile, I went to what we will call a “MAJOR” software company’s career site. I was told that in order to apply, I would need to create a profile.


Do you see a link on this page that says Create a Profile? Create an account? Sign in? (Apparently, I need both an account and a profile?) When I clicked on the oh-so-descriptive link titled “please click here” I was redirected to an informational page where I was told all about how to contact the “Profile Help Desk” if I’m having problems. Profile Help Desk? Apparently, the process is so intuitive it requires a staff of people to help the poor end-user figure out how to set-up an account and create a profile so they can apply for 1 job.

Bottom line, there are better ways to authenticate returning users. If you do require some type of profile or account, collect only the minimum information required and make it easy to retrieve the password, because we all know they aren’t going to remember it.

Poorly designed job search forms that lack field labels, have confusing form controls, don’t identify required fields, and provide little or no user feedback when actions are performed.

We will continue to pick on our software company.
Below is their job search form.

Job Search Form

When you look at this form, do all sorts of questions come to mind? Can I type anything in the first text box? (No, tried that.) Can anyone tell me what “Selected All” selects in the two dropdowns? (This is how the page loads, so we’ve selected all of 2 things and we have no idea what those two things are.) Would a label over the dropdown really hurt the design?

Sigh…let’s take it one step further and investigate the “Select All” form control in field two.

Question – since all items are selected and I only want IT, how do I “Deselect All”? It takes me a few seconds to realize that “Select All” is actually the new “Deselect All”. Wow, who knew?

Here’s another example of a job search form with some frustrating features.
Job Search Form

Salaried Job was already checked for me, so I select “Information Technolog” (?) from the dropdown and leave the default of USA in the second dropdown. But, when I try to click “Search”, it’s disabled. I assume I need to select something else, but I’m provided with no user feedback to validate my assumptions. I see the stuff in red (red = bad, right?) so I select “Experienced Professional”, and now the form works. Finally! (All of that confusion and the form only contains 4 fields.)

NOTE: “Hourly Jobs” and “College Student” are still red and now I think I know why. The color red is a big part of this major store’s brand. Unfortunately, we’ve all been pre-conditioned to see red in a web form and associate it to an error message. My advice to them would be to ditch the red in this case and go with something more neutral.

Ok, so maybe I’m being a little tough in my assessment. However, it’s these constant little minor annoyances that make the overall user experience an unpleasant one. Worse than that, they may result in you losing valuable applicants.

Now, you may be thinking, “Well, if they can’t stick it out and apply no matter how bad my career portal is, I don’t want them! Hah!!” For whatever reason, I always feel compelled to come to the aid of the voiceless applicant. Maybe if you don’t value their time enough to provide them with an intuitive and responsive career site, they don’t want you. It’s possible?

Filed under: Applicant Tracking, Hiring Best Practices, Recruiting, Usability | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Client Spotlight with Butler Machinery Company

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Amy Morman

We placed Butler Machinery in the client spotlight, and asked Kim Johnson what she thought about myStaffingPro applicant tracking system.

What is your experience with using an applicant tracking system? The process of implementing MyStaffingPro has been both positive and seamless.

How long have you been using myStaffingPro? Approximately eight months since implementation.

How has myStaffingPro affected your processes (i.e. cost effectiveness, time to fill, etc.) The time I am now spending reviewing, forwarding and responding to applicants information has been cut in half from what I used to spend.

What is your favorite myStaffingPro feature? The whole process has been such a positive experience that I really can’t name one.  From the Job Library to the managing of Requisitions.  The whole process has been quite easy to get through and extremely time saving from what we used to have.

What would you say to other HR professionals about myStaffingPro? Don’t waste your time on other applicant software, this one is easy to manage and has several useful features.

With all the time you have saved since using MSP, what do you do with your extra time? (We promise we will not tell your boss! ) Ha ha, I need my job!

We would like to thank Kim for talking the time to talk to us about how Butler Machinery benefited from implementing myStaffingPro applicant tracking system.  If you want your company to shine in the spotlight, please visit our website to sign up for a free 30 day trial of myStaffingPro.

Filed under: Applicant Tracking, Client Spotlights | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

What should an applicant tracking system do?

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Julia Friemering

More importantly, what do you want and need from your applicant tracking system? In theory, it is an easy answer, “I want an applicant tracking system that will save me time and money.”  But, what features and tools will you need to accomplish this?  To select an applicant tracking system, start by identifying your software needs:

1. Review your Hiring Process

  • Document the steps, interaction, and points of frustration in each step of the hiring process.
  • Recruiting
  • Qualifying the Applicant Pool
  • Interviewing/Selection Process
  • Hiring
  • Determine the information you want to collect, and how you want to collect it.
  • Examine the HR software programs that you are currently using, and decide if it would add value to integrate with the applicant tracking system.

2. Define the Goals, Needs, and Wants of your System

  • Complete a list of goals, needs, and wants by answering the following questions:
    • My company’s goals are to…
    • The system should improve my….
    • I need a system because…
    • The current process lacks….

3. Select who you want to access the system, and how they will get there

  • Are you interested in a system that is installed on a computer, or a hosted solution that is available online?
  • Whom do you want to provide access to the system?  (Recruiters, Hiring Managers, other professionals?)

4. Determine a Budget

  • If possible, have your budget preapproved making certain you have allocated for all possible costs:
    • Implementation – Upfront fee to  configure the system
    • Installation Cost (For installed software) or License Fees (For hosted solution) – Fee to acquire ongoing access to the system
    • Training – Initial fee to teach the users how to use the system
    • Ongoing Costs – Additional costs associated with maintenance, support, upgrades, etc.
    • Customization Fees – Fees for configuring or customizing the system to your process
  • Be prepared to receive quotes on all ends of the spectrum.  Ask the vendor for firm quotes with detailed descriptions of the product and services offered.

For more information, download the applicant tracking selection toolkit.

Filed under: Applicant Tracking | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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