Joel Passen

Joel is the Head of Marketing at Newton Software, a technology company that designs applicant tracking software for small and medium-sized employers. Joel has been involved with the intersection of technology and recruiting his entire career.

About Joel Passen

Joel is the Head of Marketing at Newton Software, a technology company that designs applicant tracking software for small and medium-sized employers. Joel has been involved with the intersection of technology and recruiting his entire career. Follow Joel: Google+, Twitter,

Newton’s Product Team Announced the Release Date for Gravity, an Employee Referral Application

June 12, 2013 By 2 Comments
Gravity, an employee referral app for Newton

Gravity, an employee referral app for Newton

Today, Newton’s product team announced the release date for Gravity, an employee referral application for Newton. Starting July 8th, employers using Newton’s applicant tracking system will empower employees to share jobs, attract talent and discretely vouch for referrals from any mobile device. 

The Newton Gravity App is an employee referral application that’s social, mobile and engaging. Employers create referral programs to recognize and reward employees that take an active part in the hiring process. Gravity makes it easy for every employee to share jobs, vouch for the applicants they know and receive incentives for being a team player.

 

Main features..

  • Share jobs to social networks with one click.
  • Discretely and automatically capture “Can you vouch for this person?” responses.
  • Manage a monthly referral program leader board.
  • Communicate job referral rewards to employees.
  • Track and report program activity, applicants and hires.

Newton customers will receive more updates and an invitation to informational webinars over the next several days.

Filed Under: Applicant Tracking, applicant tracking software, applicant tracking system, Company News, employee referrals, New Releases, social recruiting

OFCCP Compliance Rules You Might Not be Aware Of

May 28, 2013 By 2 Comments

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I would bet there are OFCCP compliance rules that you might not be aware of. As human resource professionals, we know all to well how tough it can be to keep up with rule changes issued by the OFCCP. For example, Quest Diagnostics, a medical testing company, found itself in hot water and had adjust its hiring practices after the New York Attorney General’s office determined that the company broke the law when it refused to hire job applicants who had criminal convictions during the previous seven years, according to a report from Lexology.

Listen, it’s simply bad business to not understand the OFCCP regulations and to put your company at risk with discriminatory hiring practices. Moreover,it pays to invest time on a regular basis to keep yourself informed on OFCCP rules and regulations to ensure that your organization remains in compliance and out of the hot seat. One thing that people who have been through an OFCCP audit will tell you is: once you’ve been audited, expect to be audited again and again.

To minimize your organization’s potential liability for engaging in discriminatory hiring practices, follow these easy steps.

1. Take the time to visit the OFCCP website on a regular basis. Repeated visits to the site will help you keep up with the latest news about rules and regulations, and to learn about companies that have violated the rules, so you can learn from their mistakes.  As an HR professional at an employer with a government contract, it’s your responsibility to know the rules.

2. Always consult with an expert. If you don’t have an expert in-house, find a reputable labor attorney or work with a leading affirmative action consulting firm. We recommend Pinnacle HR Consulting. They have an entire practice dedicated to recruitment compliance. Don’t leave compliance to chance. get another set of eyes on your hiring program.

3. Choose an applicant tracking system that makes staying OFCCP compliant easy. Knowing what to look for and understanding the right questions to ask when choosing an ATS is a great first step. We also strongly encourage you to take the time to see compliance functionality in action so you’ll understand how everything works once your ATS is live. This is important stuff; don’t just take a salesperson’s word for it or leave anything to chance. Here is an infographic that tells what questions to ask when selecting the right applicant tracking software.

 

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, Applicant Tracking Software Reviews, choosing recruiting software, EEO, EEOC, OFCCP, Recruiting Advice, Safe Hiring

It’s a good thing NFL teams are beholden to OFCCP Compliance

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It’s a good thing NFL teams are beholden to OFCCP compliance. ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd suggested that when GMs for NFL teams are interviewing potential players, they should be able to ask any question they feel will help them determine the success potential of that player for their team. Jeff Baker, Vice President and Partner at Pinnacle HR Consulting Services, a Newton partner, agreed but warned how it could be different if interviewing with a federal contractor rather than an NFL team. He also worked in a quick plug for Pinnacle HR Consulting Services.

