SI Review: October 2010

Print

Cool Tools for Recruiters 2010, Si Review October 2010

Cool Tools for Recruiters 2010, SI Review October 2010

 

By Jeff Reeder

There are so many great tools available for recruiters today that are both easy to learn and cost effective. Our list of cool tools is by no means a complete list of recruiting automation tools, and fortunately, there are new tools coming into this space every week. Nevertheless, we think this article may lead to new ideas for increasing recruiter efficiencies around sourcing contacts, networking, communicating, and developing relationships with candidates and clients.

We have noticed trends in new tools, from applications that tap into mobile technology, to those assisting with a good and efficient match, to those that help with social networking, and others that leverage other technologies. We're sure that your recruiters will have an interest in these applications, and that the tools will increase their effectiveness. In all cases we encourage you to take demos of the products, and in many cases these are available on their Websites.

And if your recruiters are using technologies and applications not mentioned here, please email us your favorites at jreeder@staffingindustry.com.

The list is presented alphabetically.

Call-Em-All -- www.call-em-all.com

Call-Em-All's automated messaging service helps make life easier for recruiters trying to find available candidates and fill positions quickly. And with so much of the recruiting business dependent on speed to match, it can be a key differentiator for staffing firms.

Call-Em-All provides affordable access to powerful voice broadcasting technology and premium bulk SMS text messaging.

Automated calling and bulk text messaging is easy with Call-Em-All -- recruiters can launch their own automated phone calls and bulk text messages in minutes. Setting up a Call-Em-All account can be done entirely online, and creating an automated phone call or text message for broadcast can be done in three simple steps that follow three Ws:

Who? Import a list of who you want to call or text. In the recruiter's case they can upload qualified candidates to see who is available. Text message recipients must first opt in to your text messages from their mobile phone.

When? Tell Call-Em-All when you want to make your calls or text.

What Message? Upload an audio file, record a message on Call-Em-All's toll free number, create a text message in your account or through Call-Em-All.

Besides staying proactively in touch with candidates, there are many other uses for Call-Em-All. Staffing firms could send out important messages about paydays and billing, and also keep their databases up to date by reaching out to candidates and seeing which numbers no longer work, or who is available to work. "It's talent engagement," says Brad Herrmann of Call-Em-All.

Expressume -- www.expressume.com

Expressume is a Web-based video application that staffing firms can use for recruiting and placement.

Expressume's approach provides recruiters with a solution that integrates instantly retrievable candidate videos, profiles, credentials and documentation with the capability to conduct live panel interviews on demand.

There are two primary applications explains Kurt Henniken, CEO: video resumes and live interviewing. With the video, candidates can take a simple interview and tape via a Webcam. If the candidate doesn't have a Webcam, Expressume will ship them one at no extra charge.

From there, recruiters can have a link to the video, and review it, archive it and send it to hiring managers.

"It's complementary to a recruiter's ATS and can drive cost and time out of the hiring process," says Henniken, who was previously with PeopleSoft and also in the IT staffing world. He says recruiters can review 10 to 15 profiles in an hour, as opposed to spending an hour on the phone with a candidate.

In addition, passive candidates can use the application on their own schedule, says Henniken.

Henniken says that the video profile management benefits all the players in the contingent spectrum:

Candidates showcase the full array of their skill sets, giving them the opportunity to present traits that could not be conveyed from a traditional resume.

Recruiters identify and differentiate top talent sooner in the hiring process, and access to a comprehensive picture of a candidate's unique skills saves significant time and related expense.

Hiring managers view comprehensive candidate profiles 24/7 making quicker, better informed hiring decisions.

Staffing firms increase their win rate and differentiate their "Brand" by marketing their candidate profiles to their prospective clients.

In addition, with the live interviewing feature, companies can save money on travel by interviewing people remotely. Henniken says that some companies have saved up to 50% on travel costs.

Finally, Expressume has worked extensively with a legal team to ensure that the system doesn't violate any discriminatory laws.

