This document discusses challenges with attracting quality IT talent to the Maine Office of Information Technology (OIT) and recommends solutions. It finds issues with OIT's current hiring process including an unclear career page, too many clicks to apply, and reliance on Word documents. Research identifies solutions like Jobvite software which allows automated social posting of jobs, LinkedIn applications, and analytics. An interim pilot aims to improve OIT's process but lacks long term features. The document's recommended solution is to implement Jobvite to address issues like career page confusion and mobile optimization in a cost effective way.

1. 2015
State of Maine
OIT Intern Challenge
Paul Fowler
Spencer Gray
Nate LaClaire
Daniel Misner II
INTERN CHALLENGE: ATTRACTING
QUALITY IT TALENT

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Contents
1 Business problem......................................................................................... 2
2 Current process............................................................................................ 2
2.1 What we do............................................................................................ 2
2.2 What others do....................................................................................... 3
3 Problems with current process ...................................................................... 4
3.1 Problems with OIT’s Process.................................................................. 4
3.2 Other problems to avoid ......................................................................... 5
4 Intermediate “Band-Aid”.............................................................................. 5
5 Research data analysis.................................................................................. 7
6 Final Solution Requirements......................................................................... 8
7 Process of identifying solutions .................................................................... 9
7.1 Matching Solutions ................................................................................ 9
7.2 COTS or NOT...................................................................................... 10
8 Recommended solution .............................................................................. 10

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1 Business problem
The business problem being solved within this project is attracting quality IT talent to OIT.
The Office of Information Technology is going to be facing a high percentage of current employees
reaching the age of retirement and will need to fill positions as a result. This project addresses the first
encounter potential employees will have with OIT,the application and hiring process.
2 Current process
In order to better understand our goal, we took an extensive look into the recruitment habits of
not only OIT but many other companies in the private and public sector.
2.1 What we do
Individuals looking for a position at OIT might begin at the OIT home page or the Maine.gov
home page. From the OIT home page (which, one should note, cannot be reached directly from the
Maine.gov home page), there is an “IT Careers” heading partway down the page with a link that will
take the candidate to a colorful page promoting OIT’s talent brand and linking to a list of current
openings. The OIT home page also contains a smaller link in the right-hand sidebar under the
“Featured Links” heading named “I.T. Jobs” that takes the candidate to a simpler page listing openings
at OIT. Neither link is part of the main navigation and would be easy to miss, especially the I.T. Jobs
link under Featured Links. Additionally, neither page provides the ability to search,sort, or filter the
openings, though fortunately, there are generally no more than 10 openings listed.
A potential candidate starting from the Maine.gov home page would likely click “Jobs &
Employment,” which will take the candidate to a page providing links to job opportunities throughout
the State of Maine. The second link on that page is named “State Government Jobs” and takes the
candidate to a page explaining the State’s Civil Service System. A highlighted box at the top of that
page provides links to view “Open Competitive Jobs” and “Direct Hire Jobs,” two terms that are
explained in vague detail further down the page. Clicking either link results in a page that lists jobs in
alphabetical order with no ability to search or filter. Should one correctly click “Direct Hire Jobs” and
find a position at OIT,clicking the link for that position takes one to the Direct Hire Career

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Opportunities page on the Division of Financial and PersonnelServices site, from which one must
once again find the position, this time in order by Recruitment Start Date.
Regardless of which of the above methods one uses to find the job posting, clicking on the job
title to view the description causes a Microsoft Word document to download, which the candidate must
then open. Should the candidate decide to apply for the position, the document provides a link to the 7-
page application in PDF that requires printing, signing, and either mailing or scanning and emailing.
The application contains a warning that incomplete applications might not be processed.
On the “Jobs & Employment” page mentioned above, the sixth link is named “Maine
Technology Jobs” and links to the Tech Maine site, a non-government site on which OIT also lists its
openings, alongside other Maine employers. This site is searchable and sortable and the job
descriptions posted on it are in standard HTML, so no Word document need be downloaded.
2.2 What others do
A survey of 20 other states’ Web sites determined that Maine is actually among the better
states when it comes to ease of finding job postings and is comparable to many in regard to the
application process; however,no other states surveyed required downloading a Word document to
view the job description and most provided the ability to filter and/or search openings. Additionally,
some states,such as New Mexico, provide explanations of the hiring process,a preview of documents
required to apply, and/or more modern career site designs.
A survey of business sites, including Microsoft, Apple, IDEXX, Fairchild Semiconductor,
LinkedIn, L.L. Bean, Pen Bay Medical Center, Pure Cars,Dave Ramsey,and others, found vastly
different results. In all but a couple of cases,the career site was readily found via a “Careers” or “Jobs”
link in the site’s standard header or footer. In most cases,job openings could be found within 3-5
clicks, though in some cases the process of finding job openings was more complex. In many cases,the
career sites were bold, clean, and promoted the company’s talent brand. Like many government sites,
the business career sites generally allowed filtering and searching of openings. In all cases,viewing the
job description was accomplished within a Web page rather than requiring downloads of Word
documents and, in many cases,sharing of postings via social media was made simple. Unfortunately,

