Your How To Guide to Select a Job Posting Software Vendor

Recruitment Systems

This guide can be used to select a job posting vendor/recruitment software vendor. The idea is to provide you with the general areas you should consider when evaluating software for your e-recruitment needs. It is meant to provide you with a practical checklist that you can adapt according to your particular circumstances.

We believe you need clarity in your objectives to succeed in finding the right job posting vendor. Without clarity, the process of finding a job posting vendor is potentially just guesswork. Once you define your needs, then it is just a matter of making sure you gather the specific information relevant to your software requirements.

Please find below a step-by-step guide to achieve this:

1. Define your job posting objectives:

Your job posting objectives must be aligned to your general business objectives. Some example objectives are:

  Time-to-hire.

  Quantifiable cost savings.

  Sourcing strategies.

  Handling of volume applications.

  Process improvement.

2. Define the type of vendor that fits better your objectives:

Web-based or client-server? 

The good news here is that modern specialised job posting products are Web-based. Some client-server recruitment software solutions have posting capabilities to a limited number of job boards and they do not claim to be posting experts

Support.

Make sure you check how the support calls are going to be handled, how well resourced the support team are and how well equipped is the vendor to subscribe to a reasonable service level charter. The other area for consideration is the focus of the job posting organisation to integrate local job boards. If the job posting organisation does not place enough priority in local job boards, the interfaces will tend to be out of date and you will have to deal with more issues.

Flexibility and innovation capabilities.

Whatever your choice of vendor, make sure they are able to support your business needs, both from the technical perspective and from the business perspective. Inevitably, your business needs will change and evolve as time progresses. Make sure you select a vendor that is capable of adapting with you. You should consider innovation as particularly importance when evaluating job posting vendors. Posting providers should be looking for new and innovative posting channels constantly, to make sure users get the best out of the technology. Social networking sites, for instance, may become a very important channel for candidate acquisition. Innovative job posting organisations will be in a better position to leverage this channel and ensure your company stays ahead.

Integration capabilities.

Integration speed and reliability is essential to effective online recruitment. Systems integration disciplines must be a core strength within the organisation you select.

Vendor strategy.

It is important to know where a vendor is heading strategically. It is also important to know the history behind the vendor. Check that there is a clear vision, that there is no conflicts with your own strategic intent and that the vendor has been consistent at achieving previous strategic objectives. Even if the vendor has not met every objective it has set up for itself, analysing that history and the approach will give you valuable insights into the vendor's philosophy and business approach. You are looking for points of resonance with your own organisation.

Pricing.

 Even though this isn’t the only selection criterion to choose or reject a vendor, it is a very important consideration. Look for methods of quoting such as fixed price versus time and materials, used by the vendor, hidden fees, and overall pricing strategy from the vendor. You are looking for fair and reasonable practices.

3. References:

You need to ask the hard questions if you want to have a true picture of what is like to deal with the prospective vendor. Ask about:

  The quoting and pricing practices

  Account management

  Issue resolution

  Technical stability

  Innovation

  Flexibility

Get referees to talk to you about both the positive and the negative experiences with the vendor.

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