SCOUT e-Recruitment

Candidate Management Systems – The Way Forward for Recruitment

Andrea Tjoeng — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:08:46 +0000

Recruitment has seen a major shift in the way that organisations are choosing to hire staff. Gone are the days of spread sheets, paper resumes and receiving applications by mail. The introduction of the e-Recruitment system has revolutionised hiring while streamlining processes, creating an efficient and cost effective solution to a once labour-intensive task.

Why are organisations choosing to change their hiring methods to a completely online alternative? Cloud-based candidate management software has proven responsible for improving the quality of staff hired by 33%, increasing efficiency by 50%, and saving organisations millions of dollars in recruitment costs (Oracle).

e-Recruitment continues to rise in popularity, with more organisations coming on board to take advantage of the ease of online applicant tracking and candidate management. Employees are the core asset of any organisation, which has lead HR Practitioners and Business Leaders to realise that it is critical to attract and develop the right mix of talent to ensure ongoing growth, development and success. Candidate management systems have provided a solution to that need, allowing organisations to attract, screen, and hire the best.

With a wider range of talent than previously available, organisations are finding the use of database technology, online job boards, and search engines to fill vacancies quickly a more effective option than offline methods. Many organisations are reducing their use of recruitment agencies and choosing to invest in a system that will help them create their own candidate database (or talent pool) in a central location that can be accessed electronically anywhere in the world at any time. Applicant data is entered into a secure database and easily accessed through a tailor made interface, making it a viable option for both small and large organisations alike.

There are many advantages to investing a candidate management system including:

Reducing advertising, agency and recruitment costs;
Screening candidates and/or applications with ease;
Having intuitive access to all candidate information at your fingertips; and
Attracting talent that an organisation may not have previously had access to, including international candidates.

Implementing a candidate management system can also decrease time per hire, which means more efficient working practices.

Another major advantage is that a candidate management system is less error-prone. It is easier to audit and ensure compliance, when compared to older processes such as using spread sheets, as it collates and updates data continuously. Over 75% of organisations use spread sheets for some aspect of talent management, with more than half (61%) finding errors in their data. It is also a labour intensive option, requiring constant attention to keep all data up to date (Ventana Research, March 2010).

Small, medium and large organisations around the world are moving to candidate management systems. The key is in the simplicity of e-Recruitment – the hassle has finally been taken out of hiring (Scout).

References

Oracle. (n.d.).
Scout. (n.d.).
Ventana Research. (March 2010). Benchmark Research: Managing Performance to Motivate Talent.

Recruitment Shortlisting Made Easy

Peter Orthmann Hansen — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:13:41 +0000

Does the idea of shortlisting candidates send shivers down your spine? Or resemble a nightmare? Perhaps this is because your organisation doesn’t have a clear shortlisting process. Without guidelines to follow recruitment can be much harder than it has to be. However creating a process to follow is easy. Here are some tips:

- Know exactly who you are looking for. Before you start to look at incoming applications, be clear about what qualifications and work history you want. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, it’s a lot easier to narrow down your candidates for the interview process. Make two lists, essential criteria and desirable criteria. As a guide, your desirable criteria should be about double the length of essential.

- Know how many people you want to interview. This makes the process of selecting candidates much easier. You can look into the finer details of applications if you are looking for a small amount of people, or you can shortlist candidates who deviate slightly from your expectations if you have a large amount to interview.

- Start with the important requirements. During the selection process, start by looking at educational and professional requirements, workplace experience, and indication of competencies. Then look at how candidates match to your standards. There is no point in comparing them to your own criteria if you haven’t looked at the major requirements first.

- Final selections before the interviews take place. If you have done all of the above but have too many people you want to interview, look at other qualities the applicants have. These include having extra qualifications like TAFE certificates, having worked in a similar environment before, and having experience with technical systems that they will need to use in the role.

- Use the interview wisely. During the interview get a feel of the candidate’s personality. Ask them questions that you don’t already know the answers to. Consider whether they will fit in with your company. You should set aside a few minutes to get to know the person and see what their personality is like.

These shortlisting tips are bound to make your recruitment experience much easier. Scout e-recruiting also helps with the shortlisting process by storing all your information online enabling easy access at any time and place. For more information about Scout e-recruitment and how it can help simplify your recruitment experience, call us on (07) 3330 2555 or chat online now.

Incorporating SMS into E-Recruitment & Marketing – The Benefits

Peter Orthmann Hansen — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:03:11 +0000

Although almost everyone in Australia owns a mobile phone, SMS use in e-recruitment and marketing is surprisingly underutilised. Using SMS in business has many unknown benefits, including saving money and time, which is no doubt appealing for any organisation.

Using SMS in e-recruitment is primarily beneficial because it saves administration costs. Sending out a bulk SMS message takes seconds, whereas individual phone calls can take hours.

