iCIMS Hire Expectations™

As a Talent Acquisition professional, I am acutely aware that career fairs are a beacon of Top Talent.  However, the career fair is the “grand finale;” there is a magnitude of preparation required to run a successful exhibit. 

First, it is important to identify universities, organizations, or professional groups that align with company requirements.  By leveraging programs that cater to your company’s needs, the fair will draw Top Talent candidates.   Also, asking the organizer for analytics of attendees can prepare the recruiter for positions in another office or branch of the company. 

Secondly, each fair is an opportunity to brand your company and showcase the company culture.  Each organization has a culture that is built on the relying of employees to contribute to the culture positively. At each career fair, the potential candidate is experiencing your company for the first time.  For this reason, it is best to bring as much of the office vibe with you; it will source the right culture fit.

Lastly, follow-up, follow-up, follow-up! In having a tight back-end recruitment process, where each candidate can be connected, is key.  Once you have met a potential candidate, it is imperative to realize that they have just experienced many companies in a short period of time.  Reconnect with all of the candidates.  This puts faith in the candidate that their resume was considered, and may encourage candidates to check back for the right opportunity. 

This process of attending career fairs hinges on the ability to cast wide net, engage potential candidates, and stay in touch.  As the process moves forward, the recruiter can bring onboard the Top Talent for the open position and feed their talent pool with engaged Top Talent for future opportunities.  Progressive and positive employment branding will lead to a better candidate experience and more engaged new hires.  

Close to three years ago, when I was onboarded at iCIMS, I was part of a group of about 12 other new hires. As we were given a rundown of all the benefits and programs available, I remember with amusement that one member of our group asked about pet insurance for his cat. But while the group laughed at the notion of having pet insurance as an employee benefit, it was not the first time I had run across the concept.

In a previous life, I worked for a large insurance company in the employee benefits division. One day we received a Request for Proposal for a full slate of voluntary workplace insurance products, such as cancer care, accident insurance, and other similar elective products funded by the employees themselves, who can take advantage of the workplace for group buying power. One of the products that the employer wanted to add to their benefits program was pet insurance! We didn’t have a pet insurance product to offer them, but I submitted the idea to a new products contest sponsored by the insurance company. 

My rational for submitting the idea was the fact that more and more pets are becoming true members of the family. In fact, a 2009 survey revealed that 50% of Americans felt that their pet is as much a part of the family as other people in the household. Furthermore, the same survey reported that about a third of Americans included their pet in either a family portrait or holiday card, and over 40% had taken their pet on vacation with them, reminding me of a story that my neighbor recently told me about seeing a woman on a hotel elevator in Florida carrying a fishbowl with her pet fish in it!

Here at iCIMS, pets are no less valued. And while the coworker above was particularly fond of his cat, dogs seem to rule the day for the rest of the team. In just a quick survey of the iBlog alone, 6 entries feature photos of dogs, two of which are actual iCIMS pets, (see The Pursuit of Happiness and Gaining a Competitive Advantage). And, along with all these four-legged family members come medical bills and the question of whether or not to buy insurance to lessen the economic impact of pet healthcare. 

Dr. Stephen Batich of Shark River Veterinary Hospital examines the Blogger’s new pup Salty.

Typically, the decision about purchasing pet insurance is a personal one. But according to a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, more and more companies are adding it as an employee benefit. In 2010 alone, one pet insurance provider added an additional 400 large companies and associations to its pet insurance book of business of 2,200 groups. And, while many employers might balk at the idea of offering pet insurance as a benefit in these tough economic times, they are still open to the idea of offering a group discount for employees to purchase pet insurance themselves like some of the other workplace group discounts available today.

My new product idea submission was not successful, but in coming years the concept of pet insurance as a workplace perk or benefit is sure to gain traction, especially as the economy strengthens and the war for talent heats up. For those companies already offering such innovative benefits, be sure to let job seekers know about them through your Recruitment Marketing programs and internal and external recruitment websites. With 39% of US households owning dogs and 33% owning cats, this is a benefit that promises to get tails, and tongues, wagging.