If you are not already familiar with Pinnacle HR Consulting, the firm is the industry leader of affirmative action planning and recruitment compliance consulting. In short, Jeff and his team create affirmative action plans for employers to ensure OFCCP and EEOC compliance.  Earlier this year Newton and Pinnacle announced a strategic partnership. Read the press release here.

Through our partnership, the experts at Pinnacle will be available to provide strategic recruitment compliance and affirmative action consulting with a keen understanding of the Newton Applicant Tracking System.

If you are interested in speaking with an expert at Pinnacle, just click here.

 

Filed Under: applicant tracking system, EEOC, OFCCP, Partners, Recruiting Advice, Safe Hiring, Videos

Choose an Applicant Tracking System That Your Hiring Managers Will Use

May 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Choose an Applicant Tracking System That your Hiring Managers Will Use

Choose an applicant tracking system that your hiring managers will use. Pretty obvious advice right? Well, it’s harder than it sounds. These days applicant tracking software comes with all sorts of bells and whistles and it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. In today’s connected world where recruiting moves faster than ever, it’s critical to choose recruiting software that hiring managers can and will use.

When applicant tracking software lives up to it’s potential and is easily adopted by hiring managers, employers win big with:

  • Overall process improvement
  • Enhanced collaboration
  • streamlined efficiency
  • Accurate recruiting analytics
  • foolproof recruiting compliance

Here are 5 must-haves when choosing applicant tracking software that your entire team will want to use.

1. Usability is #1

Shop for usability above everything else. Don’t be distracted by features that your hiring managers will never use. Remember, you are selecting a system that will touch all of the actors in your hiring process. If it’s easy-to-use they will use it.

2. Accessibility is key

Choose an ATS that works on any browser, any computer and on tablet devices.

3.  The 90/10 Rule

Choose an applicant tracking system that does well what your hiring managers do 90% of the time. Reviewing resumes should be a snap. Making decisions should take one click. Providing feedback shouldn’t even require a login in. Make it simple and they will use it.

4. No Login Required

Choose an applicant tracking system that empowers your team to make decisions, submit approvals, and provide feedback without even logging in. That’s right, let them have email! Some hiring managers will just never login to your ATS. If that’s the case, choose a system that lets them work how they want to work.

5. Low to No Training

Let’s face it, nobody likes training. Choose applicant tracking software that’s easy to roll out and ramp up. If the ATS is easy to learn and easy to remember, everyone wins.

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, Applicant Tracking Software Reviews, applicant tracking system, choosing recruiting software, Corporate Recruiting, Design Philosophy, Infographic, Recruiting Advice, User Adoption

Newton Partner Donates to Boston Victims

May 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2013-05-09 at 5.48.41 PM

Sometimes, we just want to recognize people that are doing the right thing. Supporting the victims of the recent tragedy in Boston, Newton’s printing partner and operator of the Bay Area store and gallery, Buxome St. Gallery, is selling custom designed t-shirts to benefit victims. The local store created by Mike Lynch and Judy-Tam Lynch are selling t-shorts at $20 a piece and will donate 100% of the proceeds to mother and daughter, Celeste and Sydney Corcoran, who were both severely injured by the Boston Bombing.

Want a shirt? Visit http://www.63bluxomestreetgallery.com/

Need a good local screenprinter? http://www.babylontee.com/

Filed Under: Cool Companies, Optimism, Partners

SHRM Survey Findings: Social Recruiting

May 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

On April 11th, SHRM released findings from a recent survey on social recruiting (SHRM Survey Findings: Social Networking Websites and Recruiting/Selection).  Having read through the results, I find there are no surprises. See for yourself below. So what am I least surprised by? Read on friends.

41% of employers target executive/upper management (e.g. CEO, CFO) when searching for candidates on social media.

Makes sense. If I was still running an executive search firm, I would have another data point that would lead to more heartburn and another headache. China Gorman (my inspiration for this post) points out in her post on the survey that the 41% of employers that use social networks to source executives “could spell doom” for executive recruiting firms. I say that the search firms are already feeling it big time. I’m not the only one. Earlier this year, Business Week published an article, “Executive Headhunters Squeezed by In-House Recruiters“, where they claim that the big executive search firms’ revenues are declining by nearly 10% a quarter.

Listen, I’ve been saying this for a long time and I’ll say it again. What were once closed networks monetized by the search firms have now been made open by social networks. I call this the single greatest advancement in recruiting in the last 10 years. The accessibility of data has created massive competition for the search firms. Employers armed with good data can run what were once 6 figure searches for a fraction of the cost.