According to conversionxl.com, 80% of mobile phone owners carry their phones around with them all the time, meaning that text message is the most reliable and guaranteed form of contact. Subsequently, in an urgent situation an SMS is most likely to reach a candidate as opposed to an email or other form of contact.

In e-recruitment SMS messaging is used to communicate with candidates. Common messages include shortlisting candidates, inviting candidates to job interviews, sending important information such as appointment changes, appointment reminder messages, and other notifications at different stages of the recruitment process. SMS messaging can also be used to match and promote new job vacancies to suitable candidates in your database.

Using SMS in e-recruitment not only dramatically improves communication, but also increases your company’s chances of beating out your competitors who may also be interested in recruiting the same people. If your organisation is using SMS to contact applicants, and other companies are using more traditional methods such as phone calls and email, there is no doubt that SMS will reach the applicant first.

SMS in marketing is highly beneficial but very underutilised. According to the New York Times 97% of text messages are opened, with 83% opened in less than an hour. Email on the other hand, is often left unopened due to the large amount of spam that many people receive. Text message marketing produces responses several times higher than internet marketing. This is due to the fact that people trust what they read in text messages more than the internet, which is filled with pop up ads and spam emails. And if people are familiar with the organisation they are receiving information from, it is highly likely they will respond positively.

Whether your organisation is looking to use SMS messaging in e-recruitment or marketing, it is something that is worth looking into. Although it is not a common practice at the moment, SMS messaging in business is a growing market with many benefits for any company. For more information contact us on (07) 3330 2555 or chat online.

Benefits of cloud based systems

Andrea Tjoeng — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:51:41 +0000

There are many benefits associated with cloud based systems that traditional systems simply cannot match. Cloud computing has become the standard for many companies as it is an easy way to store and share data and files within the company.

Arguably the biggest advantage is that everybody within the company can access files as long as they are connected to the internet. The system can be used not only in the office but at any other location with an internet connection. Smart phones, tablets and laptops can all access the cloud based system. This will dramatically increase efficiency as the system is quick and easy to use. By storing files and company information in one place they are much easier to manage and can be done from many locations offering endless versatility. Unlimited access opens up internal company benefits such as flexibility in work locations, including working from home which would be much more time efficient with an online system.

Technology is becoming more advanced by the minute, everyone has a smart phone and people rarely travel without a laptop or tablet. Cloud based systems are designed for the modern corporate worker, somebody who is not in the office all day but still needs access to company information and files. Older internal based systems simply cannot compete with modern technology.

Cloud based systems are the most technologically advanced file sharing systems. This brings a myriad of benefits in itself including time efficiency. They perform instant technology and software upgrades meaning less time wasted doing them yourself. Because cloud based file systems are online, the storage options are endless. Millions of files per account can be stored, and thousands of people can simultaneously use the system. Businesses can lose millions of dollars per day due to software problems, however cloud based systems can spot problems before they occur and often fix them long before they do any damage. Even if the system cannot repair the problem, it still notifies you of it, rather than you having to figure out the problem yourself. These benefits will not only save millions of dollars and time, but also eliminate potential stress within the company.

As well as saving huge amounts of money around software problems, cloud based systems also come with the benefit of being significantly cheaper to run than older systems. Cloud based systems do not have large operating costs from buying or leasing software and hardware because they operate online not off computers. Since they operate online; set up costs, licensing fees, maintenance costs and update costs are all removed as well. Generally there is only a monthly fee and the installation cost is a fraction of the price compared to internal systems.

Cloud based systems come with many positive aspects that simply are not possible with out dated internal systems. Online systems are the most technologically advanced, therefore the cheapest, fastest, and most convenient to run.

SCOUT sponsoring Public Sector Workforce Planning & Development Conference

Andrea Tjoeng — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:38:51 +0000

The Public Sector Workforce Planning & Development Conference 2013 will assist public sector organisations to improve workplace capability, productivity and culture through the implementation of successful workforce planning and development strategies.

With a number of public sector organisations already using the SCOUT e-Recruitment system, SCOUT is attending this conference as a Gold Sponsor and will also be speaking at the event:

Reinvent to win the war for talent

The battle for candidates in today’s recruitment market is significant, and unlikely to ease anytime soon. The overall workforce is shrinking due to an aging population; continual advances in technology mean that even the most basic roles require more skills; and we are facing increased competition from global employers.

However with every challenge comes opportunities – and in the case of recruitment, there is a significant opportunity for employers to reinvent hiring ideas and practices. Survival of the fittest means that those who adapt and improve recruitment strategy will indeed ‘win the war for talent’. This presentation will:

Explore the difference between ‘HR’, ‘Recruitment’ and ‘Recruitment Marketing’ and cover why it is important to de-centralise these functions

Investigate the theory that “recruitment is a sales process”

Draw upon recent feedback and case-studies from both the public and private sectors, to share ways in which organisations are reinventing recruitment

To find out more about this event please click here.