…But as recent events have shown, it may be "Tweeted", "Liked", or even "Shared". While Social Media sites such as Facebook did not cause the wave of upheavals happening across the Middle East where citizens have languished in poverty for decades under corrupt and repressive regimes, they certainly seemed to have accelerated the revolutionary process. There once was a time when revolutions were lengthy drawn out struggles, with the American and French Revolutions spanning 8 and 10 years respectively. More recent 20th Century revolutions were often shortened to a handful of years, or even a matter of several months as in the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia or the Fall of the Berlin Wall, perhaps owing to ever improving communications technology as an organizing tool. This time, fully armed with instantaneous access to thousands, or even millions of followers through Social Media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, protesters in Tunisia and Egypt have carried out Revolutions that can be counted in days, 28 and 18 to be exact.

While current events have brought full focus on the influence that Social Media now exerts on daily life in a most dramatic manner, it is quickly becoming apparent that this avenue of communication and interaction is affecting all of us in many surprising ways, both big and small. In one interesting anecdote, a former classmate and friend who has a PR Firm in New York City was so intrigued by all the conversations he was having with his Social Media connections about an upcoming convention in Las Vegas that he had not planned to attend, that he decided to send a Flat Stanley version of himself (or “Flag Greg”) to the gathering instead, so as not to miss out on any networking and branding opportunities. And where did I learn about the escapades of Flat Greg? His journey is all being chronicled on Facebook, of course!

One might argue that PR professionals using Social Media to network may not seem like such a big surprise, as their business revolves around innovative messaging techniques and venues, but what about the road crews tasked with patching the epidemic of potholes left behind as this winter’s record breaking snows melt away?  Burly workmen in orange reflective vests and hardhats might not meet the image that most of us have of Social Media mavens, until you get your first look at the New York City DOT’s “Daily Pothole”. With this surprisingly entertaining site, you can report that teeth rattling crater you just ran over on your street, as well as see images of pothole repairs in action, and track statistics on citywide patching and repaving efforts.  So far over 2000 Facebook users “Like” this site, and I bet you will too!

Some emerging practices related to Social Media usage are starting to raise hard questions, however, as well as offer cautionary tales about what each of us chooses to post on our online profiles or tweet to our followers.  Reuters reports, for example, that trial lawyers are turning to Social Media as part of the process of vetting perspective jurors, piecing together far more complex profiles of their available jury pools than ever before. Closer to home, recruiters are increasingly visiting Facebook and LinkedIn profiles of candidates to gather a more complete profile of prospective employees, and in a recent survey of Canadian Human resources professionals, 43 percent responded that they thought it was somewhat or very likely that profiles on Social Media sites will eventually replace resumes entirely.

Granted, 43 percent is not a majority, but whatever the future of resumes might be, Social Media is undeniably becoming a force to be reckoned with for Human Resources departments, and recruiting in particular. In January 2011 alone, Facebook led the pack of the Top 10 US Web Brands in terms of the time spent on the site per person, beating the #2 site, Yahoo, by about 5 hours. And while the top ranked brand in terms of unique audience, Google, came in at 6th place for time spent per person, the capability to display the Social Media activities of your own network directly within Google search results has just recently debuted, weaving an even more complex web of information and social relationships. The statistics on the explosion of Social Media usage are everywhere. Did you know that Facebook users in China increased sevenfold in just the last month? If just the sheer numbers of potential candidates out there alone isn’t reason enough to include Social Media in your recruiting campaigns, then here are 10 more reasons, as related by HR.BLR.com. One of my favorites is #7, Low Cost, very appealing in a tough economy.