More than half (57%) of employers do not have a formal or informal policy on screening candidates via social networking sites.

The only thing surprising here is that 43% of respondents claim to have some sort of social media screening policy. I’m not buying it. This is the real elephant in the closet right now for HR departments.  With very little precedent set by the Fed, it’s no wonder that employers provide little policy on screening job applicants with social networking sites. This topic is the one to watch in the coming months for sure. There is going to be a tsunami of claims in the next 12 months.

LinkedIn is the most commonly used social networking site for screening job candidates.

Guess what? This may be the least surprising piece of data in the entire survey. 92% of respondents that use social networks claim to screen job applicants using LinkedIn. For the record, LinkedIn was followed by Facebook (58%), Twitter (31%) and Google + (25%). The biggest surprise here is that 31% percent of the respondents mentioned they screen applicants withTwitter. I just removed the Twitter app from my phone.

Using social networking is less expensive than other methods of recruiting job candidates.

In 2011, 67% of respondents claimed they use social recruiting because it was less expensive than other methods of recruiting. No surprise. However, this year, only 57% percent responded that social recruiting was less expensive. Not a surprise either. If you consider LinkedIn a social network (I don’t but that’s another story), the 10% decrease in the number of people responding that social recruiting is less expensive makes a lot of sense. LinkedIn is expensive. Otherwise, I believe that people have come to realize that a sustained social recruiting strategy is expensive to maintain just like any advertising campaign (there is a story brewing here too).

 

Filed Under: EEO, Industry Trends, Internet Trends, social recruiting, Trends

Do You Follow HR Technology Trends?

April 17, 2013 By 6 Comments

Do you follow the HR Tech industry? If not, it’s time to start. Sure, it’s not as interesting as spending a couple of minutes on Pinterest or TMZ.com. But as HR and recruiting professionals, we have to know what’s influencing change in our industry.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the HR Tech world. Money has poured into the space. HR Technology startups have sprung up around the globe. And, the delivery model of HR technology has vastly improved making solutions much easier to purchase, activate and use.

Today, HR technology plays such a pivotal role in enabling HR organizations to move from personnel management to business execution that it’s impossible to ignore. Let’s face it, executives rarely ask personnel management questions anymore like “are people getting paid on time?” No. They ask questions like “is recruiting aligned with our strategic goals?”

Most HR and recruiting leaders want greater influence with the “business” so we’ve got to constantly be looking for tools to help us achieve our strategic goals. We have to move beyond the spreadsheets to provide greater visibility and those reports our executives are looking for.

So, what’s the easiest way to stay on top of the latest and greatest in the HR Technology world? Read. Find a way to aggregate news from analysts, bloggers and vendors so you can glance at news and pick out trends that interest you.

Here’s are some quick tips.

If you end up building your own Paper.li paper or have an HR Tech blog for us to follow, please share it by commenting on this post.

Filed Under: Industry Trends, Recruiting Industry

Todd Ciampa from Novotus Takes Newton’s March Madness Bracket Challenge

April 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Newton March Madness Winner

Winner winner chicken dinner. It’s official. Todd Ciampa won the annual Newton Software March Madness Bracket Challenge. What makes this man tick? How did he do it? I get these answers and more in the exclusive interview below.

 

[JP]  First, congratulations. You beat out the largest field ever this year. Tell me your story. Tell me about you Todd.

[TC]  Currently, I am the Director of Talent Acquisition at Novotus, a leading recruiting solutions provider. I began my recruiting career in 2000 in the hustle and bustle of the dot com boom as an agency based IT Recruiter placing software developers in Orange County, CA. Today, I run our IT recruiting delivery team comprised of highly skilled recruiters and sourcers delivering on large scale and transactional projects with customers across the US and EMEA. In my spare time, I love to cook, play golf, watch any sport other than hockey or soccer and I LOVE THIS JOB!

 

[JP]  Describe your bracketology.

[TC]  I don’t watch college basketball unless its the tournament.  I watch ESPN daily though and keep abreast of rankings, league champs, who’s hot, etc.  I pick with my gut and my heart and guess at some upsets. I got lucky this year.

 

[JP]  Is this your first fantasy sports win?

[TC]  Negative.  I won the my very first fantasy football season in 1999 and won another bracket this year too!

 

[JP] Have you ever actually been to a basketball game? If so when?