HarQen's VoiceScreener -- www.voicescreener.com

With HarQen's VoiceScreener application, recruiters can create and distribute custom, recorded interviews. Candidate responses are captured and made easily accessible to recruiters and hiring managers alike.

"Technology has made this possible. Our Web dashboard allows hiring managers to listen and share recorded interviews in a click," says Kelly Fitzsimmons, cofounder and CEO of Harqen.

Fitzsimmons points out that in these days of resume overload and vendor management systems, it can be very difficult for a recruiter to stand out. Adding a VoiceScreener "Interview Now" link to an email or Web-based job description can help recruiters differentiate themselves in a competitive industry. VoiceScreener also helps candidates stand out. Recorded interviews help candidates present their unique merits.

VoiceScreener says it provides the following benefits to recruiters:

  • Enables recruiters to truly manage their own time to recruit, rather than screen
  • Eliminates redundant phone screens, scheduling hassles, courtesy interviews
  • Accelerates and improve hiring without adding additional personnel
  • Creates a database of candidate interviews to quickly respond to reqs
  • Saves clients time in re-interviewing candidates
  • Identifies top talent faster

This last benefit is key, Fitzsimmons says. She reports that in some cases, placement ratios at recruiting firms have gone up 30%.

JobMagic -- www.JobMagic.com

In July, JobMagic unveiled its social media optimized job postings platform.

JobMagic helps companies and recruiters to reach the best talent across all channels of social media and the Web. It has some neat algorithm-based features, including the ability to post job opportunities at the times people are most likely to be looking for them.

JobMagic's platform consists of five modules which together make a recruiter's job easier.

According to the company, JobMagic customers' social recruiting ROI is on average less than two months and in many cases only a few weeks. The five modules include:

  • Social Media Optimization
  • Automated Publishing with Intelligent Scheduler
  • Referral Network Hiring
  • Talent Network
  • Social Media Candidate Database

For Social Media Optimization, JobMagic offers the following benefits:

  • Social Media-Native Postings -- Job postings show natively in Facebook.
  • Time -- The fully automated Intelligent Scheduler publishes jobs at times when people pay most attention.
  • Content -- Rich content encourages sharing into referral networks.
  • Sharing -- One-click sharing enables high sharing rates across 300 social media networks directly from any job posting.
  • Engagement -- Embedded interactive features such as a company's YouTube channel and blog increase engagement and make the employment brand memorable.
  • Visibility -- JobMagic publishes jobs to all social media destinations (e.g., Facebook tab and wall, LinkedIn status, Twitter account). In addition, the platform uses semantic matching and advanced filtering to send automatic job notifications to well-suited candidates.
  • Personalization -- Personalization gives recruiters a powerful competitive advantage in attracting the right talent. JobMagic's job postings feature a recruiter's social media profiles and a blog, area of expertise, personalized micro-site and a direct messaging link: "Ask the Recruiter."

The application can also be used for referral network hiring, and it allows recruiters to build a social media database.

Says CEO Jindrich Liska, "We drive social recruiting for staffing firms large and small. Like world-class staffing firms Aquent, Winter Wyman and Linium Staffing. We power their complete presence on Facebook, Twitter and other 300 social media."

Mike Ciano, a recruiter at Aquent, relates, "I made a placement within two weeks of using the platform. JobMagic is priceless."

iPad -- www.apple.com/ipad

The new product from those wizards at Apple can help recruiters, particularly those on the go. It's sort of the perfect hardware that fits between a laptop and a mobile phone.

With a larger screen than an iPhone or similar phone, it's much easier to navigate keys and functions, particularly for recruiters who are trying to locate a candidate while at a café or on the road.

In addition, the iPad has cool apps viewed through a split screen so that, for example, recruiters could use a calendar and email at once. Perfect for scheduling interviews!

The other great thing about the iPad is that you have a much larger viewing screen, which blends well with some of the other technology featured here. The color and resolution are very clear.

