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INTEGRATING AN ATS WITH ONLINE TESTING:
HOW BANK OF AMERICA DID IT RIGHT
By Kevin Cook, Senior Consultant, DDI
Kevin.Cook@ddiworld
Whether it’s building applicant pools, screening candidates, or even assigning specific interviewer questions to recruiters and hiring managers, technology has made it possible for organizations to automate a significant portion of their selection processes. However, bringing together these different applications, whose development tends to be dictated by their own unique and specific requirements, can sometimes prove challenging.
An excellent example of this is the integration of online testing with an applicant tracking system (ATS), in order to accomplish the goal of allowing testing data to be automatically fed into the ATS so that it is easily available to decision-makers. Ideally, this integration should prove to be relatively seamless, but challenges often arise. These challenges typically fall into one of two categories:
The testing does not adequately support the hiring process. This happens when the tests are not validated or not effectively integrated with other tools in the hiring process.
The technical requirements of the ATS preclude the use of testing.
As inferred above, not every ATS is designed to readily accommodate
the incorporation of online testing_especially highly tailored test
content. This is significant because the capability to integrate
robust online test results with a user-friendly ATS provides great
flexibility in applying online testing across multiple positions,
locations, and organizational levels.
At Development Dimensions International (DDI), we have worked
with many leading organizations to design and implement online testing
as part of their selection processes. One such organization is Bank
of America, which sought to increase the speed and accuracy of its
high-volume hiring for multiple operational positions. Bank of America’s
experience in integrating online testing with an ATS represents
a good illustration of the success than can result as well as the
primary issues that can arise.
Bank of America’s Business Need
As a large international bank that is a major player in several
major business segments, Bank of America recognizes its Operations
function as a critical component of its services. The 16,000 individuals
working in behind-the-scenes Operations positions (e.g., deposit
reporters, operations coordinators, cash handlers) are responsible
for sending, receiving, and processing much of the correspondence
for the bank. To ensure success, this function needs to operate
smoothly and maintain a high level of quality. A recent merger with
another financial services organization introduced new challenges
for the positions as the two organizations attempted to unify their
production and operations capabilities and workforce structures.
Hiring for these positions proved both time-consuming and costly.
In addition, turnover was a concern as too many unacceptable hires
were brought on the job only to quit and require the bank to continue
its selection activity. To keep pace with its competitors in a tight
labor market, the bank knew that it needed to screen, interview,
and make offers to candidates_all within the space of a single day.
The existing selection system for the positions in question included
skills testing combined with behavioral interviewing. While behavioral
interviewing represented an effective method for selection, the
organization wanted to streamline the process and ensure that only
the most qualified candidates reached the final interviewing stage.
The simple skills tests were not enough to do this and it was found
that hiring managers were wasting too much time trying to identify
the right candidates. In addition, Bank of America wanted to establish
consistent applicant testing and a consistent selection process
across multiple sites.
Selecting and Designing the Right Tests
As the first step in streamlining its selection process, Bank of
America identified competency profiles for the jobs for which they
decided to implement testing. The bank also recognized that it wanted
a more rigorous step to determine referral to the final interview
phase, thus improving the integrity of the final selection decision.
As a first step, DDI, as the vendor partner assisting Bank of America
with the redesign of its selection system interviewed nearly 50
current job incumbents and managers to confirm the competency profile.
This was done to ensure that the competency profile included the
right skills for the job.
A set of inventories was then identified to
map onto the confirmed competencies and serve to identify the candidates
who had the greatest potential for success in the job and would
be the right candidates scheduled for final interviews.
While validating the test content, DDI configured the ATS interface
that Bank of America recruiters and staffing managers would use
to manage applicant information, generate reports, track EEO compliance
and communicate across more than 100 hiring sites.
Working the ATS Into the Testing System
What made the data gathered from the tests and inventories especially
useful was the fact that it was seamlessly and automatically entered
into the DDI-developed ATS. The system was configured to support
the existing recruiting and staffing process in order to minimize
the need for change management. This allowed for a quick and relatively
painless implementation.
The streamlined process worked such that candidates would visit
one of Bank of America’s staffing facilities, where they watch
a job-preview video and then, working at an on-site computer terminal,
provide their basic contact information (name, address, ID, etc.)
and complete the three tests and inventories. A computer tutorial
was built into the system for those who were less comfortable with
the system. The site administrator has immediate access to the candidate’s
results and can conduct an on-the-spot behavioral interview or schedule
one at later time. The site is secure and password protected for
both applicants and bank users. Applicants must be invited to undergo
the testing and are given a unique username/password combination
that expires within 24 hours.
