- The current CBIZ applicant portal does not match the look and feel of the CBIZ careers site and lacks relevant content to engage applicants. - The portal should be restructured to match CBIZ's branding and include images, information about CBIZ awards and culture, and notifications to prompt applicants to check their application status. - Email templates can be set up to automatically notify applicants when their status changes and include links to content on the portal to encourage them to log back in. - Restructuring the portal using Taleo's customization options and email tools would help reduce uncertainty for applicants and improve candidate retention through repeated engagement with CBIZ information.

1. Recommendations for restructuring the CBIZ applicant portal
Abstract:
As itstands,the CBIZ jobssite isgreat.It looksattractive,provideseasyaccesstorelevantlinks
and informationonCBIZ,andisprofessional.However,afterfindingajobtoapplyfor and working
throughthe application,thatdrasticallychanges.The Taleoapplicantportal doesnotmatchthe lookor
feel of the jobssite;itexistsasa plainblue page forfillinginfieldsandeventuallyacknowledgingthe
fact that youhave submittedanapplication.
Once you have submittedanapplication,the only providedlinksare tooutdatedCBIZsocial
mediaaccounts.The Youtube channel hasn’tbeenupdatedintwoyears,the Facebookpage hasn’tbeen
touchedin3 months,andthe twitteraccountprovidesnoprofessional articlesorinformation;itjust
postsjob openingsandlinkstoapply.Beyondthe Linkedinpage,all of the otheraccountsdonot appear
as professional,relevant,orproperlymanagedtodisplaycontentdesirable toCBIZcandidates.
Aftera candidate submitsanapplication,we shouldbe doingall we canto give themreasonto
wantto stick around.The more candidateswe have thatfollow throughthe interview process,the more
powerwe have to pickthe bestcandidatesandimprove aggregate employee quality.
Thus,I suggestthat the portal shouldbe alteredtobe as attractive and professional asthe CBIZ
jobssite.We consistentlywinawardsforbeingagreatworkplace andemployer,andwe shouldbe
capitalizingonthatas an area where we standoutwhencomparedwithothercompaniesthat
candidatesmightbe applyingto.The portal shouldbe full of informationtodraw inthe new applicant
and make themwantto be a part of our company.
Additionally,the applicantportal requiresthateveryapplicantcreate ausername andpassword
to logintothe portal.Yet,we supplynoreasonfor candidatestologback inat any point.We do not
sendnotificationswhenapplicationstatus isupdated,orevenwhenacandidate isrejected.Andevenif
theydidlogback in,again,there isno relevantcontentforthemtolookthrough.We as of now are
givingapplicantsverylittle reasontowanttostickwiththeirapplicationthroughthe process.Thisdoes
nothingbutpromote a sense of uncertaintyandwillingnesstostartlookingelsewhereforajob.
We couldalleviatethisproblembyprovidingreasonsforthemtologback in periodically
(relevantcontentaboutCBIZasan employer/workplace,etc.) aswell aspromptingthemtodoso. If we
for example setupanautomatedemail template tosendtoeveryapplicantwhentheirapplicationwent
from“accepted”to “underreview”,butjustsaidinthat email thattheirapplicationstatushadbeen
updated,there’snocandidate outthere thatwouldn’twanttocheckup onit. Theywanta job,andthey
wouldabsolutelywantto checkinon theirapplicationstatusif promptedtodoso.And we couldalso
add instuff like “bythe way,be sure tocheck inon all of these recentawardsCBIZhas wonas an
excellentemployer”,etc.,againwithlinksprovidedinthe portal.Applicants are thengoingtosee these
things,have more reasontowant to geta jobat CBIZ, andhave lessuncertainty/reasontoinitiateajob
huntelsewhere.

