Larry L. Sautter Award Application
Project Title:
HireOnline
Submitted By:
Tom Leet
AVC Human Resources, 858-534-0286
Project leader(s) and team members:
Michael Yates
Joe Longfellow
Chaozi Chen
Director of Staffing
Lead Developer
Developer
Project Summary:
HireOnline is a comprehensive hiring system that was designed to allow campus and medical
center staff to easily navigate and manage the entire hiring process. The system provides a
complete online workflow with enhanced features that dramatically increase productivity while
reducing complexity and waste. In addition to providing tools and features that support
Recruiters and Managers, the system provides the unique ability to manage and collect
Screening and Interview Committee input. The many capabilities and features of HireOnline
greatly enhance our ability to quickly identify and interview top qualified candidates, giving UC
San Diego a competitive edge in hiring top talent.
Technology Utilized:
ASP.NET, C#, MS SQL, AJAX, JavaScript, jQuery, XML, HTML, CSS, SAML and other related
internet technologies.
Implementation Timeframe:
March 2010 – February 2011
About HireOnline
The HireOnline system is implemented as two secure web applications at UC San Diego:
https://jobs.ucsd.edu (Applicant Interface)
https://hireonline.ucsd.edu (Committee, Manager, and Recruiter Interfaces)
The Applicant Interface
Currently processing over 16,000 applications per month, the UCSD Jobs Site features:
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A new Job Bulletin with advanced search features and
The ability to save searches, bookmark positions, and subscribe to RSS feeds
A new Profile Wizard that greatly simplifies the process of applying
The ability to upload customized resumes and cover letters for each position
A new Resume Builder that helps create a resume from information in your profile
Branded Postings that allow for positions to have distinct identities
The new Profile Wizard greatly simplifies the application process by utilizing conditional
questions. By only showing those questions that are relevant to the applicant based on prior
answers, what was once a 16 page long form can now be completed in as little as a three
screens. What once took up to 45 minutes to complete can now be completed in less than
15 minutes. Once completed, the profile can be updated at any time and is presented for
review before every application. Snapshots of profile answers for each application are
maintained for auditing purposes.
The new application system allows for customized resumes to be uploaded on a per
application basis. All resumes are extracted for future searching and converted to PDF
format for consistent usability. In addition, applicants can use the Resume Builder to create
a preformatted resume that is based on their work history. Similarly, a customized Cover
Letter can be uploaded or created online with each application. A dynamic PDF Application
is also generated, allowing the applicant to see a “paper version” of what they have
submitted.
The Committee Interface
Accessed via Single Sign-On (SSO), the Committee Interface allows UC San Diego
employees who have been assigned to a Screening or Interview Committee the ability to:
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Review all candidate application documents and questionnaire answers
Score candidates while reviewing them online using a dynamic scoreboard
Share comments with the Hiring Department about a candidate
Print resumes and worksheets to score candidates offline
View and search for Key Terms in candidate resumes
The Committee interface reduces the amount of time it takes for committee members to
receive information about candidates as well as the amount of paper that needs to be
printed for large committees, and facilitates a collaborative approach to the recruitment
process at the UC San Diego campus and health system.
The Manager Interface
In addition to the features that Committee members use, HireOnline Managers are provided
with an enhanced interface via SSO that enables them to:
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Manage their open job vacancy requisitions with a “My Requisitions” area
Create job vacancy requisitions from job descriptions or previous requisitions
Review Committee Scoring Results to help in hiring decisions
Record Preliminary Decisions on candidates while viewing the Candidate Overview
Send emails to a list of candidates using pre-defined templates
Submit Interview Decisions and complete a Final Selection Report
Create Offers and route them for approval
Determine and submit any required hiring forms
Extend Offers and record candidate decisions
Confirm Hires and initiate onboarding activities
Generate scoring reports and worksheets
One of the most beneficial features for applicants and managers is the ability to attach and
complete a “pre-screening” questionnaire, providing an opportunity for candidates to be
rated based on a common vocabulary. This tool has greatly improved the quality of referral
pools, and has provided a better sense to candidates of the qualifications that a hiring
department is seeking.
HireOnline greatly improves communication with candidates by providing an enhanced
ability to create customized emails to candidate lists. A different list of email templates is
available for each applicant pool that the manager sees, and ensures consistency of contact.
Rejection letters are also available to ensure that candidates are informed promptly of their
status for specific job openings.
