5 Things to Consider when Migrating Data to a New Recruitment Database Neil Thompson, MD, 2LS Limited www.2ls.com

Overview If you are an established recruitment business you will, no doubt, have collected over a number of years a large amount of valuable data and you want to ensure that your data gets migrated successfully to any new recruitment software system. 2LS have carried out a number recruitment data migrations over the years for a variety of recruitment databases. Here are our top five things to consider when it comes to migrating your data. www.2ls.com

It takes time… A good migration is like a good wine – it cannot be rushed. If you do you will be left with a nasty after-taste. Even if the vendor has done a migration from your existing recruitment database before there will still be subtle differences (see below) which need to be accounted for. Allow a couple of months as an absolute minimum from start to finish. www.2ls.com

It’s not just about the contacts Migrating contact information is relatively straightforward. What’s hard is all the history that goes with those contacts. It is this that represents the real value of your data. And don’t forget all the documents: CVs, references, proposals etc. www.2ls.com

You need to be involved You own the data not the recruitment software supplier so you need to take responsibility for it. You will need to allocate time to do some thorough testing and to ensure that the migrated data is as you expect. Don’t rely on the vendor to do it for you. No-one knows your data like you do. www.2ls.com

Beware of similarities & differences Both recruiters and recruitment tools have a habit of calling the same thing by different names: Is it a vacancy, job or a placement? Is it an event or an activity? It pays to ensure that you know you are talking about the same thing to avoid any nasty issues at a later date. www.2ls.com

Spring clean your data This is your opportunity to get your data into the best shape, removing unwanted and duplicate records and getting the formatting right. Don’t wait until the data has been migrated across telling yourself that you will do it on the new system – you won’t. You will be too busy getting up to speed with the system to be thinking about cleaning the data. www.2ls.com

Conclusion Remember that while your choice of recruitment database is important what you put in it is more critical to your business so it is worth spending a bit time to ensure that you get it right. If you would like to know more about the services that 2LS offer to migrate your data from your existing recruitment agency software, then contact us. www.2ls.com

More Information 2LS Limited 1 Wesley Gate 70/74 Queens Road Reading RG1 4AP w: www.2ls.com t: 0845 685 2230