Product Review: ExactHire Applicant Tracking System - MyExactHire

This is a snapshot from the ExactHire current website.

Recently, I’ve been getting some requests for recommendations on applicant tracking systems (ATS).  Now, before I get into the specifics of ExactHire, I do want to say that with some research, you may be able to find other similar products that work well for you.  The applicant tracking system was a revolutionary HR product in the early 2000’s, but has since become somewhat of a commodity, with nearly endless options available.  There are a lot of really good options on the market, at all price points.  Before buying, just make sure you’re getting the features you think you’re getting, and make sure you’re getting a fair price.  Make sure you see a demo, ask to use the system on a trial basis to check it out, and speak to other firms who’ve used the product and get a fair assessment before signing.

Now, on to ExactHire!  A note – I’ve not used ExactHire on a daily basis for nearly 2 years, and I understand there have been some upgrades to the system – which I will not be able to speak to.  The product I’m familiar with is called MyExactHire.  I’m reviewing this product, specifically for small to mid-market sized firms.  If you work for a large firm, or have a very high volume of job applicants, you may want to look at options more specifically designed for enterprise sized firms. 

Background:  ExactHire is an Indiana-based firm, which I believe was founded sometime in the mid 2000’s, prior to the economic downturn.  They have a small, but consistent team.  I don’t believe anyone at the firm actually developed the ATS software that they sell, but they do know the product well, and I believe they have a strong relationship with their developers – I never noticed an issue with the fact they didn’t create the software themselves.  You will actually notice a lot of similarities to the ExactHire ATS product and another mid-market ATS product called iApplicants – I believe they use the same, or a similar development team.

 The key staff have experience in selling HR software and as HR practitioners.  This means that they understand the HR software market, as well as pain points that you may have as an HR pro or as a small business leader.

Implementation:  As with most SAAS products these days, ExactHire does most of the heavy lifting during implementation, which is a big benefit, especially if time and resources are limited.  Typically, HR and internal IT teams have relatively little time to dedicate to initiatives like applicant tracking.  Also, if you have a lot of jobs, getting those jobs into the system can be a pain.  ExactHire handles the initial uploads of current jobs which can be a big time saver, or just a nice added benefit.  Additionally, the cost of hosting on premise is known to be an outdated business model, so the benefits of SAAS from an implementation standpoint, as well as a maintenance standpoint are really ideal for most small and mid-size businesses.  Last point on implementation is that it doesn’t take long.  They will work within your timeline, but it doesn’t take long at all to get the software up and running.

Configuration/Customization:  From my understanding, ExactHire’s new product, called “HireCentric” allows for a lot of configuration and customization.  The MyExactHire product also allows for some configuration and customization.  The job landing page can be uniquely targeted and matched to your regular website, so as to align to your branding and online messaging, as well as to create a professional candidate experience.  There is also the ability to configure the online application to ensure you are able to get the information from candidates you are seeking. 

Customer Service:  Since ExactHire is a smaller provider, you tend to get better service than you do with larger market providers.  For example, with Taleo’s ATS, you have to submit a ticket through the Oracle customer service portal, and response time is dismal at best.  ExactHire has a support email address you can use when you have issues or questions, and the response time was always under 24 hours when I had an issue.

Pitfalls:  So far, this has been a pretty good review, but this wouldn’t be valuable if I didn’t disclose some of the pitfalls, as there are always some when it comes to HR software.

• High Volume of Applicants – ExactHire is not the best solution if or when you have a very high volume of job applicants.  When you have a high volume of applicants, you need ways to sort, search and rank applicants in order to maximize your time and ensure you’re recruiting as efficiently as possible.  While you can ask questions as part of the process, the ability to rank or rate applicants based on responses does not exist.  You still have to go in and open and read all of them in order to form judgment.  Additionally, the ability to search the system is not great.  Let’s say you wanted to search all job applicants within the last year that included the term “SEO” on the application or resume.  You can’t do it in ExactHire.  Searching applicants for key terms, company names, job titles, etc. is important when your applicant volume is high, and unfortunately, this system falls down here.  However, to be fair, I didn’t find this to be problematic, until the daily applicant volume exceeded the 30-50 applicant per day mark.
• Integration with other HR systems – I don’t believe that ExactHire was created with the intention of integration with other systems.  That’s not to say that something probably can’t be built, but integration was and is an afterthought with this product.  Again, when applicant volume is lower, this isn’t so important.  However, for organizational efficiency, this becomes increasingly important, the more open jobs, and the more applicants you have.
• Reporting – the system does offer some powerful reports, particularly if you’re unaccustomed to having reporting mechanisms.  For example, it makes EEO reporting a breeze.  It also provides some reporting for applicant sources, and other general fields that applicants are asked.  However, if you want deeper analytical insight into your recruiting process such as time to hire, applicant flow, quality of applicant, etc., there’s really nothing there to help you.  There’s a focus on analytics in the world of human capital, and I imagine their newer product addresses some of these shortcomings, but having data insight capabilities is important to a lot of businesses, so be sure the reporting meets your level of expectation in this regard.

