Software Evolution

by: Kenneth Peck

Not very! You might find that answer surprising, considering I am the president of a recruiting software company. We have been producing recruiting software for 25 years. I have also spent 25 years as a recruiter in the very competitive Los Angeles market.

I talk to a lot of recruiters every day who are trying to decide on recruiting software. There is a variety of recruiting software products out there and it seems as if a new one pops every other day. The ERE has a running Discussion group, “Finding The Right Recruiting Software”, where recruiters can ask questions and get advice from each others regarding recruiting software. I get emailed discussions daily from this group and almost every time someone mentions software that I have never heard of.

I get the feeling that many of these recruiters I talk to every day are on the wrong track. They are looking for the secret potion that will turn either themselves or their firm into a super star of the recruiting industry with the slickest resume database and applicant tracking features around.

I maintain that if you take a good recruiter or recruiting firm and make them use bad recruiting software, they are still going to be successful. Conversely if you take a bad recruiting firm and make them use good recruiting software they are still going to be a bad recruiter or recruiting firm.

When I was still recruiting during the day and writing software at night I worked elbow to elbow with fellow recruiters. I used to criticize the recruiter who was always fussing with the computer and their files. Do you know why? I’m guessing you think it is because I am so arrogant that I did not want to listen to anyone else’s ideas. You are wrong, although I do like my own ideas! The real reason, however, was that I knew this recruiter was never going to be successful and we would lose money. Time after time, year after year for 15 years, I found that the recruiters who focused on the recruiting tool and gimmicks rather than execution failed. Someone once told me that Vince Lombardi, a very successful football coach, had only about 6 plays. The success was all in the execution!

The recruiter who focuses on the execution of the client and applicant call and is always thinking of ways to improve the call is going to be successful. How you identify this type of recruiter is the subject for another article.

So, why have I spent half of my life writing recruiting software and trying to make it better? Because I love my work and the creativity of it and I know I can give a really good recruiter an edge. I know the recruiting firm will be successful with or without me but I can make a difference. I truly enjoy working with successful people and the rewards and appreciation mean so much more to me.

What makes good recruiting software? This depends on the recruiter or recruiting firm and their business model. There are a number of good recruiting software packages but fundamentally the software must be extremely easy to use, it has to focus on the execution of the client or applicant call and it has to gather information through, what I like to call, the natural process of recruiting. If the software gathers information naturally and easily it will feed into the critical element of recruiting, marketing! Recruiting software must compliment or follow the natural process of recruiting. Notice I did not say the software must be intuitive! You might ask what exactly is natural? If your applicant tracking, staffing or resume database software requires you to perform tasks that you would not ordinarily do then you must question the recruiting software. Now, I have to admit that everything you do as a recruiter might not be considered natural. Natural or not, the recruiting process can be simplified into a few basic steps. 1. Get a job order by calling clients and recording the calls for future marketing and follow up. 2. Research a database or databases for applicants or referral sources that would be a good fit for the job order. 3. Call identified applicants and record calls. 4. Determine the applicant(s) to present and present the applicant(s) to the client. 5. Track the interview process to the point of hire and the applicant starting to work for the client. That’s right, only 5 steps! This is what is so alluring to people thinking about recruiting as a career. But any experienced recruiter will tell you that each of these steps demands a fantastic amount of skill, resources and marketing to be successful. The job of executive search software is to make sure that each of these 5 steps can be performed without any wasted motion. Note that my emphasis is on saving recruiters time and is not on features. I cannot begin to count the features I have reviewed and discarded. They looked like a good idea at the time but simply could not stand up to the daily grind of a recruiter.

I have always said that I could take six seniors majoring in IT from any university and come up with a recruiting system in about 6 months. It would then take me about ten years to make it really work for a recruiter.

I think everyone would agree that there are many ways to perform the 5 steps. But I like to think of them performed in an ultimately natural process. We only give in grudgingly to the limitations of computer code making the recruiter do something besides talking to a qualified applicant or client.

