The Case for Centralized Recruiting. Rick Plotkin Senior Account Manager Inside Higher Ed

Transcription

1 The Case for Centralized Recruiting Rick Plotkin Senior Account Manager Inside Higher Ed

2 Introduction Rick Plotkin Senior Account Manager Inside Higher Ed Six years experience as recruitment advertising account manager at The Chronicle of Higher Education 12 years of experience in college admissions (George Washington University and Vanderbilt University) M.A. '95, human resource development - GWU B.A. '86, economics Vanderbilt U Corporate member of CUPA-HR

3 The recruiting challenge Growing enrollments Wave of retirements Upheaval in the talent market Commitment to diversity Complex compliance rules Is your recruiting strategy in line with your mission statement?

4 How does your institution recruit? Each department does its own thing No coherent branding Unknown expense Little accountability Not just costly and inefficient, decentralized recruiting targets great candidates rather than great hires

5 Great candidates Have a great resume it gets updated often! Really know how to wring information out of Web sites Enter lots of data (have time, after all) View a job as the END of a long search process

6 A great hire Is NOT job hunting even today Comes to explore, not to apply Must be persuaded, not processed Views a job as the START of a great new opportunity

7 Mixed messages! Really? Clear title! Nice intro! Huh? Yawn

8 Rethinking recruiting Strategic investment vs. administrative chore Competitive hiring Providing a great candidate experience Dual career advantage Diversity Breaking departmental habits Accountability Economy Volume advertising options Savings on IT Efficiency database integrations save time

9 HR can t do it alone! Executive leadership Human Resources Academic Affairs Diversity/Equity IT Marketing Individual departments All members of the community

10 How you recruit impacts who you recruit Student recruiting vs. employment recruiting why the difference in tone? Employment advertising what are you communicating (and does your marketing department know)? Employment brand impacts ALL stakeholders

11 Who made the best hire?

12 Your Web site is your employment brand Overwhelming % of job applicants via the Web 93% of online job seekers use Web to research potential employers* 1/4 to 1/2 of the traffic on your site is on employment pages Does your Web site erode your investment in marketing by failing to understand potential employees as a constituency? * Wet Feet

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16 Qualities that attract students attract employees Culture Community Mission

17 The 3 reasons departments don t want to centralize (and how to respond One system won t work because each job is different Involve all stakeholders before decisions are made Make some practices universal without eliminating department specific activities Tradition (or bad habits) Diversity goals are well served by changing old practices The best candidates expect a better search experience We can t expect search committees to learn new methods how can we train them all?! Candidates prefer online applications New process makes life easier in the long run Let departments control what makes sense!

18 Your applicant tracking system the best case for collaboration Candidate experience Growing intolerance for paper applications Consistent messages Communication during the process Self-creating credentials bank Compliance Efficiency and cost savings Volume purchasing Automated job posting

19 Save money Informed budgeting Marketing Technology HR Departmental High volume or unlimited advertising contracts Leveraging marketing strategies for admissions/external relations Smarter technology decisions

20 Save time Well crafted boiler plate improves advertising effectiveness Templates appropriate to different advertising outlets Automating job postings to external sites Controlling the application process

21 Case Study

22 UST by the numbers 10,851 Students 6,146 Undergraduate Students 96 Majors, 58 Minors 4,705 Graduate Students 48 Degree programs 2,066 Employees 457 Full Time Faculty 473 Part Time Faculty (Adjunct) 1,136 Staff

23 Multiple recruiting efforts Staff Administrative Support, Professional, Manager and Executive Temporary Faculty Full Time Tenure Track and non-tenure Track Part-time Adjunct

24 UST s path to centralization Sell the applicant tracking system ( What s in it for them? ) Online application (preferred by candidates) Paperless workflow with ready access to information for multiple stakeholders Ease of use Define expected ROI Find a champion (provost in UST s case) Be flexible Provide applicant and staff support

25 Outcome? Coherent, lower cost recruiting Overarching plan Employment brand Unified advertising strategy for all jobs Immigration compliance Diversity efforts Discipline specific activities Lowered department spending via institution-wide ad contracts Retained discipline-specific advertising and outreach within department budget Saved ~$25,000

26 A new business model From the 43 recommendations to reduce costs presented by the University of Illinois administrative review panel: A new business model of shared or consolidated services is crucial. HR management at the unit level can be inefficient and costly. One subcommittee member described the HR services provided at the unit level as the conglomeration of mom and pop organizations This fragmentation results in highly variable practices. Shared or consolidated provision of services would allow the best practices to be generalized, standardized and shared The structure of the organization must be flexible enough to meet the needs of the customer and not create additional bureaucracy Shared expertise would improve services to the customer and allow the redeployment of staff to other mission critical areas."

27 Contact Rick Plotkin Senior Account Manager INSIDE HIGHER ED , x 112 Rick.plotkin@insidehighered.com th Street, NW Fifth Floor Washington, DC 20036