In the midst of recession and crisis, it is difficult to envisage coming out the other side and returning to normality — whatever shape or form that will take. What we do know is that all of us will have learned to live a more leaner and streamlined life, and our ability to cut to the chase and get down to the task at hand heightened.

The same could be said for the evolution of software. Gone are the days when a supplier had to load the software on to the customer’s local PCs and servers while the company embarked on a lengthy training or even change management programme. In the ever-more agile, on-demand, browser-based, cloud computing era we are living in, the entry point for business software has never been lower in terms of time, maintenance and cost. Applications are hosted on the web, you pay a subscription rather than huge upfront costs, and you can be up and running in a matter of hours.

In his blog, Steve Hazelton, chief executive of US-based software company Newton, which recently launched what it describes as a ‘next-generation’ online recruiting software (see New media, p11), says that years ago in the consumer software market, feature-rich was better than
fast and easy. “Think AOL vs Google,” he reminds us, adding: “In the years ahead, I think simple pie is on the menu for business software companies.”

He may well be right and Newton’s offering sets out to “shake up” the resourcing world by simplifying the recruiting process through familiar Web 2.0 tools. But while no-one would object to simplification in the long term, there are some pressing needs for system providers to address at the moment, not least the increased volumes of candidates that recruiters and employers are having to cope with. The need to sort, manage and choose the best candidates as efficiently as possible has never been greater and so too is the reliance on applicant tracking and candidate management software. So are suppliers responding to such demands?

Thankfully, many are already stepping up to the plate with tools to help manage the tidal wave of CVs that threatens to swamp many recruiters. Parsing technology, for instance, may not be new but it is starting to come into its own in recruitment, when it comes to extracting data from CVs and putting it into a more searchable format.

Online recruitment software specialist eploy uses it in its instant CV formatting tool that it launched earlier this year, allowing agencies to create a branded, formatted CV from a Word document in seconds. It can also vary the information sent to a client depending on the role and
claims this could make the difference between an employer recognising a candidate’s relevancy for a role or not.

Similarly, Chameleon-i, which offers on demand and software-as-a-service programs to SME agencies, uses a number of different methods of parsing to streamline candidate record creation. Earlier this year it launched Droploader, which allows recruiters to easily browse the files on a local PC and drag and drop them into Chameleon-i to automatically create new candidate records based on the information extracted from the CVs.

The CV extraction technology from eploy can also be used in tandem with its import tools that bring job applications from job boards — or any sources — into an agency’s recruitment system ready for reviewing and processing by consultants. “Imported candidates are automatically applied to jobs,” explains eploy technical director, Chris Bogh. “Furthermore, skills from the jobs are highlighted in their CV text, making it much easier for a recruiter to quickly review CVs.”

Recruiters can certainly expect, if not demand, more tools like these. iProfile, which developed a standard template for online CVs, is also trying to bring more order to the recruiter’s life with a new sourcing tool. iPlace Web allows recruiters to not only search and match iProfiles in its own databases, but also multi-job board databases and online networks such as LinkedIn. iPlace Web claims to save recruiters at least 30 minutes a day as they only have to build one search which covers all the various sources and sorts the best candidates into one list of results.
“In the current market, it is vital that recruiters spend less time looking through hundreds of irrelevant CVs and more time generating new vacancies and closing placements,” says Daniel Elkins, co-founder and business development director of iProfile.

While the sheer volume of CVs is giving many recruiters an administrative headache, this is no time to take your eye off the ball when it comes to candidate relationship management. Sadly, there are still worrying reports of applicants being on the receiving end of sloppy practices such as not being sent a reply. In an era when employer brand is touted as everything, this is clearly not acceptable and potentially damaging.

It may sound obvious, but as Andy Baillie, head of talent management and assessment at Kenexa, points out: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Some of our bigger clients may have a million plus visitors to their [careers] site every year but they recognise that even the several hundred thousand who don’t make an application are potential customers and shoppers.”

There are signs though that after years of talking about it, the candidate experience is moving more centre stage. Global recruitment and talent management consultancy Hudson recently launched a career portal which offers the candidate a high degree of transparency into the recruiting process. Joanna Chapman, head of marketing — UK and Ireland at Hudson, says the project goes back two years when the company was discussing the transactional nature of the recruiting process, making candidates feel more like “stock” than people. “Recruiting is really about is changing people’s lives,” she says.

The portal uses search engine technology from Google Enterprise, the online giant’s business technology division. Hudson was already using Google’s Search Appliance (GSA) to help its employees find and access data from internal systems and this has been extended to clients in the shape of My.hudson.com. It can be branded and typically links to a company’s existing website. For clients, it offers an online space to promote jobs to active jobseekers selected by Hudson, while jobseekers can use it to view their application status and how many times their profile is viewed.

The decision to use Google technology is indicative of the blurring of the lines between consumer and business applications. As well as being a “great” brand to be aligned with and offering the candidate powerful search capabilities, says Chapman, it also provides a familiar experience. “It [Google] is part of people’s behaviour.”

Talent pooling, rather like candidate relationship management, is another area where recruiters need to be using systems to maximum effect in the current climate. In Recruiter, 10 December 2008, Alan Whitford, founding partner at Recruitment Community Europe, voiced his frustration that he’s still having the same conversations about building talent pools that he had 10 years ago. With every penny of a recruitment budget having to be made to count, however, recruiters and employers can no longer afford to under-utilise talent pooling features.

“With talent pools, it is easy to stay in touch with people so they feel like they are being looked after,” says Bogh.

Megan James, implementation manager at recruitment process outsourcer Alexander Mann Solutions, agrees and says that if relations with these people aren’t kept warm, when the market turns employers risk losing them. As someone who oversees implementation of projects, she adds though that recruiters must look closely at the technology available as functionality will vary across the different systems. “There needs to be a drive to quantify the talent and not just talent pool 10-apenny candidates,” she says.

Of course, today’s talent pool isn’t just confined to internal databases. The professional and social networks represent potentially rich sources of would-be candidates. Talk used to centre on how to access the “passive” talent on these networks but with so many active jobseekers
around, those discussions are less relevant. That said, networks are significant channels for recruiters and without doubt the likes of LinkedIn and XING with its jobs marketplace are already giving the job boards a run for their money. Integration with these and candidate management and recruitment systems will continue but there are still challenges to be met, says Baillie.

“I don’t think the area of social networking is fully understood yet in as much as how those recruiting can market themselves direct to candidates. You’ve got to look at it from a club approach and then the talent pool can become really expanded,” he says, intimating that Kenexa may have something up its sleeve.

Even though recruitment technology has been with us for eons, there is still a residual fear that too much automation is a bad thing. But if technology is played to its strengths, it will free up more time for richer face-toface exchanges between all parties. With a recruiter’s
transactional and administrative load higher than it has ever been, there perhaps has never been a better time to test this theory.