Jobs2Web -- www.jobs2web.com

Jobs2Web helps boost online recruiting by using interactive technology and social networking to maximize matching and save on costs. The applications embody the trends we are seeing in online recruiting, social networking, and mobility.

The Jobs2Web recruiting solutions are:

Social Network Recruiting
 Go where potential candidates gather. Jobs2Web allows you to automate and standardize your brand.

Mobile Recruiting
 Recruiters can leverage the widespread use of text messaging to reach targeted talent at the point of interest.

Employee Referral Marketing
 Create, promote, manage and execute employee referral recruiting campaigns leveraging Web 2.0 and social network technology. This also applies to getting the valued passive candidate.

Recruiter 2.0 Profiles
 With this feature, you can give each recruiter their own company branded Web page that can serve as a destination for all of their recruiting efforts. Candidates can choose from all of the Web 2.0 capabilities to connect.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing 2.0 (RPO 2.0)
 RPO is a huge trend in staffing, and Jobs2Web allows you to extend the power of the Recruitment Marketing Platform to Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) vendors, enabling RPO sourcing teams to tap the same high levels of quality talent acquisition and sourcing communities enjoyed by direct Jobs2Web employers.

Jobs2Web also provides metrics to help you craft a recruiting strategy and find out what's working, and what's not.

Says Doug Berg, chief recruiting geek at Jobs2Web, "Leveraging the power of Jobs2Web for optimized highly ranked terms on Google is key for the industry. But even more important is being able to track the effectiveness of all of the Web 2.0 recruiting channels (e.g., Facebook, Blogs, Employee Referrals, etc.). Being able to find, engage and know what is working in interactive recruiting is the win."

Pricing is based on how many open positions are being marketed.

Pro Staff is one happy staffing customer of Jobs2Web. Tricia Davis-Vogel, field marketing coordinator, says: "Outside of our Website, Jobs2Web is responsible for driving the majority of our online applications."

OptiJob -- www.optijob.com

OptiJob is all about search engine optimization, and leveraging your ATS or Website to post your open reqs online.

The OptiJob solution makes your jobs available on all the major search engines without the need for any technical interaction from your IT department. OptiJob uses its patented technology to aggregate job descriptions directly from your Website or ATS and build individual search engine friendly Web pages for each of your open reqs. With millions of job searches on the major search engines each month, this is a great strategy for job marketing, employment branding and overall Internet recruitment. Available in both hosted or installed models.

Search On The Go (SOTG) -- http://s1.webstarts.com/coZmicdragonhorse/index.html

Search On The Go is another neat application that embraces mobile technology. It's an iPhone app that simplifies recruiting by generating search strings from recruiters' key words.

Search On The Go makes recruiter searches easier and, perhaps equally important, mobile. Recruiters simply input the key words and then focus on following up the results. Search On The Go creates effective search strings including resume search, company search, etc. Test the string immediately from the iPhone or have the many options such as email, text, or save/load the search string right to Search On The Go library for future use.

scanR -- www.scanr.com

scanR is a great app that will allow recruiters to get the most out of their meetings, lunches, and contacts. It's a digital scanner that allows recruiters to scan business cards, resumes, notes on napkins, whiteboards and more. It's designed for busy people on the go and is compatible with Nokia, BlackBerrys, iPhones, Androids and more.

The technology basically turns your camera phone into a portable scanner. The scanned material can be converted into a pdf, faxed or posted online.

Subscription-based, your recruiters can download the application straight to their mobile phone.

TalentDrive's TalentFilter -- www.Talentdrive.com

TalentDrive's resume sourcing technology, TalentFilter, can make a recruiter's life much easier. With so many job boards and Websites to search, a recruiter can drown in digital resumes and profiles.

TalentFilter is an online sourcing tool that helps your recruiters find resumes online. With the capability to search thousands of online resume locations including paid and free job boards, niche sites, local community Websites, social networking sites, alumni networks and the open Web, TalentFilter generates results that are ranked through an advanced matching function.

