Challenging the HR Software Status Quo

You’ve probably never seen a corporate advertisement that reads “We don’t do anything better than before – we simply stick to the status quo.”   Innovative companies, especially in the multibillion dollar Human Resources software sector, often strive to set themselves apart from their competitors through new features, faster services, and lower prices.

However, this was not always the case for the giants in the HR Technology space.  Over the course of the past two decades,these “old-world” companies have actually embraced the software status quo. For years, ‘sticking with what works’ made sense, as these companies pulled in billions of dollars in profit every year from selling the same old ‘boxed’ software packages while charging for periodic upgrades, maintenance and deriving the bulk of their revenue and profit from services.

Today, these big software companies are really starting to  pay the price for sticking with the status quo for too long.  They are scrambling to catch up with both nimble startups and open minded corporations that have embraced new technologies and ways of doing business; most notably they’ve welcomed cloud computing from the very beginning.

Wharton recently published an article that provided some interesting cases of cloud computing chipping away at traditional software business models.  From knowledge@wharton:  “For example, Forrester calculated that Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail program will cost a company with 5,000 employees $28.22 a month for each user. By comparison, Google’s fully loaded corporate suite — including Gmail, calendar and productivity applications, along with technical support — for a company with 5,000 users will cost $8.59 a month for each user.”

The article also highlights the disruptive changes that cloud computing has brought to the various other corners of the software industry; including consumer productivity software, business services software, and video gaming software.  In each of these sectors, the traditional models of selling ‘boxed’ software and charging for upgrades has slowly been eroded by ‘Software as a Service’ models that instead focus on monthly fees void of any long term contracts.   Companies like Sonar 6  and Bamboo HR are offering customers #HRtech  products that exist entirely in the cloud – making access as simple as signing up online.

Another software sector that has been drastically shaped by cloud computing and SaaS pricing structures is recruiting software.   The days of a company needing to ‘unbox’ a recruiting software suite and install the program on every computer and server in the company are  long gone.  The days of having a company ‘tech guy’ walk downstairs and troubleshoot local server-side glitches are over.  There are very few companies, if any, that continue to push the innovation envelope in the world on on-premise software.

Businesses now are able to utilize applicant tracking software that exists entirely in the cloud – including communication tools, customer service, data analytics and instant updates.  Newton Software is proud to be the company that pioneered cloud-based applicant tracking software, having fully embraced a new age of delivering hiring technology from the very beginning.

Only recently have the corporations of old realized the importance of cloud computing – they’ve started rapidly buying up smaller companies and establishing their own cloud based applications.  However, they may be too slow to catch up.  Today’s world of software, one where online applications are easily accessed by anyone, is no longer about over-inundating a market and establishing a customer ‘choke hold.’ It’s about adapting to customer and providing the best possible solution for a specific niche.

Reporting Season: Preparing Data for an Affirmative Action Plan

Whether you subject to OFCCP / EEO reporting regulations or not, preparing your data for an Affirmative Action Plan is an essential component of your overall compliance strategy. We found this presentation by Dr. Stephanie Thomas and Carla Irwin informative and very relevant. Their presentation focuses on how to prepare your hiring data. Specifically, they highlight the types of data required, and talk about how and why bad or missing data can render a data set useless for analysis purposes. Simple techniques for data scrubbing are presented, and the webinar will concludes. with a summary of common data validation tools. Next time we’ll have to give them access to Newton, our popular applicant tracking software that features a great OFCCP / EEO reporting functionality.

Download the presentation slides or view the webinar

Fistful of Talent interview reveals the “HR Mafia”, a recovering addict and “the truth teller”

Kris Dunn, Founder of Fistful of Talent, the popular and influential blog devoted to human capital, recently sat down with Newton Software Co-Founder, Joel Passen.   The interview uncovers the “HR Mafia”, Joel’s recovery and a recruiting methodology that Kris and Joel agree to agree on, “the funnel”.

