®CIVICHR

Marble Falls, TX CASE STUDY

Marble Falls Turns to CivicHR to Upgrade Their Hiring SolutionThe community of Marble Falls, Texas is a small town conveniently located near two of Texas’ largest cities. Located 48 miles northwest of Austin, and 85 miles north of San Antonio, Marble Falls is home to under 7,000 citizens. The population is growing however, as Texans are settling in Marble Falls thanks to its comfortable, welcoming atmosphere and convenient access to neighboring larger metro areas.Despite its ideal location, small size, and welcoming community, Marble Falls was facing challenges gaining the attention of prospective civic employees. Despite offering a comprehensive benefit package and the opportunity to make a difference in a warmhearted, advancing community, it was struggling to get noticed by job seekers looking for civic service opportunities.

To further complicate its talent acquisition process, the human resource department was still utilizing a paper-based job application system. It had invested in a human resource management software system, but was struggling with the implementation. As a one-woman department, Human Resources Director Angel Alvarado needed a system that was easy to implement and manage, and that would allow her to promote open positions across multiple online channels to gain the attention of a larger pool of qualified, regional job candidates.

BEFORE CIVICHR

The City of Marble Falls, TX had historically used a paper based job application and internal routing workflow. The process of receiving and distributing applications for department manager review was time consuming and slowed the entire hiring process.

“When a paper application would come in, I’d make three copies,” said Alvarado. “The copies would be distributed to the hiring department where they had to be reviewed. I’d make individual phone calls to candidates identified for interviews. I hardly ever sent letters to applicants that weren’t identified for an interview because it was just too time consuming.”

Alvarado was compelled to follow the inefficient, paper-based system despite the fact that her predecessor had invested in a human resource management system intended for local government. The system, however had never been implemented, which meant if Alvarado wanted to automate her human resource processes, she would need to execute the new software on her own.

Marble Falls, TX CASE STUDY

Despite the software company’s claims to be an easy-to-implement, technology leader in the public sector industry, the system was proving to Alvarado to be anything like intuitive.

“I tried to use the software since I had inherited it,” said Alvarado. “I just could not get it off the ground as a one-person department. It was incredibly time consuming. I tried dedicating time to the implementation and following the advice of my sales rep, but after several weeks of frustration, I finally gave up.”

Fortunately for Alvarado, an alternative solution soon presented itself.

“Our city was looking to purchase CivicPlus’ CivicEngage government website content management system. I was part of the committee that made the decision to partner with CivicPlus. I saw how easy it was to implement a CivicEngage website. When our account manager told us that CivicPlus also offers human resource software for government, I asked for a demonstration.”

Seeing how easy it was to implement and use CivicPlus’ CivicHR government HR software convinced Alvarado to make the switch. She put her contract with the previous government human resource software on hold. After implementing CivicHR, she cancelled the previous contract completely.

CIVICHR IMPLEMENTATION

Having already experienced the frustrations of a complex system difficult to implement as a single person department, Alvarado knew that with CivicHR, she needed the support of a dedicated implementation team.

“The implementation was very seamless,” said Alvarado. “There was no question I asked that my implementation manager couldn’t answer. I was never frustrated with CivicHR like I was with the previous system. I gave my CivicHR implementation team all the information they asked for in a spreadsheet and they integrated it into the system so I didn’t have to.”

Alvarado was also relieved to learn that unlike the previous system, there was no duplicative set-up that needed to be done with CivicHR.

“When I was trying to implement the previous system I was told I had to complete the set-up and enter all my data in a test site, and then re-enter everything into a live environment. As a one-person team, it was just too time consuming. With CivicHR, there was no duplicate work. The process was streamlined and efficient. My implementation team even gave me a timeline right from the beginning of the project and they stuck to it, so I knew exactly what steps in the process were going to be completed each week. I’ve never worked with a vendor before that has proactively given me a timeline, even though I’ve always asked for them”

AFTER CIVICHR

After a successful implementation, Alvarado has benefited from several CivicHR features that allow her to streamline her processes as a single person department, while attracting qualified talent to her small community. From a process perspective, the job assessment and auto-routing features have enabled Alvarado to expedite application reviews without adding manual steps to her already busy days.

“The assessment tools are so helpful in reviewing applicant resumes,” said Alvarado. “Before CivicHR, it took so much time to review resumes. Now, I build assessments and let the system pre-screen received resumes for qualified candidates.”

CivicHR has also helped Alvarado to reduce paper and speed department application reviews.

“I no longer need to make three copies of each qualified resume, put them in department mailboxes, and follow-up for feedback. By implementing CivicHR, our department resume review process went from taking weeks, to taking days. The system auto-routes qualified applicants to the appropriate department manager for review. I don’t have to do anything.”

Aside from expediting the hiring process, since moving to an online system with CivicHR, Alvarado has seen an increase in total applications as well as a trend in higher quality applicants for most positions.

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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

To further enhance Alvarado’s human resource processes, she is next looking to implement CivicHR’s onboarding application. By integrating with CivicHR’s applicant tracking system, the onboarding solution will enable Alvarado to more quickly and efficiently complete formerly paper-based onboarding procedures with new hires, such as the routing and receiving of new employment forms, administrative policy documents, and training materials.

GOALS FOR THE NEW APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM

Move to a digital solution that would alleviate the need for manual, paper-based application collection,review, and processing, and allow citizens to complete and submit applications anytime, from anywhere.

Expedite the application review process and make it easier for both human resources and hiringdepartments to quickly review only those qualified applicants and move them through the hiring process to the interview phase.

Attract a larger, more talented applicant pool by using more sophisticated, and easy-to-use jobapplication submission tools.

To learn more about how applicant tracking software can help your local government find and recruit the most qualified talent for your community, contact the talent acquisition experts at CivicHR at 888.228.2233 or visit Civichr.com.

TECHNOLOGY THAT WORKS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CivicPlus is the integrated technology platform for local government, working with over 2,500 local governments including municipalities, counties, and municipal departments. CivicPlus has been selected by Inc. Magazine as “One of the Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in the U.S.” since 2011. For more information visit Civicplus.com.

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