Finding a Staffing and Recruiting Software Solution

Sharonah Sardella has years of experience in sales and sales management recruiting for companies such as Sterling Commerce, Harte Hanks, and Source Services Corp (now Kforce), and Monster.com. During that time she used PeopleSoft, eRecruit, Vurv, Monster and many "homegrown" agency software systems to manage her workload.

In 2007, Sardella launched her own contract and direct hire firm, US Placement Partners. Located in Nashua, NH, she provides sales, marketing, engineering, and information technology placement services. When it came to software, Sharonah recalls, "What I needed when I started my own firm, first and foremost, was something that was cost effective. Secondly, it had to be easy to use, easy to download resumes, and submit candidates."

Doing the Research

During the course of evaluating staffing software, Sardella found several systems, "cumbersome, difficult to use, and incredibly costly". She also felt the submission process in most systems was time consuming. "I didn't want to deal with taking an hour to submit a candidate when another agency could very well send a resume over before me. It's a matter of timing when you get a difficult requisition."

After conducting extensive research, Sardella went with the Akken Staffing solution saying, "The price, ease of use, and the time it saves me are the reasons I went with Akken."

The Successful Solution

Sharonah is thrilled with the performance of Akken Staffing's sourcing, applicant tracking, and activity tracking. She finds it easy to enter companies, job orders and candidates, and the submission process through the system is quick and effortless. "And the best part of all," says Sardella, "is that the emails to and from candidates and clients is tracked in the database automatically so I don't have to cut and paste anything. This saves me an incredible amount of time."

Being a start-up, Sardella sees the Software-as-a-Service platform of Akken Staffing as an asset to growing her business. There was no software to install, she was able to log in and begin using the system within hours, and she won't have to worry about technical difficulties, upgrades or support - which are included in her monthly fee. The all-in-one automated system allows Sharonah to focus her efforts on building successful client and candidate relationships.

As US Placement Partners grows, she'll be able to add new users in seconds. She is elated with the results of the integrated Akken Staffing system saying, "I've pulled in more income in the first five months of using Akken Staffing than I've ever made in an entire year without it."

Currently, Sardella is establishing strategic partnerships with other independent recruiters to increase placements and says, "We're going to see more volume on our closed deals and it will be simple to manage because we're using Akken. I would absolutely refer anyone to use this system."