A software package that will be used universitywide is making online applications mandatory for all types of jobs and reducing paperwork for human resource staff members.
Although the civil service and academic application processes have been Web-based for several years, the system that was used, PANDA, had limited functionality compared to other systems. It was decided that a new software product, HireTouch, an applicant tracking system developed and hosted by ImageTrend, a Web development company based in Minneapolis, could better serve people looking for jobs at the UI.
HireTouch is integrated with the Civil Service Personnel Register Maintenance System, where candidates await referrals for job vacancies once they’ve completed the application process and taken the exam. The Urbana campus uses about 800 civil service job classifications, said Chris Carr, manager of employment services in Staff Human Resources.
“In an average year, we review 3,500 applications and nearly 15,000 exam requests for about 800 civil service vacancies,” Carr said. “We no longer have to pull paper applicant files. It’s all right at our fingertips.”
Candidates now can attach electronic copies of supporting documentation – such as resumes, transcripts, certificates and other documents that may be useful or required in the exam qualification process – to their electronic applications, Carr said.
Many of the exams are electronic as well, and the e-test results now feed directly into PRMS. Candidates can go to the Web and track their HireTouch applications, see if or when they are scheduled to take an e-test, view their test scores, and their ranks on the registers in relation to other candidates.
“We went through an extensive request-for-proposals process and looked at a number of vendors” before deciding on HireTouch, Carr said. “Our goal was to build a more user-friendly process for applicants, and that’s what we’ve ended up with. PANDA had become increasingly difficult for HRIS and Administration Information Technology Services to write new code for, so they’d determined several years ago that we needed to move to a Web-based application that was easier for our people to update. We have received some very favorable comments from applicants who have said that this is an easier system to use.”
HireTouch was chosen from other software products by a universitywide team because it could integrate in real time with other university systems, could generate forms on the fly and had customizable approval/routing features, according to Tony Kerber, director of human resource management systems in University Human Resources, who led the project.
Accordingly, ImageTrend is hosting five instances of the system – one customized for each campus, the Global Campus and UA.
“We also decided to go with a product that was not hosted here,” Kerber said. “In the past, all the development was done in-house. And we thought we would go with a hosted system to put more of the burden on the vendor to support the system and to maintain the code.”
Implementation has been phased in since the beginning of last year. HireTouch was fully implemented at the Chicago, Springfield and Urbana campuses for civil service hiring in July, and civil service workers’ information was transferred over from the old system.
UA and UIS implemented the module for academic hires in November; Urbana is doing that now, and UIC anticipates starting the implementation process in June.
Applicants for academic jobs will apply for specific job postings through HireTouch. It is not a bankable resume system for applicants to submit blanket applications for any opening, said Deb Stone, director of AHR. “While the methods are changing, search committees are still critical to the selection and hiring process. We are maintaining the emphasis on personal review of applicant submissions.”
Search committee members now can access applicant information electronically through HireTouch.
The new system also increases efficiency by consolidating multiple paper processes and Web applications coordinated by different offices into a single workflow that can be tracked online.
The Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, which processes about 600 searches annually for academic positions, now receives search requests and obtains the five required signatures electronically. HireTouch replaced OEOA’s internal database and manual data-entry process.
“Another benefit to our office is that (HireTouch) is changing the way we handle EEO forms,” said Menah Pratt-Clarke, interim assistant chancellor and director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access. While all applicants must be given the opportunity to self-identify based on race and gender, completion of the form is voluntary. “Data show that the completion rate for electronic submission is around 80 percent. Our completion rate for paper forms is around 30 – 40 percent. So we’re excited about our ability to gather applicant information and conduct affirmative action and EEO analyses.”
