How James from Cpl Resources Improved His Team’s Usage of Their ATS/CRM
While staffing firms across the globe are forced to re-examine the way they do business in light of the recent global events, we understand that you still have a commitment to your clients and candidates to be as effective as possible. With that in mind, here is a spotlight from our Global Changemakers series, highlighting those who have successfully navigated a technology change within their business.
A few weeks after joining Cpl, James recognised there was a need for change within the IT department in order to improve the overall responsiveness of the team and the effectiveness with which colleagues were using their systems including their recruitment software: Bullhorn Jobscience. To learn more, he went out into the business with his favorite tool—Post-It notes—and asked the entire office to write what worked and what they would change within the IT department.
Time to Make a Change
The good news: everyone thought the IT team was made up of great people. The bad news: there was a lack of transparency into the IT team’s processes. People didn’t know when their requests would be completed and didn’t understand why some work was not prioritised. This led to a lack of adoption of Jobscience, which meant that people had to work harder than they should have to provide a great experience to candidates and clients.
Issues with the system which were raised by the business were dismissed because there wasn’t data to back them up. James had to gather more information on the frequency of the issues and dive into what his team could do about it. Cpl needed a better process to help prioritise IT requests and to ensure the business continued to grow and to maximise the use of Bullhorn Jobscience.
Roadblocks to Progress
Team members at Cpl had been used to requesting stuff from IT without having to explain why it was needed, which led to urgent asks being prioritised over important requests on a daily basis. This became the main roadblock for James: he had to shift the mindset of his colleagues and get them to make the business case for changes they needed, proving the value of the update before IT tackled it.
Originally, recruiters and others at Cpl were reluctant to make the business case because they didn’t know how to and they thought it would take a long time. In the past, they would submit Help Desk tickets and then grow frustrated when the tickets were delayed or dismissed. With an agile approach, changes are more inclusive, engaging, and the organisation better values the IT team.
James also held one-on-one meetings with the senior leadership team to understand their frustrations and led brainstorming sessions so that everyone had input and was on board with the changes.
Reaping the Benefits
Now the entire organisation is bought-in and on-board with the agile development method, allowing them to use Bullhorn Jobscience much better. Members of the business write very short business cases for changes that they think will truly benefit Cpl and explain how, and why. The team holds regular prioritisation meetings to ensure full transparency into the work they’re doing and how it helps the organisation.
The number of Help Desk tickets has declined, proving James’s method is working and that IT is successfully communicating their Bullhorn Jobscience updates to the business. Rather than being bombarded with frustrated colleagues, James’s team can focus on making changes that truly benefit the team and will help recruiters be more successful with Bullhorn Jobscience.
To read more stories about global recruitment professionals who have successfully navigated change within their business, visit our Global Changemakers series.