[TC] One college game it was like USC vs Long Beach State…10+ years ago.  I try and see the Lakers live at least once a year.

 

[JP]  What’s something your co-workers don’t know about you?

[TC]  I love rom coms and I cry at the end of Field of Dreams.

 

[JP]  When you’re not on the phone or in a meeting, what music do you crank?

[TC]  Punk Rock

 

[JP]  If you could have any job what would it be?

[TC]  Professional baseball player.  First base for the Angels.

 

[JP]  What’s you favorite feature of Newton?

[TC] Echo

 

[JP]  If you could add any feature to the Newton applicant tracking system what would it be?

[TC]  Echo is huge…our Hiring Managers want efficiency and scheduling and providing feedback via email will be awesome!

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Company News, Cool Companies, Events, News

New in Newton- update the ATS, no login required

April 8, 2013 By 1 Comment

This week we released a new set of features in Newton. We called the release Echo. You can read the full press release here.

Newton Echo is the simple and smart answer to busy hiring managers and executives that don’t have time to log in to Newton. With Echo, hiring managers keep the recruiting system up-to-date just by responding to email.

This innovative feature is the first-of-its-kind to come to any ATS. And, is designed to improve Newton’s already industry leading user adoption rates. Plus, it’s just cool and a nice upgrade for our users.

Check out Echo in action

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, Company News, Feature Spotlight, News, Press Releases, Release Notes, User Adoption

Newton Echo

April 1, 2013 By 4 Comments

Newton Echo

Our idea: Simple tasks should only take seconds. With Echo, people can change the status of candidates, capture interview feedback, and approve jobs and offers using email—no login required.

At Newton we’re always looking to make hiring simpler, smarter, and safer. Newton Echo is the simple and smart answer to busy hiring managers and executives that don’t have time to log in to their applicant tracking system. With Echo, your managers keep the recruiting system up-to-date just by responding to email.

How does Newton Echo work?

There are two parts to a Newton Echo response: the Comment and the Command. When someone replies to an Echo email it is saved as a comment on the job or candidate.  Recipients also may include “command tags” in their reply (optional).  These command tags (#approve, #deny, #phonescreen, #interview, #private) ask Newton to take action on the recipient’s behalf.

List of Commands

Commands can be placed anywhere in the response as long as they are above the line that says “please put your response above this line”.

  • #phonescreen  commands Newton to change the candidate to “Schedule a Phone Screen”
  • #interview commands Newton to change the candidate to “Schedule an Interview”
  • #approve  commands Newton to “Approve this Job/Offer”
  • #deny  commands Newton to “Deny this Job/Offer”
  • #private  commands Newton to store your response as a private comment.  This can be used in conjunction with any other status.

At this time there is not a “Pass” command. For OFCCP compliance someone needs to choose a Reason for Non-Selection when passing on candidates. Replying #pass would not keep our customers in compliance, so we have not implemented this command.

Commands in Action…

Example 1:  Mark Manager receives a Review Request email and wants to phone screen the candidate.

One of your recruiters sent Mark and Review Request email. Mark thinks the candidate looks good and wants his recruiter to schedule a phone screen, here’s how:

Mark Responds:

This candidate looks great. Please #phonescreen right away.

Example 2:  April Approver receives an Offer Approval Request and wants to Deny it

Let’s say April thinks the salary is too high for this candidate. Denying the offer is easy….

April Responds:

#deny (this salary is way over budget)

Example 3:  Frank Feedback is asked to provide feedback after a Phone Screen.

Frank Phone Screened one of your candidates at 4PM yesterday. Based on your settings, Newton asked Frank for feedback at 5PM the same day. Frank liked the person and wants you to schedule an interview.

Frank Response:

This candidate was really great. Let’s bring him in for a round of interviews with the team.

#interview

Special Considerations…

You can send an Echo email to anyone, even people that are not Newton users.

For example, if you request interview feedback from non-users their responses will still be saved to Newton.

Commands from non-users will be ignored.

Only Newton users can execute commands. So, if you send a non-user a Review Request and they respond with #phonescreen, Newton will ignore the command.

Redundant Commands will be ignored.

Newton will ignore commands that would have no effect.

Some examples of commands that would be ignored (this is not a complete list):

  • #interview when the candidate is in the “schedule interview” stage
  • #phonescreen when the candidate is already in the “schedule phone” screen stage.
  • #approve for a job that has already been approved.