TalentFilter makes online sourcing much easier and efficient through advanced resume searches, intelligent resume matching and a simple on-demand interface to deliver the highest qualified talent in the least amount of time.

TalentDrive was founded by Sean Biscaglia, and staffing firm Aquent has a minority interest. It's available as a software as a service (SAAS) model and is integrated into many HCM (Human Capital Management) recruitment platforms.

"With over 77 million resumes online today, we recognized the demand for a new approach to traditional recruiting. We developed TalentFilter, a resume search engine, to help streamline the online sourcing process and provide an 'out-of-the-box' recruitment solution for users and partners. Through our advanced API, we delivered our sourcing technology to over 30 human capital partners," explains Bisceglia, CEO of TalentDrive. "We are passionate about innovation and products that improve efficiency in the recruiting process."

TweetDeck -- www.tweetdeck.com

This one comes in as one of our two apps built around Twitter, which has become a social phenomenon and also a boon to recruiters. This is a British start-up that allows recruiters to browse social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Foursquare and MySpace on the same desktop or 'dashboard,' with apps for devices such as the iPhone and also ties that into mobile technology.

Twitterific -- www.twitter.com

Recruiters have embraced the Twitter community, and this application will help your recruiters manage their accounts on the go.

Twitterrific is a fun application that lets you both read and publish posts to the Twitter community Website. The application's user interface is clean, concise and designed to take up a minimum of real estate on your Mac's desktop.

To get started, visit the Twitter home page to sign up for an account for use with Twitterrific. Twitter accounts are free, take only minutes to set up and are a great way to stay connected with people around the globe.

Twitterrific's user interface is designed to let you view as much or as little information as you desire. The application shows a scrolling list of the latest tweets from either your friends or public feeds. The list can be shown in a collapsed or expanded mode.

Twitterific's feature list includes the following:

  • Clean, concise UI with small desktop footprint
  • Supports multiple Twitter accounts
  • Auto refreshing at user-defined intervals
  • Replies and direct messages are displayed inline
  • Number of unread tweets shown in the dock
  • Deletes tweets from Twitter quickly and easily
  • Auto show/hide when new tweets arrive
  • Control over window layering and priority
  • Single click access to user profile pages
  • Switch between friend and public tweets easily
  • Keyboard shortcuts for list navigation and more
  • Control Twitterrific with AppleScript
  • Audio notification for new tweets
  • Hot key to show/hide tweets

Vipe -- www.vipepower.com

Vipe allows users to manage, store and track video messages used for sales and marketing.

The company has several vertical markets, including hospitality, but has focused on the recruiting and staffing vertical since Vipe's inception in 2007.

In an interview, Adam Peterson, CEO of Vipe, stressed that his company seeks to provide a solution for recruiters, by fitting Vipe into their processes, minimizing change in the process and maximizing value.

In keeping with this mission, Vipe will work with customers' ATS systems and will integrate with social media as well.

Peterson also stressed the difference between Vipe and some other video interviewing tools that are out there. "Vipe is unlike video interviews for one primary reason: Vipe is designed to provide financial benefit to the staffing company; video interviews are limited to helping internal HR," he says.

"Designing a solution specifically for staffing companies we have focused on how video can most easily and effectively be incorporated into the staffing process, helping staffing companies do one simple thing: generate more revenue by getting more orders and making more placements. Video interviews are not built for the staffing model, and this has become increasingly clear to us as several staffing companies who tested video interviewing are now using Vipe."

Vipe users can create video-enhanced landing pages, add multiple videos to landing pages, embed videos on their Websites, brand landing pages with their logo, generate action with response forms, drive views to specific Web pages, track view and response form analytics, remotely invite candidates to create videos, and produce unlimited videos and views per user.

In a recent survey of its staffing and recruiting customers, the company found that those who use Vipe several times per week have, on average, made four placements per month, over a six-month period. Also, the survey found that those who again used Vipe several times per month indicated they shortened their hiring process an average of half a week to a week, using Vipe candidate videos.