E-recruitment gets the Nike tick of approval

System frees HR staff to perform more consultancy

ike, recognized across the world for the quality of its products, knew something had

N to be done about its recruitment process when it began to lose track of its job
applications and even called in for interview a potential employee whom it had
already asked to visit later that day.

The company’s Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) headquarters, based at Hilversum, in
the Netherlands, was expanding rapidly. The recruitment team, for example, comprised four
recruiters and one manager three years ago, but now has seven recruiters and two senior
recruiters. But still the company needed a new system to cope with the large numbers of CVs
circulating in the business.

Hilversum receives an average of 800 job applications a month, for an average of 100 to 120
vacancies at any one time. These volumes used to place considerable pressure on HR to
reduce the administration and lead-time in the recruiting process.
‘‘We have a firm policy that each applicant is a potential employee and customer and so we
must respond appropriately, in an individual letter where possible,’’ commented Rolien
Hoogers, EMEA staffing manager at Nike. ‘‘With only four people on the team, we were
finding it increasingly hard to do that, and we were losing track of where CVs were in the
company. We were concerned about how well we were protecting applicants’ personal
information, and there were mistakes, such as us calling someone in for an interview who
was already due to come in later that day.’’
A review demonstrated that the company had to standardize its HR processes in an attempt
to reduce duplication of effort. In addition, the cost per hire needed to be reduced and the
overall quality of talent hired into the business needed to rise. It was felt that the combination
of these elements, coupled with improved effectiveness, would help to promote a more
positive company image in the marketplace. Faster response times to applicants, together
with consistency in handling the administration associated with each appointment, would
lead to improved internal efficiency.

‘‘ We have a firm policy that each applicant is a potential

employee and customer and so we must respond
appropriately, in an individual letter where possible. With
only four people on the team, we were finding it increasingly
hard to do that, and we were losing track of where CVs were in
the company. ’’

DOI 10.1108/09670730510586995 VOL. 13 NO. 2 2005, pp. 33-35, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0967-0734 j HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST j PAGE 33
 Streamlining HR processes with e-recruitment
Nike chose to work with Jobpartners to implement the company’s e-recruitment solution,
ActiveRecruiter, which has been designed to help companies to manage the entire
recruitment process more effectively and quickly, resulting in a better relationship between
the company and its candidates. ActiveRecruiter offered flexibility and simplicity, and was
also cost effective and could be easily integrated within the company’s existing programs
from PeopleSoft.
External applicants can now apply for specific jobs or for more general speculative job
opportunities directly via the Nike internet site. Electronic links have been established with
external web-based recruitment organizations, such as Monsterboard, to provide further
job-posting opportunities to attract candidates. More conventional resourcing processes
are also used, including newspaper advertising and headhunting organizations for more
senior positions. Existing Nike employees can also directly apply for jobs posted on the
internal web site. ActiveRecruiter handles the application process, from the receipt to the
job offer.
Most applicants apply to Nike via the web site and can attach their resume after filling in their
profile. This means that hard-copy resumes have disappeared, and line managers can see
the resumes of the qualified short-listed candidates.
ActiveRecruiter makes the first match between the job requirements and the competencies
and experience of the candidate. The system then retains a pool of applicants on file, which
ensures that Nike has a readily available supply of CVs for open positions.
Some 8,500 CVs are currently held on the database. Each registered applicant is
automatically asked to update his or her CV every six months in order to remain active on the
system. The system is then able to search an expanding database of future interest when
open positions arise. This helps to reduce the costs of recruitment. ActiveRecruiter also
provides the ability to search for specific competencies when a short-listing for open
positions is being run, which ensures a better quality of candidate.
Managers now have permanent insight into the status of current job openings from their
desktop, and the resourcing team has fewer forms to complete. In time, the process will
result in a shorter time to fill jobs, with line managers receiving lists of candidates only at the
short-listing stage, and interview scheduling being carried out by ActiveRecruiter.

Measures of success
‘‘I am really pleased with the results,’’ commented Rolien Hoogers. ‘‘Savings of around 54
percent in recruitment costs have been identified since the system was introduced in July
2002, and there has been far less reliance on external recruitment and search agencies
because of the ‘future interest’ database.’’
From June 2003 to May 2004, 556 positions were filled with 235 internal Nike candidates,
144 from the Nike database (ActiveRecruiter), 60 through the company’s referral bonus
program, and 35 through headhunting organizations. The remainder came from job
advertisements and the recruitment consultancy, Adecco.
The average time to fill vacancies has fallen from 62 to 42 days. The cost per hire has also
reduced and Nike believes that it has covered the cost of its investment in ActiveRecruiter in
only six months. Each of the four recruitment-team members can handle 15 positions
simultaneously, as well as acting as consultant to the business.

Lessons learned
Three key learning points have emerged from Nike’s experience. First, Nike has recognized
that it is important to involve recruiters in the development and implementation process from
an early stage. Secondly, ensuring that the recruiters have a place in the project helps to
ensure buy-in and tackles some of the change-management issues involved in
implementing such a process that clearly affects working practices. And finally,
communication is critical to the implementation. Internal customers and users of the

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 ‘‘ Communication is critical to the implementation. Internal
customers and users of the system have to see benefits, not only
to the business as a whole, but also in terms of helping them to
achieve their recruitment targets and in attracting quality people
with the necessary skills and attributes. ’’

system have to see benefits, not only to the business as a whole, but also in terms of helping
them to achieve their recruitment targets and in attracting quality people with the necessary
skills and attributes.

Keywords:
Recruitment,
Communication technologies,
Human resource management
Future trends
Nike feels that even greater potential exists in improving the quality of the overall resourcing
process as ActiveRecruiter is developed further in the EMEA region. The vision is for
ActiveRecruiter to become a one-stop shop for quality recruiting. This will help to ensure that
increased time can be put into improving the capability of line management in interviewing
techniques, and that the resourcing group can be freed up to play a more consulting and
advisory role.

Note
This article was written by David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest
editor.

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