Company
LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF) is a leading designer, developer, and marketer of innovative, technology-based educational products and related proprietary content. Working with a prestigious Educational Advisory Board (which includes educational experts in reading, writing, literacy, and learning methodologies from Stanford University, UCLA, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley), LeapFrog creates learning products for everyone from infants on up to high school students. LeapFrog’s award-winning U.S. consumer products are available in six languages at major retailers in more than 25 countries around the world. The LeapFrog SchoolHouse-curriculum programs are currently in classrooms across the U.S. with over 200 interactive books and over 450 skill cards representing more than 6,000 pages of educational content. LeapFrog SchoolHouse™ products have won numerous awards from the education industry. The company has more than 1,000 employees worldwide.
Challenges
Before LeapFrog implemented an applicant tracking system, the company’s recruiting processes were like those of most small and medium-sized companies: costly and inefficient. “It was very labor-intensive,” says Triz Delarosa, LeapFrog’s Manager of Human Resources. “If a candidate was applying for more than one position, he or she would have to submit multiple resumes — and the amount of attention our recruiters would have to pay to that candidate would double. And we had no way to keep track of where each candidate was in the process. Had we replied to all candidates? Had candidates we were interested in been invited in to be interviewed? We had no fast, accurate way to be sure.” Making matters worse: LeapFrog recruiters had no easy way to share resumes with one another or with hiring managers. According to Delarosa, “Because we couldn’t share resumes readily, we may have been missing out on candidates who had applied for one job but were actually a better fit for another — and we had no ready means to check whether strong candidates for positions we’d already filled would fit with newly open positions.” Finally, LeapFrog wanted to know more about its recruiting efforts. How effective were recruiters in landing top-flight candidates? How long did it take to fill key openings? LeapFrog wanted answers to these and similar questions. As Delarosa puts it, “We wanted a better understanding of our recruiting, so we could make smart decisions on how to improve.”
Results
The applicant tracking system has been a boon for LeapFrog. “It solved all our recruiting problems,” say Delarosa. “Now applicants only have to submit one resume, no matter how many jobs they’re applying for — meaning less work for recruiters. It’s simple for us to consider past candidates for currently open positions. And the applicant tracking system’s reporting functionality helps us get a better understanding of how our recruiting efforts are working, and how we can improve them.” Most of all, LeapFrog appreciates the way the applicant tracking system gives them the ability to quickly and easily track where candidates are in the recruiting process and share candidates with other recruiters or hiring managers. “We love the fact that we can update a candidate’s status with a click of a mouse. And the ability the system gives us to share resumes with hiring managers means our recruiters and managers can work together much more efficiently.”