Just one......recruitment process

A recruitment process is a recruitment process.  No one is that special that they need a special recruitment process.  Of course they have them mapped out and configured into their ATS at great expense and then wonder why they have to change it later, or when it just doesn't work.

If recruiters took an off-the-shelf process and just selected the steps they wanted to use just think how easy it would be to cross-train onto a new ATS.  Usability of the ATS is made a lot harder than it needs to be IMHO. 

• Do Amazon train their customers how to buy?
• Do eBay train sellers how to sell? 
• Do you have help sections for people trying to find and apply for a job (although some should!).

So why make the "back-end" of a system so difficult to use?  I know there are many reasons why it HAS to be like this but imagine if it wasn't.  Imagine a single process and UI.  One workflow.  One standard job template.  Zero user training - because you didn't need any.  Recruiters who loved their ATS.  How would the vendor differentiate then?

Of course this is just not possible.  RSS for example is not proof; neither is HR-XML (I think it is).

But what if all ATS vendors worked to this commonality and stuck to it.  Imagine the simplicity.  Imagine the removal of clutter.  Imagine the quiet in the sales process.  Imagine the focus on one outcome - hires.  Too much I know.  The status quo will remain for the majority whilst the minority plot the next move. 

Time to change the game.  Your move.