Perks:  I usually prefer to end on a positive note, so I want to list a few additional perks that I found with this system:

• You can create an entire career page using their software.  If your IT team is unable to commit the time or resources to building out a career page, you can do it yourself using this system.  In addition to the page which lists job openings, you have the ability to create other pages on your MyExactHire page that might outline employee benefits, the company culture, the application process, what it’s like to work at the company, etc.  It’s also relatively easy for non-tech savvy people to create these pages using their templates and page builders.
• You get to have a slightly closer relationship with the vendor than you might with other larger providers.  You’ll get to know the staff well, and they’ll remember your questions, challenges, and what’s important to you.  It’s hard to place value on this, but trust me, it comes in handy.
• The system automatically posts jobs to several job boards for you including Indeed.com, SimplyHired, Oodle, etc.  While not quite as high profile as CareerBuilder or Monster, and not as niche as Dice.com, these are great job boards and will secure a lot of leads for you, and help spread the word about your openings.
• The cost of this ATS is very reasonable.  For Cadillac systems, you will pay a high price tag.  And while this system doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles that the top market leaders possess, it does have a lot of great features and unlike those systems, it won’t break the bank.  In fact, for most companies, I imagine it would be pretty easy to establish a business case for this software saving budget dollars.

Overall, to all the folks who've been asking about mid-market applicant tracking systems, I would encourage you to check out solutions at ExactHire (www.exacthire.com).

If you have additional specific questions about this software, or my experience with it, please contact me at CatapultHRSolutions@gmail.com.

*I am not affiliated with ExactHire, and was not asked (or compensated) to write this product review.

The Top 3 Entry Level Jobs in Sports

I’m asked on a daily basis by job hopefuls on how to break into the sports industry.  Sports barely suffered during the recession of 2008-2009, which is surprising given the cost cutting and budget tightening that occurred, and has persisted.  Most medium sized and major universities offer majors in sports marketing or sports management - in fact there are 300 universities in the US currently offering this major with tens of thousands of graduates each year.  The problem is that the amount of people who want to work in sports, does not equal the amount of opportunities.  It’s simple economics.  For example, in my organization, it’s not uncommon for a job opening to be posted for a week or two, and for us to receive thousands of applications.  This includes both entry level, and more niche roles.  I've worked in other industries, and I'll tell you there's definitely something special about working sports, and apparently, tons of job applicants know it.  The competition is fierce, as anyone trying to break into the industry already knows.

As I opened my email on Monday morning, I had an astounding 11 inquiries via LinkedIn, just from the weekend all asking a different version of the same question, “How can I get my foot in the door in sports?”  I plan to release a special report later this year with in-depth details about the roles I'm going to describe, and further, how to position yourself for such opportunities and to get your foot in the door with a sports team.  However, for today, I wanted to give you a preview and list the top 3 entry level jobs in sports.

1. Sales.  I know this is not what many young graduates and early career professionals want to hear, but sales is where the jobs are, and ultimately where some of the best careers are built. 
2. Customer Service.  Most sports teams find that great customer service is (or should be) one of their core competencies.  This ranges from the front lines all the way to the top of the organization.
3. Public Relations.  Most teams, particularly large market teams, maintain significant staff to handle public relations matters, with high exposure even for entry level staff.

While my perspective is primarily from a baseball standpoint, I’m confident you’ll find similar entry level roles within other sports and within most pro teams.  In the upcoming special report, I plan to give you information and tools to help you increase the odds of landing your dream job in the sports industry, without the over-emphasized internship and networking tips that most experts provide.  

Stay tuned, and comment here or tweet me (@CatapultHR) to let me know of any specifics you'd like me to write about and I'll try to include them in the published report!

Note:  I am unable to respond to every job inquiry, so please reference the Cubs Careers Page for more information on job opportunities with the Cubs.