So what would be the ultimate? Have the recruiter sit next to a phone and be told or shown who to call and be informed of the full nature and objective of the call. Have all the information available that might be needed for the call without doing anything but talking. Then when this call is finished all the follow up information regarding this call is recorded without any effort by the recruiter. Then the recruiter talks to the next client or applicant. This is the ultimate goal of any applicant tracking, staffing, recruiting software or whatever else you want to call it. This is what I like to call the natural process of recruiting. To me anything else takes away from the effectiveness of the recruiter.

For example, if using a resume database or any recruitment tool causes the recruiter to stop at the end of the day to ‘feed’ the database just to keep the rest of the executive recruiters, management and himself/herself informed then the recruiting system is not natural. The recruiter had to perform a task not related to talking to an applicant or client. The recruiter had to run back behind the lines, count noses, inform and organize for the next assault because the army was in disarray. What if the recruiter miscounts?

Notice I have not said a thing about features, even though I have spent half of my life writing them and continue to write them with all the excitement I had 20 years ago. A feature is only valuable if it suits the way a recruiter or recruiting firm works. Also, be careful that you do not get so dazzled with a feature that it takes you off of your successful game. The feature must be an enhancement to what is working for you right now. This is very hard to see and really can only be determined by using the product. Be careful of demos as they can be very misleading. A long trial period is best.

If the recruiting product fits your natural style and it is a proven product with a good track record then you are almost home. Almost? Yes, if the product does not allow you to focus on using the database of information gathered for a powerful and deliberate marketing program then keep looking. Marketing is everything in recruiting!

About the author
Kenneth Peck
BlackDog Recruiting Software,Inc.
Blog about recruiting resources
Phone: 970 349 0364

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by: Peter Emerson

Having selected the most suitable persons for the various categories of jobs in the enterprise through the application of recruitment techniques, it becomes necessary to arrange for their training. And that’s where the role of recruiting software comes in.

While education improves the knowledge and understanding of employees in a general way, training aims at increasing the aptitudes, skills and abilities of the workers to perform specific jobs. With increased chances of a new worker doing well at his job, the systematic methods of vocational guidance and selection are extended to their logical conclusion.

A person, however capable and competent, cannot do his best at a job unless he is systematically trained in the current methods of work. The advantages of a training program are obviously enormous. In the first place, training brings about an improvement of the quality and quantity of output by increasing the skill of the employees. A novice, who has just started working without proper training, will normally produce less than another person who has been systematically trained. In fact, the quality of work done by him may not be up to the mark for lack of proper training.

Secondly, trained personnel will be able to make much better and more economical use of materials and equipment then untrained employees, thus reducing the cost of production. In addition, since trained personnel will commit very few mistakes, the management can well afford to focus its attention on planning the work and encourage expert workers.

Finally, training will create a feeling among the workers that they are being properly cared for, and that the employer is sincere to them. This will improve relations between the employers and employees. If, on the contrary, the workers are not fully trained in the correct methods of work, unwholesome developments may follow. The level of output and the quality of work may be poor.

About the author
Peter Emerson
Recruiting provides detailed information on Recruiting, Executive Recruiting, Recruiting Software, College Recruiting and more. Recruiting is affliated with HR Outsourcing.

by: Kenneth Peck

Recruiting has changed significantly in the last 25 years. The primary vehicle of change has been the Internet. Other driving factors are business changes and technological changes not necessarily related to the Internet. I also think we have a different type of recruiter than we did even 10 years ago.

In today’s world it is all about speed and how quickly a company can adapt to change. The professionals sought by successful businesses need to be found quickly and they need to be productive almost overnight. This adaptation to almost instant productivity expected of a new employee requires a high degree of specialization to a very specific area of expertise. Therefore, the recruiter needs a very fast way of finding professionals with the exact type of skills. It wasn’t too long ago when an employer just needed an accountant with experience in the retail industry.

Today the employer needs an accountant with retail experience, plus experience in foreign markets, exchange rates, tariffs and knowledge of specific branded automated accounting systems.