I caught up with Joel this afternoon and asked him about the interview. “Kris Dunn is one of these guys in the industry that flat out knows his stuff. He’s been in the trenches.   To have him say that ‘he respects our game’ is flattering and encouraging to say the least.”


Read more about the origins of “the funnel”, “the truth teller” and how Newton’s applicant tracking software is built to work the way the best internal recruiting work.  Oh yeah… and about the rumor of this HR Mafia…..

RPO Performance Metrics: Recruiting Analytics that Matter

Newton Software’s Joel Passen is a featured presenter at HR.com’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing Virtual Workshop on July 19th at 12:30 EDT.

Register Here

Given recent unpredictable economic conditions, more and more companies have turned to recruitment outsourcing as an alternative to the fixed costs of an internal recruiting staff, software, independent contractors and the use of agencies. In the practice of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) a company will outsource either part or all of their recruitment needs to an outside company who focuses entirely on finding, certifying, and delivering candidates for the hiring company to consider.

With the growth and chatter round the RPO market, providers have been overwhelming the market with information. Many can and will suggest reasons to use their service over their competitors. But at the end of the day, it’s all about performance and reliability.

Any service provider must be held accountable with performance metrics. Recruiting analytics are an essential component to the success of any RPO program.  Vendors that bring these metrics into the equation are able to diagnose small problems before they become larger issues. This also allows for conversations that drive improvements and lead the vendors to the front of the RPO landscape.

During his presentation, Joel will present a guide to assist HR practitioners in making sense of recruiting performance metrics. He will present the best practices and recommend vital metrics that must be gathered as part of any RPO, regardless of size.

Joel Passen, a recruiting industry veteran and blogger on merging issues, innovations and trends in the recruiting industry. He started in the recruiting industry as a corporate recruiter and went on to co-found Gravity Technologies, a company that operates in the human capital management industry. Currently, he is the Head of Marketing and Co-Founder of Newton Software.

Newton Software is easy-to-use applicant tracking software which offers a variety of features including EEOC/OFCCP compliance, intuitive recruiting processes and dashboards, and real-time recruiting analytics.  Find more information at www.newtonsoftware.com.

Newton Proud to be a Cloud Computing Pioneer for Human Resources

We’ve all heard the recent hype about cloud computing. From competing Microsoft and Google commercials to Apple’s recent iCloud deployment, there certainly is a lot of buzz about ‘the cloud.’ What exactly IS the cloud though, and more specifically, what impact does cloud computing have on human resources and corporate recruiting?

The cloud essentially means taking all the IT and software infrastructure off a company’s hands and placing it in the capable hands of a cloud computing provider. Most often, a provider is a large company, like Amazon, that has the server infrastructure and technical expertise to handle the needs of millions of business customers. A company like Amazon can agilely deploy servers in order to maximize efficiency and provide customers the throughput they need for their product or service at any given time.

So why is the cloud good, specifically for human resources departments? The cloud means cost efficiency, security, and dependability. Think about utilizing cloud computing like you would think about hiring any other specialist. Let’s say you needed some carpentry done – you’d obviously hire a carpenter. If you hired a plumber to do the job, he’d likely take longer, cost more and provide an inferior service.

Using Amazon or another cloud computing provider, essentially means hiring a specialist for your company or product’s software and IT infrastructure. They can get the job done as efficiently as possible because they have the resources to do so. They’re also often a massive company (like Amazon) that places the utmost responsibility in providing their cloud customers with maximum security and dependable server uptime. After-all, it’s the cloud provider’s business to make sure your business is up and running at all hours.

Hreonline recently published an article that highlights the proliferation of cloud computing as well as Software as a Service (SaaS) in the HR industry. John Malikowski of Deloitte Consulting provided an insightful quote within the piece: “We have seen a lot of business cases and implementations where CIOs, CFOs and top HR executives all are getting involved,” he says. “The cost savings are there, and total cost of ownership is now more than ever a big part of the business case for HR. Also, usability and intuitiveness are high. SaaS and cloud computing just work.”

