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Management at the engineering and information technology recruiting firm Techstaff
wanted an up-to-date computer system that would make their recruiters more effective. They couldn't find an
off-the-shelf application to their liking, so they turned to chief information officer and network administrator
Joyce Dieck and her staff and asked them to develop such an application.
That was three years ago. It took Dieck's team about a year to get the application up and running and rolled out to
Techstaff offices. Since then, they've been tuning and tweaking Networkerspro.com in a controlled environment.
This software, though developed for and by a recruiting firm, also could be used by HR departments that do their
own recruiting.
Earlier this year, with Techstaff's blessing, the team spun off to. become Networkerspro.com. The fledgling firm
is offering its product, also called Networkerspro.com, as a hosted web application. The company claims the software
is more useful to recruiters than a generic contact management system and less expensive and hassle-prone than
multi-user applicant tracking system, especially for an operation like Techstaff. with a need to share candidate
information among offices around the country.
Straightforward and Speedy
Networkerspro.com is essentially a centralized database containing data on applicants and on hiring departments or,
in the case of recruiting firms, clients. The database also stores job requisition information and Rich Text Format
versions of applicants' resumes.
The first screen that a user sees after logging in presents system messages flanked by function tabs: Update Utility,
Hot List, Quick Entry and Clients on the left border of the screen, running from top to bottom, and Applicants, Job
Orders, To-Do List and Miscellaneous on the right border.
Networkerspro.com is a straight-forward applicant tracking application, consistent in its presentation from one
function to the next. Click on Hot List, for example, to see a list of the most "placeable" applicants. Another list
shows the types of applicants most sought after by the hiring department or client.
The options available to a recruiter who clicks on Applicants include search, help and "quick find." Quick find
allows recruiters to retrieve multiple screens of information on a particular applicant by keying in the applicant's
name, or by keying in just a couple of letters, in which case Networkerspro.com displays a list of all the applicants
whose names begin with those letters.
Applicant records display contact information, education, work history, notes, the applicant's s resume, submittals
and miscellaneous information such as the applicant's last salary and desired salary.
Users can search their firms' databases of resumes by keyword or phrase. The user can perform a Boolean search on
particular criteria, then save and later modify the search, which saves time in subsequent searches. The user also
can count the number of resumes that meet the desired criteria, which is helpful when searching a large database.
The user can choose to display relevant resumes.
With its letter processing function, Networkerspro.com automatically addresses and formats correspondence to
applicants. Users can access letter processing from each screen in a candidate's record, selecting a form letter
from a pull-down menu and then picking a transmission method (e-mail, fax or postal delivery). The letter processing
function facilitates prompt and frequent communication.
Letter processing is just one example of how this application makes intelligent use of pull-down menus to speed
data entry. In short, Networkerspro.com is built for speed, which is essential these days, when qualified applicants
can be so hard to find.
Networkerspro.com presents a lot of information about applicants in readily accessible, easily digestible formats
that should boost a recruiter's confidence when presenting an applicant to a client--or a hiring manager, if the
recruiter works in-house for an employer.
Navigation is fast and easy. The ability to find a candidate without having to know how to spell the person's name
is a real time-saver.
Optimized for Recruiters
With only eight tabs on a screen, it shouldn't take a user long to remember what's where, without having to read
the label on the tab. But for new or occasional users, the vertical tab labels are difficult to read without tilting
one's head. I also found the typeface a tad too artsy.
As a newcomer to the application, I'd have preferred to see the sequence of instructions match the order in which
the tabs are listed.
I also expected an application designed for Internet Explorer to display the Internet Explorer toolbar. Since it
does not, I took a minute and some fumbling to discover, for example, that "back" was accessible with a right mouse
click. And the bottom of my screen, where open pages are displayed, was soon cluttered with myriad Explorer icons.
Alt/tabbing among them, it was difficult to keep my place.
The application understandably seems optimized for recruiting firms. It includes features, such as billing screens,
which a corporate HR department wouldn't need. A modified version might be more effective in corporate environments.
And Networkerspro.com, with its price tag starting at $9,000 for 10 users, appears to be priced to appeal to larger
organizations. Small firms may be tempted to look at less costly alternatives.
What's the bottom line? With competition for quality applicants so fierce, recruiters need every edge they can find.
Quibbles about cosmetics aside, the functionality and highly relational nature of Networkerspro.com make it worthy
of serious consideration, especially for recruiting firms.
John Day is a freelance writer based in Decatur, Ga. He regularly contributes to several technology trade
publications.
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