The Basics of Applicant Tracking Systems - electronic recruitment - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Workforce, Jan, 2001 by William Dickmeyer

When you ask an applicant-management company to describe what it does, the answer usually comes out something like "we offer an end-to-end dynamic e-cruiting e-business solution for maximum workforce management in a dynamic, labor-shortage environment."

Yeah, right.

Such words mean something different for every product. But here's what most of them do contain:

Requisition Management. The starting point for your system is the creation of the actual job. For most established companies, this is done through a job requisition. In its most basic form, the hiring manager for a department will create the requisition that will list the job requirements and the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to complete it. This ultimately becomes a job posting, communicated to both internal and external job seekers.

Once this information has been created, it may go through a human resources review, or may simply get automatically posted to the appropriate sources (e.g., job boards, internal/external Web site, etc.). Throughout the life of the requisition, job applications, resumes, notes on interviews, and other data can be attached in database fashion to the requisition number. This is especially helpful for companies who have many locations and a central HR office to keep current on their job postings.

Applicant Data Collection. Most systems can capture the necessary information from paper-based resumes or applications, and then download it directly into the applicant database. If Joe Smith sends a note to a recruiter applying for a job, and attaches a Microsoft Word file of his resume, certain programs can scan the document without printing it, and accurately map pertinent information directly to the database.

Recruiter/Manager Interface. At a minimum, a system will be able to track a posted job and all the applicants that have either applied for the position or meet the qualifications for the job. Recruiters or hiring managers can search the database and select the applicants they wish to interview. Some programs will automatically do an initial screen to make sure the applicant meets the minimum qualifications for the job. Others require the recruiter or manager to manually review the application.

HRMS/Payroll Interface. Most of today's applicant tracking systems attempt to make it easy to interface with HRMS or payroll systems. But we've heard stories about people having to un-install and re-install People-Soft repeatedly to get their systems to work. Be sure to ask your potential vendor's references (current clients) how easy or hard it was to interface with their HRMS. Be sure to ask your vendor what it will cost you.

Reporting. This will be covered in depth in next month's issue. The goal of reporting is to provide ways of measuring the applicant tracking system's effectiveness. In the end, the product should be able to tell you where you stand in getting the right talent in the right amount of time for the least amount of money.

William Dickmeyer is an HR consultant based in Wisconsin.

Tracking Time to Hire

In addition to the costs to hire, you should also track the time required to fill positions should also be tracked.

If your costs are reasonable but your time to fill takes months instead of days--you're losing the battle. The "time to fill" metric show the average number of days from the date a requisition is received until an offer is accepted.

This measure is an important indicator of the efficiency and success of the staffing process. It has been shown that by increasing your hiring speed you increase your number of high performing "quality" hires--since most great candidates are only on the market for a very short time.

In a very tight labor market companies are competing with competitors for that top talent. If you don't get there first, your competitor surely will. Revenue will also suffer--when positions are left vacant, productivity, and thus revenue, are greatly reduced. Savvy staffing professionals can plan more efficient job fulfillment when time and source metrics are known.

Total time to fill

The total time to fill for both external and internal new hires is now averaging 52 days. For exempt employees, it's averaging 60 days and nonexempt 43 days (Figure 6).

External hires

The time required to fill exempt external hires is at 67 days (Figure 7). The highs are hitting around 90-plus days for exempt and 60-plus days for nonexempt.

             Total Time to Fill - Internal and External Hires
Nonexempt 43
   Exempt 60
    Total 52
                           External Time to Fill
Nonexempt 42
   Exempt 67
    Total 53