Given the size and scope of the testing initiative, there are hundreds
of Bank of America system users accessing the system on a regular
basis_each with different information needs and accountabilities
within the hiring function. The site administrator’s access
to the candidate data is but one of three levels provided by the
ATS. The three levels include:
Level 1: Site administrator—With candidate scores and results immediately available, the site administrator uses the ATS to schedule interviews and access individual candidate reports.
Level 2: Regional staffing managers—Decision-makers at this level can utilize the ATS to summarize information for a region, monitor EEO data, and create site administrators.
Level 3: Project manager—The ATS can be used
to produce corporate level summaries, change system operations,
and manage all system users.
The ability to access and manipulate candidate data, as needed,
at each of these levels represents a compelling case for the value
of an ATS. But, of course, the benefits an organization realizes
from having and ATS in place are even greater when 1) candidate
data includes assessment data that supports sound hiring decision-making,
2) the assessment data does not need to be manually entered into
the ATS, and 3) the assessment data can be accessed to support decisions
made at various points in the selection process. Bank of America’s
redesigned selection system met all of these requirements.
Seeing Results
What positive results did Bank of America realize through combining
online testing with its ATS? There were several:
- Applicant processing time was reduced by 19
percent. It was estimated that for every 1,000 applicants
Bank of America puts through its selection system, it saves about
300 hours of staffing personal time.
- Improved ability to identify successful performers.
Of those who passed the overall test phase, 84 percent were
rated as successful performers by their supervisors. In fact,
passing candidates are five times more likely to be successful
on the job.
- Significant return on investment. Extrapolating
the result achieved at a single staffing site across all sites,
the estimated annual return on investment from using the system
in selecting for the Operations job family was more than 2,000
percent.
- Favorable reactions from candidates. Ninety-seven
percent of respondents expressed overall satisfaction with the
selection process and agreed that the answers they were asked
to provide represented their abilities.
- Valid and fair assessment of candidates. The
inventories included in the system were able to distinguish between
high and low performers and increase the probability of selecting
the best candidates. In addition, analyses broken out by race,
gender, and age showed that the inventories treat all groups fairly.
Best Practices
While Bank of America’s marriage of online testing technology with its ATS was a tremendous success, it also was instructive in that it highlighted both best practices and lessons to inform future implementations.
Foremost among the best practices was that by providing valid, user-friendly, and effective online testing, Bank of America was able to project a positive, professional, modern image. By providing seamless presentation of the testing tools, reducing candidate anxiety around the online testing by incorporating an online tutorial, and addressing the needs of candidates to whom English was a second language, Bank of America was able to gather important information in a manner that was received exceedingly favorably. Also, by building in a reaction survey, a mechanism was in place to gather candidate feedback and make future enhancements to the process.
Also important was how Bank of America chose to selectively introduce technology into the selection process, as opposed to trying to automate the entire process. By processing candidates through staffing centers, instead of allowing candidates to enter into the selection process through a web site, and maintaining a reliance on behavioral interviews, important points of human contact and interaction were maintained_as was system security.
Use of the staffing centers allowed Bank of America to regulate the flow of candidates into the system. And having a centralized database represented an enormous improvement to the process. Bank associates can each access the system through their respective “views” and the system also exports critical data to the existing HRIS.
Lessons Learned
As for lessons learned, Bank of America and DDI can point to four in particular:
- Anticipate process and administration changes.
Although steps can be taken to minimize the impact on existing
processes and infrastructure, the addition of technology to a
hiring process will require some amount of change management.
Thinking that “we’ll do it like we did before, but on
the computer” is naïve. By properly managing change,
negative fallout and frustrations can be minimized.
- Assume that technical obstacles will arise.
Again, thinking that adding even fairly simple tools to your infrastructure
will not bring surprises is akin to keeping your head in the sand.
Diagnose and plan as much as possible_and then be prepared for
surprises. Remember, the devil is in the details. Even something
as simple as running different versions of a web browser on different
PCs can present problems.
- Plan for longer development and implementation time
frames. Given the above cautions, you will want to build a
cushion into your implementation planning. If you think your implementation
will take 12 weeks, plan on 20 weeks.
- Have multiple stakeholders test, test, and retest the system. Ever heard the adage that you “can’t see the forest for the trees”? Well, that couldn’t be truer than when implementing a sophisticated selection system. If you are leading the project implementation, it will be easy to become immersed in details and minutiae. Do yourself a favor: get your “ultimate customers” involved early. Have end-users (and maybe a couple of the people who pay the bills) play with the new toys. You will gather valuable diagnostic information and also increase buy-in along the way. The result will be a successful rollout with high acceptance and usability!