Sam Smith<\/a> spoke of the pain of inconsistency and overflow of using spreadsheets for three years before moving across to JobAdder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIt was quite busy,\u201d Sam said, adding: \u201cWe didn\u2019t really have a single point of truth because you know an Excel spreadsheet is open to errors and there was also a lot of double up.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I started with Unilodge I actually created the recruitment function,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone had their own style and there were many things being missed, like reference checks and the general kind of due diligence that you would normally do when you\u2019re bringing on an employee.\u201d UniLodge also had numerous Seek accounts, which resulted in a lack of consistency, especially \u201cin the way that the ads were being advertised,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A constant stream of applicants meant their recruitment process began to pile up, with three different portals to shortlist candidates. \u201cThere was so much information that was coming in that we weren\u2019t capturing because it was too big of a task to be able to look at your talent pools properly \u2013 we were really just chasing our tails,\u201d Sam said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting to that stage now where we are building our talent pools and we\u2019re starting to look at it from a strategic approach,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The power of word-of-mouth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UniLodge took the approach of looking for an onboarding tool first, then were \u201cpatiently waiting and hoping that someday we would get a recruitment tool,\u201d Sam said. The decision came once UniLodge was looking at their leave and time attendance tool Connx. The decision was initially made to go with that platform, but after seeing several ex-colleagues and LinkedIn network connections post about JobAdder, Sam endeavoured to find out more. \u201cI had two friends of mine who used to work at UniLodge but are now in other roles and using JobAdder,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought, well, I\u2019m going to give it a go, because if this is going to be something I would use every day, then I\u2019m going to push for something that I believe is going to work better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam then commenced to do a line-by-line comparison of the functionality between the two platforms, with the help of the JobAdder sales team and then presented her findings. \u201cThe final recommendation wasn\u2019t to go with the one [UniLodge] had already selected; it was to go with JobAdder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing the changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Prior to JobAdder, UniLodge was shortlisting their candidates by going through every single applicant. \u201cWe might get through 300 or 400 applications to find the top 20,\u201d said Sam. Once there, UniLodge would start their interviewing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their time to hire has exponentially improved since then. \u201cNow we can do a boolean search and use keywords, and so many of those [400 applicants] we\u2019re not needing to look at \u2013 that\u2019s a lot of time-saving,\u201d Sam explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quick search has also enabled UniLodge to have a quicker shortlisting turnaround. The company is able to \u201cpresent shortlisted candidates rather than going through hundreds,\u201d said Sam. \u201cIt can probably take less than 10 minutes for me to find 10 candidates to submit,\u201d she said, \u201cwhereas previously, you would go through the whole lot, find the top five and then send them through,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
JobAdder\u2019s intuitive platform has enabled UniLodge to find candidates more efficiently. Sam has been able to access her candidates all within their database. \u201cWe\u2019ve also placed one role from our database, and we didn\u2019t need to advertise because we have candidates already in there,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The importance of candidate experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sam felt the communication between her candidates and the platform has improved their candidate experience, which is of great importance to UniLodge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy having the follow-up emails, it\u2019s got our own tone and branding,\u201d Sam explained \u201cAll of the communications I\u2019ve sent from the system include 30-odd email templates so we can respond to them quite quickly or even ask questions if they\u2019ve missed out on something,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unilodge\u2019s job ads are also branded, as well as their website careers page. \u201cIt\u2019s got more of a customised feel to it rather than just a Seek link, so I feel that whole package adds to our candidate experience,\u201d Sam said. UniLodge has also taken advantage of the JobAdder video cover letter feature. