HDR is an architectural, engineering design and consulting firm based in Omaha, NE with over 3,600 employees in 90 offices located throughout the United States. Its HR department includes a team of recruiters located around the country who are kept busy finding, communicating with, and recruiting over 5,600 applicants a month.

The company had outgrown an outdated data base system used for managing applicants, and decided to implement the system offered with a well known business enterprise suite HDR utilizes for HR, payroll, accounting and project management. At first, it seemed as if the recruiting software application would solve many problems, such as eliminating the need to print, code, and manually reply to 100+ incoming resumes per day. However, the recruiting system, along with the entire enterprise suite, was hosted as an ASP and was unavailable close to 40 percent of the time. The online application function was clumsy and didn't provide a way to match an incoming application with an open requisition. Instead, the system required the HDR recruiting team to open each application (and associated attachments) to link it with the correct job and forward it to the hiring manager — a process that required up to 10 to 15 minutes per application, depending on the speed of the system at the time. With each of the recruiters handling 50 to 100 open requisitions, and the average requisition attracting 100 candidates, it was impossible to keep up. "There wasn't enough time in the day," says Nicole Riche, an HR representative for HDR.

Frustrated, HDR began to search for a new solution. It reviewed six companies, narrowed it down to three, and in May of 2004 chose the First Advantage HMS applicant tracking and talent management solution from First Advantage Hiring Management Systems. In addition to streamlining the handling of incoming applications, HDR also needed to capture data essential for other processes, automate candidate correspondence, and gather information on cost and time to hire.

With First Advantage HMS, HDR has doubled its application volume but increased its recruiting team by only one person, and that was due to company growth. Now five recruiters manage 400 open requisitions and 5,600 incoming applications, a 400 percent increase in staffing process efficiency. "Rather than spending an entire week to review requisitions, I can review candidates in the course of a day," says Riche. "In the past, we sent 20 candidates a week to the hiring manager; now we're sending 20 a day."

Riche also says that the recruiting team can more effectively review candidates that reply to HDR. "We're getting 40 percent more candidates who have applied for a specific job that we're able to review," says Riche.

With First Advantage HMS, HDR recruiters are more productive and effective. "We enter requisitions into the system, post jobs, place ads, review resumes, and fill out forms to create letters," says Riche. "We're able to do more recruiting and are able to be more proactive. More important, potential candidates are able to review open positions and apply quickly. Their time is valuable and we recognize that," says Riche. "Applicants have a much more favorable initial impression of HDR, and First Advantage HMS helps reinforce the quality image of the company we know is HDR.".

Because HDR is a federal contractor, it must gather information on gender and race of applicants to comply with Equal Employment Opportunity regulations. With its legacy data base system, the only way it could document the gender and race of applicants was to send a postcard requesting voluntary disclosure of that information. Only one in five of the candidates replied; with the First Advantage HMS system, HDR requests the information as part of the online application process. It has boosted EEO candidate response capture by 240% -- HDR now has data on more than 2 out of 3 of its applicants using the First Advantage HMS system. "First Advantage HMS gives us more accurate reporting than we've had in the past by far," says Riche.

With First Advantage HMS's fully functional online features, HDR has automated its candidate correspondence, saving the company both time and money. First Advantage HMS automatically responds to each online candidate, which assures applicants that HDR has received their application and resume. In the past, the HDR team sent approximately 90 letters a day to candidates, at a cost of approximately $2,000 a month in postage alone. With First Advantage HMS's email function, HDR is saving $24,000 a year in postage, not to mention the hours spent manually printing, signing, and processing the letters.

In addition, HDR uses the First Advantage HMS list function to send emails to candidates to inform them about changes in the status of an open job. "We can send an email informing applicants a requisition is on hold, which saves a lot of incoming calls," says Riche. The email functionality, combined with the online application process also speeds the recruiting process. Before, if HDR was interested in a candidate, it would mail an application and wait for a reply before moving to the next step. "With First Advantage HMS, we can send a candidate a link to complete an online application," says Riche. "We can get people to apply within a day rather than within a week."

The reporting capabilities of First Advantage HMS have enabled HDR to start gathering actionable data on hiring-related expenses, time to fill an opening, and a variety of other activity in the recruiting department. For example, HDR's recruiting team develops a report outlining the time to hire for key positions along with diversity statistics. Previously, creating a report in Excel took one staff person a full day each month; with First Advantage HMS, HDR can run the report instantly. "First Advantage HMS saved a day's work a month on that report alone," says Riche.

For HDR, the benefits of using the First Advantage HMS system are clear: automation has enabled HDR to double the workload it can manage, while only marginally increasing staff for a savings of $150,000 in productivity and process, providing an annual return on investment of 110%. HDR can clearly and easily comply with federal EEO regulations, has automated its candidate correspondence, and enabled recruiters to be vastly more productive and efficient. The company can now track time and cost to hire, generate specific reports, and be more in control of its recruiting process. "First Advantage HMS is just fabulous," says HDR's Riche. "We now feel we have a real business partner."