SMS Intermediair adds value to the candidate journey by using OTYS

Recruitment software, such as OTYS' Applicant Tracking System (ATS), automates certain parts of the recruitment process. This allows recruiters to work faster and more efficiently. As a result, they can spend more time with clients and candidates. But, how can a recruiter keep this contact personal, despite digitalization? And how can a marketing tool like ActiveCampaign help with this? These are the type of questions that Karlijn van der Noll of SMS Intermediair tends to ask.

Working together closely

As a recruitment marketeer and senior consultant at SMS Intermediair, a recruitment specialist in the creative sector, Karlijn van der Noll likes to add value to the candidate journey. She worked closely with consultants from OTYS and XA Flow to realize this ambition.

Strong informal network

SMS Intermediair operates nationwide from offices in Amsterdam and Eindhoven. The recruitment agency connects specialists in marketing, communication, design, sales, packaging and print with clients. These employers can turn to SMS Intermediair for a variety of personnel services such as secondment, hiring temporary workers and the recruitment and selection of permanent employees.

According to Van der Noll, automation can facilitate more time for personal contact. "Our contacts with clients and candidates are personal and lasting. We have a strong informal network that we have been building for 30 years. OTYS helps us structure the data within this network. In OTYS' ATS we can store and process the data of clients, vacancies and candidates in a structured way. This gives us more efficiency, overview and time. And we really need that time to give everyone in our network sufficient personal attention."

OTYS helps us structure the data within this network. In OTYS' ATS we can store and process the data of clients, vacancies and candidates in a structured way. This gives us more efficiency, overview and time. And we really need that time to give everyone in our network sufficient personal attention.

Karlijn van der Noll
Recruiment marketeer & senior consultant - SMS Intermediair

Partnership

Van der Noll is pleased with the efficiency and time savings that OTYS' ATS provides. But her ambition goes a step further. She also wants to use automation to make the digital interaction with candidates more personal. "I want to add value to the candidate journey. Even when that journey does not directly lead to a placement.

Every candidate should receive personalized information from us on a regular basis - know that they can rely on us. With that personalized content, we fulfil our mission to help candidates get to the next step in their careers. Even after a rejection. This way, we communicate that we want to be a partner for our candidates. With that partnership, we create the brand experience we strive for."

Realize ambitions

Together with OTYS, Van der Noll looked at a number of partners to realize its ambition. The platform of partner XA Flow proved extremely suitable for connecting the different phases of the candidate journey to a marketing automation tool such as Active Campaign. Phase 1 of Van der Noll's ambition, is to send personalized content to candidates from OTYS at different moments in their customer journey.

For communication between OTYS' database and ActiveCampaign, SMS Intermediair uses XA Flow. This solution allows different software programs to be linked together by means of API keys, so that those applications can work together. Van der Noll: "Simply put, XA Flow allows OTYS and ActiveCampaign to talk to each other."ActiveCampaign collects data on candidates' responses to the messages this application sends to them. "With that data we could, for example, also enrich the data in OTYS again. This is something we are saving for a possible phase 2 of this project," Van der Noll explains.

Single source of truth

Contact between recruiters and candidates mainly takes place via social media. Professionals who apply for jobs, often come into contact with SMS Intermediair through a job board.

Van der Noll: "The current tight labor market is all about speed. We must therefore need to flexibly supplement our traditional means of communication such as e-mail with social media, for example. The link that OTYS realized with Joboti helps us tremendously in this regard." This application allows SMS Intermediair to communicate with candidates from OTYS via WhatsApp 24/7. "The biggest challenge is to connect all communication channels, so you are able to use the best channel per phase in the candidate journey. And in such a way that OTYS always remains your 'single source of truth,'" Van der Noll explains.

The software is user-friendly and clear and can easily be scaled up on a modular basis. If you grow as a company, you can also grow in your use of certain modules of OTYS. In doing so, you are not ‘bothered’ by all kinds of functionalities you don’t need.

Karlijn van der Noll
Recruiment marketeer & senior consultant

Teamwork makes the dream work

SMS Intermediair has been working with OTYS since 2011. Shortly after the start, Van der Noll joined SMS Intermediair. As a key-user, the former recruiter was able to guide and experience the further implementation and optimization of OTYS' recruitment software at SMS Intermediair from step to step. "The software is user-friendly and clear and can easily be scaled up on a modular basis. If you grow as a company, you can also grow in your use of certain modules of OTYS. In doing so, you are not ‘bothered’ by all kinds of functionalities you don’t need," is how she evaluates her experience with OTYS.

Van der Noll is also positive about working with OTYS on a personal level. "Bas van Rij of OTYS listens well and not only gets the maximum result from our possibilities, but also from our limitations. He put us on the trail of XA Flow and Joboti. The teams of XA Flow and Joboti also deserve a compliment, because this cooperation is super. Because you work with partners that OTYS has selected itself, half a word is enough for them to know what you want and what to  build. They know the OTYS software through and through," says Van der Noll. With these words she underlines that a successful implementation of recruitment software requires teamwork.

If, like SMS Intermediair, you would like to streamline your entire process, work on professionalization, or simply see where optimization is possible? Do not hesitate to contact us for an informal conversation with our Customer Success Team. You can do so by filling out this form, or send an email to customersales@otys.nl.