New online application for professional staff to simplify IU job searches

By Mique Keller

OLA was launched Tuesday (Jan. 29). Dan Rives, assistant vice president of University Human Resource Services, said the launch is the completion of a year-long effort to develop a custom-built online system for applicants of professional positions at IU Bloomington.

IU joins Penn State as the only Big Ten universities with a similar system in place.

The online application builds upon the existing one for applicants of support staff (SS) positions and takes it several steps further. For example, OLA includes a new level of convenience that allows applicants to attach any number of electronic resumes and cover letters from the applicants’ desktops. Applicants who want to tailor their information to a specific position will find this a desirable feature. They can also create a resume online and complete a skills certification form.

One year ago, project director Linda Rasmussen launched Careers@IUB, a Web site to recruit new employees. She also recognized the importance of providing a Web-based application and considers the online system to be an important part of the recruiting process.

“Since we’ve implemented the online application for support staff positions, the number of applications has increased, both in terms of quantity and quality. We expect similar results with applications for professional positions.”

Rasmussen estimated that the office handles approximately 17,000 position referrals each year—a time-consuming and labor-intensive task when dealing with paper applications.

“We designed OLA to support the needs of hiring departments,” Rasmussen said. “By streamlining the applicant-tracking process, we can provide quick responses to hiring departments and they, in turn, can provide quick responses to job candidates. Overall, we hope to spend less time finding the right person to fill a job.”

A link to the application is available on the Careers@IUB Web site. (See Web address at end of story.)

Each section of the application takes ten to 15 minutes to complete. Applicants receive an E-mail notifying them that their information was received, which is stored for at least three years. Applicants can easily update information at a later date by entering their user ID and password.

With the Tuesday launch, paper application materials will not be accepted, except for food service and service maintenance (FS/SM) positions.

University Human Resource Services plans to implement OLA on all IU campuses in the next year. Web-based testing also is being considered.

http://www.indiana.edu/~hrm/careers/