So, how can you spark your own Social Media recruiting revolution? It is much easier than you might think with the tools offered by the iCIMS’ Recruitment Marketing Solution. Through the iCIMS Talent Platform, you can post an unlimited number of jobs to over 300 Social Media sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, create a job openings tab on your Facebook page, and more.  But no tool would be complete without a strategy, and so I am happy to announce a free webinar that will help you in your efforts to craft your plan of attack: 

Need a Hiring Advantage? Try Social Media!

In this presentation, industry expert Elaine Orler of Talent Function will eliminate the hype and focus on the substantive value of social media as it relates to recruiting.

Date: Wed, Feb 23, 2011
Time: 02:00 PM EST
Presenter: Elaine Orler
Hosted by: ERE

Finally, there is no time like the present to practice your Social Media skills, so be sure to give the share button below a good workout and let all your friends know about this blog and the webinar, and make this blogger happy by clicking on 5 stars in the rating bar as well.

While it would be hard to escape news coverage of the whopper of a blizzard that the New York area suffered last week, from dramatic stories of passengers trapped on the A-train for 7 hours, to YouTube videos of snow-thunder and time-lapse snow accumulation cams, many of our customers might be surprised to know that the bulk of the iCIMS team was caught smack in the middle of this latest Snowmageddon. Located in Monmouth County, New Jersey, the communities in and around iCIMS' headquarters saw snow accumulation totals of up to 31 inches and wind gusts in excess of 50 MPH, making driving essentially impossible, and leaving drifts 8-9 feet high in some places.

As dawn broke in my town on Monday, December 27th, the scene looking East towards the beach was breathtaking:

But the scene just across the street made me gasp:

My car had been swallowed by snow.  How was I to get to iCIMS that day?

Luckily, iCIMS is a Software-as-a-Service company, and much of the work to be done can be conducted via internet. In addition, well rehearsed contingency plans for just such an emergency had been put in place, and as I turned on my computer I received an automated Weather Alert from the office to work from home. I poured a cup of coffee, and put the images of my unplowed street (which would remain unplowed for 4 days!) out of my mind, and I got to work.

“But how about our customers,” I wondered. How did they manage through the blizzard? With the entire New York tri-state area paralyzed, would they be able to enjoy the same level of Platform availability that they are accustomed to? What if they had a question, could they reach our Help Desk? After all, even the postal service with its pledge to deliver the mail no matter what wasn’t delivering the mail that Monday.

Well, I am happy to report that despite all three New York City area airports being shutdown, local transit services barely moving, and even the Philadelphia Eagles postponing their game for 2 days (!), the iCIMS Talent Platform didn’t miss a beat. Our customers had 100% availability through the blizzard and recovery period, and applicants in far warmer locales could browse and apply for jobs, never even realizing the servers processing their resumes were under many feet of snow.

Furthermore, internal action plans at iCIMS insured that someone was available to take calls if a question or problem did arise. On Monday, December 27th, iCIMS' Help Desk fielded 107 emails and 30 calls. Granted, this was lighter volume than normal, but the time period between Christmas and New Years typically is quieter as many clients are on vacation. And for those who visited our Customer Care Site, the only indication that iCIMS was in the eye of one of the worst storms to hit the area in recorded history was a notice that that clients might experience some delay in having their calls responded to, more a precaution than a reflection of what actually happened.

We aren't out of the woods yet here at iCIMS! We are only two weeks into winter, and the weather service is already starting to talk about a possible snow storm for the area this weekend. But rest assured that while we might be tired from shoveling our driveways, we’ll be there to take your calls. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds.

And the Number One Answer Is:  A Chicken Attacked my Mom.

It is a stretch, but considering the fact that our fine-feathered friends are known harbingers of dangerous flu strains that can jump to one human and infect millions, perhaps one could make the argument that this excuse for taking a sick day is not too outrageous. However, that being said, the folks at iCIMS’ partner CareerBuilder, who just compiled their annual list of the wackiest excuses employers received from employees calling in sick, listed the "chicken attack" as their number one choice. Other notable responses included a finger stuck in a bowling ball, a foot stuck in a garbage disposal, and my personal favorite, just not feeling very clever that day. Unusual excuses aside, most employers did report believing their workers when they called in sick, while 29% checked up on the sick employee, and 16% said they had fired an employee whose excuse had not quite panned out.

