I asked our Director of Recruitment to comment on applicant management and our ability to identify the best candidates.

She said for clinical, advanced degreed, registered positions, candidates are addressed in 24 to 48 hours of application – if they are qualified for the position based on the requirements stipulated by the hiring manager. First, they are contacted via telephone and email to schedule a phone interview. If they are not qualified for the position, they will receive an email informing them they are no longer in consideration for that position, but to continue to review our website for other opportunities. The email also contains contact information for the assigned recruiter, so they can get more information.

For all other positions, the candidates are addressed within 72 to 96 hours, using the same process mentioned above. With 24 recruiters, we are able to connect with candidates within our targeted time frames 90% of the time.

We believe our candidate quality has been good because our number of open positions has fallen to record lows and turnover is decreasing. We are really hoping to get Taleo (our applicant tracking system) integrated with our ad agency’s media tracking system, so we can more accurately determine the source of our quality hires.

So, as Joe Murphy points out, traditional print may be the right medium for certain jobs, while LatPro (tip of the hat to Eric Shannon) is a better place for other types.

As for handling the sheer volume of applicants, I can’t say, Bill, how or what the company did. But applicant volume was not out of line with the need. Baylor hires about 4,500 workers during a year.

maybe not, but it’s a great first base!

– Eric

Most companies are struggling with the volume issues Baylor will now face. The unemployment rate has increased the resume flow of candidate attraction campaigns significantly. Smart employers like Baylor are utilizing technology to increase the flow of candidates even more. Recruiting organizations will need to evaluate how they conduct their operations to ensure they are providing high value service to their hiring manager while dealing with the increased flow of applicants.

I would like to see a follow up story that outlines what Baylor did with the resumes.
Good article John.

Bill Opal
http://www.flunky4u.com
Recruiters – Do you need a Flunky?

Low cost and high volume may not be the desired end game.

In a quality of source audit we conducted for one client, traditional print media actually attracted the highest caliber of candidate. As such the marginal sourcing dollars were moot (in the case of this article $4 vs. $400).
The dollar differential can easily be off-set with one or two fewer interviews with poor caliber candidates.

High volume response rates can create an alternative problem – applicant spam. The administrative challenges of dealing with hundreds or thousands of low quality candidates produces waste in the recruiting process. Candidates who do not get acknowledged feel slighted, which detracts from the employment brand and creates a negative viral buzz in the applicant pool.

While it is important to find solid sourcing methods, don’t confuse volume with value. Be a systems thinker and explore the entire talent acquisition cost of sourcing through on-the-job proficiency. Then you can allocate resources where the ROI is best, as opposed to where the resume spam is the thickest.

Think about it.

Joseph P. Murphy
Shaker Consulting Group, Inc.
Developers of the Virtual Job Tryout®

– Eric