Podcast – The Future Of Recruitment CRM

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In this recruitment leaders’ podcast from Barclay Jones, Lisa Jones and Wayne Barclay speak with James Payne from Bond International Software and Rod Smyth from TempBuddy. Bond and TempBuddy recently joined forces under the Symphony Technology Group, leveraging each other’s strengths of world-class staffing software and award-winning technological innovation.

As providers of world-class recruitment technology, James and Rod are in a great place to talk about the new #CRMFirst mantra at Barclay Jones.

Who is this Recruitment Leaders Podcast for?

If you are a recruitment leader, IT leader or marketing leader in recruitment, and you want to make your CRM “FIRST” (ie. First port of call), then this is will be a key listen.

What did Lisa, Wayne, James and Rod discuss?

  • Why the content of your CRM can massively impact whether your recruiters use it
  • How to improve the content of your CRM?
  • How can you get managers and directors engaged with Recruitment CRM?
  • What things do they advise recruiters to stop doing?

5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Automated Onboarding

As the economic winds continue to move in a positive direction, what does this mean for the recruitment industry moving forward? The candidate experience remains a top need for recruiting agencies to attract and retain candidates in a tight labor market. Implementing an onboarding system that will quickly and efficiently transition new hires onto the assignment saves staff time and provides candidates a positive user experience. Those in the industry who have cracked the code for reduced time-to-fill ratios all share a similar weapon when it comes to bringing in new hires – automated onboarding. Whether they’re used for transactional onboarding, dealing with the forms and processes involved in onboarding an employee or guiding a new hire to effectiveness more quickly, automation of these systems is a proven time and money saver. As with other recruiting software that is steering the hiring industry in a new and more efficient direction, automation is changing the face of onboarding at big and small companies alike, and here are 5 reasons why…

Cost Savings

The first benefit any company looks for is obviously the effect on the bottom line of the business. While it seems intuitive that automation in onboarding processes would naturally save money when cutting out extra administrative time on behalf of both new employees and internal team members, the savings reach beyond the obvious. The elimination of needless paperwork is proving to be a cost-saving center that more hiring companies are recognizing. According to the Recruiting Edge Newsletter:

“The average company has 15 corporate policies, procedures, and forms that are required for the new hire to read, review, and sign prior to their first day of work. That does not include the US federal and state forms that are required, such as the Form I-9, W4, state tax withholding forms, and the optional 8850 WOTC form. These forms and policies, along with your required corporate forms, often total more than 40 pieces of paper, which staff copies, distributes and then collects – or hunts down – from each new hire.”

However, automation stops that wasteful process, especially when combined with electronic signature capabilities, eradicating needless paperwork and associated administrative time.

Improved Data Collection

Oftentimes, the challenges of data collection reach beyond those regular client-specific forms. Government agencies and contractors, for example, must also obtain legally-mandated background checks, drug screening and medical/fitness exams, verifications and licensure certifications – all under the umbrella of overall confidentiality. With the addition of each new piece of data comes the possibility of mishandling. Any mistakes in the onboarding process can come back to haunt HR departments when auditors visit. But with automated onboarding, both collection and management of the data can be maintained virtually problem-free.

Reduction in Errors

By integrating all the relevant systems incorporated with onboarding, automation can significantly reduce the chance for errors. No longer must new employees wade through mounds of paperwork, potentially entering incorrect information or missing essential details altogether. And internal staff shouldn’t have to worry about having to check for errors. Automation ensures that all forms are correctly completed. The benefits of errorless data are far reaching. From avoiding the added hours of payroll backtracking from incorrectly filed forms to managing WOTC (Work Opportunity Tax Credit) programs more effectively, companies can save thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours.

Heightened Security

One of the hottest topics around onboarding practices is the safety of employee data. Hiring companies must protect the integrity of data collection, transmission, storage and backup of personal employee information. Automated onboarding solves these issues by providing data security through web-based cloud storage available through Software as a Service (SaaS). Data taken in through automated processes is stored in the cloud and secured more effectively than information that is stored in on-site systems thanks to encryption and access control. Such web-based protections provide multiple layers of security measures, both virtual and physical, to ensure that data is protected from breaches. Ultimately, the securely stored data resting in the cloud eliminates the need to hold onto countless file boxes of information for years on end.

