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HiringSmart FAQs

Fit – and getting it just right – is as important to the health and success of our business as it is to yours. For us, it’s not just about making sure we are the right place for our employees; ensuring the fit with our customers is just as critical. Ours is not a one-time sale; you and we will realize the greatest benefits when we are willing to partner together in your success over the long haul, as your business grows stronger through your people.

We’ll be the first to say that we’re not the right choice for every organization, and that cuts both ways. Not every potential client is right for us. There have been times when we have made a wrong choice, when we accepted clients who wanted the results but who weren’t willing to do what was required – and those decisions have not reflected well on either of us. Which is why we have learned to be selective, ensuring you and we invest the necessary time getting to know one another before making the commitment to work together.

So… with that in mind, here’s a little more about us:

Are we Right for One Another?

Why should we spend money on this when we never have before?
Is there a cost every time someone applies?
Can people attach a résumé if they want to?
Can you accommodate different languages?
Can people apply from our existing website or do we need to build a new one?
Who are your competitors; why should I choose you over them?
Are you a recruiting agency?
How is HiringSmart different from job boards or sites like Monster?
Does this process work better than other job boards or sites?
Do you have any hard facts backing up how effective your process is?
Can I see an example of a site in my industry?
Do you work for any non-profit organizations?
Do you use your own process when hiring employees?

Getting Started

How do we get started?
Can I customize our hiring portal?
How long will it take to get our site up and running?
How do you collect the necessary information about our company to create a website?
Can we control design and content?
How involved do I need to be? How much input do I have?
How much time will the training involve?
How many different locations can we add?
Is there a limit to the number of positions we can add?

Once We’re Under Way

How much time is it going to take me to keep our site updated?
Can I make changes to our postings and online interviews after we have started?
How much does it cost to make updates or changes?
Can I change job posting text after it is posted?
Who in our company will require training?
What happens if our trained people leave their positions?
How do we get candidates to come to the site?
Will you help us attract candidates?
Can/should we continue to use job boards like Career Beacon, Monster, Workopolis or CareerBuilder?
What reports will we be able to run?

The Technical Stuff

Is this software I will have to run past my IT Department?
Will our site work on Smartphones?
Can I control what information different system users/admins can see?
Who in our company can see the applications?
Will we be able to link your system into our current employee database/payroll/HRIS system?
Who will have access to our candidate’s information?
Will our candidate’s information be secure?


Are we Right for One Another?

  1. Why should we spend money on this when we never have before?

    Odds are, you are spending money today, likely more than you realize. Some of it you know about; some you almost certainly don’t. The real attention-getter when we sit down with business leaders just like you is the amount of hidden waste in their business. They feel a real sense of urgency to fix it when they can finally attach a dollar sign to it.

    Where is this hidden waste? Sometimes buried in areas like the cost of turnover… but sometimes turnover is not the biggest issue. Think about the additional cost of inefficiencies in the business like lost productivity, poor attendance, weak or damaged customer relationships, and even accidents and lost time.

    You are spending money today – big money – when you have anything short of the very best people in your jobs; the problem is, many of those costs are hidden because they don’t generally appear as a line item in any P&L. Who wouldn’t spend a little to save a lot?

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  2. Is there a cost every time someone applies?

    Absolutely not. Unlike many systems you may have encountered, we do not want to penalize our clients for being successful at attracting large numbers of candidates to their hiring site. You want as many people as possible to see your site and choose to either opt in or pass. In fact, most of our pricing is fixed, with the only variable being the consumption of assessments and other items as finalists advance closer to the hire/no hire decision – and you have absolute discretion and control over those approvals.

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  3. Can people attach a résumé if they want to?

    No. Our objective is to collect information from the candidate that is reliable and predictive of their success. We still gather the information that would be in the résumé – education, credentials and work history – but we collect it in such a way that it tends to be more factual.

    Some clients do ask candidates to send in supporting documents – certificates, for example, or portfolios – and that can be done later in the process once the client has been able to establish their interest in the candidate.

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  4. Can you accommodate different languages?

    Absolutely. We can build interview portals in any language, so long as your administrators are fluent enough to work and interview in that language. The assessments and other tools we offer our clients are similarly available in over twenty languages… with the added benefit that the assessment can be completed in one language and the reports generated in another.

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  5. Can people apply from our existing website or do we need to build a new one?

    Research shows that on average, only 20% of job seekers will apply through the ‘careers’ tab on a corporate website. We will build you a site that stands alone (although you will point your ‘careers’ tab to it) and show you how to use a variety of tactics to drive traffic there. This new portal will be fundamentally different from your corporate website in that it will be specifically designed to speak to your candidates in a way that will entice the right people to advance further in the process.

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  6. Who are your competitors; why should I choose you over them?

    Honestly, our biggest competition is the status quo – the way hiring’s been done for a very long time. If you’re like most businessleaders, people issues are two of the top three things that keep you up at night. Isn’t it time for a good night’s sleep?

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  7. Are you a recruiting agency?