Commands that move a candidate or job backwards in the process are ignored.

Newton is going to err on the side of safety and ignore commands that might have deleterious effects. As such, Newton will not move a candidate backwards in the process and will not close jobs that have already been activated.

Some examples of commands that would be ignored (this is not a complete list):

  • #phonescreen when the candidate is in the interview stage will be ignored
  • #interview or #phonescreen for a candidate in the offer stage will be ignored
  • #deny for a job or offer that has already been approved will be ignored

Approval and Denial of Jobs/Offers can be commanded only by Approvers.

Let’s say you cc:  a Newton User on a Job Approval Request but they are not one of the job’s approvers. If this person responds with #approve or #deny Newton will ignore that command (i.e. the response will be saved as a comment in the job’s history, but the action will be ignored).

 

 

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, applicant tracking system, Company News, Feature Spotlight, New Releases, Release Notes, User Adoption

On a Mission to Build an Applicant Tracking System that Improves Process

March 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Mission: Improve Recruiting Process

Newton is the brainchild of recruiting professionals (that’s us) that launched the product in 2009. Since day, one we’ve been on a mission to build an applicant tracking system that improves process. We wanted to design something that would make rolling out, ramping up, managing, and improving corporate hiring programs easier. We wanted something that offered a more collaborative experience for all users. And, we needed something that was simple and easy-to-use so people would actually use it.

Today, the recruiting software market is hot. Just look at the latest numbers. There are over 300 new companies tagged with “recruiting” on CrunchBase alone. Shiny tools are popping up every week that promise to optimize or disrupt some aspect of recruiting or another. What was a space all but ignored by investors is now in the spotlight. Responsive applications that promise to mobilize, socialize and gamify recruiting are all over the web but none ever make mention of actually improving the recruiting process. I guess that kind of talk isn’t that sexy.

Our mission to improve the recruiting process for employers has never really been perceived as cool or sexy. In fact, even the mere mention of the word process often causes eyes to glaze over. But that doesn’t stop us. Having run corporate recruiting programs for over 15 years prior with paper resumes, email, spreadsheets, legacy software, sparse resources, demanding hiring managers and even more demanding executives, we understand that good process is actually as important as it gets. That’s why we obsess over designing Newton to be the best process manager possible instead of constantly chasing the next new potentially disruptive trend.

To be clear, I am not dissing or dismissing mobile, social and gamification. I do know that despite all the shiny new tools on the market, recruiting is still tough for  employers. And,when recruiting technology does well what 80% of users do all the time, it truly lives up to it’s potential. More users means more data. More data yields better analytics. Better analytics help employers find bottlenecks and issues before they become bigger problems. Sounds pretty sexy to me.

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, Applicant Tracking Software Reviews, choosing recruiting software, Corporate Philosophy, Industry Trends, Mad Scientist, User Adoption

Why Hiring is Hard

March 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

hard_hiringBlog article about why today’s employers aren’t filling their open positions. To start off, the post highlights that even though there are clear signs that our economy is now in a recovery phase, unemployment rates are still very high in comparison to recoveries over the past century. Cappelli dismisses explanations for these high unemployment rates due to a sudden lack of necessary skills or education, given the relatively short five year recession time span.

Instead, Capelli proposes an interesting explanation as to why positions are simply not getting filled:  hiring is hard for employers right now. After tightening their purse strings over the past five years to make sure they stayed afloat, many employers now have far less resources to devote to the hiring process. Both recruiters and hiring managers now have more pressure on them to keep costs low while still bringing in the same level of high quality talent. This is proving to be a difficult task for most, which has kept a large percentage of job vacancies perpetually open. This is a lose-lose situation for both applicants and employers.

Sure, the recovery has been slow but it has been steady for at least the last two years. But, as Cappelli points out, employers may be making it harder to hire because they haven’t adapted to subtle changes in the economy that have shifted the pendulum back to an applicant’s market. From Cappelli: “part of the explanation may also be that this recession has gone on for so long that it changed what hiring managers think they can find in the labor market. Early on in the recession, when literally millions of people were being laid-off, it was easy to find someone fresh out of a job with the experience and skills needed to step right into your vacancy. Now in the fifth year of the downturn, unemployed candidates have often been out of work for quite a while. The candidates with current work experience that hiring managers want are working for someone else, and they aren’t desperate to take a new job.”