There is no time to bring the new person up to speed.

So, the pieces of the big global economic engine are becoming more sophisticated, more minute, more specialized and more interchangeable.

Now I finally get to my point. What can I bring to the table via recruiting software that will give our recruiting customers the speed and accuracy they need to find or attract these people who are becoming more and more specialized into fewer macro groups and greater micro groups?

I have looked into my rather foggy crystal ball and saw that recruiting firms with an active functioning web site might be the way of the future. I am not talking about the web sites I see today which just simply talk about what a great recruiting firm they are and provide “x” number of reasons why they can help someone’s career. Some may even post jobs and accept applications and resumes via their web site. I see recruiting web sites of the future being content driven to areas of minute specialization; i.e. not just doctors but neurosurgeons specializing in spectrography, not just commercial pilots but helicopter pilots, not just web masters but web masters with PHP and video marketing.

For right know, let us simply call this web site for recruiters an exchange where candidates of very specific skills and needs are drawn. A key emphasis of the exchange is the ability to quickly isolate very specialized and specific skills. If I know my customer base, the exchange will have to be highly customizable for each recruiting firm. Both candidates and clients will have to have the ability to interact with their own information. A lot of the information will need to be confidential and highly secure. But above all, this one to one interaction between candidate and client will be monitored by the recruiter. Wow, has the recruiter’s job changed or what!

These web sites of the future will not simply be job boards like Monster, Career Builder or Dice. These exchanges will be run and operated by people with the knowledge of very specialized skills.

The biggest change I see coming however is the ability of recruiters to market and the means with which they market to their customers and candidates. Currently this marketing is typically in the form of newsletters, emails and phone calls. The recruiting firms of the future will learn how to market through their web sites via recruiting software. No longer will the recruiter be the “headhunter”. The recruiter of the future will need to draw these people of infinite specialties to them because they will not just be found.

Right now if a candidate was to search for a position with a specific skill in Google, I’m willing to bet that not one recruiting firm would come up on the 1st page. This will change as recruiting firms learn how to add value to their web site, not just in the form of bringing employer and employee together but by offering information valuable to the specific industry; salary, latest news, trends, continuing education, etc.

I believe above all else that there is one aspect of the recruiting industry that will not change. It will always be a cottage industry of firms averaging from 1 to 5 people. One to five people can never track the geometrical growth and infinite expansion of skills. The capitol required for recruiting startup is so small that no one recruiting firm can ever become a Google, Microsoft or Yahoo. It is too easy for a startup to out compete a giant conglomerate recruiting firm in a specific area with little or no capitol investment. It will be even easier with good recruiting software.

About the author
Kenneth Peck
BlackDog Recruiting Software,Inc. Blog about recruiting resources Phone: 970 349 0364

Question: For someone who is not “hip” with the iPod scene and is getting an MP3 player soon, what is the best way to get podcasts? How should I search for and sign up for podcasts I can listen to while taking walks? - W.W.

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by: Kenneth Peck

What is CRM? If I buy CRM software will I be a better recruiter? Should recruiting software have CRM features? Do recruiting software vendors include CRM in their product?

I think CRM is a lot of smoke created by some very good marketing people who could sell ice to Eskimos.

A common definition for CRM is “The process of using information to find, secure and keep customers. The people, events, and questions associated with marketing, sales, and service”. Yikes! I thought that is what recruiting is?

Why am I on such a soap box? Because I talk to about 50 different recruiters and recruitment firm owners a week and every once in a while I get asked does this software contain CRM. A few years back when the question was asked I was at a loss for words. I had no idea what they were talking about. I was terribly concerned that after 25 years in the recruiting industry putting in 10 hours a day seven days a week I had completely missed something and an entire process went right over my head.

So I went to work reading and studying everything I could find on CRM and came to the conclusion that CRM and recruiting software are one and the same. If your recruiting software does not have the characteristics defined by CRM then you do not have recruiting software.

