A powerful and flexible recruiting tool - RecruitMAX - Software Review - Evaluation

HR Magazine, Sept, 1997

A new job posting crosses your desk. You remember a resume you saw a few months ago that was a perfect match. Will you ever find it in the huge volume of resumes you have accumulated over the past year?

"Absolutely!" states Connie Saunders, employment manager of Stein Mart in Jacksonville, Fla. "We've scanned about 4,000 resumes into RecruitMAX since December 1996 and I can search the database in seconds to find the one I'm looking for."

RecruitMAX is a resume-tracking, candidate-placement software product from Creative System Solutions Inc. of Orange Park, Fla. The program, developed by company president Derek Mercer, combines the latest scanning and optical character recognition (OCR) technology to create a searchable database of candidate information.

WHAT IT DOES

The RecruitMAX system can be broken down into five functional areas: Scanning, Extracting Data, Searching and Retrieving, Printing, and Scheduling Activities.

Scanning. Getting data on job candidates into the RecruitMAX system can happen in several ways, each accessible with just a click on the toolbar. With manual entry, data can be keyed into the system directly from existing forms. Or you can copy data from other applications by using the Windows 95 clipboard. The program can also import resumes that are faxed directly into the computer (.tif files) or received through e-mail as .txt (text) or .rtf (rich text format) files. A batch of resumes can be scanned as well.

"The scanning works very well," says Anand Rao, director of organizational development for Ritz Carlton Hotels in Atlanta. Recognition rates for original resumes is quite high, he adds, but for nonstandard (nontraditional) formats, copies or faxes, the rate is lower, but scanning still saves time in the long run.

Extracting Data. While getting the resume image into the system is important, getting the components of the resumes broken up into the fields of the database is critical. The OCR segment of the RecruitMAX software "scans" the resume image; extracts the name and address, skills, and professional summary information; and transfers the data into the appropriate database fields.

Searching and Retrieving. The program has extensive capabilities for finding any desired data. Users can search by name, address, desired salary, skills and education, user-defined fields and other criteria. The search criteria can be combined to create complex searches. Two examples of searches follows.

The program's name and address tab allows users to fill in the form as a query by example and select the candidates who meet the criteria entered in each box. The form contains fields for name, address, dates of availability, desired salary, telephone number and status in the recruiting process.

The skills tab provides a way to customize the program's skills table to include the appropriate skills for your organization. Simply click on one of the available skills and choose to include it or not. You can also search for candidates that meet particular educational criteria.

One user explains how to get maximum benefit from the program's search and retrieval function. "We spend the up-front time ensuring completeness and correctness of data after we scan our resumes," says Linda Benitz, HR associate at PowerTel Communications in West Point, Ga. "It's critical to have accurate data in order to generate effective searches, retrieve resumes whenever we need them, and reduce the administrative nightmare of managing high volumes of manual files."

Printing. RecruitMAX allows users to print resumes received by e-mail or fax, as well as reports from the lists resulting from searches. To access the print menu, click the right mouse button on the search-result grid. In addition, Crystal Report Writer can be licensed to generate custom reports from RecruitMAX.

Scheduling Activities. The activity schedule function allows users to track phone calls, interviews, meetings and to-do lists. The schedule data can be shared among users in a multi-user system.

WHAT I LIKE

RecruitMAX's import functions provide both flexibility and power for getting data into the system. The software can bring in data from many sources and uses state-of-the-art technology to extract image data into database format.

The overall look and feel of the product indicates it is well-thoughtout; effective use is made of the tab and toolbar features of Windows 95. The screens are easy to read and understand, and the user can move around the system easily.

Searching the database is simple yet powerful. With little effort, you can execute some fairly complex searches that can significantly increase recruiting productivity.

Staff at the customer support line for RecruitMAX proved to be extremely helpful and courteous when I had questions.

WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

Getting started with the system wasn't as simple as I would have expected. The installation instructions provided were not easy to follow, and no user guide was provided. I finally made a 20-minute phone call to the support line to resolve the startup issues.