Growing up with a mother who is a physician, I learned early on that I could not feign an illness and score a day off from school as I suspected some of my friends did, and that ethic has carried over into my working years. No crazy excuses about bowling balls, poultry, fake coughs and sniffles on the phone when I call the office. I appreciate the ability to take time off when I am feeling under the weather and use the privilege sparingly. However, it is important as we again enter cold and flu season (as evidenced by the timing of the annual CareerBuilder survey, and even my colleague’s blog from this time a year ago) to take that day off when seasonal viruses start flying around the office. During the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, for example, about 8 million American workers went to work with the flu, spreading the infection to an estimated 7 million more workers. The ability to take paid sick days is more than just a benefit for individual employees, it also serves an  important public health purpose and probably saves employers money thanks to less lost productivity.

With such strong evidence to support the case for paid sick time, however, many workers simply do not have that ability. They either have jobs that don’t offer paid time off or actually fear they may lose their jobs if they call out. To remedy this situation, many locales, including New York City and Philadelphia, are considering legislation to mandate paid sick days. In San Francisco such legislation has been on the books since 2007. Of course, many business owners argue that extending such a benefit would harm their business, despite the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that the real cost for paid sick days would work out to about 8 cents an hour for private sector jobs.

For those employers who do offer paid sick days, whether by mandate or not, be sure to let prospective talent know it by touting it on your Career Portals. And if it seems like you have heard the excuse about the chicken attack before, start tracking how many run-ins with renegade barnyard fowl that your employees have experienced (as well as their more conventional sick day excuses) with an Employee Management System. 

What are some of the best excuses that you have received from employees calling in sick?  Be sure to list them in the comment section below.

Aloha Kakou, E Komo Mai!

At the risk of incurring the wrath of my coworkers when I get back, I have to admit that as this blog is being posted, I am well on my way to a much anticipated vacation in Hawaii.  It is an especially welcome break since last year I could never seem to get away for any considerable amount of time, which as a dedicated world traveler I find surprising.  Oh, I managed to eat up my allotted days off with a long weekend here or there to take care of this or that obligation, but I never really got away from it all.  And according to the “Wellness in Travel” study recently released by Westin Hotels, I am not alone. 

The Weston study surprisingly found that 64% of Americans have cancelled their vacations due to job worries, despite the fact that 58% feel that they are in need of a vacation and 48% say that they are happier and more positive at work after a vacation.  Granted it is Weston’s job to sell vacations, so some may say these figures are self-serving, but the benefits of vacation time for employees and the workplace are well documented.  For example, a study of workers at Air New Zealand revealed that employee reaction times were 30-40% faster after a vacation than before.  Additionally, workers who take vacations are far less likely to suffer from heart disease than those who do not vacation, and women who do not take time off are twice as likely to suffer from depression as their well rested counterparts.

With all the evidence out there pointing to the health and consequently workplace productivity benefits of vacation, one would think that taking time off would be mandated.  In researching this blog; however, I was surprised to learn that the United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not require a minimum number of paid vacation days or holidays for workers, thus winning it the dubious title of “No-Vacation Nation” from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.  Furthermore, nearly one in four US workers do not receive any paid vacation or holidays as a part of their workplace benefits programs. As a result, the average American ends up with just 9 days of paid time off, less than the average worker in Japan, the country with the next lowest government mandated paid holiday time of 10 days.

At the other extreme, however, a small handful of US employers are experimenting with vacation policies that some may find hard to fathom, namely unlimited paid leave.  The pioneer in this movement was Netflix, and the apparent success of the program has inspired enough copycats that this year 1% of companies reported to World at Work that they offer unlimited paid leave.  “But how do these companies function at all?” one might ask when hearing about their liberal vacation policies.  Well, the CEO of one such company reports that none of her employees seem to be taking any more vacation than they did under a more traditional vacation program, and the benefits of the new policy seem to include an improvement in morale and productivity. 