Essentially, companies that take advantage of cloud computing can pass that advantage onto their customers. This means passing on cost-efficiency, scalability, access and dependability. Newton Software does just that by leveraging Amazon’s AWS cloud computing environment for our SaaS application.

Newton’s customer can easily deploy the best applicant tracking solution on the market in a matter of days and hours, never weeks or months. Not only is the software deployment refreshingly uncomplicated, but the software can be accessed on-demand from any computer, anywhere, anytime and from any browser or platform. Newton provides an affordable, subscription-based pricing structure that can be scaled up and down based on customer’s size and demand, just like cloud servers can be deployed based on that same demand. Newton’s application security is backed by a multi-billion dollar corporation whose public stock depends on this very reliability.

We’ve worked hard to establish Newton as an innovator in a space that has for nearly two decades has been purely focused on what we refer to as the feature arms race. Today, we stand, for the most part alone, as the only modern, pure-play ATS on the market. As our peers continue to drift (rather aimlessly) into talent management and human capital management, they now purely just maintain their applicant tracking modules, all but abandoning new development. Not us. We just invested in the infrastructure necessary to help us more effectively solve the problems that still linger in corporate human resources departments, hiring managers’ cubes and executives’ minds.

This is why Newton Software is proud to be a cloud computing pioneer for applicant tracking software. We provide businesses and human resources departments the efficiency, dependability and security that cloud computing is all about.

Applicant Tracking Software Reviews: Newton’s Customer Service and Support

One of the first things we tell any customer when they choose Newton, our popular applicant tracking software is, “If you don’t understand something, no matter how small, it’s our fault, not yours. Let us know.” We ENCOURAGE technical support emails and phone calls. Yes, we’re being serious. The hardline, old school enterprise software folks tell us that we’re crazy but we’ve always had a problem with authority and, frankly, we haven’t met too many customers that love their legacy vendor. Most importantly, having been customers of other ATS vendors in the past, we’re not fans of long hold times, negative attitudes and cookie cutter responses.

Social Recruiting a Growing Hotbed for Discrimination Claims?

CIO.com recently published a very informative article titled “Social Networks: A New Hotbed for Hiring Discrimination Claims.”  The article gives an in-depth perspective into the world of corporate recruiting, in particular how recruiters are using social networks more and more to evaluate potential hires.

Social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter give recruiters and hiring manager the opportunity to peer into a potential candidate’s everyday life, work habits and personal information.  More and more, recruiters are using information gathered from social networks to  determine whether a candidate is a good fit for their company.  However, using this information as the basis for a hire can lead to a bevy of discrimination claims against the company.

This is a topic that Newton Software has been following very closely. Newton’s own Joel Passen, interviewed Dr. Stephanie Thomas, one of the leading experts on the analysis of equal employment opportunity issues, almost a year ago for a podcast titled, “Can Social Recruiting Lead to Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Issues “.

In this recent article, CIO.com spoke with HR consultant Jessica Miller-Merrell about some of the risks involved with using social networks to make hiring decisions.  She outlines potential legal risks including the niche demographic breakdown of specific social networks as well as the necessity for concise affirmative action reporting for government contractors.

She goes on to talk about how using someone’s personal information to determine their qualifications can be problematic: “if you make hiring decisions based on protected information that a candidate provides on the Internet—if you decide not to hire someone because you find out they’re Muslim, pregnant or their child has a health condition—these are hiring decisions that can get you in hot water.”

There’s been a growing trend of more and more claims of workplace discrimination getting submitted over the past several years, and the addition of social networking as a hiring tool is bound to only increase the rate of claims.  Every year, companies face an uphill climb to follow confusing regulations that require them to provide detailed reports to various federal agencies.

