Appendix A
Summary Analysis Employer Survey: Best Practices in Electronic Recruiting: Use of Web Sites, Resume Data Bases, and Applicant Tracking Systems
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Paper Appendix A: Methodology Appendix B: Survey Questions Appendix C: Summary of Survey Responses |
Method A
A web-based survey of college recruiters was developed (see Appendix B for sample questions) and administered in January and February 2004. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent to 592 employers identified through their involvement with one of the regional or national ACEs, through recruiting at two western campuses. Additional invitations were made to other employers to participate through each of the regional and national ACEs. There were 118 usable responses from employers, including 91 responses that identified whether their organization recruited nationally (73 percent), regionally (13 percent), and/or locally (29 percent).
Overall Response Profile
The 118 responses to the survey are summarized in Appendix C. Eighty-eight of the responses indicated industry. The response was quite diverse based upon industry: No one industry accounted for more than 15 percent of the total responses. The five largest industry groups were engineering/technical (15 percent), retail management (15 percent), other services (13 percent), finance/banking/insurance (11 percent), and government (11 percent). On average the responding employers had 19,236 employees, and recruited at 32 schools. They hired an average of 329 full-time graduates and 134 internship/co-op students each year.
There were some interesting differences in the responses based on whether a firm recruited nationally (65 responses/73 percent) vs. locally (26 responses or 29 percent) which are summarized below. As might be expected, national recruiters had larger organizations (average of 25,878 employees compared to 11,011 for local recruiters), recruited at more schools (44 for national compared to 13 schools for local), and hired more students on an annual basis (451 full time for national recruiters compared to 314 for local recruiters, and 186 interns/co-ops for national compared to 164 for local recruiters). (Note: Employers could be listed in both categories, which accounts for the relatively large number of full-time and internship/co-ops reported by local recruiters).
Importance of Particular Aspects of Technology
There is no doubt from the responses that electronic recruiting is very important to employers. Sixty-seven percent (67 percent) of the employers reported that electronic recruiting was very important in their overall recruiting strategy, and another 28 percent reported it was somewhat important. National recruiters rated the overall importance of electronic recruiting higher than local recruiters (74 percent vs. 58 percent). Overall, electronic recruiting was most important in "Providing listings of current job openings for which you are actively recruiting," with 81 percent reporting this aspect was very important.
Local recruiters were more likely to report that "Providing job descriptions of typical openings in your organizations," was very important than national recruiters (84 percent local vs. 60 percent national). It was also clear that encouraging candidates to return in the future once a position had been filled was a lower priority overall (only 36 percent rated it very important) and even lower for local recruiters vs. national recruiters (20 percent of the local vs. 37 percent of the national recruiters rated it very important).
Most Success
Overall, recruiters reported they had the most success in "Providing listings of current job openings for which you are actively recruiting." This was the most frequently mentioned aspect, and was selected by 41 percent of all recruiters: 41 percent of national recruiters and 58 percent of the local recruiters as one of the two aspects where they had been most successful. Two other aspects most frequently mentioned by the total group were "Creating an overall recruiting brand to convey a positive image to potential candidates (33 percent)" and "Providing background information on your organization to potential candidates (32 percent)."
There were also some clear differences between the national and local recruiters related to success in three other aspects listed in the survey. Twenty-six percent (26 percent) of the national recruiters reported most success in "Creating an overall recruiting brand to convey a positive image to potential candidates" compared to 54 percent of the local recruiters. Twenty-seven percent (27 percent) of the national recruiters selected "On-line application for positions currently available" compared to only 15 percent of the local recruiters.
The following explanations from survey respondents provide additional insight into the successes summarized above:
Application Process
"…online application process, we don't accept resumes (and we send out) auto-generated decline letters and acknowledgement letters. "
"A thorough and comprehensive website that engages the audience and a strict apply online philosophy is important."
"Due to lack of a global recruiting system, some of these items are done well in certain countries and not in others. The question is not the importance of it, but the execution of it."
"Our primary goal is to make known what positions we are currently recruiting for in a given region and sometimes at a specific university. The important follow-up is for competitive applicants to complete our online application form."
