What is the best ICT system to use in a small recruitment agency?

Question

the benefits of the system? the disadvantages of other popular systems?

Answer 1

There is specific bespoke software out there for  such businesses you just need to get out there and look for it.

My concern is you will use a  system like Access and simply use it like a flat file spread sheet .

So often, even in my work, databases are not used correctly and their very purpose is not utilized. So go on the hunt, google/yahoo for recruitment software, its gonna be there it won't cost the earth and it will be catered to your needs.

Answer 2

I'd program myself a system that does specifically what i need.  But if you don't want to hire a programmer then MS Access is usually a good way of managing records in a database but can be difficult for an inexperienced user.

If i had time i'd offer to program one for free, a specific one would be much more user friendly and require little training, but i dont unfortunately busy with work :/ but i need a project so if you want something email me design spec's with what you want it to do and i may or may not give it a go ;)

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;)

Answer 3

Well that depends what you need - I would have thought MS Access or Filemaker would be requirements.

Both of these allow you to build a powerful database containing your workers details and produce reports and invoices for your clients.

Buy a book such as Access for Dummies and create exactly what you need, rather than an off-the-shelf product from another agency which does not know your business model.

Answer 4

The two suggestions here so far, about Access are actually quite good in so far as soemone within your business could take control and build it fairly easily over time to your own specifications. This does depend on a few things though... how small or large is a small recruitment agency?  And how quickly do you need it? Can you wait until they get the time and skills required?

I assume your staff are employed to do specific jobs (roles, whatever) and as such are probably fairly busy... the work required to specify the application you need as well as identify all those "nice to have" requirements is quite an in-depth task, even for a small application and does require soemone who knows what they are doing. Likewise to then turn those requirements into a useful and usable application is not always so straight-forward. So maybe it isnt appropriate to have someone from the business do this? To get a bespoke package built for you by a developer will cost you quite a bit so it really does come back to how large a small recruitment agency is and whether you can afford what you want... when I say "quite a bit"... a very rough estimate based on time to specifiy and build of say 1 month would cost you in the region of £5k-6k based on the average rate of an MS Access developer - some will come cheaper, a lot will be more expensive. Is it even achieveable in 1 month? 1 month of contact time isnt as much as it sounds... 2 weeks to spec the project (that is to produce a specification, basic prototype and agree on it, with all your "people") and then maybe 2 weeks to deploy, test and bug fix which both seem like fair estimates initially, in fact it leaves no time for actually building the thing!!! Other things to think about, from a bespoke perspective, is further development and ongoing support. It would be very easy to spend a lot of money and effort and achieve nothing.

Are there any packages out there that do what you want... almost definitely, I have to say I don't know them, maybe speak to some competitors or is there a trade paper? or forum?