Karmanos Human Resource Department excels at customer service with Position Manager
In December, 2005 Karmanos Cancer Institute became an independent cancer hospital, and with it came rapid growth, rapid change, and rapid hiring -- literally doubling staff in a very short time. They had a completely manual process for hiring, and desired a paperless process. World class in cancer treatment they were. World class in hiring they were not. "It was a real challenge to grow that quickly," said Jennifer Szalewicz, Senior Employment Specialist and Recruiter. "I had used applicant tracking systems in the past and knew we needed to automate this process. I remember the day a board member's relative applied for a position and we wanted to make sure we handled the process well, but we couldn't even locate the resume. It was just so diffi cult to deal with that volume of resumes and frustrating for all. Everyone agreed we needed to make a change."Reference focused selection process
Szalewicz led the selection team. She targeted NAHCR's Image Conference to speak with vendors and speak with other healthcare recruiters about their experiences with different applicant tracking systems. "We came back focused on HealthcareSource and one other vendor. People spoke very highly of HealthcareSource's Position Manager." Szalewicz was clear on her criteria -- it needed to be easy to use and easy to roll out. "I didn't have time for a system that had too many bells and whistles, was expensive, or diffi cult to implement. It had to be easy for the HR staff, hiring managers, and applicants. When we saw the demo of Position Manager, I instantly knew it would be just that. It looked easy to maneuver, easy to learn, the cost was reasonable and the reporting looked like it would be extremely benefi cial to our organization."
Easy implementation
Karmanos' experience implementing Position Manager was quick and painless. "We signed a contract in November and we were live on the fi rst of January. We pulled information from our Lawson HRIS system quite easily and it was uploaded by HealthcareSource. HealthcareSource put all of our hard copy forms online as well. The training was very quick and very effective. Everyone at HealthcareSource was so attentive and responsive." Karmanos rolled the system out to hiring managers a year later. "This was also extremely simple. HealthcareSource provided us with online training videos for hiring managers, which saved me a ton of time by not having to provide face to face training sessions. I would guess half of the managers fi gured it out on their own without even using the videos, just a few questions here and there. It's that easy."
Providing exceptional customer service
"The employment market is just too competitive not to provide great customer service," said Szalewicz. "Our hiring managers just love the system. I have literally gotten one complaint and that person later told me they think the system is amazing. We are providing better service to our hiring managers, and we know that this translates to a better overall hiring experience for all." Even with Karmanos' reputation as one of the best cancer centers in the US, they still strive to out-work and out-service their competition for the best talent. "I had a candidate leave me a voice mail yesterday asking about a position. Before I called her back, I looked up her record in Position Manager. I called and mentioned the job she interviewed for over a year ago. She was so impressed that I "˜remembered' her. It makes a difference to candidates, especially ones who can essentially choose where they want to work."
Karmanos now has better follow through and they are very organized with candidates. They can instantly check the status of an application, provide feedback to candidates, and get access to the system from home. They believe that the time saved on clerical filing and resume searches alone justified the cost of the system. "And senior management is now more engaged in our recruiting performance," noted Szalewicz. "HealthcareSource developed a customer report we send them weekly with just the information they want to see. They love it."
Lessons learned
Karmanos is very happy with their selection and very happy with the process they took on vendor selection and implementation. "I can't emphasize enough how important the research was and speaking with other healthcare providers currently utilizing different systems. At my last job, I used one of the better known applicant tracking systems and I'd estimate it was down 15 minutes a day, which really frustrated me. With Position Manager, I don't think it's been down 15 minutes the whole year. You just don't get that kind of information from vendor demos!" On the implementation, she recommends others "know what you want and keep it simple."
"We are very happy with the whole experience, and more importantly, our candidates, hiring managers, and management are happy. Customer service is key and we are delivering."
