Softshoe Select: an engine for Internet-based recruiting

HR Magazine, April, 1999 by Gary Meyer

Connecting with and tracking job candidates through a recruitment management system that makes full use of Internet technology can improve a company's hiring results. And, it even may lead to a re-engineering of the recruitment process.

One system fitting that description is Softshoe Select from New York-based Hotjobs.com Ltd. The system is linked to the company's popular and highly acclaimed job-posting web site, www.Hotjobs.com, which gives job seekers 24-hour, seven-day-a-week access to openings around the world. Softshoe applies the experience gained by Hotjobs.com in developing its web site and other web-based recruiting software for Fortune 500 clients such as Ford Motor Co. and Lucent Technologies.

The applicant management system is geared toward mid-sized organizations hiring between 100 and 500 employees annually. It is a single-source solution; Hotjobs.com handles installation and maintenance of the necessary hardware and software items.

What It Does

The Hotjobs.com web site allows instant updates to the global posting of open jobs and serves as a rapid-response vehicle for electronic transmittal and acknowledgment of resumes from interested applicants. At the back end, anyone involved in the user's recruiting process can log on to the network to search the resume database for viable candidates, to retrieve resumes, to schedule interviews and other activities, to run on-screen reports and to exchange information.

Mouse-clicks can produce up-to-the-minute information about everything related to the hiring process. One screen shows the status of all of a recruiter's assigned job requisitions, including links to detailed information about the current applicant pool, the job and the hiring manager. The recruiter can call up and browse a resume or summary profile, see all the company jobs to which an individual has applied and view a history of any previous contact the company has had with the applicant.

With Softshoe's search capability, recruiters can easily identify applicants who satisfy certain desired criteria. For example, a search can zero in on prospects with specified key words in their resumes or target those with specific degrees and majors. The system can sort and display search results by name, desired location and scores.

Recruiters also can schedule interviews, drug tests, background checks and other essential elements of the recruitment process, using the system to automatically notify all participants and to provide them with needed information. Because Softshoe Select is Internet-based, key people in the hiring process can be located anywhere.

In addition to viewing the posted openings, job seekers can use the search engine provided to pinpoint those with requirements matching their credentials and desires. An applicant can easily enter a resume into the system online and send it to the appropriate contact, who is immediately notified by e-mail. Applicants can also fill in an on-screen resume form customized to the employer's specifications. The recruiter can then direct the system to send a designated response letter.

What I Like

This advanced, end-to-end applicant tracking system offers many advantages that contribute to a faster, smarter and more economical hiring process. Softshoe Select's functions can minimize delays, duplication and paper-shuffling and make the lofty goal of "just-in-time" recruitment more attainable. The system's ease-of-use coupled with the high-tech amenities it provides will appeal to many recruiters. In fact, Softshoe has received awards from both COMDEX and HR Executive.

The built-in, push-button reports provide valuable detail and summary information about requisitions by how long a job has been open, number of completed hires and time required to fill vacant positions. EEO reports help to ensure that affirmative action goals are being met.

Managers will be delighted with this and other real-time information on recruitment activity. They also will appreciate being able to keep tabs on such important performance indicators as time-to-fill and the cycle times from point to point in the hiring sequence, for example, the average time from job opening to first interview, first interview to offer and offer acceptance to start date.

Another nice feature is that client companies are allowed to post jobs to other commercial Internet job advertisement sites, such as Yahoo Classified. Recruiters also can attach notes to a resume and automatically distribute it to selected managers on the network. A comprehensive activity management module allows recruiters and managers to view past and future events by individual, type of event or event result (such as applicant declined due to salary, no show, no interest from hiring manager).

What Could Be Improved

Softshoe Select's online reports are either of a snapshot nature or based on cumulative month or year-to-date data; the time frame covered is not readily apparent. The vendor is researching how to allow users to specify date ranges for real-time reports, but that is a formidable challenge for a web-based application. Customers can produce reports for desired time periods using data dumps and a report writer.