So what’s the bottom line for employers? It’s time to recognize that the market has changed. Demand for talent has increased. To be competitive, employers are going to have to reevaluate both job requirements and compensation rates. Talent acquisition processes and tools will need to be re-optimized to avoid costly fits and starts. And, recruiting budgets need to be revisited with an emphasis on hiring internal recruiters.

Filed Under: Corporate Recruiting, Industry Trends, News, Recruiting Advice

Newton Leaks New Employee Referral Program Tool for Popular Applicant Tracking System

March 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

 

Leak: Newton Employee Referral Program Tool

Leak: Newton Employee Referral Program Tool

Just days after Newton announced a release date for a huge set of upgrades to its popular applicant tracking system, the marketing department managed to wrangle some screens of our upcoming employee referral program tool. It’s a leak!

Yet to be named, our engineers tell us that the tool will empower and incentivize  employees to share jobs through social channels, from almost any device or browser. We’ve also learned that this upgrade, set to release before July, will set up digital employee referral programs and automatically track and manage all of the data and analytics surrounding referral initiatives.

As always, Newton will provide this valuable functionality as part of the core platform and as such, employers will use the employee referral program features at no additional cost.

Filed Under: Applicant Tracking, applicant tracking software, applicant tracking system, Company News, social recruiting

Newton Announces Release Date for Huge Applicant Tracking System Upgrade

March 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Newton Echo

Coming soon Newton Echo, a feature release so big we named it.

On April 8th, Newton delivers one of our biggest releases to our applicant tracking system ever, Echo. We named this release Echo for two reasons: first, many of the ideas in this release came from customer feedback (we heard you); second, much of the functionality of this release revolves around information being sent from and returned to Newton (like an echo).

Newton set the bar high with 9 major feature releases last year alone. Rest assured, we’re not going to let up in 2013. As always, these upgrades will be made available to Newton applicant tracking software customers at no additional cost. In fact, all of Newton’s popular, easy-to-use features are included in the Newton package. And, we’ll host a series of webinars to cover all the new functionality. Customers will receive an invitation soon.

There’s more. Next month we’ll announce another awesome new feature that will be out before people hit the beach on the East Coast. It’s top secret for now but we can tell you that it’s social, it’s mobile and it will help your employees generate more applicants. Stay tuned.

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, applicant tracking system, choosing recruiting software, Company News, New Releases, News, Optimism, Release Notes

Newton Software and Pinnacle HR Consulting Form Partnership to Provide Employers With Affirmative Action Planning Solutions

March 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

San Francisco, CA and New Orleans, LA March 05, 2013

Newton Software and Pinnacle HR Consulting announced that they have formed a partnership to provide employers with technically accurate, cost-effective solutions for all of their affirmative action (including OFCCP compliance ) planning needs. Through the partnership, Newton Software will provide customers with access to the affirmative action professionals at Pinnacle who will provide strategic recruitment compliance and affirmative action consulting.

“Our people speak with small and medium-sized employers every day and we know there is a lot of complexity and confusion created by the need for affirmative action planning and OFCCP compliance. As former corporate recruiters, we appreciate the importance of running a consistent, compliant recruiting process. Pinnacle is uniquely positioned in the EEO/AAP consulting market with a full-service recruitment compliance consulting practice that will offer significant value to our customers,” said Joel Passen, Head of Marketing and Co-Founder of Newton Software. “Given our focus on helping employers improve recruiting programs, a content partner like Pinnacle is a perfect compliment to our services. We are excited to work with their Vice President of Recruitment Compliance, David Scheffler, as well as Jeff Baker and the rest of the team at Pinnacle,” said Passen.

Read the full press release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/3/prweb10495962.htm

For more information about Pinnacle HR Consulting or to contact a member of their recruitment compliance team, please visit their website: http://pinnacle-aap.com/

Filed Under: applicant tracking system, Company News, Cool Companies, EEO, EEOC, OFCCP, Partners, Press Releases, Recruiting Industry, Safe Hiring

How to Hire Average Employees

February 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

hiring_grindOver the past decade the job market has undoubtedly taken employers and applicants on a rough ride.  When the economy tanked, our country’s unemployment and jobless claims went through the roof. Knowledge workers and less-skilled workers alike went from leisurely job-hopping to knocking on every door.  Now, as the economy is balancing out, talented job seekers are once again in demand.  Employers in a variety of competitive industries are energetically seeking those job applicants that can help give them a competitive edge or just to provide dependable, high-output labor.