"A real critical online aspect not listed is the efficiency of systems … (that) make it much more efficient in selecting and communicating with candidates interested in on-campus interviews."
Applicant Tracking
"We utilize an electronic system to track both current openings and applicants. This puts all information at our fingertips."
"We built our own recruiting management system. I have heard it is typical for recruiters to "not get on board" right away. We experienced this problem. They are coming around now—which results in students knowing what positions our offices are recruiting for nationwide. Built into our system is a feature, based on the applicant status, that generates a letter providing status information. I can say that in the last year, internal usage of the system has increased. Clerical time in processes responses has decreased in handling applications and creating letters."
With our new package, "We are able for the first time to post real-time jobs and allow applicants to apply directly to the open position—with the resume being viewed by the hiring manager. This has also allowed us to create a data base—which allows an applicant to stay active for six months—before they would need to reapply again."
"Our online platform allows job seekers to search and apply for positions that interest them, in addition to posting their resume to a general pool that recruiters can use to search for additional candidates. The system is revolutionary in terms of applicant tracking, as seekers enter all information that was scanned or manually entered before. Though we still struggle with the usability of the platform, which we feel can sometimes negatively impact a seekers impression of our employer brand."
"Our …web site and recruiting tool that does all of this—portrays a brand, creates a resume data base, allows recruiters to respond electronically to candidates when they are not selected and sends them to other jobs. Also allows candidates to get notifications of jobs as they are posted."
Branding
"Several of these areas are growing in importance, but we have not yet incorporated some of the improvements into our design. Those items that are checked are things that are more firmly established in our current processes. Branding is consistent throughout our web site, printed materials, and other presentations, and our data base is growing with potential candidates, although they are not yet screened to the point that we might like to screen them in the future."
"Part of the brand experience is to interview quickly and get them [applicants] a response back in 24 hours. Brand is more than just the appearance of the web site but the experience the applicant has with our company. We still want them as a customer. In addition, it is key to be specific in the job descriptions to be respectful of the candidates' time and our time."
"Students have the ability to see and better understand what [our organization] is all about, and we get a chance to view many students' resumes. None of this however, can replace the benefit of one-on-one discussions/interviews and follow-up."
"We use our college relations web site more for branding than actual recruitment. We recruit directly on our core campuses."
"We have a marketing department that creates all sorts of positive external marketing materials. We are devoted to maintaining a high profile at the college and university levels and are very visible at all school functions."
"We do not have our own electronic application at this point but we have used a variety of other systems, including our web site, to provide an overview of our company and our typical college-related programs."
"Through our web site, we are able to provide information on what our company is all about and what types of positions are offered—it is a good research tool."
"Our web site is and will continue to be important in how we market both our company and our specific career opportunities."
Communication
"Providing communication within 2 weeks of each contact (On-campus interviews, 2nd round interviews) with results is key to establishing relationships."
"Although communicating with current applicants is important, that is not part of our recruitment unit responsibilities. Communicating with the actual applicants in the process is the responsibility of our pre-employment unit."
"We have created a very exciting picture of work within our organization; the training, the benefits, the promotional activities. We maintain excellent communications with our applicants."
We use our postings "to give detailed information about who we are and the fact that we are recruiting for Civil Associates (only). We are able to communicate with students once we have certified the list and we do this electronically and by telephone."
"Since we hire primarily off of the college campuses, we use e-mail as a primary means to communicate with potential candidates."
Most Difficulty
Overall, four aspects were most frequently cited where recruiters had encountered the most difficulty:
- "Creating an applicant data base for future openings in your organization (36 percent),"
- "Applicant tracking internal to your organization (30 percent),"
- Informing qualified applicants who were not selected that although the position for which they applied has been filled, they are encouraged to apply for other positions (29 percent)," and
- "Creating an overall recruiting brand to convey a positive image to potential candidates (28 percent)."
