We’ve all seen it – that great recruiting application that has all of the bells and whistles. Just one small problem – it doesn’t buy solidworks 2011 price vendors who think that they can create a software package and conform Recruiter’s behaviors to the way their software works are sadly mistaken if they think they will be successful. Recruiters don’t function in the vacuum of a recruiting package – it is a tool that works in conjunction with the rest of their business. There exists a significant amount of data in email, documents, data packages, etc. that all need to contribute to, not take away from, the productivity of the recruiter.
Many recruiters are thinking that now is not the time to spend money on new software but now is the best time to review your existing products and see if you’re maximizing productivity from the people you have left. Software vendors are also feeling the pinch and offers abound out there so, like real estate, it’s a Recruiting Software buyer’s market.
With time and money at a premium today a good recruiting package has to take into consideration what recruiters already know and minimize the learning curve to get productivity quicker and easier. If they can’t work the system to make placements, it’s not a good choice for your business. The more a recruiter has to learn and the more data that extends beyond the management umbrella of a software package, the more you lose in someone’s deleted items, recycle bin or laptop that gets run over by an angry spouse.
Here are some things to look for when thinking about a new recruiting package:
1. Recruiting knowledge.
A good recruiting software package must have a good idea of how you currently do and want to do your recruiting. This may seem simplistic but many software products are created, developed and brought to market based on what developers think a recruiter wants and needs, with their primary goal being a large profit margin. Look for products that are developed by recruiters, for recruiters and that continue to evolve based on actual user input, not based on what a developer might think ‘is cool’.
2. Integration.
Today’s recruiters know and rely heavily on Microsoft Office products. The more a recruiter can continue to work in these programs as they always have, the less resistance there is to change and the easier it is to integrate a new recruiting buy solidworks 2011 price package in your organization. For instance, many software packages try to emulate Outlook behavior by recreating it within their product but inevitably it falls short. When recruiters have to reproduce actions in a separate system to capture data, the old way of doing things will always win.
3. Flexibility.
I am convinced that no two recruiting businesses operate or use any software in the same way. What one recruiter has on their “must have” list, another recruiter doesn’t care about. Does the software package have all of the buy solidworks 2011 price things you want to use now and other things that you might not want to use but can evolve into? Having a software package that is flexible to follow your growth is key for long term usage and can also be an effective recruiting tool for attracting good staffing professionals to add to your staff. Experienced recruiters understand the benefit and advantage of a good database.
4. Longevity and ownership.
When you buy new software you’re focused on what it can do for you now but it is a big investment of time and money. Is your vendor going to be there five years from now? If not, will they take your mission critical data with them if they go out of business? Is the software written so that it will keep working as new versions of Windows, Office, etc, come out? Once you have converted or entered your recruiting data into a recruiting system you are dependent on being able to get at it or at least convert it. The big question is, if your vendor goes out of business what happens to you? You may have serious problems getting to your resume database, and even if you can get to it, can you do anything with it? This is a particular problem with software that you don’t own but ‘lease’ and run web based or via SAAS (Software as a service).
Software that you own and can run where you want is always going to be a better choice. Even if the vendor goes out of business, your software continues to run and you have time to move to a new vendor is necessary. Research how long a vendor has been in business, client references and credit checks. Determine what software tools were used to build the recruiting system i.e., computer language, database engines and other software tools. What you’re looking for here is to make sure that your recruiting software is not dependent on some specialized software tool or vendor that may not be able to or want to keep up with the rapid changes in the computing industry. For my customers protection I like to put my money on Microsoft’s flagship products i.e. MS WORD, MS ACCESS, EXCEL, VISUAL BASIC, SQL SERVER, WINDOWS and XP.
