Article about selecting recruiting software and the importance the different pricing options

1. BrightMove, Inc.
320 High Tide Drive, Suite 101B
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(877) 482-8840
Selecting Recruiting Software: Understand your pricing options, it can
save you thousands
by Michael G. Brandt - BrightMove Recruiting Software
Article:
http://www.brightmove.com/selecting_recruiting_software_understand_your_pr
icing_options_it_can_save_you_thousands/
This is Part 2 in a series of articles I am writing to help companies in their
efforts to select recruiting software and applicant tracking systems. In this
article, I want to cover how to navigate your pricing options in recruiting
software packages and at what point you can negotiate the pricing for your
solutions.
Product Pricing Options
There are typically a few key pricing methodologies in recruiting software you
should consider. I have outlines the three most common and the implications.
Per Recruiter/Manager Pricing
Many vendors don’t offer this anymore in HR Recruiting software but this is the
ideal option for companies who don’t intend to implement an employee portal.
This would be a much lower cost over other pricing models when you only need
to license your recruiters but this typically means you won’t have licenses for
your employees to log in. If you intend on allowing employees in at a later date,
negotiate the per employee pricing up front allowing you to move to it later.
Per Employee Pricing
Per employee pricing is the most common pricing model for HR departments
aka corporate recruiting. This is great for scenarios where you will have
employees and managers in the system. This pricing model does not typically
require you to name the number of recruiters either, which might be great for
Private and Confidential

2. BrightMove, Inc.
320 High Tide Drive, Suite 101B
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(877) 482-8840
companies who do seasonal recruiting but don’t want the cost of adding
recruiter licenses.
Per Hire Pricing
This is not as common in the space but lets you pay only for what you hire.
BrightMove offers this as an option for our RPO Software Quantify. Pay as you
go is quickly becoming common. Keep in mind, if you plan on a big upswing in
hiring, this is probably not the option and could get very costly over other
pricing options.
Implementation Strategy and Costs
One critical part of cost can be the implementation strategy that you want to
adopt. I personally am a big fan of SaaS OnDemand deployment and absolutely
think this is the way to go if you are coming off paper. I have seen companies
make the critical mistake of lengthy implementations when coming off paper
only to completely change that configuration and hiring strategy within only a
few short months of actual use. Many SaaS out of the box solutions come with a
baseline configuration that will provide a great starting point for companies.
Once you have an understanding of your usage of a system, you will be in a
much better position to make sensible configuration decisions.
SaaS OnDemand Deployment
This is typically a no cost deployment for small to mid-size companies wanting
an ATS solution. OnDemand deployments require little to no initial setup and
they are typically at no cost to you depending on vendor or can typically be
negotiated to free as part of the sale cycle. Make sure that when you check
references (discussed in a later article), ask about costs during implementation
that came up. There are several vendors out there that say they have no
upfront costs only for customers to find that there are small one off costs that
add up.
Consultative Implementation
This is what you would typically call a standard implementation for companies
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3. BrightMove, Inc.
320 High Tide Drive, Suite 101B
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(877) 482-8840
seeking assistance from the vendor in deciding key configuration requirements.
This type of implementation is ideal for companies that have been using a
system but want to analyze their data and identify some best practice
configurations for their specific type of recruitment. Before engaging in an
implementation ensure you identify your specific needs. Vendors can provide
both configuration consulting and best practice consulting and they will need to
fully understand your goals here before you get any estimates. Most vendors
quote configuration consulting up front and you could find your project costs
doubling if you don’t have all the expectations set up front.
Key Implementation Points to Consider
Negotiate Rates for All Work – You can typically negotiate project rates
down on any given project but make sure you set standard rates for the
duration of your contract. You will normally set per role rates but I am a big fan
of setting a blended rate which is a flat rate for any project work regardless of
roll.
Fixed Bid Implementations –Fixed Bid means you have a set price for the
implementation. In my opinion, there aren’t many true fixed bid
implementations when you read the fine print. Make sure if you negotiate a
fixed bid implementation that you have fully read the assumptions and change
control documentation.
Ask References Questions – Make sure you ask your references questions
about overages on the project. Ask specific questions how rates, duration, on-
time completion, and overages. If there were overages, find out if it was
something that was not communicated clearly up front.
To Contract or Not To Contract
Contracts are part of the business and many vendors require you to enter into a
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4. BrightMove, Inc.
320 High Tide Drive, Suite 101B
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(877) 482-8840
term contract. One of the main reasons for this is ensuring the revenue stream
over a period of time. When they can ensure the revenue, you can absolutely
negotiate the rate. However, you could get your company stuck with a lot of
licenses you don’t use if you have a lot of waves in your recruiting. I am not
personally a big fan of being stuck in a contract for several years and this is not
something we require but you will have to decide if this is important for you.
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