Case Study: Improving Recruitment With IT

Telecom support company ManTech streamlines their recruitment process.

by Alan Battershell

When telecommunications support company ManTech decided to streamline their recruitment, they realized the first thing they needed was a clearer communication process.

As a government contractor providing innovative technologies and solutions for national security programs and supporting the advanced telecommunications systems that are used in Operation Iraqi Freedom and in other parts of the world, ManTech International Corporation recruits professionals whose qualifications range from PhDs to ex-military intelligence. ManTech has developed a secure, collaborative communications system for the Department of Homeland Security and provides extensive, advanced information technology support to the National Security Agency and other intelligence community customers.

NO CLEAR COMMUNICATION

With more than 5,500 employees in 280 locations and 30- plus countries worldwide, ManTech decided in 2000 to streamline the recruiting efforts of our 17 business units with a Web-based system. Prior to this, our recruiting efforts were managed separately by individual units. Our affirmative action plans were handled by local HR departments, and all documentation was paper-based and filed separately at each site. Additionally, we are required by the federal government to collect data for reporting Employee Equal Opportunity (EEO) and for complying with the U.S. Department of Labors Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). With such a fragmented system, the auditing process would often take weeks. In addition to meeting EEO and OFCCP objectives, we also sought to simplify our processes, reduce the cost and time associated with our complex recruiting requirements, and gain a competitive advantage by hiring and retaining the most qualified candidates.

CONNECTING RECRUITMENT

After a thorough evaluation process, we selected BrassRings Web-based recruiting system, Enterprise, to improve our HR functions. So far, the platform has performed very well. ManTechs recruiting efforts have been streamlined into one system and have become 100-percent paperless, resulting in a steady rise in the number of resumes we receive and an increase in applicant activity on our recruiting Web site. Both of which are tremendously valuable for competitive government contracts. With an e-mail-based interface in Enterprise, communication between recruiters and hiring managers is more effective and our responsiveness to applicant inquiries has also increased. To facilitate improved EEO reporting and OFCCP compliance, ManTech has established an effective process for obtaining specific, necessary information from job applicants. As part of this effort, we created disclosure statements about federal government reporting requirements that were easily incorporated into the candidate application process with Enterprise. In addition, the software allows us to define and distinguish between job applicants and job candidates for easy and accurate OFCCP and EEO compliance and reporting.

A DIRECT LINE TO SUCCESS

ManTech has quickly and successfully completed five government audits and conducted more than six EEO/OFCCP surveys during the past three years. Having a single data collection point has reduced the hourly requirement for completing each of the surveys by more than a week. As a condition of having federal contracts, the OFCCP requires a contractor to engage in a self-analysis to discover any barriers to equal employment opportunity. Prior to the implementation of the BrassRing system, only 20 percent of all ManTech applicants volunteered gender and ethnicity information. Today, because of our improved application process, more than 80 percent of all job applicants self-identify, giving us fast access to the information we need to comply with federal government requirements and virtually eliminating the time and cost once spent compiling that information on paper. With the new Web-based system, ManTech is also able to check requisition statuses daily, fill open positions quickly, and determine the dollar return on each position filled. The system was recently put to the test when the company needed to hire a large number of people quickly due to the launch of a new business unit. We held a number of job fairs where all hired applicants required high-level security processing, which meant that each interview and job offer needed to be passed through the appropriate security channels. Using our new system, ManTech was able to screen applicants and present signed offer letters to desirable candidates in less than two hours. Our outsourcing relationship has been beneficial and has enabled us to not only compete for talent more effectively, but also save time and money while doing it.  [HROT]