As an organization with just over 33,000 employees and over 3,000 unique job types, UCI and UCI Health have hundreds of open positions at any time. As one of Orange County’s largest employers, and as part of our goal to be Orange County’s employer of choice, it’s time we offered an applicant experience that is second to none.
What is changing?
We are implementing a new Applicant Tracking System (ATS), replacing TAM, the current ATS module within UCPath. We will continue using UCPath but will no longer use TAM as our applicant tracking system. Our new ATS is Talent Connect powered by iCIMS. iCIMS has been an ATS provider in the HR technology space since 2000. The platform offers a robust set of features to support the entirety of the hiring process, ensuring collaboration among hiring managers, candidates, human resources, and talent acquisition. Talent Connect also offers us a more contemporary system experience, similar to many of the online tools we have all become accustomed to using. The platform allows us to enhance the candidate experience, making it easier to use and providing real time communication regarding opportunities and hiring process status.
Why the change?
UCI needed improved hiring and application experiences for managers and candidates. This change allows us to boost efficiency with managers and HR team members throughout the hiring process. The talent market is extraordinarily competitive and we need to operate more efficiently. Being able to enhance the candidate experience will help to improve the quality of our candidate pools and the number of candidates who apply. For managers, having an ATS that provides better tools for posting jobs, seeking approval, reviewing candidates, managing offers, and confirming new hires is essential.
Why is this change advantageous?
UCI continues to seek talent in a highly competitive market. The talent market is not exclusive to higher education and healthcare; we have the potential to attract candidates from a wide range of industries. We need to be prepared to collaborate and manage all phases of the hiring process efficiently. Making more timely decisions and collaborating better with hiring process stakeholders will help us secure candidates. The new feature set will include tools such quick links to initiate jobs and review candidates. The new Offer Workflow will allow us to generate offer letters directly from the system. The statuses of candidates are visible throughout the process, including tasks and statuses during onboarding.
How is the change being implemented?
An HR based project team is working with a number of hiring process stakeholders; vendor partners, UCPath, and the HR community. We are following a traditional project management plan and have been meeting weekly to complete assigned tasks and deliverables. This has been a step-by-step process as we work to configure Talent Connect and transition from using TAM. TAM will remain available to us through the formal transition date.
What is the expected timeline?
The project first kicked off in June 2023. The initial meetings with the vendor helped to produce a prototype that was released to the project team in August 2023. We hosted a full system testing April 9 – 13, 2024. Training will begin the week of May 20, 2024. Our go-live date for the new ATS, Talent Connect, is Thursday, June 20, 2024.
How will access to TAM be impacted?
Once we begin using Talent Connect, TAM will no longer be used for any recruiting. As we get closer to the cutover to Talent Connect, we will publish the date when data entry into TAM will end. We will, however, have read-only access to TAM for record keeping purposes.
What will happen to TAM candidate records?
Requisitions and candidate activity previously entered into TAM will remain there.
How should I prepare for the transition to discontinue using TAM?
Talent Acquisition (TA) will be sharing a transition plan with all departments who have active requisitions. This includes tasks to close or cancel any requisitions that remain open from 2019 – 2022. The TA Operations team will also be providing guidance on information necessary to ensure appropriate record keeping for any requisitions that are yet to be closed.
How will Talent Connect impact active employees?
All employees will have a standard profile in the new system. Employees will be able to access their profile, upload a resume, and create job alerts. The new internal career portal will also provide access to resources such as resume and interview advice.
How can users contribute? (Feedback, Care Abouts, Testing, and Champions)
If you have feedback, ideas, or questions about the ATS project you can submit your ideas and inquiries to the Talent Strategy inbox.
The iCIMS platform offers a wealth of features and functions to support standard elements of the hiring process. Key functions of the iCIMS platform include:
- Applicant Tracking
- Offer Management
- Offer Letters
- Reports
- OnBoarding
- Dashboards
- Interview Scheduling
- Communications Center
- Candidate Relationship Management
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Search keyword: Talent Connect
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THE iCIMS PLATFORM
How to create a requisition (including approval process)
How to post a requisition
Reviewing candidates through the workflow
Preparing an offer
How to add pre-screening questions
Dashboards
Glossary
Recommended tips and tricks
MEET THE
PROJECT TEAM
KIM JONES
Project Manager
STEPHEN WHELAN
Project Manager
ANDREW RIVERA
Campus TA
JOSH KLOPPENBORG
UCI Health/Health Sciences
KAREN VEST
Temporary Employment Services
NATALIE WEAVER
Talent Operations Supervisor
ERICE CHENG
HRIS Manager, Technology & Systems
LUCY ZHENG
HR IT Projects Lead
THE ICIMS DASHBOARD
The iCIMS Dashboard will serve as the place to receive information, resources, actionable tasks, and hiring process metrics. Information that you need, at your fingertips, always available in real time.
Reports, Metrics, Dashboards