    We’re the employee selection experts, not the attraction guys. Our job is to help you make better decisions about who you bring into your business. A recruiter is one of many attraction sources available to you – their job is to present you with a scrubbed list of candidates for your consideration; ours is to help you choose the right one.

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  8. How is HiringSmart different from job boards or sites like Monster?

    HiringSmart is all about helping you make the right choices. Monster and the other boards are all about delivering numbers, not quality. They do their job if they land a few hundred résumés on your desk; we do ours if we help you find the right person for the job, be it in the mess that Monster and the other job boards deliver to you, or in the candidates you attract from other sources.

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  9. Does this process work better than other job boards or sites?

    Bear in mind that job boards and other sites are attraction tactics companies employ to collect a bucket of résumés of people who may or may not be interested in working there. We are a selection process that helps gather information about candidates that helps hiring managers make better choices about who to hire.

    they use our system vs. when they use a job board: in order to be listed on a job board, a candidate must provide an up to date résumé. At any given point in time, only about 20% of the workforce has a current résumé – and with some exception, they tend not to be the top 20% of performers. What our clients learn quickly is that when you drop the requirement of a résumé as an admission ticket, you open yourself up to a much broader audience – the 60% of the workforce who aren’t in love with their current job, but not unhappy enough to take the step of updating their résumé and entering the conventional job market. Those are much more valuable candidates for you to be speaking with.

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  10. Do you have any hard facts backing up how effective your process is?

    We do have a wide array of client case studies and testimonials. We invite you to hear our clients share their experience in their own words: www.HiringSmart.com/Testimonials.

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  11. Can I see an example of a site in my industry?

    Absolutely. We have clients in just about any industry you can imagine, each with a great story to tell. You might want to start by taking a look at www.HiringSmart.com/Gallery; if you are looking for something more specific, give us a shout!

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  12. Do you work for any non-profit organizations?

    We most certainly do. In fact one of our very first clients was a not-for-profit whose Board used the HiringSmart process to help them replace their CEO, who was retiring. That ‘retired’ CEO thought so highly of the process, he has since brought us to other not-for-profit organizations.

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  13. Do you use your own process when hiring employees?

    We encourage you to pay a visit to our own hiring portal at www.HiringSmartCareers.com, then speak to any one of our folks. They will attest to how our process was different from any they had previously experienced… and to how it helped them decide that this was the right next thing for them as much as it helped us decide if they were the right next member of our team. Go ahead – each will tell you a different story, but the ending’s the same. Judge for yourself if they represent us and our brand in a way that gets you excited about what we do. One word of warning: Hands off our people.

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Getting Started

  1. How do we get started?

    We will begin by spending a little time with you or your team, so we can better understand your needs. We have a range of products to meet the needs of any business, from the very smallest to the largest enterprise. We’ll walk through options and features with you, and work with you to build a plan to get you going.

    It all starts with a phone call or a meeting, then we get to work. It’s that simple.

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  2. Can I customize our hiring portal?

    Yes you can customize your portal; it just depends on what Solution you buy. Different solutions have different customization options. We offer solutions with a limited range of options for those who have simple needs, through solutions that are totally customizable for those with more complex requirements. Either way, every solution we build is fully branded with the client’s logo and unique character so that candidates can opt in or out in an informed manner.

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  3. How long will it take to get our site up and running?

    Depending on the size of your business and the features you order, we would generally target having you up and running in three weeks or less.

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  4. How do you collect the necessary information about our company to create a website?

    Our Account Managers have a well grooved process for onboarding new clients in a very efficient manner. The process begins with a planning meeting, usually within a day or two of your signing on. In that meeting, all the steps and timelines are laid out in the form of a critical path that will guide our work together in the first few weeks. Our objective is to save you time and energy, not create a whole lot of work for you. We will give you a list of items we need and by when, and will be working away quietly in the background until it’s time to ask for input or approval of a particular phase of the build.

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  5. Can we control design and content?

    Absolutely. You are in 100% control. Different builds have different options, but yours will be uniquely ‘you’, however simple or elaborate you choose.

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  6. How involved do I need to be? How much input do I have?

    You have full control over the design and content of your own hiring portal. Each site we build is unique, and must reflect the unique characteristics of your culture and of your best people. Our very first onboarding meeting with each new client is spent gathering all the information available about the organization, so we can present it to candidates in a way that will make the right ones hungry for more and allow others who may not be a great fit to opt out.

    Once we have received your content and direction, we will project manage getting your site built for you. As long as we can get your attention when we need you, we’re happy to let you get on with other things. We definitely want you involved and we know we generally aren’t the only thing on your plate… so we’re really good at getting on with things and checking in when we need to.

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  7. How much time will the training involve?

    Training your administrators is generally done “just-in-time”, in bite-size pieces over time. Our clients tell us that’s a much more effective approach than trying to cover everything off in a couple of hours up-front. Knowledge retention is so much better when we work side by side with your administrators as they actually move candidates through the process. And of course every user has full access to training modules at their fingertips in HiringSmart University – available 24/7, whenever they need it and at no cost.

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  8. How many different locations can we add?

