Cloud-based recruiting software streamlines small business hiring

The 2013-2014 winter season has dumped record snow amounts on the northeastern United States, which has made it a rough go for public works agencies and employers to clean up. It also presented an opportunity for snowplow contracting service Xtreme Snow Pros to bulldoze its competition; however, the company was feeling increasingly hampered by its management and recruiting practices.

Owner Chris Marino came across Recruiterbox after searching online for hiring and recruiting assistance with his wife, who helps to run the Mahwah, N.J.-based business.

"We immediately knew that this tool could save us time and help organize our recruiting process," Marino says. The company's hiring system at that point just consisted of a spreadsheet, he explains.

Recruiterbox, a Web-based recruitment software company offers a cloud-based applicant tracking system, which Xtreme Snow Pros started using more than three years ago.

Since its launch in March 2011, Recruiterbox has helped  more than 700 small businesses  gain control of their recruitment needs by triangulating all information electronically and streamlining HR management.

“The genesis of us building this tool [was] that there are a lot of larger applicant-tracking software [programs] out there, and a number of them do a great job in helping HR departments with compliance, with permissions and keeping things in one place,” says Raj Sheth, CEO and co-founder of Recruiterbox, while noting that most small businesses only care about not losing incoming résumés and hiring information.

The backlog of emails and other electronic correspondence, as well as tracking applicants through Microsoft Excel, is an area where Recruiterbox can help, Sheth says. The recruiting software is currently available on the Google Apps Marketplace, advertised as best for startups and small companies for a free trial and varied monthly pricing that ranges from $90 to $1,000.

Small business gains

Because Xtreme Snow Pros is usually quite busy during the winter months, Marino says that the company uses the electronic ATS software to fill seasonal positions in September and October.

”It was really hard for us to focus our efforts [on] anywhere but recruiting and hiring, especially since we have 50 positions to fill each winter,” says Marino. ”It’s a daunting task for a small business to fill so many positions each year and the process we had in place, just using our email and a spreadsheet, was not efficient. Recruiting and hiring took up all of our time and left little time for us to focus on other aspects of the company.”

The time gained thanks to Recruiterbox -- roughly four to five hours a day -- has allowed the Marino family to cut down on time spent on the hiring process and focus more energy to growing and developing the business, he says. The tool allows businesses to post job openings on all the major job websites and keep track of all communications and prompts.

”The automation and organization features allow me to always present my company in a professional manner,” says Marino. “It’s like we have a full-time HR person on staff for a fraction of the cost.”

Recruiterbox is a product of Aplopio Technology, which was founded by Sheth, Girish Redekar and Raghuveer Kancherla. The software does not require training and self-teaches users once they are included on the system, which is one of the reasons for the high frequency of take-up among its diverse segment of businesses and business groups. Recruiterbox has helped companies ranging  from large restaurant chains and the U.S. Department of Energy to Groupon in China.

In addressing future recruitment and hiring challenges, Recruiterbox is planning to maintain its current business model, which is focused on smaller businesses that may or may not have dedicated HR or recruiting personnel. 

“We are not going to keep pushing in the future and go start selling to Fortune 500 companies,” Sheth explains. ”We do have a ceiling in mind, because we still want to remain relevant for these chains of restaurants and other folks.”