One confounding question that has come up during the economic ebbs and flows is:  “Why have employers stuck to the same, old hiring processes throughout it all?”  Bloomberg Businessweek recently published an article titled “Why HR can’t innovate” that examines this phenomenon.

Instead of focusing on proven methodologies for process improvement – flexibility, nimble responses and strong collaboration – most employers have instead resorted to more of the same during thick and thin; slow, mechanical and often stand-offish hiring practices that are great a fostering participation from average performers. From Bloomberg: “The whole encrusted recruiting process (not to mention unfriendly, robotic auto-responders and the unending stream of honesty tests, writing tests, and other recruiting hurdles) makes it easy for organizations to hire drones, and it makes it hard for them to hire the brilliant and complex people they need to solve their problems.”

There are always going to be a few gems in the every industry, stories about employers that have a reputation for innovative and inspiring recruiting processes.  However, for the most part, we hear about employers that simply can’t get out of their own way. If that sounds all too familiar, it’s time to ask yourself if your recruiting program is attracting real talent or just a bunch of average applicants that are willing to tolerate your ineptitude.

Even if your company has a fresh face, a ton of funding, a good reputation and decent products and services, until proven otherwise, applicants will continue to be weary of your recruiting process. It’s up to you to break the mold and make it easier to attract the best people. Surprise candidates with a slick online application process, meaningful correspondence, prompt feedback and good service. Ooze a little creativity and be inspirational. After all, as an employer you want to be in the driver’s seat to make the decisions on who you want to hire instead of settling for who you can hire.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Corporate Recruiting, HR and Recruiters the New Marketers, Industry Trends, Recruiting Advice, Recruiting Industry

Infographic: Choosing an Applicant Tracking System to Promote EEO / OFCCP Compliance

February 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Choosing an applicant tracking system to promote EEO / OFCCP compliance can be a daunting experience. OFCCP regulations are confusing enough and most employers realize that manually tracking all of the information needed to run a compliant recruiting program is not an option anymore. We created this infographic as a guide to help you ask the right questions when choosing applicant tracking software for your organization. Knowing what to look for and understanding the right questions to ask is a great first step. We also strongly encourage you to take the time to see compliance functionality in action so you’ll understand how everything works once your ATS is live. This is important stuff; don’t just take a salesperson’s word for it or leave anything to chance.

Choosing an Applicant Tracking System to Promote EEO / OFCCP Compliance

Choosing an Applicant Tracking System to Promote EEO / OFCCP Compliance

Our experience with OFCCP compliance tracking for small and medium-sized employers

Over the years, we’ve worked with labor attorneys, affirmative action experts, HR professionals, customers and even present and former OFCCP compliance officers to ensure that Newton collects, tracks, stores and reports the correct information employers need to stay safe. Nearly 12% of Newton’s customers are GSA or sub-GSA contractors so designing SAFE software is a must. And, we’re proud to know that several of our customers have leaned on Newton to help them successfully complete OFCCP audits. At Newton, we believe that small employers deserve the best business technology available. And, for small and medium-sized businesses that are in growth mode, what could be more important than having a simple, online system that allows people to work smarter not harder while keeping them in safe and in compliance? That’s why we build Newton:  a SIMPLE, SMART, SAFE applicant tracking system that employers love to rely on.

 

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, applicant tracking system, choosing recruiting software, Corporate Recruiting, EEO, Infographic, OFCCP, Recruiting Advice, Safe Hiring Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Design is THE Killer Feature

February 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

design_ats

Applicant tracking systems have found their way into the mainstream and this has cast design as THE killer feature. Most employers that hire, even periodically, realize the importance of using applicant tracking software to stay organized and compliant.  While most corporate ATS tools are built with specific sized employers in mind, many offer similar feature sets. As such,design has become the number one differentiator. More than ever, employers demand user-oriented products that are easy-to-use, easy-to-learn and easy-to-remember.

Take a minute to stop and think about design. Great design isn’t just about about good looks. Remember the old saying about beauty being more than just skin deep? It’s true. Considering how employers expect a technology platform to perform, great design must go beyond the interface and be a critical part how the system actually works. Would you buy a car that looked good but had no instrumentation and the steering wheel was on the wrong side? Probably not.