First of all, who are the customers of an executive recruiter? Candidates and clients are! As any recruiter knows the product of a recruiter is also the customer, the candidate, one unique characteristic of the recruiting industry.

Let’s go back to that CRM definition above. “The process of using information to find, secure and keep customers”. Your recruiting software must be used to find and track candidates and clients. Once found the software has to keep them available to you through periodic contact.

Next, “The people, events and questions associated with marketing, sales and service”. Ok, if your recruiting software cannot help you market to different demographics of clients and candidates then why are you using it? What are you using to market to clients and candidates? Do you have a separate system for this? Do you have a separate database for marketing to clients, a separate database for marketing to candidates? Do candidates sometimes become clients? Do clients sometimes become candidates? Is candidate John Smith repeated in the client Database and then again in a separate marketing system? How silly these questions are! If you answer yes to any of the above I suggest you reconsider your whole approach to recruiting.

And if you have this separation how in the world are you ever going to keep track of the events and questions? Perhaps if they are all separate I can sell you business idiot consolidation software that will pull all these desperate systems together for you.

So I will answer the leading questions. If I buy CRM software will I be a better recruiter? No, because you’re an idiot for having recruiting software that is not also CRM. Should recruiting software have CRM features? Of course, CRM and recruiting software are one and the same thing. Do recruiting software vendors include CRM in their product? Yes, if they don’t they are not a recruiting software vendor.

About the author
Kenneth Peck
BlackDog Recruiting Software,Inc. Blog about recruiting resources Phone: 970 349 0364

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by: Kenneth Peck

I talk to a lot of recruiters and recruiting firm owners Monday through Friday. I have been on this schedule for almost 20 years now. We talk a lot about recruiting software. As I sit here and reflect upon what I have heard over the years, I try to make sense of all those conversations. I am looking for a nugget of wisdom that I can write about that would be helpful to recruiters.

I am tired of all the sanctimoniousness sound bytes for selecting recruiting software: * ‘I am the best because … and we have …’ * ‘We have on site support …’ * ‘We are user friendly …’ * ‘We are state of the art …’ * ‘Our software is totally automatic just turn it on and watch the money roll…’ * ‘All our competitors are stupid and have inferior products …’ * ‘We are easy to use …’

Why not flip this analysis of recruitment software to the other side? How is the recruiting software firm planning to use and implement a recruiting software system once they have made the agonizing purchase? Out of the mouths of customers and potential customers I have heard incredulous strategies that still to this day make me chuckle. I have been told I have ‘dark humor’, along the lines of ‘The Far Side’ material. Perhaps that is just a polite way of saying I have no humor at all. So you won’t hurt my feelings if you think these strategies are more sad than funny.

Here we go with my pick of the 10 most stupid uses of recruiting software tools.

1. “We are going to buy the most expensive recruiter software package available because we believe if you pay top dollar you get the best product. But since we are paying so much we are going to buy only one license and let all 20 recruiters take turns using it.” 2. “We are going to buy some cheap contact management software and install it on each recruiter’s PC. Each recruiter will have their own private database.” 3. “We are going to make a fresh start because the last three recruiter systems we bought did not work out.” 4. “We are going to buy a recruiting system for the recruiters, but we are going to let the sales people either buy something else or continue with their present system.” 5. “We are going to buy recruiting software that we can customize to our own very special way of recruiting.” 6. “We just hired a ‘Super Star big biller’ recruiter who wants us to switch to the recruiting software that he/she is used to using.” 7. “We have purchased some good recruiting software but we only use it for searching resumes.” “We have purchased some good recruiting software but we only use for finding phone numbers.” “We have purchased some good recruiting software but we only use for writing notes.” 8. “We have purchased recruiting software and we are making a lot of the information private for each recruiter or for management eyes only.” 9. “We can’t find any recruiting software that suits our needs so we are going to write our own.” 10. “We want our recruiting software to be able to delete or purge out undesirables.”

Taking turns using the recruiting software.

