Brightmove, a St. Augustine-based applicant tracking software developer, launched a new platform/plan Oct. 23 that allows employers of small businesses to find talent and gain exposure to hire the best candidates available in their market at an affordable rate.
"It takes all the features of a powerful recruiting suite that lots of big companies already use to do their hiring, and it makes it affordable for a budget-conscious business," Brightmove CEO David Webb said. "Whether it's a restaurant or a small hotel, a gift shop or a start-up staffing company."
While other plans typically require a longer commitment, which could be between one to three years, Essential is a day-to-day plan that allows small businesses to scale their costs and tailor their hiring needs. The plan offers scalability and customization options designed to benefit small-budget businesses.
"There's a lot of analytics that went into the pricing system," Webb added. "The things that cost us more cost the customer more, as the usage of the essential customers scales, so do our costs."
Webb invented and wrote Brightmove 12 years ago after realizing he could emulate the Amazon web services pricing model to create applicant tracking software (ATS) that small businesses can use. In doing so, he realized companies wouldn't have to fill open positions the old-fashioned way and that various types of businesses can reap the benefits.
"The hiring model is essentially the same for everyone: You have a job, people apply and then you fill it," Webb asserted. "So, the software is very customizable in that whatever your company's internal workflow is or your way of doing business, you can customize that in Brightmove and configure it."
Configuring Brightmove allows recruiters to be effective out the gate because they won't have to learn a new hiring method, Webb noted. The platform allows companies to configure the process to fit their current hiring procedure.
Webb also asserted that it’s harder than it looks for businesses to find suitable clients and fill open job positions.
"A good example for the restaurant industry is the ‘help wanted’ sign on the door," he said. "That’s dependent upon the right person walking in at the right time, looking for a job, visiting your establishment and then taking the time to apply for the job when maybe they weren’t even showing up to do that."
Another difficulty faced by businesses looking to fill certain roles, Webb added, is the fact that paper applications aren't searchable — and many small businesses still use them today. Brightmove's Essential plan mitigates these problems by allowing employers to quantify skills and sort and filter out applicants so the best ones rise to the top. Additionally, Brightmove’s branded self-service career portal for job applicants makes it easier for recruiters to keep track of good candidates.
"[Brightmove] allows us to get very targeted and specific with our recruiting efforts, with the qualifying questions, the workflow and the application process," said TalentYeti CEO John Perton, whose staffing and HR operations startup is based in Ponte Vedra Beach. "We can configure and customize for our skillsets and our specialty. It allows us to directly target the demographic and skill set we're trying to get."
Perton said the Essential plan has been useful for his company because it offers recruiting tools that are often unaffordable for small businesses.
"For a small company like mine, we are able to bring enterprise-level features to our clients and our candidates through Brightmove," said Perton. "To do that as a start-up with very little operating capital is powerful."
Thanks to Brightmove’s Essential plan, Perton has provided a transparent experience for applicants (a goal that led to the founding of TalentYeti) because it gives candidates the ability to monitor their status during the hiring process. The platform also allows job seekers to get real-time feedback.
Businesses can better utilize social media through the ATS. The software includes SMS texting integration (both inbound and outbound) and the capability to share job URLs with just one click. For long-distance recruits, Brightmove uses a third-party company called Spark Hire for video interviews.
TalentYeti’s CEO said Brigtmove’s features resemble Hootsuite’s social media platform in that they allow recruiters to hit several social media outlets with the push of one button.
For more information on Brightmove, call (904) 861-2396 or visit www.brightmove.com.
