Its 2010 – Stop using your ATS like a Hoarders Basement
Applicant Tracking Software Recruiting Process Recruiting Technology Vendor IssuesPublished January 4, 2010 at 12:54 am 12 CommentsIt is the first business day of 2010 (pronounced twenty-ten FYI). There are still no flying cars or teleportation devices. I still have to type this blog out and can’t just think it. No cancer shot has been discovered so the likelihood of I Am Legend actually happening next year is unlikely. However, we are still in a recession that I thought we were buying ourselves out of last year and there is still historically high unemployment rates. One thing that has also stuck around into the new year is the A&E TV show Hoarders and over the last week I caught up on the new season of Hoarders.
Hoarders was as gross and disturbing as it normally is. If you don’t watch it – they basically go in and clean up homes of people that hoard – most of them are old, crazy, cat ladies. It follows their families that have ignored or enabled it for so long that the hoarder has lost their children, pets or their sense of reality. On one of the episodes I watched a they were cleaning out a woman’s house who seemed to have 2, 3, 4, or even 10 of the exact same thing laying around and they found a cat. A dead cat. Then another. 2 dead cats. In her house. She didn’t know she ever had a cat. As I was watching that, I couldn’t help but think about what state of chaos you have to be in to not realize you have someone else’s dead cats in your living room.
But in reality, it’s what most companies (and recruiters) do every day with their applicant tracking system. For the most part, candidates are just dead cats in the living room of corporate software.
Many hoarders problems aren’t necessarily that they keep so much stuff – its that they don’t know what they have so they spend crazy amounts of money to acquire more of the exact same. Then they fail to organize and keep track of it properly so they can actually use it effectively. In the same light, Recruiting problems are not caused by the number of resumes they get it – they are caused by software issues and poor process decisions that they typically use.
1. Software Issues – Many (even well known) Applicant Tracking Systems don’t have solid search functionality. The ones that do, often make it cumbersome and not easy to work with. There aren’t easy ways to track/tag, manage and interact with candidates that aren’t attached to a particular requisition. It isn’t a new issue, its been beat to a pulp in many a blog postings already in 2009 and it is something that a few of the vendors are in the process of correcting.
2. Process Issues – This could (and IMO does) tie closely into #1 – but most companies don’t make searching their own database a priority. When they need a candidate – the first instinct is to post the position and see what comes in. The first step should be to stop, take a look around them and see what they already have. That candiate in the database may still be alive and kicking and wanting to come work for you, but not actively searching for opportunities.
The high unemployment rates are creating an overwhelming volume of candidates coming into ATS’s. Candidates are coming in, sometimes totally unnoticed, and are hiding under the couch like that cat did. Sitting, Waiting, Hoping to be found. Unfortunately, time consuming search functions and poor results stop many of us from from even looking. Like the hoarders, the recruiters are preoccupied with other priorities and companies software is so packed full of all of these resumes and people that don’t work for them right now, but may in the future (Common quote on the show Hoarders, BTW) that the one they may really want – may not ever be found. And the candidate disappears under the mess of other, less qualified candidates because they were lost in the database.
So, as we move forward to our flying cars and teleportation that I was sure would be here by now, lets at least stop treating resumes like the dead cat under the couch we forgot about.
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This is great! Although I still can not bring myself to watch an entire episode of “Hoarders” It really proves a point.. One must be so Cluttered Personally and professionally to have the situation become that dire.
In Staffing, I used to call “database dust” you are calling “dead cats” , let’s all clean up our act and call the 1800GOTJUNK guys and get cleaning!
Cheers!
Shennee
Great article. The analogy is perfect.
Thanks,
Wendy
Girl you have some mad skillz at being able to take everyday (well extreme everday) situations and draw analogies to what we do in the Recruiting World…and of course I love reading your stuff. Now if only more ATS systems would integrate even basic boolean search into their own internal search capabilities it would be a huge leap forward. Introducing symantec and contextual search and meaning into your ATS — well that would be legendary. Let’s hope we are moving in that direction.
Wow. Disturbing yet brilliant analogy. That’s been a problem for many moons – not mining one’s own resume database via ATS because of poor technology and the fact that recruiters historically prefer fresh cats right off a job posting. But even if the cats hiding under the sofa are still alive, how can improved search functionality – and if you get the end users to use it – ensure the viability of the applicants found versus those from a new job posting?
This has also been an issue for many vendors launching new talent management products with a applicant database kicker that needs much tending to keep utilization and engagement high enough to make the database worth accessing. Another reason why employers need to rethink their resume databases.
I will never watch Hoarders. Never. You can’t make me.
@shennee – it really isn’t as bad as it seems and really give you a random look at other peoples lives…
@Wendy – Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
@Geoff & @Kevin – This was actually close to my heart as I have been working on the redesigned UI (and more importantly) upgraded search spec’s for our system for the last few weeks. I am super excited for it to come out – I told the programmers a week – that should be good turnaround right? lol
[...] Its 2010 – Stop using your ATS like a Hoarders Basement … [...]
Agree that a lot of recruiters and companies “don’t know what they have so they spend crazy amounts of money to acquire more of the exact same.” I’ve seen it way too many times. My #1 source of candidates is my personal ATS (aka my hard drive currently since I dropped my last system). I have 10 years of candidates jammed in there, and don’t plan on throwing anything out. A good recruiter who has been in this business for several years MUST take advantage of the people they have already had some form of contact with and received resumes from. Funny thing is, most are fast to conduct searches anywhere but their ATS. I’ve consulted for a few companies that have done conversions to a new ATS and left the majority of their resumes behind. That’s some serious potential passive candidates they’re throwing away.
Geoff – thanks for the comment – Glad to hear a recruiter doing it the right way. But we should talk about getting you an ATS
lol
I think this is a great perspective Sarah. I understand that it is tough for companies to respond and review every candidate but for a job seeker like me; when you receive no message, no acknowledgment, ultimately you get no closure. You leave the process hating the process!
Thanks for the thoughts
@benjaminmccall
http://www.ReThinkHR.org
linkedin.com/in/BenjaminMcCall
Sarah. This is a great analogy. I shared it with my team… We’ve been having discussions about how we keep our old data (uh, dead cats?) from the former system.
Keep up the good work….
It takes talent to explain complicated stuff in simple terms.
(and I friggin’ HATE cats – but that’s a whole ‘nother story)
Sarah,
Great post!! Don’t let the cat out of the bag on this issue, you might put me out of business! With the recession and the influx of candidate submittals per job posting, Corporate Recruitera are missing out on a huge opportunity to pipeline talent for years to come. Companies that figure out how to give that personal touch to their applicants (via technology integrated in their ATS or by having more advanced search capabilities) and eliminate the standard form letter will have the leg up in the future. With each job posting garnering 200-300 resume responses, companies should invest in hiring Corp Recruiters and HR professionals so they can mine the potential future talent and eliminate the need for the nice and sometimes persistent staffing sales guy (me). Companies that claim their people are their #1 competitive advantage are full of it if they don’t treat applicants with the same respect! Happy staffing in 2010!!