For a lean recruiting team to find the most entrepreneurial engineers in the US, only the slickest TA suite will do.  

Olsson Associates is in the business of civil engineering, both consulting and design, for multidisciplinary public and private infrastructure projects. What makes Olsson different is that it’s employee-owned, which means workers are more invested and the stakes are higher. So when Mandy Wehner, the company’s HR specialist, started shopping around for a new TA Suite, it didn’t take long to find, and ultimately choose, SmartRecruiters.

Thanks for chatting with us today, Mandy. Can you give us a brief history of the company?

Olsson Associates was founded in 1956 by John E Olsson, an East-coaster who decided to attend the University of Nebraska – Lincoln for engineering. Our headquarters are in Lincoln, and we have around 1,100 employees in eight states, and over 25 offices.

When did you join, and what attracted you to Olsson?

I became a part of the Olsson family in March 2015. What attracted me the most was how the organization fostered entrepreneurial thoughts, innovation, and encouraged employees to come to the table with new ways to solve problems. I love waking up every day knowing I get to make decisions, take ownership of my actions, and bring in new ideas to drive Olsson forward.

How did you find the hiring set-up when you arrived?

When I started at Olsson, the hiring was a bit different. In 2015, we had maybe 50 positions open at any given time. Since late 2016, we’ve had 90+ open positions to fill continually, and I don’t anticipate that slowing down at all. Our Human Resource team is starting to have some employees specialize in recruiting, so they’re really taking the lead in the ATS, knowing it inside-out and able to take the reins on the candidate experience.  

What were your biggest challenges, and victories, as you settled in and got things going?

Some of our challenges were being creative in trying to fill some challenging positions, creating talent pipelines, and building recruiting plans. Victories would include implementing a new ATS to help us become more efficient at our jobs, and more efficient with recruiting. We’ve been able to maintain better contact with candidates, and thus make their candidate experience enjoyable, with SmartRecruiters.    

How long was it before SmartRecruiters came into the picture?

We’d used a couple of ATS vendors before transitioning. We are still fairly new to SmartRecruiters, only having implemented the system in late September 2017.  

Was there a eureka moment that made the transition to SmartRecruiters a reality?

As we continued to grow, we realized we needed to upgrade our ATS to a system from which we could send emails, offer letters, and other documentation. Our old system just didn’t have that functionality. Our HR team is lean, and they were working too much outside the ATS, and it was taking too much time to complete tasks.

Did you know exactly what you needed to, or did SmartRecruiters come as one option of many?

We knew that we needed a new ATS, that was not a question. I had been doing a lot of research and SmartRecruiters actually was never on my list. It wasn’t until we were looking into onboarding systems (Clickboarding) that SmartRecruiters was mentioned, and when I looked into it, I was interested immediately.

What made you go with SmartRecruiters in the end?

Our HR group enjoyed the demo, because it was personalized for us. We felt the sales team really took the time to use our logo, and personalize the presentation to include our values, mission, etc. The functionality was top-notch compared to what we had before, and we felt SmartRecruiters would go the extra step to be a great vendor and to really work with us to get the most hiring success out of the ATS.

How long did it take to implement, and when was that?

We signed the contract to implement in July 2017, and we were up and running the end of that September. It was a very quick turnaround time for us, so we were really proud of the quick progress we made. The hardest part was getting our data out of our old ATS, but implementing SmartRecruiters was pretty painless.

Did you find any ways to make the software work for you that you hadn’t anticipated?

We have found that SmartRecruiters has new functions we didn’t initially anticipate using, ones around which we continually evaluate whether or not we should change our process. We especially like that SmartRecruiters has regular rollouts of updates – we didn’t have that with our old ATS so that is very promising.

What is the biggest thing SmartRecruiters has allowed you to do that you couldn’t before?

SmartRecruiters has allowed us to take a look at integrating our background check and drug-screen companies into the system. We’ve been able to save time and energy by completing tasks within SmartRecruiters that we couldn’t with our old ATS. We love the functionality of the system and look forward to continued improvements.

• Understand project goals and costs
• Craft well defined requirements or update existing ones
• Ensure accurate descriptions were sent to consulting candidates
• Reach consensus on required values and culture fit

Preparation will provide clarity about organizational goals and context for conducting interviews. When you think you are ready to interview potential consulting partners, refer to these three successful interviewing strategies and develop appropriate probing questions.

1. Ask for two or three self-appraisals relating to accomplishments and testimonials, referencing projects most like your own. For example, you might ask, “Why do you think your last project in Boston was successful?” Do their words match their deeds or do you find some inconsistencies?  You want answers to questions that provide you with accurate self-appraisals.  Do you notice a tendency toward excessive self-regard that won’t mesh with your company’s culture?  Look for character, not just talent.  Do they express themselves logically and clearly?  Candidates should be able to tie self-appraisals to accomplishments, demonstrating logic, clarity and consistency.  Descriptions of different projects should be unique and detailed, and the consultant should make you think, we need to work together. Already, you should start to understand what results you can expect.

2. Propose broad-based prompts related to topics they should know intimately.  For example, “Describe your last consulting experience and how you managed performance expectations while mitigating risks.” Does the candidate grasp the factors at play?  Do they show a tendency to put the client’s needs first? Look for a consulting partner that understands topics and themes that reign in their areas of expertise. Prior consulting experiences will help them express important nuances that can help you assess them.

3. Ask for complex comparisons to learn more about how they think.  For example, “Compare how you solved problems for manufacturers with your projects at service companies.” Their perceptions will tend to reveal how they think.  Do they cling to aphorisms and talk in empty platitudes, or do they speak candidly, humbly and from experience?

If you can increase the likelihood of hiring the “right” consulting partner for your organization, you will severely reduce organizational costs and move faster towards the achievement of goals. Read between the lines, watch for behavioral cues, and protect against your own biases as interviewer. The interviewing techniques shared are likely to improve interviewing performance by engaging candidates and encouraging them to reveal more about themselves.  If you ask the “right” questions when you interview a potential consulting partner, you’ll be more likely to make the “right” hiring decision.

For more information on how to interview.

David Chevalier maximizes sales performance through an integrated marketing approach. David is Co-Founder of SalesBlend and Chevalier Consulting Group.

Photo Credit: PaulNoad