In January, 2008, Seven Step was assigned end-to-end responsibility for all outsourced recruiting efforts of a Fortune 100 insurance company headquartered in Chicago. The company's prior recruitment roster included overseas recruiting services and internal HR, which was distributed all over the country.

Before we were brought on board, the company’s recruitment efforts were becoming very bogged down, and goals were consistently being missed. Fewer jobs were being filled, and a backlog of open positions began to pile up. Hiring managers were frustrated at the length of the overall hiring process and the lack of urgency to start recruiting for newly posted positions.

Seven Step took a two pronged approach to the problem.

First, we worked to regain the trust and optimism of new hiring managers by working on newly-posted positions right away. We separated our recruiting teams by organizational structure and guaranteed to the client that we would communicate with hiring managers within 24 hours of drafting of every new position. We contacted every hiring manager to help them better understand the new and faster recruitment process.

Second, we sought to win back the trust of the managers whose positions were in backlog. By starting with the oldest requisitions first, we gathered as much information from the Taleo ATS as possible. Seven Step action teams reached back to the managers to fill in the blanks and formulate revised recruitment solutions. We explained the new process, and outlined a new sourcing strategy when hiring managers had no candidates in the process. We also stepped in to assume responsibility for background check management and salary negotiations, as a number of hires were bogged down in those areas as well.