Happier New Hires

What connection does automated onboarding have with the emotional well- being of new employees? More than you might think. When automated onboarding is part of a hiring process, the time spent on administrative paperwork is eliminated, giving internal staff more time to focus on revenue-generating activities. In addition, the user experience of automated onboarding reaches across generations when it comes to employee use. Technology-challenged associates will appreciate the simplified process. The hours saved through automated onboarding makes the solution a difficult tool to ignore for your agency’s recruitment software system. Staffing agencies and recruiting firms charged with the complicated challenges of onboarding can see impactful changes in a short amount of time when they move to automated processes.

Contact us today

As hiring continues to ramp up this year and beyond, automated onboarding within a recruiting software system is a game-changer when it comes to success in the hiring marketplace. Learn how our recruiting software can help you achieve your placement goals by contacting us today.

High Impact Technology Projects: 5 Ways to be SMARTER about Goals

Blog-SMARTER Goals - Image 1.jpgAfter what always feels like a longer-than-we-hoped-for selection process, new project teams are anxious to get started ASAP and often want the implementation project to kick-off immediately after the contract is signed. High impact technology projects take time, before the project starts, to establish strong, strategic and measurable business objectives to ensure that the project mobilizes in the right direction with full acceleration.

The concept of setting “SMART” goals has been around for decades now. I’m guessing we have all been trained and coached for how to generate SMART (or SMARTER) goals for our professional and personal aspirations.

While we do a good job of coming up with SMART project goals, there are opportunities to improve how and when we establish, define and communicate our desired project outcomes.   

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Maximizing the Value of Recruitment Software Search Technology

Our customers frequently identify search functionality as one of the most important technology tools for better operations. Businesses utilizing recruitment software technology with advanced search capabilities tend to stay ahead of competition. That’s because the many benefits of these innovative solutions enable recruiters to both find talent and locate key opportunities to market top candidates to sales prospects. However, searching and sourcing for candidates is frequently the biggest operational challenge in the recruitment industry. The quality of the search experience is critical for productivity, candidate experience and client relationships. Moreover, the three most important elements of top-notch search technology are speed to outperform competitors, quality results that are relevant to inputted search queries, and search capability for business development for better relationship management to ultimately increase sales opportunities.

With new tools that allow recruiting professionals to pull in candidate details from all manner of sources, the depth of information available is, in many cases, overwhelming. Results can often be confusing and inconsistent, and many staff members do not know how to effectively search in all these areas. There is growing frustration that the increasing data volume is resulting in an apparent decrease in data quality. Rather than just searching the internal database, consultants are searching social media and multiple expensive job boards to quickly find talent for job orders. Below are four ways to maximize the value of recruitment software search technology to prevent recruiters from utilizing expensive external resources.

1. Use consistent skill codes for better search results

Structured data searching requires time to carefully extract the candidates’ relevant profile data and populate the relevant fields in the database. Structured searching can be very powerful, but requires a lot of manual input and administrative work to be fully effective. Whether undertaking a manual search or using resume parsing technology, the quality of the results depend upon the consistency of the data coding model. Records need to be consistently labeled to improve the efficiency and speed of the search process. For example, without consistent data coding, recruiters searching for candidates who have previously worked at Microsoft are equally likely to find candidates with Word and Excel skills. Without context – or setting up a skills code – a recruiter is faced with an array of resumes that are completely irrelevant to the job specification.

2. Ensure that staff are well trained on performing Boolean searches

Free Text Keyword (Boolean) Searches that are done well can also be very powerful. This type of search is less time consuming, but will often return matches to keywords without context and therefore can present the user with a search result that is large and unqualified. Quite often, consultants haven’t honed their skills to effectively use free text searches and find the process extremely frustrating as a result. Utilizing Boolean search strings is most effective when users are comfortable and confident in their ability to perform free text keyword searches. Make sure entry-level team members are given every resource necessary to become Boolean search experts to better utilize the wealth of information already within the internal database.

3. Ensure data is regularly updated for accuracy

When a recruitment company’s team members lose confidence in the quality of the internal database, the implications are significant. Ineffective use of business development CRM data can result in missed or lost revenue and inefficient business development direction. This also becomes costly for recruitment agencies when staff begin turning external data sources, such as job boards, before searching for internal data, often resulting in additional costs. If recruiters are solely relying upon external sources, they are not offering more than their competition because the competition – and the client – also has access to the same talent pool. Duplicate data also clutters up recruitment companies’ internal databases when recruiters download resumes – at a cost – from external sources without checking whether the contact already exists in the system. The result is multiple expensive downloads of the same resume. By failing to correctly store information and relying increasingly on expensive external data sources, the company is incrementally reducing its value. A competitive staffing agency with a more sophisticated approach to data collection will discover and place the best candidates far more quickly and increase profitability.

