Really randome thought here… One of these days I’ll write quite a bit more about my opinions on ATS/HMS (applicant tracking or hiring management) or whatever you want to call it. For now, I wanted to comment on some new technology Recruitmax is rolling out. While I don’t completely understand it, it looks like ATS/HMS is really starting to evolve outside of the box that has shaped it for a number of years.
For those of you who care, RecruitMax is one of my favorite 3 ATS/HMS solutions. Taleo being in the number one spot, and RecruitMax being #2 or 3.
Traditionally, ATS/HMS has been a way to gather data, and then push/pull it around between applicants, managers and recruiters before finally reaching an HR administrator for new hire. The evloution into a service centric offering is fairly revolutionary in my eyes although ATS/HMS has always been on the cutting edge. RecruitMax’s new offering includes a robust data portal (presumably for recruiting practitioners and hiring managers) that I wonder if it could replace the RecruitMax application. While great from a technology perspective, I wonder if it’s really all that necessary and if it will enhance the uder experience by as much as the portal services technology actually cost. Potentially (once all the portal services are wrapped in) RecruitMax has the potential to us this as a practitioner self service site for everything from basic ATS/HMS data and workflow to customer billing.
Second, they seem to be rolling out a customer service support line that will take calls from candidates. All of a sudden we went from outsourcing an application and hosting services, to a possible (un-evolved) HRO model for applicants. How RecruitMax will manage the training of it’s call center is questionable. Undoubtedly they only want calls regarding how to fill out applications, but many candidates will call to ask about the actual jobs.
Obviously none of this is new to HR. Good vendors like ADP and Hewitt will provide client facing protals. For ADP, clients need to be able to look into their accounts, track check packages and maybe access their payroll set-up. Same with Hewitt but from a benefits fulfillment perspective. And obviously the likes of ADP and Hewitt take calls from employees in their call centers. However, RecruitMax wants to take calls from a non-employee who does not already have a relationship with the organization. This is an interesting, but risky move, and they better have dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s.