The HOW Is Just As Important As The WHAT

The business world really caters to “Type A” people.  In most organizations I've worked for, the role models tend to be analytical, critical thinking, and driven folks - and generally Type A people.  Wikipedia (yes, I’m referencing Wikipedia, go ahead and laugh) defines Type A personality as individuals regarded as ambitious, rigidly organized, highly status conscious, sensitive, truthful, impatient, always trying to help others, taking on more than they can handle, want other people to get to the point, proactive, and obsessed with time management. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.  I tend to be a little “Type A” myself, and the proverbial message I've gotten from the various organizations I've worked for, is that they this is probably a good thing.  All of the individuals at the top fit this mold to a tee.  Additionally, since I work with managers throughout our appraisal process, I know that managers recognize and reward these traits.  The problem with being “Type A” is that the focus on the end result can sometime mean tunnel vision.  That’s a problem, because when the focus is so strong on the end result, we tend to overlook how we get there, and often crush people in our path or compromise our principles.  That’s why my organization took a stand when it came to our values.  While my opinion may be biased, hear me out.  The values are more than words on a page, or things we hope our employees take to heart.  They take a stand and say that it’s not only what we accomplish…it’s how we accomplish it that matters.  This is why the exhibition of our values is equally weighted with meeting individual and organizational goals on the annual appraisals.  

I've experienced the difference this makes first hand.  In my previous role, the organization had strong principles that were reiterated regularly during orientations and trainings and even by managers and top leaders.  The problem was that they did not take a stand, or provide guidance to employees on the expectations of the organization when it came to values.  Those core principles were:

• Be honest & respectful
• Be fun
• Be frugal
• Be friendly
• Be creative
• Be healthy 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  These are good and important goals, and things I personally strive for still to this day.  However, in my current organization, we argue that honesty and integrity are “tickets to play”, meaning that they are a minimum expectation of all employees.  They are part of our Code of Conduct, and reiterated to employees on their first day.  The other principles sound good as you read them, but how do you know if you are meeting, or even exceeding expectations when it comes to the exhibition of these?  Fun, frugality, friendliness, creativity and healthiness can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  Beyond a lack of guidance, it was clear that they were not meant to tell employees how they were expected to act.  The result was that the organization generally met its goals, but not because employees were always working together, or creatively to reach the goal.  There tended to be some “throwing under the bus” situations on a basis more frequent than anyone would prefer, mostly because the organization valued “Type A”, but there were not enough guiding principles on how goals would be achieved and how individuals would work together.  A culture without strong values that people are held accountable to unfortunately also means that trust is not an inherent part of that culture.

Please don’t misunderstand - I’m not saying this approach is wrong.  All I’m saying is that as someone who has been both part of the organization, as well as a bearer of the “core principles” message, I prefer values that better translate into action, and that take a stand to say the HOW is just as important as the WHAT.  The values are not "tickets to play", but rather, they are differentiators.

A sample Values grid.

In my current organization, we went through a process to redefine the organizational values by conducting focus groups representing all departments and functions within the organization.  After gathering focus group data, we pulled together representatives from all departments to form the “Values Committee”, a cross functional team responsible for resetting the course when it came to organizational values.  Prior to working on the task, all committee members read Harry Kraemer’s “From Values to Action”.  If you've not read this book, you should pick it up – it’s a quick read.  This group organized the data, looked for patterns, and developed the values based on the information we heard from our people.  To make sense of all the data, they grouped some of the ideas into “themes” under each value.  They then went on to define, as a group, what meeting expectations looks like, exceeding expectations looks like, and development needed looks like for each theme within each value.  I like this because there are not too many questions about the “subjectivity” of our values.  Granted, the definitions are generic enough to transcend departments and roles, but they’re precise enough to let you know where you stand.  Our values are:

• Inclusive
• Critical Thinker
• Service-Focused
• Innovative
• Initiative

My Values Card that I
keep at my desk.

There are not too many surprises at appraisal time, and not too many disagreements.  If a manager or employee begins to define the value in their own way based on their own philosophies or experiences, it’s easy to bring them back to the definition that the organization agrees upon.  It has also been simpler to hold people accountable to exhibiting the values since they are reviewed on how well they do so at least once per year during their appraisal.

I come across the occasional person who disagrees, and places more weight or value on job performance, rather than exhibiting strong values.  However, I’m a firm believer that if you have a goal, or want something, find people who have reached that goal, or done that thing successfully, and emulate them (i.e. if you want to be rich, handle money the way rich people do).  All of the experienced leaders that people respect and actually like working for, believe that values are equally important to being a high performer, so that’s the model I plan to continue to subscribe to.  For now, I'll embrace my "Type A-ness", so long as I don't lose sight of the fact that the HOW is just as important as the WHAT.