Review on iCIMS Recruit module

Our overall experience with iCIMS is amazing. With the help of iCIMS, we gain a bigger pool of candidates from different sources, we manage well of the applications within the system and we build up a stronger talent pool for our company.

Pros

- expand our reach to wider groups of candidate: iCIMS has partnered with Google job and other free job aggregators, that job posting function helps us to reach more candidates, we do see a significant growth of quality candidate profiles for our job openings. It is very cost effective and it saves so much time on populating our jobs on different portals.
- navigate with ease within the platform: it is very easy to pull out different applications and review the resume and cover letter. I like the tabs which are very clear and categorise information in good order
- Very good customer support team: Whenever I call the iCIMS customer support team, there is always someone on the phone and solves the problem for us. The customer ambassadors are professional, friendly and knowledgeable.

Cons

Overall, I would say there is no big issue in my user experience when iCIMS. Just two minor things,
- When I move the candidate to the next bins in the recruitment workflow, I couldn't find an update button. If I reload the page, it will show up the main dashboard and I have to go back to the particular job profile again.
- The cover letter button does show as the same tab of resume, I have to go back to the candidate details tab and find out the cover letter. It will be great if I can see the resume and cover letter on the same tab.
Besides, we think that the hiring manager app may need more modification as right now the app doesn't equip with all the functions from a web version.

Tons of flexibility and options, takes time to fully understand and harness the power.

ICIMS has allowed us to address the separate needs of our Corporate hiring vs our Agent/Call-Center hiring through custom fields, custom reporting and custom dashboards. We have been able to integrate the various tools we need (Assessment, I9, Background check, etc) to reduce manual entry into diverse areas. When we do run into situations where we find a snag in the workflow, digging into it and talking it through, we have been able to find a solution within the platform either directly with a feature we missed (at implementation or a release since) or by adding customization to fields and workflow.

Pros

The software is highly customizable with the potential for a sizable (but ultimately limited) number of custom fields and even tabs for data above and beyond the core system. It has strong user group management for good control of access and even process, as dashboards/reporting is also tied per user group. Support is responsive with most of the support agents I've worked with knowing the answer or at least knowing enough to say 'I don't know, let me research and get back to you' and they have followed up without prompting. The reporting system is robust, if not intuitive to learn. Bi-directional email tracks back email conversations for audit trails. There is a strong user community fostered by ICIMS, including an Ideas forum where votes by the community on desired features can be tracked for potential implementation. Implementation of the recent and optional TextRecruit has added further ease of communicating with our candidates. New features are added regularly, though this takes some staying on top of to evaluate implementation and keep current.

Cons

Customized reporting is limited to full licenses, including something as simple as a date range change. They have some ability to make the dates relational to work around this (Today, yesterday, before today, this week, last week, this month, last month and so on), but it is imperfect. It would also be great to have added comparison reporting such as this year vs last year on a single dashboard graph. Reporting is complex to learn (but powerful once you get it).

Bi-directional email coding can cause email from us to the candidate to be direct at their end to SPAM which delays potential candidate interviews and prompts follow up inquiries from candidates already emailed that they were not selected to move forward.

The overwhelming flexibility means you need to both keep poking at pain points until you find the right solution for your organization and to stay on top of new release information to keep new features implemented where they make sense to your organization.

Best functionality for objectively and automatically screening candidates

With iCIMS, we've become a much more effective and efficient recruiting team. We processed more than 5,000 applications in order to hire approximately 50 employees last year alone. Because of iCIMS' unique functionality, we've spent less time to make the same quality and higher quantity of hires. This is a huge win for our team and we're excited to share our success with others.

Pros

When searching for our organization's ATS, I demoed with A LOT of vendors. I was shocked that most relied on very crude initial screening mechanisms. Most were dependent on an HR's manager review of a a resume-- HR managers would give a thumbs up or thumbs down on whether or not to advance a candidate. We are a data-driven organization, and we prioritized an ATS that offered the functionality for us to objectively and automatically screen candidates. This functionally helps to minimize human biases while simultaneously weeding out irrelevant candidates; opening our organization to a diverse but targeted hiring pool. iCIMS was the only ATS that was able to offer us this critical functionality.

Cons

iCIMS is far and away the industry leader on critical aspects of functionality, however user-experience is not necessarily one of those aspects. It's a clunky system (feels a bit like Salesforce in that way), and not super intuitive on how to use. We've been able to workaround this, for the most part, by really streamlining how specific people interact with the platform.

Navigating the Options

IBP is able to employ technology that it didn't have two years ago and reach a wider applicant base. We have the capability to receive applications online, post and advertise our openings on a variety of job boards and most importantly, get our customers the workforce they need.