    The number of locations is driven by the size of the build, and we have solutions for any client. Our smallest client is a pub with 20 employees; our largest is a retailer with 3500 locations across four banners and 50 states. You can’t stump us.

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  9. Is there a limit to the number of positions we can add?

    The number of positions available is driven by the size of the build… and the objective is to leave as many positions as possible “always on”. You want to always be looking for great talent, independent of whether you have an open position or not, so it makes good sense to post as many jobs as you can. Our solution options allow clients to add an unlimited number of positions to their systems.

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Once We’re Under Way

  1. How much time is it going to take me to keep our site updated?

    Generally, once the site is built and operating, changes to the system itself aren’t required very often. A quick call or email to your Account Manager will get most changes or updates made within one business day, at no expense. That’s our service model.

    In terms of processing candidates through your talent pipeline, it’s hard to say because we don’t know how much of your time is being consumed today. The most common remarks we hear from clients as they start working with the new system are about time and efficiency… they are spending a fraction of the time they used to, and the time they are spending tends to be in higher-value activities with better quality candidates.

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  2. Can I make changes to our postings and online interviews after we have started?

    Yes, at any time. It takes minutes to do yourself if you wish, or a quick call or email to your Account Manager with your changes or additions will get it handled quickly and effortlessly.

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  3. How much does it cost to make updates or changes?

    Updates and changes to your online interview are built in as part of our standard model, and we do not charge additional fees for these services. Upgrades or the addition of new features to an existing system are also very straightforward in our straight-up pricing model.

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  4. Can I change job posting text after it is posted?

    Absolutely. With a quick call or email to your Account Manager. (see a pattern here?)

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  5. Who in our company will require training?

    First and foremost, we need to train anyone who will be granted administrative access. Training is virtual and delivered in just the right amount at just the right time. The total is generally around 2 hours, delivered over the first four weeks or so.

    Sometimes clients decide to include groups of managers in the rollout communication strategy, especially if those managers are involved in the flow of candidates through the process. Once we better understand your requirements, we will be happy to build up a plan and discuss a proposal with you.

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  6. What happens if our trained people leave their positions?

    We will work with you always to ensure the continuity of your process. When key people leave, we will make certain their replacements are trained up and fully equipped so your system doesn’t miss a beat. The fee is most often a nominal one, unless you prefer that we join you onsite for something more comprehensive.

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  7. How do we get candidates to come to the site?

    When you go online with a good quality hiring portal that is attractive to the right candidates, the game of getting them there changes fundamentally. You want to find yourself in conversation with people who aren’t actively looking for work, trolling through the job boards; you want to reach those who aren’t out in the job market but who aren’t in love with their current situation.

    Finding those people requires a different approach, and we’re happy to share everything we’ve learned from our clients’ successes through HiringSmart University on your administrative portal.

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  8. Will you help us attract candidates?

    We’re the selection guys, and attraction is a specialty unto itself. But we have surrounded ourselves with a handful of experts in the field who have done amazing work for our clients in a way that fully integrates with what we do, and we’ll be happy to introduce you if you like. At the same time, all of our clients also have access to a full library of training material and tips in their administrative portal, which houses HiringSmart University. There is lots of current information there about ‘alternative’ attraction strategies.

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  9. Can/should we continue to use job boards like Career Beacon, Monster, Workopolis or CareerBuilder?

    In the short term, our advice to our clients is always to keep doing what they have been doing. That way we can give them accurate, objective data about not only the number, but also the quality of the candidates they have been attracting from those conventional sources. And we also encourage them to add other attraction sources that give them direct access to targeted segments of the population – often at little or no cost.

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  10. What reports will we be able to run?

    We have a suite of standard reports built in, that will allow you to track everything you’re tracking today plus a bunch of even more important things we’re confident you’re not. We’ve also built in an ad-hoc report writer that will allow you to pull whatever data you need, in a flash. And if you have your own reports that need to get completed on a regular basis, we can hardwire them into the system for you so that they get generated (and sent, if you like) automatically.

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The Technical Stuff

  1. Is this software I will have to run past my IT Department?

    No. We are SaaS (Software as a Service). This solution is fully hosted on our servers, so there’s no conflict with any of your existing systems or distraction for your IT staff, who are usually busy with other things anyway. As long as you have access to the web, you have access to your candidates… from anywhere in the world, 24/7.

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  2. Will our site work on Smartphones?

    Of course it will. Your candidates are mobile; you need to be too. If you’re reaching the right candidate, why shouldn’t they be able to complete their first interview on the go?

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  3. Can I control what information different system users/admins can see?

    Absolutely. The system and access levels are completely configurable based on any client’s need.

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  4. Who in our company can see the applications?

    Access is completely configurable, and logins are tightly controlled. Only those with authorization will be able to log in and see candidate data.

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  5. Who will have access to our candidate’s information?

    Only the people to whom you grant access.

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  6. Will our candidate’s information be secure?

    Of course. Your data is secured by 128-bit SSL Encryption for both applicants and recruiters – the same level of protection used by most on-line banking sites… and protected by multiple levels of access as well as our own Privacy Policy.

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