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many companies require creating an account and going through a long process of setting up a “profile”
to apply for a position. The advertised benefit of going through this process is to enable easily applying
for multiple positions and tracking applications; however, it complicates the process for those who are
applying for the first time and may never apply for another position. In many of these cases,the
“profile” included details similar to the State of Maine’s own 7-page application and required a similar
amount of time to complete, the only difference being that the sign-and-scan step required by the State
of Maine was missing. Fortunately, a number of employers provided single-page applications that
could be pre-filled from a resume and cover letter or even a social profile such as LinkedIn or
Facebook.
3 Problems with current process
Like many other websites that we have researched (both in the private and public sectors),
Maine OIT’s website does provide working services for job search and application. Even though the
current online application process is functioning, there are still many problems that need to be
addressed. These problems hinder the recruitment process (and prevent a “wow” factor) by means such
as: reducing visibility of the whole process,discouraging/alienating applicants, reducing simplicity,
and excluding critical information.
3.1 Problems withOIT’s Process
Maine OIT’s website does not exactly model sleek and exciting modern day website design.
The web pages on the site are not too complex, but at the same time they lack a certain simplicity and
style. The content and design on each page does not capture attention and promote interest in the
website or Maine OIT.
The problems related to the process do not completely have to do with website design. Here
are some of the other problems with the Maine OIT website’s application process:
 On the main page there isn’t a dedicated careers button right out in the open for applicants to easily
find their way to workforce development – it shouldn’t just be a link located near the middle of the
page under “IT Careers.”

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 There are certain links that are broken and do not lead to anything.
 There is excessive labeling of “IT Jobs” throughout the site. This could deter applicants who wish
to apply for a non-IT position.
 The application process takes you through too many clicks – navigating the website makes for too
long a process before reaching an application page.
 The process lacks centralization – the whole application process for different jobs happens on
different pages. All jobs should be listed on one page in some form.
 The site relies heavily on hyperlinks – this can make navigation of the site very confusing, and it
can also make the pages look cluttered.
These problems would mainly cause applicants to become confused with navigating the
website, as well as make it difficult to find the application information for a career they may be
interested in. Eliminating these problems along with making the website stand out with a simple and
elegant design is likely to attract more qualified IT talent.
3.2 Other problems to avoid
With the problems listed above in mind, it would make sense to make note of some other
common application process mistakes made on company websites. Here is a list of other common
mistakes to avoid:
 Dull colorless webpages and forms.
 Mixing internship positions with professional positions.
 Having application process spread across multiple websites.
 Lack of job description details.
 Application account setups that alienate the applicant.
4 Intermediate “Band-Aid”
In late 2014, OIT initiated a pilot study aimed at bringing our application process into the 21st
century. Targeted for implementation in Spring 2015, the pilot study will address severalareas:

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 The initial application completed by candidates will be a simple Web form asking just basic
contact and demographic information and including the ability to upload a resume and cover
letter
 Hiring managers will receive applications directly, be able to screen them in real-time, and will
take ownership over the screening process
 Applications, interview responses, hiring justifications, and other documentation will be
tracked in a basic Applicant Tracking System
 OIT’s career page will be improved to better attract IT candidates
 Social media will be used to provide outreach
While it is expected that this “bandage” will improve OIT’s ability to attract talent, a number
of gaps will remain unfilled:
 The pilot study solution will not automate the process of posting openings to social media, job
boards, or even the OIT Web site, which will create more work
 The pilot study solution doesn’t address the fact that job postings on the OIT site are delivered
via Word documents, which limits search engine optimization and adds complexity for
potential candidates, especially mobile users
 The public-facing parts of the pilot study solution are primarily mobile-friendly (with the
exception of the Word documents noted above), but lack the options to apply with LinkedIn or
upload a resume from Dropbox, both of which make applying much easier for mobile
applicants
 The pilot study solution does not address the need to proactively reach out to potential
candidates, build relationships, or notify those who are interested in OIT positions of new
openings
 The pilot study solution does not address making it easy for OIT employees to refer
professional acquaintances who would be a good fit for the position

