Reach out and hire someone: automated response systems can speed large-scale hiring - Focus on Technology

Your industrial division has a new product to roll out and needs several hundred new workers. Or, your company is opening up new stores around the country and wants to attract people with current retail experience.

Today's HR departments increasingly are turning to technology to tackle these large-scale hires. And, interactive voice response (IVR) is the technology of choice for prescreening job applicants, especially in manufacturing. IVR systems are most practical for large-scale and/or national searches, users and manufacturers say, particularly when companies seek hourly employees at multiple sites.

Appropriate target applicants include seasonal employees and mass hires, says Deme Clainos, executive vice president of Decision Point Data, of Tualatin, Ohio, manufacturer of DPDQualifier. For example, she says, "Our product was used when Office Depot was opening several stores around the country at about the same time."

For weeding out unqualified candidates, the automated approach can work as well as non-automated screening done by phone, say some HR professionals. And IVR makes it easier for employed candidates because they are not restricted to the typical 9-to-5 workday for submitting applications.

Of more than a dozen products available today, many prescreen as part of an automated application process and use IVR to question applicants. Some also operate over the Internet.

A Practical Tool

Essentially, an IVR system incorporates a toll-free phone number that candidates may call at any time from anywhere in the country. A listing is published in local newspapers with an 800 number as the contact point. A touch-tone phone is the only requirement.

The candidate answers a two-tiered automated series of "yes" and "no" questions. First-tier questions focus on experience and availability. If the answers satisfy the employer's eligibility standards, the candidate can move on to the second tier, which attempts to identify candidates who match the employer's culture and the characteristics required for the job.

If the candidate is successful at this level, the program can set up a time, date and place for either an in-person or electronic interview.

Some programs incorporate basic psychological testing questions in an electronic interview; the personal interview follows after successful responses. Depending on the program, candidates receive confirmation numbers for their interviews and a phone number to call if they have to reschedule interviews.

Once interviews have been arranged, the IVR companies usually fax the schedules to clients. Some programs print the equivalent of the standard two- or three-page application. The first two pages cover traditional information, such as name, address, education and employment history; the third page covers profile information, such as how the applicant would fit into a corporate culture.

The main advantage of IVR may be its ability to automatically eliminate inappropriate candidates, based on elements such as willingness to work certain shifts, salary requirements, education levels and more.

Benefits for Employees and Employers

IVR is "a powerful tool that lets people do things easily and efficiently" and that benefits both HR and potential employees says Ken Kunda, president of HReasy in Charlotte, N.C., which recently was acquired by Interim Services Inc.

"Flexibility is an advantage," says Clainos. "People can see the listings and respond anywhere in the country, at any time. It's easy for applicants to apply, and employers can close on qualified individuals and be committed to a date and time for an interview quickly."

Ruth-Ann Stover, director of marketing for DialApp, a program from HR Services, Inc., in Lima, Ohio, agrees. "The job market has changed drastically, so it's important that people can use these systems 24 hours a day," she says.

She adds that DialApp was developed "to handle high volume and replace a call center for screening and scheduling candidates. The benefits are in efficiency; it saves time and money."

How much can an automated system save? According to Kunda, IVR cuts the process of hiring and filling positions by 60 percent because the time spent in scheduling an interview is reduced from an average of 17 days to between two and five days.

In addition, IVR can aid the hiring process by helping employers tap into a larger pool of qualified employees, says Stover. "We work with blue-collar and technical people, and our clients say they are getting better candidates," she says. "If the only way to respond to an opening is to send a resume, many experienced blue-collar and technical people just don't respond because they don't have a resume. They've never needed one. If they can respond by calling an 800 number - without taking time off from work or revealing to their current employer that they're looking - they will."

Kunda adds that today's programs also can help HR professionals reevaluate the entire selection process, which may improve results. "These programs can identify key attributes of people who have been successful," he says. "We go to companies and actually walk through jobs to develop our job descriptions. We customize all interviews and revalidate inter views almost annually with client input from employee performance" to ensure that original information remains valid.

An additional benefit is that IVR interviews may eliminate bias and ensure a more consistent application process. "All candidates are asked the same questions and can be assured that such questions are job-related," says Kunda. "The programs eliminate the possibility of any unintended bias on the part of a local manager."

