Back in 2015, Google acquired Bebop, a company founded by VMware founder Diane Greene and that’s when Google Hire came to life. Although the concept to build a hiring tool around popular G Suite solutions like Gmail, calendar, Docs, Hangouts, Search seemed to be a viable business model, it appears that it was not enough to compete and sustain. ATS (Applicant Tracking System) providers like Transformify, BambooHR, Breezy, etc. were offering more comprehensive and user-friendly solutions at a reasonable price.
In 2019, Google announced its plans to shut down Google Hire in 2020. The good news is that it will not take effect immediately. Google Hire will be supported by September 2019. Although there is still time for all existing users to switch to a new ATS provider, the choice is not easy and involves clear vendor selection criteria, integration, and possibly, data migration.
What are the Vendor Selection Criteria?
As a minimum, existing Google Hire users would like to have the functionalities they are used to. On top of that, Transformify gathered information about what is important going forward. In the last months, we received hundreds of requests from existing Google Hire users. The most important points have been summarized below.
Integration with G Suite
As many small companies and startups use G Suite, this was one of the advantages of Google Hire. G Suite addresses all mail/calendar/document requirements for SMEs and startups and requires a single sign-on. Knowing the user preferences, Transformify allows sign-on using your Gmail account and integrates with Google calendar, etc.
The Number of Users and Open Job Posts You Can Have at Any Point in Time
Although it may seem contra-intuitive, different ATS providers have different pricing and licensing models. These vary a lot and may encompass any combination of:
License per user (per seat)
Job posting fee (per job posting or per package)
Storing applicant information fee (per record or as a monthly/annual) subscription package)
License per module if the ATS comes in modules offering specific functionalities
Subscription fee based on the average number of employees in your company
Fee per applicant. Usually posting a job listing is free but you pay a fee to access the applicant’s data.
Why is understanding the pricing model of the ATS provider important?
Scenario:
Imagine that your company has 80 hiring managers and an average of 100 open job listings at any time. You are considering two ATS provider – ‘’A’’ and ‘’Transformify’’.
Provider ‘’A’’ charges a license fee per user of USD 80 and has a limit of 60 open job postings at a time. If this number is exceeded, a fee of USD 40 applies per additional job listing.
Hence, the monthly subscription will be as follows:
80 hiring managers* USD 80 = USD 6400
40 additional job listings * USD 40= USD 1600
Total cost per month = USD 8000
On the other hand, Transformify charges USD 3500 per package of 100 job listings ( or USD 35 per job listing). There is no charge per user or limit on the number of open job listings. You simply buy a new package or pay-as-you-go fee of USD 50 per job listing.
Hence, the monthly subscription would be:
Package of 100 job listings = 3500
Total cost per month= USD 3500
Are the job listings syndicated with external job boards?
Many ATS providers have partnership agreements with external job boards, however, the terms of these partnerships vary. Usually, some job listings are syndicated for free and receive limited traffic, while others are syndicated at a fee and receive much more targeted traffic. To make it even more complicated, you as a client may be expected to pay in addition to syndicating certain job listings.
There are also ATS providers that do not syndicate job listings with external job boards at all. In this case, the clients are expected to attract applicants via their own channels and use the ATS to solely manage the talent acquisition process.
Scenario:
Provider ‘’A’’ charges a license fee per user of USD 80 and has a limit of 60 open job postings at a time. If this number is exceeded, a fee of USD 40 applies per additional job listing. All job listings are syndicated with some free job boards, but you need to pay a flat fee or on a PPC basis for an additional traffic boost.
With Transformify, you pay USD 3500 per package of 100 job listings. All job listings are syndicated with 50+ job boards and SEO optimized to attract organic traffic.
A Growing Userbase of Jobseekers, Freelancers and Independent Contractors
Transformify is an integrated HR Suite and not just an ATS. Instead of solely relying on integration with job boards, we grow our own userbase of job seekers and even agencies and outsourcing companies offering teams of developers, designers, marketers, etc. This allows head hunters and recruiters to reach out to qualified passive candidates who are not actively looking for a job but are open to new opportunities. Transformify's clients can reach out to our userbase at no extra fee.
Are Both External Facing Careers Site and Internal Jobs Board Supported?
There is a nuance here as well. Most ATS providers are meant to support external-facing career sites that attract external (or ‘’new’’) candidates. Very few also support the internal job board that is intended to be used by the existing employees of the client.
What does this mean?
If an internal job board is not supported, you will have to implement a separate software solution in order to post jobs internally, track internal applicants, etc. Put simply, you will be operating two ATS instead of one which is inconvenient and costly.