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 While the pilot study solution allows searching by candidate name and position, it lacks the
ability to match search terms inside resumes and cover letters and also lacks the ability to tag
candidates with skills
5 Research data analysis
In searching for severalsolutions to the business problem, we came across severalCOTS
products. The considerations for this type of solution were mainly focused towards ease of
implementation and a shorter time to implement as well. The major products focused on during the
research were RecruiterBox,Jobvite, CATS applicant-tracking software,and NEOGOV. Upon further
research,we found an internal conflict with NEOGOV and threw that solution out from the beginning.
This left RecruiterBox, a cloud solution aimed at simplicity for the user, Jobvite, another cloud
solution with a full feature-set for internal users and a social hiring environment, and CATS,a web-
hosted solution with a fairly broad feature-set.
After compiling the group of potential solutions, product demos and trial services were
scheduled amongst the team. Due to scheduling conflicts, RecruiterBox and CATS were not able to
provide a live demo, but instead offered a 14-day, free trial and a pre-recorded demo, respectively. A
live demo with Jobvite was scheduled and executed via WebEx with Jobvite representative, Megan
Catanzaro on March 6, 2015.
RecruiterBox was geared towards a clean, simplistic outlook for both the applicant and hiring
team. Among the features included were automated attachment imports from emails (resumes,cover
letters, etc.),customizable workflow, automated job posting to external sites, email alerts for scheduled
events, and mobile-optimization. Specific tasks could be created,assigning hiring managers and
potential interviewers to individual applicants, with each job posting having the option for a different
workflow configuration with ease.
CATS offered a fairly large feature-set,with most of the same features as RecruiterBox,yet
seemed much harder to use for internal employees. The careers page was not quite as clean as

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RecruterBox,yet provided a mobile-optimized solution as well. Added features that were not included
with RecruiterBox were Microsoft Outlook integration and a better reporting environment.
Jobvite was a solution that was also hosted externally, providing an I-frame add on to be
inserted into the OIT Careers page. This solution proved to have nearly all the same features of both of
the previous products, with a few added features such as one-click LinkedIn job applications. With this
feature,potential applicants are given the option to apply with their LinkedIn accounts, automatically
importing any resume attachments, job skills, and a link back to their account. This feature can be used
to autofill some of the fields through the Jobvite interface, and custom screening questions can be
configured for the applicant to answer before an interview is scheduled. Automated job postings to
Twitter and Facebook are standard options, with automated postings to LinkedIn requiring a custom
subscription. The interface through which the hiring team would be accessing the product appeared to
be very clean and easy to use,while still maintaining the rich feature-set outlined below.
6 Final Solution Requirements
Taking into account the various problems involved with the issues associated with the current
OIT career page and what we had observed through research,we were able to develop a concise list of
requirements for the proposed solution. A list of those requirements are as follows:
 Reduced confusion on the Career page
 Reduced number of clicks to apply
 Branding – Career page integration. The Jobvite page is embedded in the existing OIT career
page.
 Customized workflow – Specific procedures for different departments in OIT.
 Outlook integration
o Outlook calendar appointment creation
o Ability to see when hiring managers are available for screenings, interviews, etc.
 Automated processes
o Reminder Emails

