Tech Company ADS Uses Career Site to Reach Top Talent
Founded in 2000 and based in Winter Park, Fl, Atlantic Dominion Solutions (ADS) is a cutting-edge web development firm creating software applications for companies with requirements off-the-shelf solutions can’t address. ADS’ specialty is Ruby and Rails, and advanced computer languages used to program scalable, database-backed applications for organizations of all sizes. As a custom development shop, ADS writes user-centric applications that are deployed quickly and scaled for massive traffic while still being maintained with minimal time and effort. ADS also provides Flex development, web design, and online business strategy.
Challenge
ADS is a ’boutique’ development shop. The developers they hire are experts in their respective fields. Once on board, ADS developers are continually challenged to improve their skills by keeping up with the latest in web development, applying new Rails applications to business problems, blogging about their experiences, and making “screencasts” and “how-to” videos detailing their work.
As an early stage but growing company, ADS already develops for some of the biggest corporations in the world. Finding talent capable of delivering custom software on time and budget at that level is a continuous challenge, especially given ADS’ location in Florida, well outside of the ”traditional” regional software development hotspots in the U.S. To make it more attractive as an employer, one of the perks ADS offers is a distributed, work from home environment for its team. Although convenient for the employees, the distributed team environment means finding the right cultural fit is as important as finding employees with the right skill set.
“Success with the job boards was hit and miss,” said Robert Dempsey, founder and CEO, ADS. “We would get people directly emailing resumes to the company and they’d get lost, or fall off the radar while we were involved in a project. Managing the process was very difficult and frustrating. We had better results with recruiters, but outsourcing is expensive. Agencies which source the type of specialized developers we need typically charge 20 to 30 percent of a hire’s salary.”
Solution
Dempsey turned to Standout Jobs after watching an introductory video about the company on YouTube. Dempsey quickly created a full Standout Jobs web site showcasing ADS to potential developer candidates from around the world.
After only fifteen minutes of work ADS had an entire site devoted to branding its openings and company culture. ADS listed its jobs, perks, recent press hits, buzz about the company from around the Web, a Q&A section and even a video starring the employees.
“One of the great things about Standout Jobs is the ability to pick and choose which job boards we want to advertise on, and manage the process from one central spot. High-value candidates are pulled from relevant locations around the web and brought directly to the ADS career web site,” continued Dempsey. “Some boards are paid and others are free but what’s important to me is the ability to work them from the Standout Jobs control panel. Everything is handled from one spot by the software. That saves me time, which is better used on my clients’ projects.”
Results
Using Standout Jobs, ADS has already hired one great Ruby on Rails developer. Typically this would have cost ADS more than $10,000 in recruiter fees, money which can now go back into the business. Additionally, the hired employee immediately began generating revenue.
Dempsey is enthusiastic about the effect Standout Jobs will have on his future hiring, “I can invite other people from around the company to review applicants’ resumes and profiles,” he said. “I can’t emphasize how important it is to me to be able to manage the entire process from one central location. It’s awesome. We can customize the job web site with anything we want without having to do any specialized development on it ourselves. And, I can have the rest of my team vet potential hires for cultural fit. Using Standout Jobs my company looks like the great place it is to work. No typical web ad or recruiter can convey that feeling to a candidate, and that’s priceless.”
