Like Finding Nemo

While watching the Disney animated film, Finding Nemo with my kids this spring, I drew a striking comparison to today's job market and several scenes from the film. One that particularly comes to mind is when Nemo lands on the dock and all of the pelicans start to squawk, "Mine!" "Mine!" "Mine!". Of course, little Nemo is but an Hors D'oeuvres for even one pelican, let alone a meal for the entire flock. One comparison to today's job market is this: a job gets posted and 300 job seekers apply, but only one will get the job. In this economy, job matching makes more sense than ever. Matching puts the most qualified candidates at the top of the list, giving them their best shot of breaking through the clutter for the job they're most qualified to fill; and for employers, clearly pinpoints candidates that are in fact qualified for the job. As such, employers can make their recruiting dollars work harder, since they're not "buying" resumes that aren't a good fit. Chicago-based Cision, a 2,500-employee media and PR software company, no longer uses half a dozen different online job sourcing sites. Jobfox has become one of the company's primary sources for promoting jobs and finding candidates. The global company, with U.S. headquarters in Chicago, has two dozen offices across the United States. Cision's products and services help organizations, from small businesses to major enterprises, improve their productivity and performance, build corporate reputation, and maximize the results of their public relations efforts. Cision's software solution CisionPoint was recently named a finalist for three CODiE Awards for Best On-Demand Platform, Best Online News Service and Best Vertical Market Business Content Solution. As Cision grows its business in the U.S., the company needs to fill openings quickly. Yet, it has been challenged to find top candidates for positions in Sales and Information Technology (IT). Higher-Quality Candidates Cision recruiters are continuously looking for experienced professionals interested in joining the dynamic, global company. After learning about Jobfox at a luncheon presentation, the Human Resources department watched a demo at its offices. Testing the service with actual open positions, they immediately found solid matches - a pleasant surprise after their experience with other services. Filling Positions Faster Jobfox delivers closer matches, allowing Cision to fill positions faster. The level of expertise of the candidates on Jobfox - most of which are still employed but open to new opportunities - brings back a higher number of qualified individuals. "After bringing in Jobfox, we rapidly hired two IT professionals for positions that had been open for more than six months," Swauger said. The ease of use of Jobfox also reduces the amount of time HR members spend posting and searching. Once they create a job request on Jobfox, they do not have to repost it every week to keep it high up in searches. A unique approach, Jobfox precision matching ensures that Cision jobs come up for any candidates that are close matches. HR also builds ongoing relationships with candidates through Jobfox, giving the team a pipeline for future hires. Lower Recruiting Costs Cision has reduced its HR costs since adding Jobfox. The company consolidated its sourcing to just a few online services, saving the company a considerable amount of money in purchasing access to multiple job boards and posting sites. "Jobfox paid for itself within a couple of months," Swauger said. "Also, working with one to two vendors makes me a lot happier than dealing with three or four." The solution also takes the place of outside recruiting firms at times, which the company turned to occasionally for hard-to-fill positions in areas such as IT. Filling just one IT position without outside recruiting fees would pay for the annual cost of Jobfox. The service works without glitches, and the company's Jobfox account representative remains responsive, but never pushy. "Everything about Jobfox has been a positive experience," Schaumburg said. "We've dealt with a lot of vendors in our careers. Jobfox does what it says and has been seamless for us, which is rare."