Applicant Tracking - Recruiting Management

First Advantage HMS Applicant Tracking Solutions

: UMass Medical School

: HDR

: Exempla Healthcare

: First Niagara Bank

: Dunkin Brands

Flexible Reporting Capabilities Provide Speedy Access to Consolidated and Reliable Data

First Niagara Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FNFG), provides financial services to individuals, families, and businesses across New York State through

its 70 banking centers, a loan production office, financial services subsidiaries, and 94 ATMs. Since 1998, FNFG, with assets of $4.9 billion and deposits of $3.3 billion, has been in acquisition mode, more than doubling in size to a workforce of 1,200.

A Needed Overhaul

In 2003, FNFG's HR Services team realized their paper-based applicant processing system could not support further expansion. Requisitions were increasing at the rate of 400 annually; incoming applications had doubled from 2,000 to 4,000; and the organization was becoming too large to continue manual Affirmative Action (AA) applicant tracking and reporting FNFG's EEOC data recording tool did not export to Excel, requiring almost 2 days of manual data recreation and formatting to report applicant flow. Requisitions open/filled were logged inconsistently into a spreadsheet, necessitating 2 days validating data. "We wanted to assure data quality without manual intervention," says Amanda Loudenslager, senior human resources generalist in HR Services. Cost-per-hire (CPH) and recruiter performance were not measured. FNFG executives needed access to the right information faster to make better decisions affecting budgeting, staffing levels, and expansion planning - decisions which result in higher service levels, increased operational efficiency, and better cost management.

HR Services needed to quickly generate accurate AA applicant data reports for ascertaining EEOC compliance and gauging success in meeting their AA goals. The reporting solution had to deliver accurate information rapidly and comprehensively to enable FNFG to maximize productivity in workforce planning, recruiting, and budgeting.

Building The Solution

In 2003, FNFG chose First Advantage HMS, a web-based applicant tracking and talent management system provided by First Advantage Hiring Management Systems (www.FADV.com/HMS), to consolidate their entire staffing process. First Advantage HMS provides a single, unified platform with a hosted ASP delivery model to integrate requisition and applicant data, freeing FNFG to take advantage of the robust feature set. First Advantage HMS's centralized database is easily accessible, shared, and queried through a simple-to-use interface. Resulting data is standardized and consistent, ensuring accuracy and data integrity.

First Advantage HMS's reporting features contribute to overall return on investment and maximize HR Services' contribution to FNFG's bottom line. To help measure requisition cost-to-fill (CTF) and candidate CPH, First Advantage HMS provided the ability to enter and report on requisition and candidate expenses. Report results assist with budget and staffing evaluation, and planning strategy. To help gauge sourcing effectiveness, First Advantage HMS provided the ability to enter and report on candidate and application sourcing data. HR Services can use the information to help streamline sourcing and reduce third-party fees and time-to-hire. To help assess recruiter performance, First Advantage HMS provided open, filled, and time-to-fill (TTF) requisitions reports which show the number of days to fill requisitions. HR Services can apply the information towards refining their recruiting strategy and ensuring they collaborate with productive recruiters, which inevitably reduces recruiting expenses and TTF.

To assure OFCCP compliance and to measure progress in meeting AA goals, EEOC completion and statistics reports were provided. These reports were provided as core reports, many with hyper-linked "drill down" capability. Custom reports on filled and open requisitions were also delivered to meet executives' requirements for at-a-glance status on requisitions, insight into turnover, and HR Services' effectiveness. HR Services would use them to evaluate their own performance. Additional reporting capability included ad-hoc reports, automated scheduled reports, search agents, and user-defined lists which could be viewed, printed, imported into Microsoft Excel, or e-mailed.

Streamline Workflow, Maximize Productivity

Since deploying First Advantage HMS, FNFG has seen initial results that have streamlined their workflow, reduced costs, and maximized productivity. First Advantage HMS eliminated previously manual procedures, saving the equivalent of one full-time employee salary per year - significantly decreasing CPH and alone delivering a 100% ROI for First Advantage HMS. As FNFG grows, HR Services does not anticipate an increase in staff, further reducing their overall CPH. FNFG will save over 240 hours annually by eliminating scanning and downloading resumes. The EEOC reports will save one full-time employee two days annually manually calculating AA applicant flow data, adding to the ROI realized. Combined with other factors such as easier collaboration with hiring managers, faster requisition sign-off and approval and real time requisition publishing, TTF has decreased.

The flexible and customizable reporting capabilities of First Advantage HMS provide speedy access to consolidated and reliable information that HR Services, hiring managers, and FNFG executives need to make better decisions. FNFG employees at all levels can now closely monitor staffing operations by tracking, reporting on, and analyzing CTF, TTF, sourcing effectiveness, recruiter performance, and OFCCP compliance. Overall, these factors project to a significant combined return on investment greater than 100% in a short timeframe. First Advantage HMS has facilitated efficient management of workforce planning, recruiting, and budgeting - activities that have large scale impact on FNFG's productivity and profitability.