Again, there were clear differences in the responses of national vs. local recruiters related to most difficulty. Thirty-six percent (36 percent) of the national recruiters vs. 23 percent of the local recruiters reported they had encountered the most difficulty in "Creating an overall recruiting brand to convey a positive image to potential candidates." Thirty-four percent (34 percent) of the national recruiters vs. 46 percent of the local recruiters reported they had encountered the most difficulty in "Creating an applicant database for future openings within your organization."
Twenty-four percent (24 percent) of the national recruiters vs. 36 percent of the local recruiters reported they had encountered the most difficulty in "Applicant tracking internal to your organization."
The richness of the response to this question is apparent in the following explanations from recruiters:
Application Process
"Getting people to respond to the correct geographical area where we have openings and ensuring they are qualified for the job that we have posted."
"Online application is confusing. We control who gets our online application, it is not for general use."
"Many candidates reply to a personal e-mail but fail to submit to our on line employment data base."
"The most difficult thing is getting people to the web site to apply. They want to send resumes, not search for jobs."
"Since we recruit for a number of different positions which vary between geographical areas it is challenging to keep all the appropriate openings posted at select locations."
"Staying current with our openings from our various divisions, along with our annual interviews to select top candidates from across the country."
Applicant Tracking
"We don't have a global recruiting system to track all of this. In some countries there is a data base and strong applicant tracking, in others there is almost nothing."
"Our use of technology is focused on our high-volume recruiting functions, but because the process is not used consistently throughout the organization, it is not useful for complete applicant tracking. We have also stumbled in posting job-specific openings on our site—people are having difficulty with publicizing job openings anywhere other than campus, which is our most common recruiting method."
"Since all applicants do not apply online, we still must maintain a file of paper resumes, which are not so easily sorted."
"Modernized applicant tracking that works within a government context is hard to find. Communication can always get better."
"Again some of your factors are not things that we either do or have the opportunity to do under the Civil Service Recruitment process. Much of our internal tracking is on an Access data base and is somewhat cumbersome."
"The creation of a data base proved to be more difficult than originally thought, because the contents become "stale" so quickly and turn over so rapidly. Because of the many different units, applicants sometime become lost between units, we have been able to correct most of the problems."
"We do not have integration between our recruiting technology and our HR system."
Branding
"Limited funding has negatively impacted our ability to create a recruiting brand."
"The diversity of our technical divisions is difficult to incorporate into one "brand" and conveying that to potential candidates."
Communication
"There seems to be a drop off once the candidate is notified and contacted."
"Our electronic system does not currently have workflow built into it to provide automatic response back to unsuccessful candidates and we do not have sufficient manpower to do this manually."
"The platform is slow on our end, so maneuvering through a high volume of seekers has proved challenging and has slowed response to applicants."
"Because we have such a high volume of applicants, we do not personally communicate with each candidate. However, we send out either an email or mailed acknowledgement to each applicant which explains the employment process."
"We do not have the resources to perform above average communications with applicants not selected. We barely have the resources to keep current communications with applicants selected. "
Concerns
The survey also asked recruiters to indicate their top three concerns from a list of challenges associated with electronic recruiting. Overall, four concerns were most frequently mentioned:
- "Managing the volume of applications and potential candidates (39 responses),"
- "Integrating electronic recruiting technology in overall college recruiting effort (30 responses),"
- "Effective and timely screening of candidates based on electronically submitted applications (28 responses)," and
- "Developing approaches that use recruiting technology to personalize rather than depersonalize the process (27 responses)."
There were no clear differences between national and local recruiters as it relates to concerns.
Challenges Recruiters Have Mastered
Finally, the survey also asked recruiters to identify the top three challenges they had mastered from the same list as was used in the concerns question above. Overall, five challenges were most often cited:
- "Integrating electronic recruiting technology in overall college recruiting effort (28 responses),"
- "Managing the volume of applications and potential candidates (27 responses),"
- "Maintaining effective communication with high-potential candidates (24 responses),"
- "Internal applicant tracking (24 responses)," and
- "Effective and timely screening of candidates based on electronically submitted applications (23 responses)."
There were no clear differences between national and local recruiters as it relates to mastering these challenges.