Adds Stover, "You can tell clients without a doubt that all candidates are treated equally." IVR systems can be programmed to allow HR professionals to actually hear candidates' responses to behavioral questions, which might have the potential for discriminatory reactions. But, "That's no different from a real phone interview," Stover explains.

Finally, IVR offers a higher level of service, says Mark Nickson, president of DAC Systems, of Shelton, Conn., maker of the HRAssistant Job Information Line, an electronic bulletin board for larger organizations. HRAssistant accepts job postings in an unlimited number of categories. Clients can add, edit and delete openings as they are filled and set up a system that can be accessed from inside or outside the company; they also can establish separate areas for new job listings or career fairs.

Confidentiality Concerns

What about confidentiality and security? These shouldn't be a concern, says Kunda, because "these systems actually can be more private than paper records."

Although candidates usually are asked to enter their Social Security numbers at some point in the process, a toll-free Help Desk number can be used to explain protections (and to reassure candidates that this information will not be misused), Kunda says.

"Social Security numbers are an issue less than 1 percent of the time with thousands of responses, and we don't ask for that information until someone passes the initial prescreening anyhow," says Stover.

Fear and Money

Despite the advantages, IVR is not perfect. "It can be exorbitantly expensive in terms of advertising and actual phone costs," Clainos warns. "With an average of 25 questions to answer and phone costs to the employer of 40 to 50 cents a minute, the average call takes eight minutes and can cost about $4."

Although automated screening can be expensive, it pays for itself because the improved match reduces turnover, Kunda says. "That's really why this has become such a successful product," he adds.

Other disadvantages are the need to have a touch-tone phone to gain access to the system, the cost of implementing a new process and the fear of voice mail and technology on the part of some applicants.

However, while some workers may still prefer talking to real people, resistance to automated systems is fading, says Kunda. "People are realizing that they simply have to use these systems nowadays."

Companion Uses

Examples of companies that are making diverse use of IVR technology include the following: Procter & Gamble (see sidebar) - large-volume response to openings for skilled technical positions; Deloitte & Touche - salaried administrative positions; Office Depot - store openings; Lear Corporation - hourly production workers in a tight job market; Metokote Corporation - salaried positions at multiple plant locations; Johns Hopkins University - benefits management.

IVR also serves as the platform for companion approaches such as exit interviews, loss prevention surveys, opinion and attitude surveys and employment verification services.

"These [companion] programs send costs down because they offload the need for answering basic, routine questions about things like the status of someone's benefits from staff," says Nickson. "They relieve people of data-entry tasks because callers are doing the equivalent of entering information by pushing buttons on the phone pad."

For more information on IVR technology, see the HR Magazine section of SHRM Online at www.shrm.org.

RELATED ARTICLE: IVR in Action

"I've used it [interactive voice response, or IVR] only once and only would again if we were seeking people, but it was wonderful," says Linda S, Prince, HR administrator with Procter & Gamble (P&G), Lima, Ohio.

P&G used DialApp to search for production technicians for a manufacturing plant in 1998. Prince placed an ad in the newspaper with the DialApp number and a P&G code number.

"We established criteria so callers could disqualify themselves and schedule appointments to fill out applications at a local civic center with our HR staff," she recalls. Those who filled out the applications were told to call beck to check the status to see if they would continue with the skills test. They called the DialApp system again to see if they passed the test and to schedule an actual interview.

Prince found that more people had an opportunity to hear about the job and to schedule appointments because the phone lines were rarely busy and were available around the clock. "There were only two or three instances where people couldn't get through, but the trouble turned out to be with local phone company service," she says.

P&G disqualified candidates who had been convicted of a felony, lacked a high school diploma or GED, or weren't willing to rotate shifts or accept the starting salary range.

What's more, Prince says, IVR was more effective at these screenings than humans might been. "People are mare honest when interacting with IVR than with a human being," she says. "We saved money because the process kicked out applicants who would have been processed further in the traditional method before we found out they were inappropriate."

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter is a freelance writer/editor based in Baltimore. She has edited two newsletters for the Society for Human Resource Management on international HR and on diversity issues. Her e-mail address is [email protected].

COPYRIGHT 1999 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group