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o Automated attachment imports
7 Process of identifying solutions
With a solid understanding of the problem with OIT’s current process,and the knowledge of
what is necessary to “wow” potential applicants, it was time to go through a process of solution
identification. As a result of brainstorming, the process was broken up into two main phases. The first
phase was matching solutions to identified problems with the recruitment process, and the second
phase was choosing whether to implement solutions using in-house development or commercial off the
shelf software.
7.1 Matching Solutions
We discovered many issues with OIT’s current recruitment process that need fixing in order to
provide a proper recruitment experience for potential applicants. We also discovered problems that
other companies were suffering from. From our understanding of what needs to be fixed, we have laid
out solutions to eliminate what is wrong with OIT’s process,and to prevent running into other issues
that different companies may be facing.
 Keep recruitment web pages simple in visual design and easy to read
 Make careers links (buttons, tabs, etc.) easy to find in order to reach recruitment web pages
 Allow for easy/simple use for not only applicants, but also employees managing applications.
 Do away with any broken or misleading hyperlinks
 Do not label any links to applications pages as just “IT Jobs”
 Make sure that the application process keeps webpage navigation time and number of mouse
clicks to a minimum
 Give the applicant the ability to submit application forms online right on the recruitment page
 Keep the applicant activity centralized on the OIT website – make sure that any recruitment
material stays put on the OIT website

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 Mobile site optimization
 Metrics and Reporting functionality
7.2 COTS or NOT
With the right solutions in mind, it was time to determine whether or not we should use
resources at OIT or cloud solutions to implement the changes needed to our recruitment infrastructure.
There are many interesting commercial off the shelf software packages available to businesses for
recruitment systems. We looked at different cloud solutions such as NEOGOV,Oracle Taleo, Jobvite
and many more. We understood that such cloud solutions would come with a price, but they could also
provide an immediate service to fit all our needs. Ultimately we chose to forget about in-house
development because of the amazing opportunities that cloud solutions had to offer.
8 Recommended solution
Based on our research,our first recommendation would be to use the Jobvite COTS solution.
It has many of the features that we have determined will be beneficial and minimizes the problems
currently being experienced by many companies.
As we did our research to determine the best possible solution, we immediately went back to
our requirements to “wow”.
Requirements List:
 Less confusion on the Career page – by using Jobvite Hire, we can create innovative
dashboards and links to the cloud based system.
 Reduced number of clicks to apply – Jobvite Hire has “common-sense” navigation, which will
eliminate candidates getting frustrated or bored with the process.
 Branding – Career page integration – Jobvite is dynamic, accessible and continuously updated.
Our ability to create a branded career site combined with connections to social job sharing, job
distribution to social networks and employee referralmanagement in one place will not only
streamline the process but give the OIT department consistency in branding and a

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comprehensive appearance that can only further to encourage and assure viable, even hesitant
candidates that they will be applying to work with a department that is cutting edge and worthy
of their time, effort and skill set.
 Customized workflow – Specific procedures for different departments in OIT. Jobvite Hire is
customizable for the different requirements in OIT. There are many features that allow for
multiple configuration workflows. This will allow for a more dynamic process that is most
likely going to meet the varied needs of our very complex department.
 Outlook integration – Jobvite is able to connect through Outlook including integrated
scheduling, email templates and approval emails in addition to interview evaluation forms and
offer letter automation.
 Automated processes – Jobvite includes integration with vendors including background
checks as well as has a searchable candidate database. Within it are page analytics, several
report templates as well as the ability to create dynamic reports. It also allows job seekers to
search based on their own criteria in addition to providing them with the opportunity to upload
resumes or social profiles and submit applications quickly and easily. These automations
simplify things both on the applicant’s end and the hiring end.
Jobvite has already done the majority of the work and as a result has a program that is tried and
tested, eliminating the need to “recreate the wheel” and offers customer support that is accessible in
various forms and also affords us access to updates and upgrades based on their huge customer base
rather than having to be reactive with regards to our own product. They also indicate that they support
all of the major browsers in several versions. Lastly, Jobvite is both secure and reliable as TrustE
certified and hosted on Amazon Web Services which maintains the highest industry standards in data
security and with the current state of data breaches,this adds another level of security but also ensures
credibility in the OIT department.
Given that the field of OIT has to be on the cutting edge and relies heavily on people to make that
happen, it only makes sense to have a recruitment/hiring system that is equally as cutting edge so that
we can not only “get the job done” but do it in a way that would indicate to a potential candidate,

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especially those people who may be getting their first impression of state government or the OIT
department, that we recruit and hire people that are also cutting edge and will inspire them to want to
continue their careers in a position that supports their passion. Ultimately, if you want the best people,
then you have to have the best possible interface because you only get one chance to make a first
impression and for techies, that first impression needs to convey confidence and commitment to the
technology that is so highly regarded. Jobvite will do just that and for that reason it is our
recommended solution.