Of course, it is up to each employer to determine the vacation policy that makes the most sense for their particular situation, while at the same time recognizing the importance of vacation to the health and productivity of their employees.  Additionally, vacation can prove to be a valuable recruiting tool when trying to attract the best talent.  With maintaining productivity and morale, and finding qualified candidates among the top three challenges HR Managers say they are facing in the next 6 months, a well thought out vacation policy can go a long way to helping with those challenges. And once the optimal vacation policy for your workplace has been agreed upon, make sure to let prospective employees know about it on your Career Websites, because you can be certain that they will be looking.  Mahalo, a hui hou.

For the first time in 18 months, the US Labor Department reported last week that worker productivity has fallen, prompting headlines declaring “It’s official: We’re all burnt out.” And as if on cue, frustrated flight attendant Steven Slater grabbed a beer off his beverage cart and slid down a JetBlue emergency slide into folk hero status. While the inevitable debates and questions have since emerged around the Slater story, the very fact that so much of America’s immediate reaction was a collective cheer reaffirms the Labor Department statistics. Although not nearly as dramatic as Slater’s declaration of independence, employees across the country are expressing their own workplace frustrations with lowered productivity, and economists are predicting that companies will need to begin rebuilding their workforces to shore up flagging productivity numbers.

At the same time, however, reports are showing that consumer spending is down, raising questions about the willingness of American shoppers to support an increase in productivity.  Furthermore, one of the most popular articles in the New York Times during the week of the Slater incident (assuming that the list of “Most Emailed” articles on the New York Times website is an accurate gauge of an article’s popularity), is one examining the question of the relationship of consumption to happiness.  The recession, it is argued in the article, has resulted in a shift in consumption patterns, with Americans saving more and spending less.  And through this cut back in spending and consumption, people are beginning to realize they are happier.  According to author Stephanie Rosenblum, research into the relationship between consumption and happiness has revealed that the acquisition of material objects and one-upping your neighbors with the latest gadgets does not increase happiness.  The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index further backs up these findings with poll results showing that after the initial shock of the economic crisis in late 2008 and early 2009, a sense of well-being among Americans has been on the increase just as these new consumption patterns settle in.

So, does this new found trend towards downsizing bode ill for the economic recovery?  Not necessarily. What the Times article reports is that people are finding that spending on experiences produces a much more enduring feeling of happiness.  Additionally, people are happier when they can plan for and savor a purchase for some time before they actually shell out the money for it, and outdoing others in consumption does little to increase self-satisfaction.  Purchasing airplane tickets well in advance, for example, can provide months of happiness as you plan your trip (as I can personally attest as I look forward to my upcoming trip to the Big Island of Hawaii), as opposed to buying the latest smart phone or designer handbag.  And although consumer spending numbers for July appeared to show little enthusiasm for material purchases, “experience” spending such as airplane tickets and lodging was up.

In order to adjust to this cultural shift in priorities, retailers and marketers are beginning to focus on selling experiences, and the importance of good customer service and making the customer feel special. When I go to the supermarket these days, there are cheese tastings and suggestions for wine pairings and side dishes, (and even the occasional live music on Friday evening!), rather than just aisles of sterile packaged goods.  In the mail I receive catalogues that now offer up classes on how to enjoy my purchases, or recipes and other tips.  The Customer Experience is back!

Not to toot our own horn, but here at iCIMS, the Customer Experience has always been our passion. The latest and greatest features are very cool to have, but they are even better if you can attend a free training session to learn how to apply them to your day to day work. Free Customer Support 24 hours a day, and a Customer Care Site for all to visit and share tips, information and access user guides and training libraries all contribute to the iCIMS Customer Experience. And furthermore, clients can build their own Customer Experience for their own candidates and employees by implementing the Talent Platform, and let everyone know about it by harnessing the Platform’s powerful CRM tools! Finally, before the harried pace of work begins to put images of making that emergency slide escape in your head, consider the savings in tedious busy work that a Talent Management Solution can offer.