To address this need, Transformify allows internal or sensitive job listings to be flagged as ‘’private’’. These job listings would be seen only by eligible candidates (existing employees or any other rule provided by the client). The recruiters will also be able to invite external candidates if the job is sensitive and treated as confidential and both internal and external candidates are welcome.
Are Contract Employees and Freelancer Business Model Supported?
To keep costs low, many companies rely on independent contractors, contingent workforce and freelancers. These temp employees are usually combined with a core in-house team. This hybrid business model is typical for the creative industry, events and hospitality industries, retail chains, etc.
However, a hybrid hiring model also comes with specific ATS requirements around:
- a large number of repeat candidates/requisitions;
- many evergreen requisitions
As an HR Suite with a single point of access, Transformify easily addresses the needs of a hybrid business model. Our ATS and Freelance Platform are integrated with each other and support contingent workforce, traditional workforce and freelancers.
Sourcing contract employees, contingent workforce and freelancers is not enough. Once you have them on board, you need to be able to manage the relationship with them, assign projects, monitor payment requests, transfer payment in multiple currencies and reconcile invoices. Transformify Freelance Platform automates the entire management, billing and payment process.
Read more: How to Manage Contingent Workforce Using Transformify Freelance Platform
Are Links to Candidate Portfolio and Social Media Profiles Supported?
When hiring contract employees, freelancers and gig workers, it is important for the recruiter or hiring manager to have access to their portfolio, work samples and social media accounts. The Behance or Dribble profile of a designer or the Stack Overflow profile of a developer can provide valuable information about the candidate’s skills. Needless to say, Transformify Freelance Platform supports links to a portfolio and social media accounts and encourages both candidates and recruiters to consider them during the hiring process.
Candidate Matching Algorithm
Transformify’s powerful candidate matching algorithm saves time and effort and cuts the hiring costs. Being able to see at a glance information about the number of candidate’s skills matching those required for the job, the pay rate expectations and availability of the candidates results in laser-focused candidate shortlists and much shorter time to fill versus the industry average.
Data Privacy and GDPR Compliance
If you are not familiar with it, GDPR is a data privacy act that was enforced in the European Union. Under GDPR, individuals, and in this case job applicants, have certain rights that need to be addressed by the ATS provider if you as an employer expect to process personal data of EU citizens. Some of these rights, and specifically the ‘’Right to be forgotten’’ are a real pain for some ATS providers as their technology solutions are not meant to provide an option to the applicant to exercise her/his rights. This is especially valid if applicant resumes are syndicated and sourced via external job board partners. Another potential issue is the inability to provide access to the applicants to their details that have been stored in the ATS.
How is Transformify Addressing User Rights Under GDPR?
All applicants have their own accounts with Transformify and can amend their personal details at any time. On top of that, each applicant can easily exercise the ‘’Right to be forgotten’’ by sending an email to our compliance team.
What About Migrating Data from Google Hire to Transformify?
As a Google Hire (or any other ATS user), you probably have accumulated lots of applicant data over a period of time. This data is valuable to the recruiters and hiring managers and shall not be lost. However, there are a few points to be considered when discussing applicant data migration with a new ATS vendor:
have you obtained the permission of the applicants to process their personal data and transfer it to a third-party provider? In many countries, such explicit permission is required. If you are yet to obtain it, Transformify team will provide you with detailed guidance how this is to be done and will support you during the process.
The format of the data that is to be transferred. Most ATS providers support a single data export format only. Often this is done on purpose to make switching to a competitor’s ATS harder. Transformify IT team can help with migrating data in any format provided that all necessary technical details are discussed beforehand. Bespoke custom solutions are part of their job, although in some cases, the data migration may require more time and effort than the average.
Historical applicant data reports – do you require historical data to be used in custom reports? Such examples are the time to fill an open role, the average number of interviews, the average number of applicants, the quality of applicants, etc. Any such requirements are to discussed beforehand as there may be a need for the data to be structured in a certain way prior to being migrated, custom reports to be developed, etc.
As an integrated HR Suite comprising of ATS, Freelance Platform, Employer Branding, Diversity & Inclusion Solutions and billing & payments worldwide, Transformify can address any hiring needs and hybrid recruitment models. Our IT team is here to support data migration, custom reporting and anything else your recruitment team may need to streamline your hiring process and cut the time to fill and the associated recruitment costs.
Ready to switch to a new ATS provider? Contact our sales team: sales@transformify.org