This is by far the most ridiculous use of recruiting software and is therefore number one on my list. What do the other recruiters do while the one recruiter has the floor? I suppose they are working off of printouts from when they had the computer time. Trust me when I say that recruiting software used like this is more trouble than it is worth. Too much administration and none of the recruiters have up to date information when they are talking to clients and applicants. If I say any more I run the risk of being put in the same bucket as the owner by bothering to make a comment.

Each recruiter has their own recruiting software.

This is close to number one but at least the recruiter’s own desk has access to organized information to applicants and/or clients. It is still pretty bad however because of the overlap, redundancy and the inability of the firm to take advantage of collaboration. Collaboration makes two and two more than four because of the shared knowledge and experiences. The recruiting firm who thinks that recruiters should be treated as independent cells is dead wrong even if the firm is successful. Collaboration would make them more successful.

Making a fresh start because the last recruiting system did not work out.

This is like the tennis player blaming the tennis racquet for losing. Do you remember Billie Jean King playing Bobby Riggs? Maybe not, but Bobby Riggs used to beat guys with a broom. I wouldn’t be surprised if Federer could beat most amateurs with a ping pong paddle.

I am always very hesitant when a recruiting software prospect comes to us complaining that his current recruiting software is no good. I will listen harder if the maker of the software is out of business, quite common, or if they complain about a lack of support. But if they start complaining to the effect that they do not like the way it works and it doesn’t do this and doesn’t do that, then I am scared to death. It is not the software, my dear recruiting friend, it is you! Stop looking for someone to blame and try to gain some introspection.

Separate but equal systems for recruiters and sales.

There is no such thing as separate but equal. History has proved that over a million times. A corporation, partnership or privately held recruiting firm has more than one person for a reason. As a group of recruiters and sales recruiters they are more individually productive than they would be as individuals. It makes absolutely no sense to separate data between clients and applicants and keep recruiters in the dark. It is also terribly redundant and makes it necessary to do many things twice (redundancy, yes?). Heavy customization of commercial recruiting software.

This locks you into a point in time and you will soon have outdated software with no easy way to take advantage of new technology.

We just hired a ‘Super Star Big Biller’ recruiter and we are going to follow his/her lead on recruiting software.

This is a classic case of “the tail wagging the dog”. If he or she was such a super star why aren’t they out on their own or building a company of their own? I really don’t believe you can employ hired guns in the recruiting business as they are too disruptive. It never works, they leave and you end up worse than you were before, but with a smaller savings account. Sounds like a divorce, doesn’t it?

We only use our recruiting software to search resumes.

All good recruiting software is designed to be a complete system for any recruiter. If a piece of it is doing something you don’t like, then learn to like it! To circumvent what it can do starts a chain of events that just begets more confusion and work. These people, I believe, give rise to the “we need a fresh start syndrome”.

In my opinion, using only a limited portion of recruiting software is like buying a grand piano and then only learning how to play “Mary had a little lamb”, because you are too dumb or lazy or both.

Private information in recruiting software.

If you read the above you already know how I feel about this. This concept can only hurt the recruitment effort. If your recruiting firm succeeds with this policy in place than it is succeeding in spite of privatization, not because of it.

We are writing our own recruiting software.

This way is the same as five, only worse. Now the recruiting firm not only has to pay attention to recruiting but recruiting software. Their biggest issue is how they can keep up with evolving technology. How can they ever hope to keep the same programmers working on the same code they created over the years? You cannot expect programmers/software engineers to be loyal to a small recruiting firm. It is very similar to a doctor trying to be his own physician.

Purge the database of undesirables.

How can a recruiting firm keep another recruiter at the same company from making the same mistake if the database does not have road signs for danger?

This is the end of my nuggets of wisdom.

About the author
Kenneth Peck Graduated from the University of Toledo. Fifteen years in IT from programmer to VP of IT. Spent the next 15 years as a recruiter in Los Angeles and built the product ‘Gopher for Recruiters’. Last 10 years improving the product ‘Gopher for recruiters’ and building the Company ‘BlackDog’ located in Colorado.