On the eve of Queen Elizabeth II's post-Independence Day visit to New York, Buckingham Palace made the announcement that the Queen was imposing a hiring freeze for The Royal Household in order to help do her part to trim expenses in the face of a British budget crisis.  And while the hiring freeze accounts for just one portion of the Monarch’s efforts to cut expenses by $4.5 million over the previous year, along with reductions in Royal Travel and expenditures for the upkeep of the Royal Residences, the half-million pound (or approximately US$760,000) cut in The Household’s property services budget is making news in the US where recent employment figures are showing a slower rate of recovery than hoped. 

As an iCIMS employee, I think I can confidently say that a hiring freeze is not the only way for The Household to save on expenses related to its 1,200 person staff.  In fact, a quick visit to the Royal, (oops, I meant ROI) Calculator reveals that The Household could save as much as US$2 million by implementing a candidate management system, with no reduction in its headcount of Fendersmiths or Flagmen. I worked out the problem myself, and came up with the following results.

For a mid-market employer like The Royal Household, the current UK average number of job vacancies per year is 245, and with new graduates finding that they are competing with nearly 70 other applicants for open vacancies this year, that adds up to a lot of Recruiter and Hiring Manager FTEs to track and review all of those resumes/CVs.  In fact, if we assume that the average recruiter earning approximately US$45,000 spends 4 hours receiving, tracking, reviewing and screening all those candidates, then The Household could save almost US$700,000 due to increased recruiter efficiency by using an applicant tracking system.

And for our analysis, we assumed that just one hour would be necessary to submit data for a background check per requisition, but that may be an underestimate considering employment for the Royal Family may entail a considerably more detailed background check. At the estimated one hour figure, however, The Household could save around US$4000 using a candidate management solution to automatically initiate a background check with a third party provider.  Furthermore, in the UK where employers tend to favor using Agencies to fill some hard to find professions (again, Fendersmiths and Flagmen come to mind), The Household could potentially save nearly US$400,000 by deploying a Vendor Portal to automate this process. 

Finally, candidate management systems usually offer benefits that cannot be measured by any ROI calculator, such as contributions to The Royal Household’s green initiatives, which include recycling green waste and computers, installing a wind turbine at Balmoral, and installing LED low-energy light bulbs wherever possible.  By automating its candidate management processes like requisition management and onboarding, The Household could expect to reduce its carbon footprint and paper consumption while attracting, hiring and retaining top talent efficiently.

Any other advice for The Household? Well, in the meantime, let's sit back and see how they will cut their expenses.

It was quite a celebration - the event called by US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director John Berry last week to announce the long awaited Federal Hiring Reforms, that is.  Anticipation had been growing for months, fueled by hints dropped by Director Berry since taking office, critical evaluations of the hiring process by private sector human resources managers, and the earlier release of a strategic plan for improving the federal hiring process.  But all the chatter leading up to the event did not detract from the excitement in the least.  In fact, when Director Berry finally uttered his now famous words, "We are switching to résumés," the packed OPM auditorium erupted into applause. 

Other reform measures announced by the OPM that promise to change the entire Federal recruiting game include:

• Dramatically reducing the time between when a job is announced and when it is filled
• Eliminating essays as an initial application requirement
• Using shorter, plain-language job announcements (Check out Dan Rosenblum's post for some tips!)
• Accepting resumes and cover letters from applicants, instead of requiring them to submit complex applications through outdated systems
• Allowing hiring managers to choose from among a group of best qualified candidates, rather than limiting their choice to just three names
• Notifying applicants of their status in a timely manner (and at four points in the process), thus eliminating the "black hole" that applicants often feel when they don't get a response to their applications

But now that the announcement party is over, the auditorium folding chairs have been put away, you have read the inaugural Hiring Reform Blog, joined the Hiring Reform Fan Page on Facebook, and are following Reform developments on Twitter, you have returned to your desk to find it inundated by resumes!  Now what?

