Objectware Delivers Custom Web Applications to Streamline Business Process

Challenge: Cumbersome Job Candidate Interview and Scheduling Procedures

Joe Stewart, Southern Company’s Human Resources - Talent Acquisition Group Principal, needed a way to streamline the hiring process for the company’s 2500 managers. The current system burdened them with labor intensive manual procedures that interfered with getting new resources implemented in a timely manner. With so many managers’s schedules weighed down by the hiring process, Stewart saw that he could make a significant contribution to Southern Company’s success by freeing up managers’s time to focus on more mission-critical objectives.

Solution: Freeing Managers and Administrators from Time-Consuming Manual Procedures

Stewart hired Objectware to create a user-friendly, time-saving application to help Southern Company improve its candidate testing registration process. The process in place at that time involved writing and sending a letter via snail mail and following up by phone to schedule applicant tests. The inefficient process consumed administrators’s time with chasing down candidates

Objectware’s solution freed up administrators from follow-up calls and scheduling hassles. The custom-built e-mail-based applicant-notification system automates the scheduling process. It sends a link that routes candidates directly to a website that recognizes each individual and guides him through the process of signing up for only the specific test he needs. Since the new system puts scheduling responsibility more squarely on the shoulders of candidates, it has the added benefit of giving advantage to those who really want the job.

Once candidates had been registered and tested, they also needed to be interviewed. Before Objectware, Southern Company was using an online bank of Microsoft Word documents that had only taken the paper out of the process–not the aggravation. Managers scanned hundreds of interview questions, and cut and paste questions to develop an interview protocol. Varying document formats caused big headaches in the protocol layout.

To address the company’s interviewing challenges, Objectware designed a wizard that directs managers through a fast and simple series of prompts to quickly generate an interview protocol–including HR’s interview standards–on each print out. The tool also allows managers to create their own questions to address specific job requirements.

Results: Automated and Integrated Procedures; Happy Managers

When it comes to implementing new procedures company-wide, no news is good news. Of the 2,500 managers affected by the new Objectware system, no one has called to complain–and a few have even gone to the trouble to provide feedback indicating that the system is easy-to-use and time-saving.

They also comment that the one-step scheduling process is easier for the applicant–and allows re-deployment of administrators previously responsible for setting up applicant testing times.

As an added benefit, the scheduling process is now fully integrated with Southern Company’s applicant tracking system, replacing the previous manual steps with one smooth, streamlined process.

Client Quote: "Objectware has been incredibly responsive. Any issues that arise are fixed right away–that day or the next at the latest. They completely understand our needs and quickly develop custom applications that meet and, in many cases exceed, our expectations. They are flexible, willing to listen, and we continue to work with them through implementation to ensure success of the applications," said Joseph Stewart, Human Resources-Talent Development Principal for Southern Company.