We have started to upgrade
our interface to MS OUTLOOK in our recruiting software.
OUTLOOK is has a tremendous usage (might
want to say “OUTLOOK has tremendous value and most executive search recruiters
are already using it”) Most executive search recruiters
evaluating recruiting software are already
using
OUTLOOK.
Can OUTLOOK be used as a
total solution for a recruiter?
No, it cannot. But many
recruiter prospects come to us with this challenge. They are
heavy users of OUTLOOK but they have exhausted the limits of
OUTLOOK as a recruiting tool. However, they want to continue
using some of the OUTLOOK features. The challenge for
recruiting software is to provide the recruiter with
recruitment software that blends the use of OUTLOOK with their
recruiting software. The real challenge for us vendors is some
tasks performed by OUTLOOK are best done by a recruiting
system whose primary focus is Applicants/Candidates and
Clients.
So we have a customer who
definitely needs more recruiting software power, but they are
desperately hanging on to features in OUTLOOK. They want to
continue using them because they are comfortable with them.
Change is always traumatic and downtime can be expected.
Downtime for a recruiter can be catastrophic.
So what should a recruiting
software vendor do when they introduce their product to a
customer who is a heavy OUTLOOK user? Should we insist that
the customer stop using OUTLOOK and start using our product
for tasks they were performing in OUTLOOK? Sometimes yes,
sometimes no.
Good recruiting/staffing
software needs to adapt into an OUTLOOK environment and the
recruiter must be able to continue sometimes less effective
steps than if they were to abandon OUTLOOK all together.
Efficiency is not necessarily the final word for a recruiter
to be successful. Sometimes we as vendors lose track of our
goals and make efficiency and features into deities they don’t
deserve. If a good recruiter is comfortable, happy and doing a
good job, is there any reason to turn his or her life upside
down in the hopes that after the ravages of change they will
come out better for it. I don’t think so. Many recruiting
companies lose good recruiters this way.
So I think good recruiting
software has to provide options where OUTLOOK can be used, or
not used, without affecting the recruiting system. Data must
flow freely between the two systems. The recruiter must be
allowed to continue to perform certain tasks that are more
comfortable in OUTLOOK. HOWEVER, NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE
RECRUITING SYSTEM!
What makes OUTLOOK so useful
but not a complete recruiting system? The biggest difference
is OUTLOOK is targeted for its user and all his or her
activities, email, contacts and notes. But it is the view of a
single user. Recruiting software is primarily geared for
collaboration and the compiling and organizing of information
on clients and applicants. OUTLOOK could care less if someone
in the contact is an applicant or client. Outlook’s method of
storing information as notes, contacts and even resumes does
not lend itself to the one critical need of a recruiter,
searching for candidates or clients that have a particular
work history or job need that demands certain skills.
OUTLOOK does not lend itself
very well to bringing a job order or requisition together as a
complete project. The pieces such as candidate notes,
references and interviews have to be manually put together. A
recruiting system brings this information together as the
natural course of filling a position. When you look up a
candidate in a recruiting system you generally know all about
them i.e., all contacts, notes, resume, interviews, salary,
work history etc... When you look up a client it is generally
the same thing, all contacts, and plans for contact, positions
filled and progress on assignments. OUTLOOK is not designed
for this natural gathering of information as a recruiter
works, so using OUTLOOK alone as recruiting software
eventually bogs the recruiter down as the number of applicants
and clients increase.
Good recruiting software
should not bog down as the numbers of clients and applicants
increase. How do we keep recruiters happy using our
recruitment software and still not getting bogged down using
all the neat features in OUTLOOK? Not very easy, but there are
some key points that recruiting software must be able to do
with OUTLOOK.
-
Since OUTLOOK has a
built in PDA interface the recruiting software should have
an exporting and importing feature to OUTLOOK that is
expressly designed for PDA use. It makes no sense to for the
recruiting software to have a separate PDA interface.
-
Recruitment software should have it’s own
calendar system independent of OUTLOOK. BUT the two
calendars must be able to talk to each other. If an entry is
made in the OUTLOOK calendar there must be an option to post
to the recruiting software calendar and vice versa.
Implementing a Calendar interface to OUTLOOK is full of land
mines and can easily lead to unwieldy tasks imposed on the
recruiter.
-
A recruiter’s notes are
always about an individual, either a client or applicant.
OUTLOOK notes don’t necessarily attach a note to a client or
applicant and I think this is where the OUTLOOK note system
should be customized to identify people. I think notes
should go only one way to the recruiting system notes.
Porting notes from the recruiting system to OUTLOOK notes
makes no sense.
-
Emails of applicants and
clients should definitely be available in the recruiting
system. We are still undecided if they should be redundant
residing in both the “pst” file and the recruiting software.
What is definite is a good filtering interface so the
recruiting system only accesses emails of clients and
applicants.
-
Batch emailing to
clients and applicants is a must for recruiting software if
it is going to have any CRM capabilities. OUTLOOK makes it
tough to batch email because of its security features.
-
Outlook’s contacts can
either be expected to be all clients and applicants or have
an identifier that says that they are not either, and
therefore not part of the recruiting system.
Interfacing to OUTLOOK is a
tough job, especially since it is constantly changing. But
bottom line, I believe recruiting software can be judged by
its interface to OUTLOOK.