These are the very factors Newton took into account when we decided to build EEOC / OFCCP compliance features into our recruiting software.  We realized that companies already face a great risk in regards to complying with the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs for government contractors.)  Bad or ignorant hiring practices and  decisions can sink a business due to costly litigation battles over wrongful discrimination.

Newton’s EEOC /OFCCP Compliance tools make sure that all the right information gets collected, stored and tracked regardless of the source of the data. Voluntary self-identification surveys, reasons for non-selection, hire/offer logs, minimum qualification questions and flow logs (EEO1 reports) are just a few of the tools that can help recruiters and human resources professionals  keep track of all the mandatory information.   Newton makes EEOC and OFCCP compliance a seamless part of the hiring process, so that when the time comes, a company doesn’t need to scramble to deal with a problem.

While we haven’t yet seen a pervasive precedent set regarding social networks and social recruiting, experts agree that it’s just a matter of time. As more companies are learning to use social networks as recruiting tools, there will be a social media recruiting precedent before you know it.  For now, our advice is to seek guidance from counsel especially before using social media to vet applicants and to always have a consistent, compliant process in place when distributing job related information to social networks.

Citations

Levinson, Meredith.  “Social Networks: A New Hotbed for Hiring Discrimination Claims.” CIO.com. April 18^th, 2011. http://www.cio.com/article/679830/Social_Networks_A_New_Hotbed_for_Hiring_Discrimination_Claims_?page=1&taxonomyId=3123

Applicant Tracking Software Reviews: Newton’s Quick Launch Capabilities

In today’s always-online world, consumers utilize reviews for almost everything. Whether it’s locating the best pizza spot in Boulder, CO or finding a recommended place to stay on TripAdvisor people like to know what their peers have to say about a product or service before they jump into it.

The same goes for business software. Any human resources leader, corporate recruiting manger or company executive knows that an important purchasing decision needs to be properly vetted through research. Part of this research naturally must involve investigating what other similar business leaders are saying about a product or service.

This is especially true when moving forward with an applicant tracking software platform. At Newton we know that any potential customer wants to know “why Newton?” In other words: what makes Newton’s applicant tracking solution the best choice, and what do our customers have to say about the product and our team’s ability to deploy Newton quickly to any sized organization? It only makes sense to have these questions answered before moving forward with an applicant tracking solution.

For that reason, we’ve asked a couple of our customers to review their experience with Newton. Although these applicant tracking reviews are fully downloadable as PDFs on our Why Newton page, we’d like to highlight a few of them over the next couple of months through the Newton blog.

For this entry of Newton’s applicant tracking software reviews, we’ll concentrate on what customers had to say about getting started and setup with Newton Software:

• Hannah Adams, a human resources manager, let us know how easy it was to get Newton setup in the first place: “I was definitely pleasantly surprised about how easy Newton was to get started with and how well integrated it is into our own website.”
• Other customers like Brandon Thurman, a technical recruiter, spoke of Newton’s implementation simplicity: “Newton’s implementation process was very simple. Since it is operated as a software as a service, it is as easy as logging on to the site. Newton’s implementation team was helpful in establishing a foundation for us to work off of; including loading our jobs, current candidates, etc.”
• Ro Carbone, a VP of Human Resources, put an exclamation point on the applicant tracking reviews with her experience in getting started with Newton: “Never has so little expended effort brought so much benefit!”

It’s not surprising that Newton’s customers are extremely satisfied with Newton’s activation methodology. After all, unlike our peers’ software, the Newton recruiting platform is designed around its deployment model. We make every effort to build Newton to be easy-to-use and intuitive and therefore easy to deploy to customers of all sizes.

We believe that a customer’s experience getting started with a product is reflective of the product as a whole. We’re glad our efforts to achieve this are apparent through what our customers are saying about the setup process.

Our next applicant tracking review entry will focus on what people are saying about Newton’s customer service – stay tuned!