The Sky’s the limit as SCOUT moves to the Cloud

Peter Orthmann Hansen — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 02:22:14 +0000

Cost-effective, reliable and effortless e-Recruitment Software couldn’t be easier with recent upgrades to the SCOUT system.

SCOUT has demonstrated a commitment to enhancement, with the global candidate management system making a smooth and trouble-free move to cloud web service last week.

Running in a virtual computing environment, SCOUT’s improved features include failure resilient applications, access to increasingly useful server and application monitoring tools and a resizable computer capacity.

With the application and database split to two difference cloud servers, increased performance, reliability and the ability to scale potential bottlenecks is guaranteed.

What’s more, with backups completed every hour from the second synced database, performance impacts will be a thing of the past.

The new database server uses Amazon Relational Database Service – a web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud.

Built on the Ruby Enterprise Edition – a system used by high-profile websites and organisations including New York Times, Shopify and 37signal – and with the ability to move between global databases as required, SCOUT is committed to continuously matching the enhanced e-Recruitment software to client needs.

Since a system rebuild in March 2010, the recent upgrade to cloud web service is just another enhancement to this e-Recruitment system, proving that the sky truly is the limit for SCOUT.

The rise of mobile technology for recruitment

Peter Orthmann Hansen — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:10:40 +0000

Smartphone and mobile tablet technology has grown exponentially over the previous five years both in terms of technology and usage. It’s highly likely that you’re currently reading this article on your phone or tablet – and if you aren’t, you’ve probably used your phone or tablet recently to check your email or browse the web.

With the rapid uptake in mobile usage, how then can you best harness this technology for your recruitment process? This article will offer a glimpse at some of the more eye opening statistics relating to mobile usage in the past and forecast for the future as well as statistical information regarding mobile usage for recruitment in Australia. It will also offer solutions to mobile optimisation that are cost effective ensuring that you aren’t inadvertently cutting a large portion of your potential talent pool.

The changing digital landscape

How quickly is the digital environment changing? According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, global mobile data traffic has more than doubled four years in row – the amount of mobile data traffic in 2011 was eight times the size of the entire internet in 2000. Smartphone usage tripled in 2011 and the number of mobile tablets in the market nearly tripled as well with 34 million units using nearly a 500MB every month. This year, Cisco forecasts that over 100 million mobile users will surpass 1 gigabyte of traffic per month and the number of mobile connected devices will exceed the world’s population.

Of course you’re probably thinking, “these statistics are concerned with general mobile usage and recruitment must only occupy a small percentage of mobile usage”, but that isn’t the case. According to data recently collected by Seek, job seeker behaviour is changing at an equally rapid pace. Currently 30% of visits to the Seek website are via mobile device which is up 230% over the last 12 months and is projected to increase two percentage points per month over the next two years. Mobile browsing behaviour mimics traditional desktop or laptop browsing and “browsing job vacancies” is one the top five activities for mobile device users. Applicants aren’t just browsing job listings either, they are completing the entire application process (as long as the advertisements are mobile optimised).

How can SCOUT help your business adapt to mobile technology? Introducing SCOUT OnTheGo

One of the most common problems associated with mobile applications is that your careers website isn’t mobile optimised and therefore is difficult to read or even inaccessible to candidates browsing via mobile devices. Another major problem that can arise is that the traditional method of application requires a resume and covering letter which aren’t available on a mobile device.

One way in which you could address these problems is through SCOUT’s mobile optimised application process – SCOUT OnTheGo

SCOUT OnTheGo allows jobseekers to:

Browse jobs available with your organisation via a mobile-optimised version of your Careers Portal

Read about jobs available via mobile-optimised Recruitment Web Pages (or Online Application Forms)

Register Interest in a specific job in one quick step, simply by leaving their name, phone number and e-mail address. It is made clear to the jobseeker that they are Registering Interest only at this point, and that they need to apply in full at a later stage in order to be considered.

Receive an e-mail where they can answer the first-round screening questions, and attach their resume, at a later stage from a desktop computer

When a candidate Registers Interest their details will drop into SCOUT as Leads, available for you to access at any point. This gives you the option to follow up with anyone who might not have completed their application process at a later stage.

Smartphone Apps

SCOUT clients also have the option to upgrade their OnTheGo purchase to include a Smartphone app. This is a fantastic feature for clients with well-established brands – it allows jobseekers to search their App Store for your organisation’s recruitment app and access your jobs with the ‘click of an icon’ from their phone

Check it out, live!

Visit newcastle.applynow.com.au from your phone for the mobile-optimised application process

Head to the Apple App Store and search ‘City of Newcastle’ to download the App

If you have any questions or would like to get started with SCOUT OnTheGo please don’t hesitate to contact your SCOUT representative today.