Recruit-Manager Enterprise - A Case Study

The Gem

Belfast Customer Relationship Management Company, the gem, has expanded at a remarkable rate since being established in December 1999. They have taken great pride in their success to date and are committed to become one of the world's finest providers of customer service, telecommunications and IT services. The gem currently handles the customer service needs of tens of millions of Internet users worldwide on behalf of existing Blue-chip clients with the most recent partnership being on-line retailer Amazon.com

From the very outset of their business the initial recruitment activity was heavy, with most emphasis on getting the right people as quickly as possible with the minimum of effort. It was felt within 'the gem' that they must have an online application to facilitate this, especially considering the sector of the industry they were competing in.

They approached e-Link to provide such a system. Now called "Recruit Manager ENTERPRISE" the system has been in operation for over 2 years and has employed over 350 staff with a minimal need for the arduous administration of stationary and postage. The gem still uses agencies in cases of urgent need but by and large the vast majority have been recruited through their online application.

Another plus point of their system has been the greatly reduced costs over those they would have expected if they had gone down a more traditional route of recruiting. They are now advertising in more intelligent way as they are able to target more effectively as well as reducing their spend by keeping the more detail for their website. Other benefits that they have noticed are the quicker responses from applicants, meaning that the process of selection and short-listing can begin earlier, potentially reducing the time taken to recruit. Another useful feature is the extensive reporting functionality including equal opportunities and Race Relations monitoring.

Anita Acheson (Vice President Human Resources) feels that this system has had a very positive effect on their recruitment process stating, "We decided from the outset that we didn't want to use traditional recruitment methods due to the high costs and unwieldy administration. We knew that dealing with all our recruitment using web-based technology would reduce the time & cost of hiring new staff. We decided to implement e-Link's 'Recruitmanagement' product into our HR department, and are already experiencing vast improvements."

Having now used this method, the gem are in no doubt that this concept of corporate recruiting is here to stay and will become more prevalent as more and more companies realise the potential and start to harness the power of the internet when recruiting.

For further information or for the latest job vacancies within the gem, visit their website www.the-gem.com and look under careers.