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some really great ones, and our managers are loving them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Unilodge\u2019s onboarding and training on JobAdder were quite busy as they had over 70 hiring managers. Once they got started, \u201cit was really good \u2013 we have a tool that works for us,\u201d Sam said. Their team also completed three online training sessions, where Sam felt she had more of an understanding of the platform as she did the first initial demo and had worked her way through the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew where things were, all the admin spaces in the background and that started to make sense to me in regards to the actual application process \u2013 but now it\u2019s second nature to us,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam doesn\u2019t have to worry if someone is away or on sick leave as their team has picked up the JobAdder platform quickly. \u201cWe\u2019ve trained two other team members on how to use JobAdder,\u201d Sam said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely something that is easy to get into and it\u2019s easy to manage people that haven\u2019t had a lot of training as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Improvement in efficiencies <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sam has recommended the platform to many friends and colleagues, but felt the top three key points she would mention to anyone looking for an ATS included the support and customer service, the ability to develop talent pools and the ROI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The support team has provided \u201cso much follow up. It\u2019s not just a tick and flick \u2018here\u2019s your tool, see you later, you\u2019ll never hear from us\u2019. It\u2019s been very involved and a very supportive learning environment,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The return on investment has been the ability to show \u201cstatistics to the business, not just in dollars but in efficiencies.\u201d For example, UniLodge\u2019s hiring managers were previously typing and then scanning a form. Sam explained that she would find the manager to sign it, and \u201cthen it would go between people, it would get lost and it was a really lengthy process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, now they can submit it themselves. \u201cI\u2019ve got a visual of where that approval process is,\u201d Sam said. \u201cI can hurry it up if I\u2019ve seen it sitting there for a couple of days and hiring managers don\u2019t need to recreate the wheel,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, if a hiring manager consistently has five of the same role, they can simply \u201cupdate the date or salary. They also have the ability to shortlist and view candidates from their end without printing anything out,\u201d Sam explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur hiring managers love the Hiring Manager portal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UniLodge\u2019s growing future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UniLodge\u2019s future strategy is focused upwards. \u201cWe\u2019ve got new buildings opening all the time, so we will continue to grow,\u201d Sam said. She added that UniLodge opens around five new buildings every year. \u201cWe just had one open about a month ago, we\u2019ve got another in construction and another later this year \u2013 this is pretty standard for us, but continual growth,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, UniLodge has a portion of their business that they don\u2019t hire for, called residential advisors. \u201cIt\u2019s like a senior resident that lives on-site in our studio accommodation complexes,\u201d Sam explained, where \u201caround 150 to 200 of them a year are hired,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next month, UniLodge will bring all of that in-house, where their hiring managers will be set up on the Hiring Manager portal and be able to raise a requisition. \u201cWe\u2019ll post the ads but the hiring managers will be doing all the shortlisting and interviewing,\u201d Sam said. \u201cOnce they\u2019ve got a suitable placement, we\u2019ll place them and then onboard them through. That will significantly increase the traffic through JobAdder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next step is a trial that Sam will soon try at one of their properties, who are currently receiving hundreds of CVs and emails. \u201cThey\u2019re manually printing all the CVs out, so we\u2019re just trying to bring in those efficiencies for the rest of the business,\u201d Sam said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam had one more comment to add. \u201cThe support and customer service have been exceptional. I have often felt that once I\u2019ve signed a contract with a provider that\u2019s kind of where their interest level drops, and it hasn\u2019t happened with JobAdder.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The pain of spreadsheets Headquartered in Brisbane, UniLodge Australia has been providing thousands of international university students with accommodation since …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":411768,"template":"","bjm_industry_cat":[244],"bjm_features_cat":[],"bjm_user_type":[101],"bjm_location":[13],"bjm_employees_count":[85],"class_list":["post-417172","bjm_case_study","type-bjm_case_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","bjm_industry_cat-construction","bjm_user_type-in-house","bjm_location-australia","bjm_employees_count-201-500"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_case_study\/417172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_case_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bjm_case_study"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_case_study\/417172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bjm_industry_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_industry_cat?post=417172"},{"taxonomy":"bjm_features_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_features_cat?post=417172"},{"taxonomy":"bjm_user_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_user_type?post=417172"},{"taxonomy":"bjm_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_location?post=417172"},{"taxonomy":"bjm_employees_count","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobadder.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bjm_employees_count?post=417172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}