Creating a Holistic Recruiting Experience
(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is sponsored by our friends at Ultimate Software, a leading cloud provider of people management solutions. Ultimate Software has been recognized as one of FORTUNE magazine’s 2014 100 Best Companies to Work For®, the only human capital management provider on the list. Congratulations for this prestigious honor! Enjoy today’s post.)
There are currently a couple of dynamics impacting organizational recruiting:
1) As the economy continues to improve, people are out there looking for jobs. They’re testing the waters to see if they can find better working conditions, compensation, and advancement opportunities.
2) The skills gap continues to widen. Companies are looking for talent that can take the business to the next level. In order for businesses to realize the profits they’ve seen over the past couple years, innovation and creativity are key.
As a result, organizations are looking for an efficient way to hire the best people. Companies need to find solutions to not only make a recruiter’s life easier with applicant search capabilities but they need to make their systems attractive to candidates. This allows candidates to easily apply for jobs and gives companies the ability to find top talent.
Ultimate Software recently introduced a new recruiting solution that provides the recruiter features we’re accustomed to as well as a new focus on the candidate. I had the opportunity to chat with Cecile Alper-Leroux, vice president of product strategy and development, about the new UltiPro Recruiting solution.
For our readers who might not be familiar with UltiPro Recruiting, can you provide us with a brief description?
One aspect about the new solution that intrigued me was the shift in focus from ‘recruiter-centric’ process to a ‘candidate-focus’. What prompted the shift in philosophy? How did that translate into the user experience?
[Cecile] The monotony and impersonal nature of traditional applicant tracking systems (ATS) can make it difficult for candidates to truly connect with an organization, and therefore, it becomes challenging for organizations to find qualified talent. People’s expectations at work have changed dramatically and if businesses want to attract and hire the right people they need remove the technology barriers that people often face when trying to apply for a job.
We built UltiPro Recruiting using state-of-the-art user experience design principles — ethnographic research, real-world observation, and eye-tracking technology studies, to name a few. The result is engaging technology that integrates with popular social tools and functions on any mobile device. We want to make it simple and meaningful for everyone involved.
One of the things we are really excited about is our integration with LinkedIn. We believe using LinkedIn profiles, versus traditional resume files, to apply for job opportunities will be the preferred approach moving forward. With our new recruiting solution candidates can quickly apply using LinkedIn, making it simpler and more convenient.
For applicants, UltiPro Recruiting has the ability to build a holistic online presence. Define for us ‘holistic’ and what this means for the candidate experience.
[Cecile] As a recruiter, what if you could easily have answers to questions like: What’s your dream job? Or what motivates you? This is the type of information that can help recruiters know if an individual is the right fit.
In traditional resumes, you usually see work history and skills but this alone doesn’t provide a clear and complete picture of who a candidate really is. In UltiPro Recruiting, a candidate’s presence is a living, real-time experience and it enables organizations to assess not only skills and experience but qualities that more effectively determine long-term success — things like behaviors, motivations, and career aspirations.
I’m starting to see more articles about gamification in the recruiting process. I noticed UltiPro Recruiting includes a gamification component. Can you tell us how organizations can bring gamification into recruiting?
[Cecile] When it comes down to it, all gamification really means is encouraging people to complete tasks using fun, ‘game-like’ technology. Most people don’t enjoy filling out forms or applications, so we’ve incorporated this concept into UltiPro Recruiting. For example, the ‘Discover Your Potential’ tool captures information such as an individual’s education, career aspirations, and strength on various competencies and UltiPro suggests opportunities based on that data. That information then becomes the start of the candidates’ profile, and they’ve completed a large portion of their job application without even realizing it!
I’d love to ask more questions but really readers should check out UltiPro Recruiting for themselves. Hopefully, this has peaked their interest. How can someone ask additional questions or possibly see a demo?
[Cecile] Check out the UltiPro Recruiting product tour on our website. Otherwise, email our team for more information at ultiproinfo@ultimatesoftware.com or call (800) 432-1729.
My thanks to Cecile for sharing a behind the scenes look into the user experience for the new UltiPro Recruiting solution. If your organization is looking to reap the benefits of technology and improve the recruiting experience, you can also connect with Ultimate on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
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