2. All of thisis possible todowithinTaleo,asfaras I understandit.
Issues/areasforimprovementonourcurrentportal:
 AttachedYoutube page thathasn’tbeenupdatedinovertwoyears
 Attachedsocial mediaaccountsthataren’tall that relevant
 No attachmentsorexposure toCBIZemployerawards
 No available informationonCBIZasa company
 No picturesof CBIZor its employees
 No notificationsentoutasapplicationwasreceived,statuschanges,etc.
 No notificationof rejection
 Afterbeingrejected,candidate can’tlogbackinto view statusas rejected
 Backgroundand textboxesof site donotmatch the coloror patternof otherCBIZ sites
 CBIZ logonotpresent
 Afterapplicationhasbeensubmitted,the portal of a loggedincandidate displaysnocontent
otherthan linkstosearchfor otherjobsto applyto
Proposedsolutions:
1. Restructuringthe recruitingportal onTaleo:
 The physical appearance:
The portal as isdoesnot match ourcareers site oroverall lookandfeel of our
othercompanywebsites.Bothourhome intranetpage andourcareerssite/talent
networkhave a white backgroundwithforestgreenoverlaidtextboxes.Goldandblue
are the twocolors usedtocomplimentthe green.Goldislargelyusedonthe white
backgroundstandingalone,while blueislargelylaidovergreentextboxes.Onthe white
and goldbackgrounds,plainblacktextisused,while whitetextisusedoverthe green
and blue fields.

3. There are a plethoraof customizationoptionsforthe applicantportal (generally
referredtoas the “career center”withinTaleoadministrationfunctions),asshownin
the instructionsbelow:

4. Headersandfootersare usedaswell onmostall of our companywebsite pages.The
headerwouldfeature the CBIZlogoconsistentlythroughoutthe pages(seebelowforhowto
uploadimagestoinsertintothe header).The footer providesconsistentlinksforinformationon
CBIZ.Terms of use,and the privacystatementare largelyprovidedonmostall the pages.
Additional linkscouldbe providedaswell,possiblythatlinkbacktoour mainwebsite.This
wouldallowcandidatesto have aprovidedroute backto oursite to see whatwe as a company
have to offerandhowwe showcase ourselvesaftertheysubmittheirapplication.Otherlinks
alongthese linescanbe insertedonapage-by-page basis,butIthinkat leastthisone wouldbe
beneficial tohave providedinaconsistentlocationoneverypage the candidate wouldaccess.
Here are a few examplesof headerswe use toreference lookandfeel:

5.  Addingimages:
Beyondthe headersandfooters,all of oursitesinclude imagestoshowcase the
positive andattractive workenvironmentthatCBIZstrivestoprovide forassociates.
These oftentimesaccompanythe linksprovidedtogive informationonCBIZ,toprovide
a more tangible previewof sortsof the associatedlink.Additionally,theysimplyserve to
provide amore welcomingatmosphere aboutthe site,andgive people apositive
impressionof ourcompany.It’sbeenstatedthatwe wantto give everyone the best
possible impressionof CBIZ,whetherornottheymay geta jobhere. Beingthatthis
portal may be the final page theysee aftersubmittinganapplicationandthe firstthing
theysee everytime theylogbackinto checkup on theirapplicationstatus,itmight not
be a badthingto spruce it up withsome attractive images.

6.  Removingoutdatedsocial medialinks:
As notedabove,the recruitportal currentlyhasbuttonsthatlinktoFacebook,
Youtube,Twitter,andLinkedin.Linkedin isthe onlyone of these that’sreallybeenkept
up to date.I can’t findinformationonthe userguide tofigure outhow to remove these
links,butI’dassume itwouldbe foundsomewhere underadministrationincustomizing
layouts/formatting.
2. Email updatesandstatuses:
 Statuses:
It’sentirelypossibletocustomize the numberandspecificityof statusesthatwe
have for applicants.Forexample,we couldhave “resume received”to“resume
reviewed”to“phone interview pending”to“phone interview completed,recommended
for ___”. I’mnot suggestingwe follow thatparticularlayout,butthe pointisthatwe can
use these statusestotriggernotifications(asshownbelow) tocontrol whenandhow
we sendout informationtoacandidate andget themto checkin on theirapplication
status.As I have statedbefore,inordertoengage candidates,we wantthemtokeepin
touch withtheirstatusesontheirownandina mannerthat putsminimal extraworkon
recruiters,interviewers,andHRdepartments.
Withwhat I’mproposing,we wouldjusthave tosetup a systemof statusesand
correspondingemailalerts,andupdate candidate statusesastheymove along. This
wouldsupplementournormal hiringprocesses.Emailswouldnotonlyprovide
informationonCBIZ,butalso linkstoshowcase the positive aspectsof ourworkplaces
so that candidatescanbecome directlyimmersedinwhatCBIZhas to offer.Upon
receivinganotificationof astatus update,candidateswouldalsolikelywanttologback
intothe portal to check on theirspecificstatus,whichasnotedabove wouldnow have
linkstothe CBIZ home page,attractive pictures,aprofessionalfeel,etc.Andbydoing
so,and givingcandidatesmore information,theywouldlikelyhave more engaging
talkingpointsforupcominginterviews,asthiswouldpromptthemtoprepare andbe
more readyto have an in-depthconversationaboutCBIZwithinterviewers.