When applicant tracking software is difficult to use, people just revert to email and spreadsheets. When the interface fails to clearly provide insight into the recruiting program, people are confused. When users get lost in the application, they just give up. When the information is poorly organized or doesn’t answer users’ key questions, they get frustrated and complain. See a pattern here? It’s 2013 and people don’t read instructions anymore and they don’t tolerate clunky, unintuitive systems. Traditional features are peripheral. Design is the new killer feature.

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, Design Philosophy, Industry Trends, Trends

Get Lean Infographic: Easy Steps to Improve Your Recruiting Process

January 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Improve Your Recruiting Process Through Lean Hiring

 

Our new Get Lean Infographic: Easy Steps to Improve Your Recruiting Process outlines the lastest approach to lean recruiting, the methodology smart employers are deploying to make corporate recruiting more efficient and effective. As former corporate recruiters, we know that a systematic approach to recruiting increases visibility, accountability and overall productivity (all of the “ivities”). And, as designers of applicant tracking systems, we recognize that just adding more applicants to the funnel doesn’t solve recruiting problems. After all, you’re not making sausage here. Here are some simple steps to get lean.

Simplify everything.

Smart employers realize that the easiest way to hire better people faster is to simplify the recruiting process by eliminating wasted steps, paper forms, complicated approval processes and anything else that creates unnecessary friction for applicants, recruiters and hiring managers. We suggest auditing your recruiting process periodically to find unnecessary steps, wasted activities and general bottlenecks Review the entire recruiting process starting from the initial job approval to requesting a background check and making an offer. Now, get out the red pen and remove anything that creates a bottleneck.

Drive decisions.

For nearly every employer, the hiring process is comprised common stages like phone screens and interviews that are driven by a series of yes and no decisions that act as stage-gates. It’s 2013, if you are not promoting collaboration by now, you need to start. Share decision making responsibility amongst recruiters, HR and hiring managers in a streamlined, consistent manner. By sharing responsibility and collaborating, you are creating a natural supply chain of events. Not only will it be easier to recognize bottlenecks but the visibility you’ve created will naturally promote accountability. Remember, hiring is a team sport. Everyone has a role.

Be consistent.

Build your process, encourage decision making and be consistent.Do as much as you can the same way every time. Ultimately, consistency drives more than just efficiency or cost reductions; it’s also critical for promoting compliance and contributing to measurable analytics. You can’t gather data of any sort (performance or compliance) without a consistent process. Only a lean recruiting process with well-defined stages will efficiently capture all the required compliance outputs, bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

Filed Under: applicant tracking software, Corporate Recruiting, Industry Trends, Lean Hiring, Recruiting Advice

Indeed.com Recognized as a Best Source for Candidates

January 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

indeed_logoThis past week Kris Dunn, a popular Blogger and recruiting expert, recognized Indeed.com as a best source for candidates citing Gerry Crispin’s annual The Source of Hire Report. In his recent post on The HR Capitalist, Kris provided first hand data from a search that he recently conducted for a Vice President of HR stating that almost every direct reply came from Indeed. I am not surprised.

At Newton, we’ve been running metrics on source of hire since 2009. While our entire customer base is comprised of small and medium-sized employers (30-2500 FTEs on average) and Crispin’s Source of Hire Report surveys 200 much larger employers, the reported data in Newton is nearly identical to the data in Gerry’s report. Indeed.com is responsible for nearly 30% of all of the hires made by employers using Newton’s applicant tracking system. Gerry’s report has the number slightly higher. Having read a couple of posts from other ATS vendors, this seems to be right in line with what the broader market is experiencing. Indeed is the best source for candidates for nearly every size employer currently.

Fortunately for Newton customers, Indeed.com is free and employers can post as many unique jobs as needed to the world’s largest job search engine. Posting jobs through Newton takes one mouse click and jobs are automatically removed from the job board when filled or closed. Sponsored jobs (pay-per-click) are handled directly through Indeed and are quite easy to set up on the Indeed.com site.

You can check out Kris Dunn’s blog here. While you’re at it check out Gerry Crispin’s Source of Hire Report. If you can’t get enough of HR and recruiting blogs, bookmark The Cynical Girl blog. Good stuff.

Filed Under: Corporate Recruiting, HR Metrics, Industry Trends, Internet Trends, Recruiting Advice, Recruiting Industry
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