Corporate Recruiters can be Office Heroes too. Here’s How:

I used to dread Fridays.
While the rest of the company was hoisting their coffee cups on Friday morning in reverence to the coming weekend, I had dread. Friday was the day that I had to turn in my recruiting status report. The report would be reviewed the following Monday at 9:00am by the executive staff at their weekly meeting. Depending on how busy I was during the week, the report would take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to complete. Instead of hitting up happy hour with the sales team on Friday afternoon, I was knee deep in a spreadsheet. And, I know that I wasn’t the only one frustrated on status report day. There are thousands of recruiters that bristle at the thought of compiling status reports and wasting time exacting data instead of actually recruiting talent.

So, why has compiling status reports been such a burden for corporate recruiters? Well, to date, the challenge with providing reports has been exacerbated by existing applicant tracking tools that fail to reflect the realities of the recruiting process. If you look at what vendors in the ATS marketplace are producing currently, it’s clear that they are still focused on what they’ve always been pushing: developing highly cumbersome data repositories with a bunch of check-box features, none of which are designed to make reporting performance metrics any easier. Let’s be real: the harden an ATS is to use, the harder it is to get any information out of it. And, if you do manage to get some workable data after hours of effort, you’ll end up with spreadsheets that look like Da Vinci’s code.

As many of you know, Newton’s core team is made up of former corporate and RPO recruiters. We understand as well as anyone that corporate recruiters are certainly not the only ones responsible for the success of recruiting programs, but they are typically left holding the bag. We also know that a lack of systemic accountability costs corporate recruiting departments money, time and resources and often leads to animosity and plenty of petty misunderstandings. Only the consistent capture and reporting of real data can back up a responsible recruiter and ultimately allow them to be more than just purely tactical or only as good as their last placement.

Good news for corporate recruiters.
There’s no need to be a victim of reporting madness on Fridays any longer. In fact, we may give you reason to throw on a cape and wow people with your reporting superpowers. Check out Newton’s custom reporting engine, a powerful tool that makes generating reports refreshingly easy. It’s not just easy to use: similar to Newton’s real-time analytics dashboard, this new tool spits out reports that are digestible, even a bit flashy. If you’re a data junky (or your manager is) the Newton custom reporting engine is like kryptonite.

Our new reporting engine empowers users to build, save and share customized reports comprised of every piece of data collected during the recruiting process. Users can generate reports on talent pipelines, user activity, requisitions, advertising performance, interview statistics, hires and more. Reports are easily built with Newton’s drag and drop interface and exported to auto-formatted spreadsheets that are production quality and ready to share with anyone. And, processing large amounts of data will not cause latency for users because the reports are generated from a reports-specific database in the Cloud. The new reporting feature even enables users to save the report structure created by an individual user so that the report can be run anytime with the click of a button. Think weekly staffing report with one click!

There’s more to come.
2011 will continue to be busy year for Newton’s product team and another great year for customers. Our custom reporting engine is just one of several important features that we’ll release this year. Our idea has always been to build the most innovative corporate applicant tracking software and we’re constantly studying the evolving recruiting marketplace so we can meet and even exceed the needs of modern recruiting programs. At the end of the day, the most rewarding part of our business is providing the tools corporate recruiters need to rise above the challenges that can plague their roles (and performance). Can we really give you superpowers? Maybe not. But we know Newton can make recruiters more effective, save them time, and elevate them into the strategic roles that can, on some days, make them heroic.

Can Social Recruiting Lead to Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Issues?

Social media is changing the recruiting landscape. And while people are racing to figure out how to harness the power of social recruiting (and even define it), issues related to discrimination and equal opportunity employment are imminent. As you can imagine there’s information available on social networking sites that violates anti-discrimination laws. And, recruiting exclusively with social media can potentially lead to disparate impact. What does this mean? It means that it’s time to better understand the impacts of social media and the implications that it has on recruiting – and your recruiting program.