Pros

When building a new recruiting process and the technology around it, you need a partner with a strong background in the field and an even stronger support team. iCIMS delivers on both! Having the opportunity to configure pages, portals, fields...you name it, it can most likely be done. That means that your process is not only improving, but it's also getting the efficiency, reliability and back up it needs from the technology you're employing to help your company meet its recruiting needs, retain talent and up your employer brand.

Cons

With great power comes great responsibility and it's clear from the beginning that if you don't establish a clear path for your recruiting process, you can get swallowed up by all of the customization options with iCIMS. Sometimes, it's too much. Talking through your needs can help you establish a clear path forward. That is also true of introducing the platform to your users - a bit at a time is best to get buy-in - because there's just so much you can do!

Feature Functionality is Great, Flexibility with Indeed needs improvemetn

We have been able to quantify on a week-over-week, and now year-over-year bases key factors such as the number of open positions per region versus the number of applicants, an average number of applicants per job by region, and many other key factors on the regional level. This is important as we now know and have been able to identify why the struggle to hire is greater on one region of the country versus another.

Pros

iCIMS provides us with the ability to manage the thousands of applicants we recevied each year for over 500 locations around the country. Our account teams can independently manage the applicants for their open positions, but we have full visibility to all activity and can choose to be as active in the process as necessary on a per-job level.

Cons

The majority of our employees are "front line" employees who are working at or close to minimum wage. We need a 1-click solution, and have not been able to do that using iCIMS. More than 70% of our applicants come across Indeed, and we have a real need for a 1-click solution, but that has not been negotiated between the two companies. By the time an applicant is asked create a password, provide information that is already on a resume (phone, address, email) and then start answering job questions, they abandon it. If they could simply click once from Indeed and send it directly to the specific job advertised, it would increase our application rates exponentially. Note this is true only for our front line positions, but again, they make up more than 90% of our job postings.

Great tool for customization

Pros

iCIMS is highly customizable, which they will tell you themselves but they truly aren't kidding. We have been able to automate many of our recruiting and onboarding processes, which in turn has given time back to not only our corporate group but operations staff as well. As an iCIMS administrator, I love that I am able to make configuration changes myself, independent of iCIMS Customer Support, for a huge variety of functions. When there's a change that I don't know how to make, the Customer Support team will walk me through the steps so that I am empowered to make the change in the future. In instances where iCIMS Customer Support is required to make adjustments, due to limited administrator permissions, they are quick and responsive, ensuring little to no downtime.

Cons

The reporting function is not very intuitive or user friendly in the beginning. As you become more familiar with the software the reporting function becomes easier to use and is quite powerful but there is definitely a learning curve.

Great Software for Healthcare Recruitment

The software is giving a clear view of each stage what the candidate has to go through at the time of hiring. Mostly this is accurately imputed by each hiring manager or HR . The clear view of the process is giving a full understanding when the start date of the new hire might be and making manager aware of the education plan and orientation in the healthcare facility might be. All great info!

Pros

The software and program are really easy to use. I worked at San Antonio Regional Hospital in California with this software and I can say loudly and proudly that I recommend it . I used it daily to access any updates regard hiring process of my candidates or applicants of the position open in my department.

Cons

Not sure if they have mobile access. Being always on the go, sometimes between meeting you want to check on the processes, however, I never tried to access it because was no option given. Being in management I see this a way to improve because being always gone and not at your desk mobile access can give you a great view of the process of hiring.

Intuitive and to Easy to Use

Overall this program has significantly simplified our process of screening candidates and moving them through the hiring process, which continues to improve as we learn the system. Customer service is excellent. Implementation went pretty smoothly, but if you are connecting to your HRIS, that adds a complicating layer depending on the vendor. I am happy with the product 15 months post implementation.

Pros

iCIMS was a big improvement for us over the previous recruiting program we used as part of our HRIS primarily due to ease of use and reduced time in our screening process. The layout is clean and easy to read, and once you understand how things are organized, it is simple to navigate the software. We use the onboarding feature, which has automated that process for us. Customer service has been excellent. Most of the time (99%), they resolve my issue in one brief phone call. Everything is customizable and there are many training resources available to users.

Cons

The layout of the candidates in "bins" can be a little confusing sometimes. There was a task we were trying to improve and finally found out how to do so but it took a few conversations to figure it out.

Robust Tool with a Challenging Interface

We've worked hard on getting our sourcing solidified so we can truly see where our candidates are coming from.

Pros

Incredibly robust - most cases anything is possible and can make the system meet that need. Reporting, while difficult to understand at first, is strong and can report on almost any business need that arises. Love the customization when it comes to recruiter dashboards, what we find important, and messaging. First class customer service; love working with our client success manager to improve our use of the system.

Cons

It seems iCIMS is an ATS built with admins in mind which can make it a bit more confusing for Recruiters, especially those just getting started. It heavily relies on our administrators for some simple things in assisting our recruiting team (especially reports).
Our pricing went up drastically when we came around to sign our second contract.