After years of honing your skills at reading and evaluating the now defunct KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) essays, formally the opening step in the application process for many Federal positions, you must now shift your focus to sifting through piles of resumes to find the best candidates for your agency.  I am happy to report, however, that there are solutions out there that can make this new task as effortless as a walk in the park, namely Applicant Tracking and e-Recruitment Systems.  And not only can these solutions automate much of your new recruiting processes, the delivery of many of these solutions as Software-as-a-Service means that you can start taking advantage of their time saving functionality as early as tomorrow, rather than waiting for your IT resources to build you a system. And, as you look to the OPM resources listed above for guidance on how to reformulate your recruiting processes, I also invite you to follow our own little iBlog for additional tips on handling that growing pile of resumes on your desk.

Early this past Saturday morning, as a nor'easter that spent the weekend tearing up much of the Northeastern United States raged outside, I was awoken by the phone ringing.  A friend who lives a few towns away was breathlessly asking about the big fire in our town, and checking to make sure we were OK.  “Fire?” I responded.  “What fire?”  I had not heard any sirens, alarms or large firefighting equipment navigating our narrow Victorian era streets. I opened my front door to see if anything was going on outside, and was met with the howling wind, and the smell of burning wood. 

I bundled up against the wind and rain, grabbed the dog, and set out to investigate.  I only had to go about 6 blocks, and encountered an entire village of fire companies and rescue crews that seemed to have sprung up overnight.  They had efficiently roped off dangerous areas, ran networks of hoses all around our tiny square-mile town, set up rest areas for weary firefighters, and evacuation centers for displaced residents.  All attention was focused on a smoking pile of embers that had once been an historic hotel and six adjacent houses, burned to the ground by flames whipped by gale force winds coming off the ocean just a block away.

I began reading the sides of the fire trucks.  All the neighboring beach towns were there, as well as companies from as far away as Freehold and Englishtown, New Jersey.  200 firefighters in all responded, from 19 different companies and 8 rescue squads.  When fire strikes in historic Ocean Grove, a town filled with late 19th Century wooden homes and tents that are standing so close to each other that in some places they are actually touching, the response is massive.

What I found amazing was how well organized everything was, and how well everyone was working together to ensure that the already massive inferno did not take out the rest of the town.  Nobody was getting in anyone else’s way; every need was being attended to; where one group of firefighters was stretched to capacity, another was there to reinforce them, as if the 19 companies worked together all the time.  Meanwhile, other organizations, like the Red Cross, had set up in a nearby building providing blankets and dry clothing, and a local restaurant was providing food and drink. A well-oiled machine had sprung to action in just a couple of early morning hours.  The whole scene brought to mind how important it is to have a strong network of Partners to offer support, backup and fill in the blanks when there is a need that is beyond one’s capacity to meet.

Such networks of Partners can be lifesaving in cases like the Ocean Grove fire, and on a less dramatic scale, they can make a world of difference in business.   Recognizing this, iCIMS has worked diligently to establish partnerships with organizations that complement our offerings well, and who also place an emphasis on offering a first class customer experience for our clients that we value so highly.  iCIMS Preferred Partner Program has benefited many of our clients, such as Dave & Buster's, Walden Security, and Whole Foods, who have taken advantage of the Talent Platform’s integration capabilities beyond Talent Acquisition and Management.  Additionally, iCIMS and its partners have benefitted by being able to share information on industry trends, offering our common clients more complete suites of services, and freeing up our time to concentrate on developing our own products and services to their fullest.

Whether you are an existing or potential iCIMS client, or an existing or potential partner who would like to learn more about how our partnership program can benefit you, please visit the iCIMS Partner Portal here.