4. Utilize a technology solution that offers contextual search capabilities

The market has developed a number of new search tools in response to the changing data environment, but contextual search is a far more intelligent form of searching within the recruitment industry. Contextual searching tools can search on unstructured or raw data, as well as structured data, and base results on understanding what is contained within the text (rather than the filename or associated fields). These benefits enhance productivity through speed and improved accuracy of match results through more links between candidate and job specification to identify more relevant candidates. Furthermore, candidate records do not need to be accurately skill-coded (or coded at all) to be returned in search results. And since this system creates such a streamlined process for users, recruiters do not require advanced Boolean searching skills, effectively shortening the learning curve during training.

Contact us today!

Your recruitment agency’s internal database is the hub of all recruitment activity, and companies need to ensure the right processes and tools are in place to enable recruiters to gain maximum benefit from the wealth of information within their own system. Recruitment software search technology delivers superior candidate searches and matches, improves marketing insight and supports better business development. If you would like to know how our staffing software is improving productivity in the recruitment industry through optimized technology solutions, then contact us today!

 

Staff Wars: Change Star, Rogue None – Part 1: What’s the plan, Tarkin?

This is part 1 in our series focused on guiding you on how to implement a new project initiative without it getting blown up.

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Become the Jedi of Job Postings

Aaron imageIn our Atlanta office, our team members frequently have Star Wars on the brain, and it’s all thanks to Implementation Consultant Aaron Myerson’s desk décor. Friendly faces from a galaxy far, far away, such as Yoda, can be found next to Aaron as he provides online training to new users of our staffing software solution. A functionality topic that frequently comes up among recruiters during training sessions is the ability to publish job postings to job boards when sourcing for high-quality talent. Just like a Jedi uses a lightsaber to fight for justice, recruiters sometimes use job postings to thwart competition for hard-to-find talent.

There’s a lot more to job postings than simply publishing a job description. Now that online job boards and search engines are much more competitive, recruiters must take advantage of several different advertising techniques and digital recruitment strategies to ensure maximum visibility among job seekers. However, recruiters are not born knowing the best practices for job postings. It sometimes takes intense training to master the art of attracting online applicants. In an attempt to educate Jedi in training, Master Yoda often instilled some memorable words of wisdom to Padawans that can be applied to both new recruiters and seasoned talent acquisition professionals needing to brush up on the latest job posting best practices. Here are some tips from the best of Star Wars’ Jedi Masters to help you become a Jedi of job postings and restore balance to job submittal ratios.

“Patience you must have, my young Padawan.” yoda 1

It’s easy to copy and paste the information a hiring manager provided you and then publish to find active job seekers. However, this fast and easy approach tends to be the least effective. Verbiage within a job description from a Human Resources department might not be easy for a potential applicant to understand. Take the time to read the job description with your candidate’s perspective in mind and edit the content for better comprehension. Be sure to consider the recommended formats and content guidelines for job postings to utilize SEO and maximize your visibility on platforms that utilize search engine technology.

“Feel the Force!”

Just like the Force binds everyone and everything together, search engine technology brings together job seekers and employers to help find perfect matches for employment opportunities. Get familiar with keyword strategies used in various locations to feel more comfortable with what kinds of verbiage generate more applicants. Recruiters may also want to experiment with which days of the week tend to drive more traffic to job postings, different options for online job boards and what types of job posting formats perform best. Familiarizing yourself with the technology that candidates use when hunting for jobs will help you develop effective ways to drive them towards your organization. The more comfortable you are with what the job boards are looking for to enhance the job seeker’s experience, the stronger you will be with “the Force.”

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

It’s very stressful for recruiters to invest time and money into job postings for a time-sensitive placement, only to receive an influx of applications that are all unqualified. It’s not uncommon to feel anger toward individuals for failing to read the specifications of the job description and ignore their inquiries for employment opportunities. However, there may come a time when you need those unqualified applicants for job orders that suit them better. To avoid future suffering, be sure to take advantage of connecting with unqualified talent for job orders down the line and avoid the dark side of unfulfilled job orders.

“You must unlearn what you have learned.”

Don’t get too comfortable when you have mastered the art of job posting on various online job boards. Technology and hiring trends are always changing, and best practices that have brought you the results you needed might drastically change tomorrow. Generally speaking, job boards will always choose loyalty to what their users want in order to maintain and grow site traffic, not necessarily the employers who advertise and post job openings through them. Always be open to new ways of doing things to keep up with the rapid changes that can and will occur.