7.  Statustriggeredemails:
The intentisall prettymuch explainedabove,buthere are some instructionsonhowto
setthose up:

8.  Email templates:
These templatescanbe usedtocreate customizedemailsforstatusupdates
that can be regularlysentoutto candidatesonce theyreacha certainpointinthe
process.A differenttemplate canbe usedforeachstatus,to ensure standardized
informationbe senttoappropriate recipients.Status-basedgroupsof recipientscanbe
designatedtoreceive particularemails.

9. Beloware a bunch of example emailtemplates.One thatjumpsoutat me is “interview
reminder”;thiscouldbe somethingwe use tosendoutinformation/linksasetamountof time
before aninterview tocastusin a positive lightsothatthe candidate comesinwithanalready
positive impression,andagainhave more totalkabout in-depthduringthe interviewitself.
Candidate rejectionemailsmightalsonotbe a badideato consider.Thisway,we have
an automatic,standardizedwaytoprofessionallycommunicate withcandidatesthattheydidn’t
getthe role.Thisprovidesanobjectiveandbalancednotificationtopreventnotionsof unfair
hiringpracticesor anythingalongthose linesinordertomaintainthe bestpossible impression
of CBIZ.And,we couldbe includinglinkstoencourage candidatestolookintoorapplyfor other
positions.
 Additional notes:

10. I believethatthese areasof focuscould,if usedeffectivelyinconjunction, providecandidates
withincreasedrepetitive engagementwithCBIZ.Inthe aggregate,thiswouldhelpusretainagreater
numberof candidatesaswell asincrease positiveexposure of ourfirm, eventoapplicantswhodon’t
obtaina positionhere.
I do notpersonallyhave experiencewithHTML coding/formatting,soIhave nomeansto do any
of the page layoutrestructuring.Idon’tknow if anyof youdo either.The email templatesandother
functionsseemeasyenoughtoconfigure throughthe administrative Taleointerface.
The instructionsthroughoutthisdocumentare the bestIcouldcome up withfromthe user
guide,thoughIhaven’tbeenable tolookthroughthemfirsthand. Ibelievethatthese are the correct
sequencesavailableforthe editionof Taleothatwe have,as far as I can tell.Additionally,there are lots
of videotutorialsprovidedbyTaleoonhow to customize the site,whichcanbe foundundertheir
resource centerat: http://www.tbetvonline.com/index.php
So,you guysare free totake thisanduse itas you see fit,if youbelieve itwillhelptomitigate
the issue of candidate retention.Frommyperspective,alotof what I’mproposinghere ismodeledon
whatcollegesare doingtotry to prove themselvestobe the mostattractive optionandmaximize
interestthroughreiterativeengagement.IthinkCBIZhasa lotgoingfor itin termsof beinga very
attractive optionasan employer,andshouldbe doingstuff like thistocapitalizeonthose aspects.
My lastday onthe jobhere will be thisFriday,8/12.But if anyone hasanyquestionsorwants
any otherfeedback,feel freetoemail me at dtubs213@gmail.com at anypointthroughoutthe year.I’d
be more thanhappyto help.