Recruiting Software: The Key to Global Sourcing

Talent management software with global capabilities can go a long way to helping human resources teams ramp up their international recruiting program.

“It speeds the hiring process, and makes it easier to process large numbers of candidates in a short time,” says Richard Wellins, senior vice president at Development Dimensions International in Pittsburgh. That speed can be vital in countries such as, Brazil, India and China, where talent is scarce and competition is brutal.

HR software vendors are responding by offering more robust global recruiting features as part of their core offering, says Tim Payne, partner and European HR director for KPMG in London. “The software companies recognize that talent management has become a core business process, as important as supply-chain management and business planning,” he says.

Oracle Fusion, for example, allows users to tap into regional social media sites, such as hi5 in Latin America and VKontakte in Russia, along with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, says Neil Shea, director of product strategy, Oracle. “Different sources and approaches work best in different geographies and fields,” he says. “Oracle provides the flexibility for these local variations.”

And SilkRoad technology Inc.’s OpenHire lets companies maintain career portals in multiple languages and track international applicants through centralized dashboards giving recruiters greater oversight into their hiring process.

“Without transparency it becomes very difficult to make the right people decisions for your business,” says Tom Boyle SilkRoad’s director of product marketing.

But the products are still fragmented because of the rapid rate of acquisitions in the industry, and many companies rely on multiple vendors to meet their needs. CH2M Hill, for example, uses IBM Corp.’s BrassRing for candidate management, SmashFly Technologies to automate job board postings, and SkillSurvey Inc. to check references.

“We haven’t found all the recruiting tools we want in one solution,” says Nicole Guiet, talent acquisition director for CH2M Hill. And when she adds a new tool, she expects the vendors to accommodate her recruiting processes with little alteration on her part. “We are not going to break our system to work with their tool,” she says, “no matter how cool their bells and whistles are.”

Having a clearly defined global recruiting process that aligns with strategic globalization goals is critical to choosing the best software for your needs, Wellins adds. “Software can make you more efficient, but if you start with a lousy recruiting process, you’ll still get lousy outcomes.”

Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.