Officials are rolling out new recruitment and onboarding tools to an online hub to make it a “one-stop shop” for training, management and hiring by the end of 2020.

Administrators said Talent@GW, a portal originally debuted in 2017 to assist current GW staff in their professional development and improve the hiring process for new applicants, will boast features like an online performance management system and new employee modules by the end of next year. The initiative is part of a push to improve institutional culture and put people first in the organization, officials said.

“Our goal is to move toward a major reorientation, a change in paradigm, to how our University supports and values our people,” Chief People Officer Dana Bradley said in an email.

Bradley said officials launched “learning” and “performance” modules to allow staff trainings and performance reviews to be completed and tracked online in 2017 and 2018. The modules allow applicants and recruiters to track applications and share data during the hiring process.

Modules for recruitment and onboarding are due to roll out in the “next few months” as the next major additions to the platform enable the “new employee to focus on successful acclimation” to their position, Bradley said.

The new onboarding module will include a defined list of steps for new employees and managers to track the onboarding process, she said.

Bradley added that officials will also launch a “succession” module in “late 2020” – a year after the last module was originally slated to be developed – to allow employees to explore advancement opportunities that align with their personal and professional goals. The new tool will also help the University retain talent by identifying “critical roles” for employee growth and retention, she said.

Bradley said the system will provide “solution-focused” services, tools and training in one platform so GW staff can “achieve their career goals” and manage hiring. The platform will streamline referral programs and allow managers to share recruitment metrics and dashboard reports to help inform decision-making, she said.

“Research shows that people who join organizations through referral programs tend to perform better, stay longer and above all, fit well with the culture and share in the organization’s values,” Bradley said.

Human resources experts said improving recruitment and onboarding is critical to a school’s ability to more efficiently hire and retain staff.

Kelly Bankston, the director of talent acquisition at Tulane University, said systems like Talent@GW can keep employees “engaged” and improve personal and professional benefits to employees by consolidating employee’s skills and career objectives in one platform.

“These systems and programs are the lifeline to an employee’s entire career from beginning to end,” she said in an email.

She added that enhancing recruitment and onboarding tools can improve how potential employees perceive the University.

“The technology that a prospective candidate encounters is reflective of the company’s image and branding,” Bankston said. “The candidate experience on the front end of the recruitment process sets the tone for their future with the organization.”

Three of GW’s peer schools have similar systems to manage recruitment and onboarding.

Christiane Harrison, the onboarding manager at the University of Colorado Boulder, said the success of recruiting and onboarding effects can be seen in the diversity and quality of candidates and the ability to retain staff.

“By continually improving using tools such as your Talent@GW hub, leaders and managers can focus on the big picture and streamline the time and effort involved in these important personnel management activities,” she said in an email.

She added that officials should be willing to invest time and resources in implementing “meaningful systems and business practices” to refine recruitment and onboarding systems.

“There is so much involved in helping new hires become quickly productive, fully integrated members of the community, and that can’t be accomplished with one new-hire orientation session,” Harrison said.