Contact us today

Now that you have the knowledge needed to become a Jedi Master of job postings, be sure to arm yourself with the right “lightsaber” to defend your staffing agency from the dark side of low job order submittals. The right technology can help streamline recruiting processes and make it easier to manage temporary talent while simultaneously enhancing the candidate experience. To learn more about how our staffing solutions can help find high-quality talent efficiently and effectively while staying competitive with online job postings, then contact us to schedule a demo today! You can also reach out to us with questions about staffing software, contract recruitment or anything else you need help with. We’d love to help.

Erecruit™ Merges with Bond International Software Strengthening its Lead in the Staffing Software Space

Merger Brings Together Highly Complementary Products, Enhances Scale, Expands Geographic Reach, and Doubles Size of Organization

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TempBuddy Honoured with Award Promoted by the European Commission

SaaS contingency workforce software firm named European Social StartUp 2016 for its game-changing staffing software and worker app.

DUBLIN – 13th June 2017 – TempBuddy, contingent workforce software innovator, is named the best European Social StartUp at the StartUp Europe Awards 2016.

The StartUp Europe Awards (SEUA) are promoted by the European Commission, supported by the President of the Committee of the Regions, several members of the European Parliament and implemented by Finnova Foundation in collaboration with Startup Europe. The goal is to recognise the effort of European startups in ten categories including social, with each member country providing one startup winner per category to represent them at the European final. In total 84 startups from 14 countries contested across the ten categories. The award winners are set to become inspirational examples for new generations with a positive impact on changing the entrepreneurship culture in Europe.

Having won the Bank of Ireland Tech StartUp Award last year, TempBuddy was selected to represent Ireland in the StartUp Europe Awards, beating the other finalists to be recognised as best European StartUp in the social category. The SEUA recognises social innovation as the development and implementation of new ideas to meet social needs. By using the mobile devices we already have in our pockets, TempBuddy simplifies the entire recruitment process helping staffing agencies to improve productivity and achieve growth whilst improving the candidate and client experience.

Upon receiving the award from Michel Servoz, Director of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, last night in Brussels Roderick Smyth, CEO and Founder of TempBuddy, commented: “I am so proud to be honoured with this truly significant award on behalf of the entire team who have brought TempBuddy from concept to a multi-award winning reality. Our vision is to make life easier for the flexible workforce, helping more people find temporary work when and where they want. By enabling staffing organisations and hiring managers to “uberise” their candidate database through real-time availability, we help to them compete in the on-demand economy without sacrificing workers’ employment rights.”

Michel Servoz, Director of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion said: “Stimulating innovation, entrepreneurship and the knowledge-based society is at the core of the Europe 2020 Strategy. TempBuddy was chosen as the best European Social StartUp for their innovative technology that empowers the worker. Their purpose and technology is completely aligned with why Social StartUp Europe Awards were conceived – to recognise the work of startups trying to make this world a better place to live and work.”

The awards were delivered by the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani; the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Mr. Carlos Moedas; the Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions, Karl-Heinz Lambert; the Vice-President for Communication of the European Economic and Social Committee, Gonçalo Lobo Xavier and the DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Mr. Michel Servoz.

TempBuddy’s game-changing software has already scooped six industry awards and has been adopted by users in over 1500 cities across 3 continents. The recruiter platform integrates real-time availability, scheduling, deployment, time capture, pay and bill and compliance linked to a worker mobile app and employer portal.

Mairead McGuinness, Vice President of the European Parliament said, “It is fantastic to see an Irish StartUp being recognised on the European stage for their hard work and technological innovation. Ireland has a lot to offer the European marketplace and, with the backing of the StartUp Europe Accelerator of Finnova Foundation, Roderick and the TempBuddy team will have access to a highly experienced network helping them expand even further internationally. This is great news for TempBuddy and for Ireland’s participation in the European and international marketplace.”

– Ends –

Notes for editors:

For TempBuddy
Hazel-Jasmine Pace
PR Account Director
ITPR
hazelp@itpr.co.uk

Roderick Smyth is available for interview upon request.

About TempBuddy
TempBuddy’s multi-award winning workforce management software is designed to get the best people to the right place at the right time, paid promptly and accurately using smart mobile technology. Our revolutionary SaaS recruitment software integrates real-time availability, scheduling, deployment, time capture, pay and bill and compliance into one integrated and intuitive tool. The mobile worker app and recruiter platform have been developed to simplify the entire process and experience, helping improve productivity, achieve growth and cut costs. Our game-changing platform and worker app have already been adopted by users in over 1500 cities across 3 continents.