Buying an ATS

[Peter Gold]

Now that the ATS market is at least 10 years old, there are a lot of people in HR who have experienced using an ATS; some great, some not so great. But, there are still a lot of people who have either never gone through the buying process or, haven't done it recently.

We have produced a report 'Buying an ATS' which is FREE to use, if you would like a copy please add your details/e-mail address in the comments box and I'll send over a copy. Or, you can send me a personal message from my profile page 'Send a message'.

[Mike McClelland]

Hi Emma & Peter,

This depends on the format of the show reels themselves - are they video files? Or are they stored online somewhere (like YouTube?). Video files would be fine, but whichever system you chose, the candidate would end up uploading video (again, like YouTube) which is pretty specialist stuff.

Ideally, the videos are stored online, then all the ATS has to do is store the link and ensure it manifests itself in a place that suits your recruitment process.

Clearly, we could do either - but it would be great for the thread if you let us know what file format/storage mechanism is being used for the show reels themselves. Also, how do you expect candidates to originate these show reels?

Best regards,

Mike

Peter Gold said:

Emma

Will send it over. You may want to add the same question to the Vurv support group or just e-mail them all from within the group (you don't need the contact details). As you may know Vurv does allow multiple documents to be added to a profile but having looked at their database there does not seem to be the ability to add video files. An alternative would be to create some additional functionality on your website or even create a private network using something like Ning to build a database of future applicants.

Peter

Emma Mirrington said:

could I have a copy please Peter - [e-mail]. We have an interesting issue - do any ATS providers have the provision to allow you to store candidate show reels (video) as this is currently an issue for us with vurv in that it doesn't.. conscious that this is pertinent to the media industry but if anyone has any thoughts then please let me know!

[Richard Doherty]

Hi,

At Jobpartners we've taken it a little bit further. As Mike states, storing a video file is easy, however we have a client (very large retailer) going live on October 15th with the following functionality:

- on the Candidate Gateway (careers site powered by ActiveRecruiter) we have integrated a Flash video player from a 3rd party provider that allows the candidate to upload Video CV's if they have one already (we'll see how often this is the case) or, if they have a web cam on their PC, they can record a video CV there and then! The Video CV is then automatically stored on their profile and attached to their applications. They can store multiple video CV's if they like.
- in the ActiveRecruiter back office, the Flash video player is also integrated so that HR, recruiters, line managers, etc can view the video CV's from within ActiveRecruiter
- the ActiveRecruiter user can also video conference directly with the candidate from within ActiveRecruiter (can be used for initial screening interviews, etc).

This is pretty exciting stuff, will help provide the candidate with a very rich application experience and provide corporates with additional screening tools. In these days of growing environmental concerns, the use of video conferencing tools that cut down on travel has also got to be a good thing.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

Best regards,
Richard

Mike McClelland said:

Hi Emma & Peter,

This depends on the format of the show reels themselves - are they video files? Or are they stored online somewhere (like YouTube?). Video files would be fine, but whichever system you chose, the candidate would end up uploading video (again, like YouTube) which is pretty specialist stuff.

Ideally, the videos are stored online, then all the ATS has to do is store the link and ensure it manifests itself in a place that suits your recruitment process.

Clearly, we could do either - but it would be great for the thread if you let us know what file format/storage mechanism is being used for the show reels themselves. Also, how do you expect candidates to originate these show reels?

Best regards,

Mike

Peter Gold said:

Emma

Will send it over. You may want to add the same question to the Vurv support group or just e-mail them all from within the group (you don't need the contact details). As you may know Vurv does allow multiple documents to be added to a profile but having looked at their database there does not seem to be the ability to add video files. An alternative would be to create some additional functionality on your website or even create a private network using something like Ning to build a database of future applicants.

Peter

Emma Mirrington said:

could I have a copy please Peter - [e-mail]. We have an interesting issue - do any ATS providers have the provision to allow you to store candidate show reels (video) as this is currently an issue for us with vurv in that it doesn't.. conscious that this is pertinent to the media industry but if anyone has any thoughts then please let me know!

[Peter Gold]

Richard

Nice functionality, well done.

Peter

Richard Doherty said:

Hi,

At Jobpartners we've taken it a little bit further. As Mike states, storing a video file is easy, however we have a client (very large retailer) going live on October 15th with the following functionality:

- on the Candidate Gateway (careers site powered by ActiveRecruiter) we have integrated a Flash video player from a 3rd party provider that allows the candidate to upload Video CV's if they have one already (we'll see how often this is the case) or, if they have a web cam on their PC, they can record a video CV there and then! The Video CV is then automatically stored on their profile and attached to their applications. They can store multiple video CV's if they like.
- in the ActiveRecruiter back office, the Flash video player is also integrated so that HR, recruiters, line managers, etc can view the video CV's from within ActiveRecruiter
- the ActiveRecruiter user can also video conference directly with the candidate from within ActiveRecruiter (can be used for initial screening interviews, etc).

This is pretty exciting stuff, will help provide the candidate with a very rich application experience and provide corporates with additional screening tools. In these days of growing environmental concerns, the use of video conferencing tools that cut down on travel has also got to be a good thing.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

Best regards,
Richard

Mike McClelland said:

Hi Emma & Peter,

This depends on the format of the show reels themselves - are they video files? Or are they stored online somewhere (like YouTube?). Video files would be fine, but whichever system you chose, the candidate would end up uploading video (again, like YouTube) which is pretty specialist stuff.

Ideally, the videos are stored online, then all the ATS has to do is store the link and ensure it manifests itself in a place that suits your recruitment process.

Clearly, we could do either - but it would be great for the thread if you let us know what file format/storage mechanism is being used for the show reels themselves. Also, how do you expect candidates to originate these show reels?

Best regards,

Mike

Peter Gold said:

Emma

Will send it over. You may want to add the same question to the Vurv support group or just e-mail them all from within the group (you don't need the contact details). As you may know Vurv does allow multiple documents to be added to a profile but having looked at their database there does not seem to be the ability to add video files. An alternative would be to create some additional functionality on your website or even create a private network using something like Ning to build a database of future applicants.

Peter

Emma Mirrington said:

could I have a copy please Peter - [e-mail]. We have an interesting issue - do any ATS providers have the provision to allow you to store candidate show reels (video) as this is currently an issue for us with vurv in that it doesn't.. conscious that this is pertinent to the media industry but if anyone has any thoughts then please let me know!

[Vijaygopal Rengarajan]

Hello Mr.Peter Gold: I'm a tech consultant evaluating Recruitment Processing Systems for one of my clients. Can you mail me the report "Buying an ATS" that you have mentioned. My email id is [e-mail]. Thank you. Vijaygopal Rengarajan

[Aziz Suabyire]

please send me a copy of the report. [e-mail]

thanks

[Stewart Brooks]

Hi Peter, a bit late in the day but if you can send me the 'Buying an ATS' report it would be appreciated. Many thanks [e-mail]

[Alan Whitford]

HI Peter

It would always be interesting to read your take on this.

Alan Whitford
[e-mail]

[Joel Passen]

Peter,
Is it still possible to get a copy of the ATS report you wrote last summer?
Joel Passen
Newton Software
[e-mail]

[Peter Gold]

Copy on it's way.

Joel Passen said:

Peter,
Is it still possible to get a copy of the ATS report you wrote last summer?
Joel Passen
Newton Software
[e-mail]