Hiring managers are also provided with access to all hiring tools and policy information from
the UC San Diego Blink business portal site along with access to the Title and Pay Plan
information for determining salary. Other advances in functionality include the ability to
quickly establish selection criteria using UC San Diego job descriptions and use that
information to score candidates, a text and video help center for new hiring managers, and
the ability to use offer letter templates for quicker onboarding as new hire forms are
automatically populated.
An important aspect of any campus-wide system is its usability. HireOnline has many special features
that enhance the user experience by leveraging “web 2.0” technologies including:
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Quick Lookup fields that automatically look up departments, employees, and titles
Dynamic interfaces that expand and collapse to save screen real estate
Improved form field completion and error displays
Online “mail merge” to allow for partial template completion
Model forms that allow for quick edits without disrupting workflow
Integrated image viewing for iPad or iPhone review of PDF documents
The Recruiter Interface
HireOnline Human Resources Department recruiters are provided an enhanced interface that
allows them to:
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Create questionnaires leveraging Templates and a Question Library
Create postings using Branding and Posting Templates
Search for prospects to invite their applications
Review the applicant pool to identify candidates to refer
Send emails to a list of candidates using pre-defined templates
Generate job vacancy requisition auditing reports
Make final approvals and send notifications
Request and manage Background Checks
Request and manage Reference Checks
Maintain internal notes, manage and tag candidate profiles
A new ‘Post-It-Up’ publishing process simplifies job bulletin posting procedures for recruiters
and improves the consistency of job posting content. Better defined job categories and
subcategories make the new bulletin and search results easier to navigate. The format of
each posting is customizable using branding and posting templates that improve search
results and readability. The old posting process required separate applications and took
over 15 minutes to post a position, while the new process is completely integrated and
takes about 2 minutes.
Recruiters have a “Heads Up Display” (HUD) that allows them to quickly and efficiently cross
reference requisitions, candidates, and applications. The HUD also allows for seamless
switching between reviewing one candidate at a time or entire pools of candidates. An
important feature of the manager and recruiter interfaces is the ability to make preliminary
screening decisions, which allows those decisions to be placed in a holding pattern and then
modified at the end of the review of an entire applicant pool. This feature reduces the effort
of editing decisions to increase or decrease the size of a referral pool.
The Candidate Overview is an essential component of all of the HireOnline interfaces. Since
the new applicant system provides many more details about the applicant, a more
sophisticated interface is required that allows for viewing many details in one place.
HireOnline recruiters can access all of the following elements, summarized and easily
accessible via a tabbed interface:
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Red flagging of a potential area of concern in a candidate’s application
Current and previous applications with highlighted changes
Work timelines based on a profile work history
Resumes and key terms with search capabilities
Cover letters and questionnaire answers/scores
Tracking and application history
Eligibility flags, “under consideration” flags, and applicant tags
Shared comments
Candidate notes
As a custom built solution, HireOnline was able to utilize and integrate with existing data
sources and services including SSO, the Employee Database, the Title and Pay Plan, the Job
Description system, as well as third party integrations (Background Checks, etc.).
HireOnline Home Page
HireOnline Requisition Overview Page
Recruiter/Manager/Committee Scoring
Committee Review Interface
Customer Satisfaction
UC San Diego conducts a confidential annual customer satisfaction service survey. The survey is
distributed to employees who are asked if they have utilized services from divisions in the External and
Business Affairs Vice Chancellor area. Attached are the survey results for Staff Employment and
Community Outreach Services, the division responsible for the launch of HireOnline. For the survey
period occurring when HireOnline was launched, the overall satisfaction for this division increased from
4.1 to 4.2 (out of a possible 5.0) for the academic population and from 4.1 to 4.3 (out of a possible 5.0)
for the administrative population. The results for this year’s survey show further increases to 4.3 for the
administrative population and 4.4 for the academic population. Staff Employment and Community
Outreach now ranks only behind the Campus Employee Assistance Program (4.4) with over 40 business
divisions measured by the survey.
The following are direct quotes from the Faculty and Staff Customer Satisfaction Survey Verbatim
Comments:
- “HireOnline is terrific! This is a very well-managed cutting edge department.”
- “Hey, great job on the HireOnline.”
- “HireOnline is the best hiring system anywhere-be it higher education or any employment
sector. This staff and the leadership of HR are geniuses for providing us with this wonderful
system and services.”
- “The on-line tools are fantastic.”
- “This area does a great job of outreach to units and using technology to improve processes.”
- “The hiring process went great, the on-line hiring system made the application review,
screening, and hiring fairly easy and kept me on track.”
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