Interactive voice response is calling home care
Interactive voice response is calling home care
Automated system speeds hiring cycle
Private duty providers evaluating their overall employment productivity and retention success may consider interactive voice response technology (IVR). Without straining budgets, it may significantly reduce the hiring cycle and better allocate precious recruitment resources, especially for high turnover positions such as home health aides, sources say.
IVR technology has existed for a number of years. Nearly everyone who has recently telephoned any customer service line is familiar with automated systems that ask callers to provide information using their telephone touch pads. Now this technology is being used to automate and speed the hiring process.
Nationwide employers Nike, Coopers & Lybrand, and United Parcel Service use IVR technology to screen and schedule applicant interviews. Now home care giant Interim Healthcare is implementing IVR in three locations and eventually across the country, according to Colleen Sanders, RN, Interim's program development manager of paraprofessional staff development in Fort Lauderdale, FL. But not only mega-companies can benefit from IVR, sources say.
"It works well for companies whose human resource departments have been downsized or who have high volume [recruitment demands] and don't have the time needed [to screen and schedule applicants]," says Phil Brindley, vice president of Jaeger Inc., a recruitment advertising firm based in Berea, OH.
Prescreening saves time
With IVR, applicants call a toll-free number and receive information about the employer and the positions for which it is hiring. After applicants indicate their interest in a particular position by touching their telephone key pads when prompted, the system describes the company's required education, licensure, experience, and any other special qualifications needed for the position.
The system then walks the caller through a series of questions about background and availability. The system also informs applicants that they must provide proof of all professional credentials.
Applicants who pass the "knock-out" or disqualifying questions are invited to schedule an interview. The hiring company pre-programs the available interview times from which the applicant can choose. Finally, the system gives directions to the interview location. Prior to the scheduled interview, the employer receives a printout of the applicant's responses, including his or her telephone number in the event of any scheduling issues.
The entire process usually takes four to five minutes and costs about $5 per call, according to Brindley. Development cost and time varies, depending on the implementation complexity. For smaller companies which require less programming and script creation, it can range from $250 to $1,500, says Bruce Marks, senior vice president of TelServe, an IVR technology company based in Cleveland.
Compare the development and per-call charge with the staff time many private duty providers now spend getting to the interview phase of the hiring cycle. Reviewing resumes and applications, calling applicants culled from that process, leaving messages or repeatedly calling those not contacted on the first attempt, listening to voice mail from the applicant's returned calls, and further screening applicants over the phone require a lot of time and resources, sources say.
Employers can adjust the disqualifying questions to interview as many or as few people as they would like. "The selection criteria can be very lose or strict. You may want to start with very inclusive and then whittle down [the number of applicants scheduled for an interview] by tightening the requirements," says Brindley.
Rather than being turned-off by a remote 800 number and automated system, prospective employees actually find both useful. "You can incur a toll charge at a distance of 15 miles, and with the automation, [applicants] can access the system 24 hours a day," says Brindley.
Marks concurs. One of TelServe's major clients recently surveyed applicants who used its IVR system and reports that 97% said it was easy to use and understand, he says. And most applicants call either earlier or later than normal business hours, he adds.
One of the best things about IVR technology, supporters note, is the management tools it provides. Applicants enter an extension number from the ad that prompted them to contact the employer. This enables the system to track responses from any particular ad. "It helps refine your media buy," says Brindley. IVR systems also routinely report the number of responses, the number of qualified responses, and the ad cost per qualified response.
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