Applicant Tracking Systems

One of the benefits of not being inside is having the freedom to speak your mind.

From Robert Merrill at Good Recruits, we find out that Recruitmax has changed its name to Vurv Technology.

Here is the Vurv press release.

Vurv, Recruitmax - doesn't matter what they are called - I didn't care much for an Applicant Tracking System that was slow, busy in its design, and lacked credible tools for making sales calls.

• I can see how an internal corporate recruiter could use Recruitmax to track candidates - the staging bar is very good at giving you a quick overview of where you are in the hiring process.
• For TPR's, the slow interface (it's web-based), combined with the sheer number of jobs that are added made it more of a stumbling block than a complement to daily services.
• The search functions were okay - but the initial rollout lacked geographical searches, or area code searches, which meant if you are in a large metro area, finding people close to the company you are recruiting for requires a lot of time digging.
• Creating call lists was an exercise in futility (Both for recruiters and salespeople), not because you couldn't create them, but more because it seemed the people who designed the interface didn't appear to have any clue as to how people in the field did their jobs.

I knew we were in trouble when the Recruitmax software was given human attributes as a human being.  "It learns," they would say.  But computer software doesn't "learn."  Anyone telling you that is obviously trying to sell you.  What they meant was the computer tracked the searches performed and responded by matching the more popular searches and providing those more often.

Which is great, unless you have an untrained populace of recruiters who all think differently entering information searches into the database.

There were a couple of turning points for me with the software.  The initial rollout, I was okay with.  I like ATS, and in fact need a good one to function properly.  As the difficulties mounted in me using the software to work as an account manager, I received a sticker from the corporate office.

If it's not in Recruitmax, it doesn't count.  That little piece of corporate memorabilia ended up in the trash, and the monitor almost followed it.  I was frustrated because I couldn't get Recruitmax to work for me.  It was hindering my ability to do my job.  And the corporate office sends me a sticker telling me to learn it, or else. 

Despite protestations, it became very clear - using Recruitmax was a requirement to maintain employment.  For one month, I spent the last two hours of my day entering enough information in the computer after the day was done to ensure my usage was at a corporate minimum.

I no longer have this problem - but my former company no longer has my services.  I didn't leave solely because of the Recruitmax ATS, but it was a contributing factor.  Until I wrote this post, I'd be willing to bet that no one in my former organization ever told the executives they lost good employees to a software purchase.

They never bothered to ask.  And I'm willing to bet this post won't show up in the next Vurv press release. 

Comments

[Todd Baer]

Jim, love the blog. We've been struggling with the issue of ATM's also and find that most of them are waaaaay too complicated for our recruiters to be productive with them. Have you bumped into any that "get it?"

[Jim Durbin]

I wish that were the case. The advantage of the ATS has a lot more to do with backend office functions than front-end recruiting.com.

I always thought Personic's EZAccess was great - it was fast, you built it yourself, and it was great for recruiting and sales.

But I don't think they make it anymore.

I'll suggest this - find an ATS that doesn't suggest a lot of changes. Make sure it's built on the same platform you currently run. Test it out of the box - and let us know the results.

There are some people at the Recruiting.com site who work for ATS companies. And a site called DubDubs reviews them.

http://systematichr.com/

[carol larsen]

We use SAP for almost all business functions, but don't have the recruiting module - we have 80 locations in 10 western states. Does it make sense to buy and train and use that module, or get an independent ATS system? SAP seems so cumbersome for other functions - I am concerned it would be difficult for location personnel to learn and use it.
Any ideas, or any comments from people who use SAP's ATS system?