What need(s) does this project address or fill? What is the problem the project is designed to address? What about the current situation is unacceptable? Why do we need to move forward with this project?
Community and technical colleges are in an era where many of our staff has reached retirement age and the colleges are in the position of competing with each other for qualified candidates for all job categories (staff, faculty, managers, and administrators.) Electronic processes will elevate our ability to be competitive in this era. Supervisors will be in a position to fill positions in a more timely fashion, recruitment will be more efficient. Applicants will be able to continue to keep their materials on file with the College and update their materials based on the positions without having to recreate an application for each position that comes available.
This project addresses two perspectives – employer and applicant ease and efficiency.
Employer perspective:
From an employer perspective, the ability to capture applicant information in a consistent process, will assist in the streamlining and consistency of applicant data; the potential to decrease biases in the data gathering process; decreases the time for processing applicant data thus making the availability of applicant information for screening more timely and more convenient from each committee members perspective.
From a supervisors perspective the work flow process is streamlined and they will have access to information regarding the recruitment process and status of their project on a regular basis. The job requisitions, job postings, job descriptions, and hiring requests become customized again increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the recruitment process.
Gathering the data electronically also provides the Human Resources Department a more efficient method for report writing, developing EEO information and customizing the interview questions to specific positions or job categories.
Ultimately, the electronic application process creates an efficient and effective method for recruitment of qualified candidates.
Applicant perspective:
This electronic application process will provide the applicant the ability to apply for a position on line, track their application materials, update their application materials as new positions are available at the individual colleges and they will receive automated notification regarding their applicant status.
Each College has developed their own process for recruitment purposes. The systems vary from paper copies, fax copies, and email copies. There is no standardization of the process from college to college. Colleges create their own tracking methods regarding applicant information, information gathering for reporting requirements and notification to applicants regarding their application status.
Each individual current college methods create long lag times between the time the position is advertised and the actual selection process. Recent data gathered by the community and technical college system indicates that the time for recruitment and filling a vacancy varies from 4 weeks to 6 months. The electronic application process will streamline the process, eliminate phone inquiries from applicants regarding their application status, eliminate duplication of database information that is necessary for reporting requirements and get people hired in a timely fashion.
Why should this project be moved forward?
The Colleges are experiencing a decrease in qualified candidates in applicant pools. It is imperative to be able to modernize our system/refine our hiring processes in order to reduce the time frames for screening of candidates so that we do not loose those qualified candidates.
Reducing the paperwork and input gathering increases the efficiency of our screening committees, increases our accuracy in meeting our reporting requirements; provides immediate status reports for any applicant who applies on line; has the potential for reducing complaints regarding hiring practices, preferential treatment,
Finally, the Human Resource Department is typically the first department an applicant has contact with. If the HR department isn’t technologically savvy, it often says a lot to the potential applicant about the institution and whether they are on the “leading edge” not only in the technology area but also as an educator.
Applicants are in a very powerful position and Colleges need to think about recruitment and hiring as a competitive practice if they want to attract the best people!