The Medical University of South Carolina

The Medical University of South Carolina Case Study

The challenge

Since 1824, The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has delivered excellence in education, research and patient care. MUSC is the state’s only academic health science center and the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, South Carolina. The university educates and trains more than 3,000 students, residing in six colleges, have nearly 13,000 employees, including approximately 1,500 faculty members. It also staffs a 700-bed medical center and a nationally-recognized children’s hospital.

Traditionally, applying for jobs across the MUSC enterprise was a tedious, repetitive process. With three separate applicant tracking systems in place, candidates weren’t able to see, or apply for jobs across the various entities; each of the systems were vastly different in their requirements and the application process felt inconsistent. This created a poor experience for job applicants and reflected poorly on the enterprise.

Stefanie Cole, HR Business Partner Manager at MUSC, was keen to find a solution.

“Our target audience was the applicant and we wanted to make sure that we were consistent with what they experienced and it reflected a high-performing enterprise. The challenge we faced was finding a system that was flexible enough to meet the differing entities’ hiring requirements, such as health care professionals versus academics, and that also offered a fully-integrated onboarding process- something that we didn’t have,” she said.

It was at this point that MUSC went to market for an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that could suit all of their needs. After considering a number of ATS providers, including specialist healthcare systems, as well as those set up to meet academic and education requirements, they chose PageUp as the vendor which could provide the results needed.

“We were really looking for an innovative applicant tracking system and that was PageUp.”

Stefanie Cole,
HR Business Partner, Manager, MUSC

“We wanted to have one careers site powered by one system that candidates could go to for all MUSC jobs and have all of their information available, from being an applicant to becoming an employee – in one place. It needed to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ so that they can access any kind of information or contact information and complete their onboarding activities,” Stefanie said.

“We liked the fact that PageUp was new to the US. They are very innovative and constantly changing things and we knew that PageUp could certainly address our academic needs with expertise in Higher Education.” Stefanie said.

The results

Since implementing PageUp, MUSC has seen several benefits.

“With the help of PageUp we’ve been able to streamline our recruitment processes so that we are able to spend more time on qualifying star candidates, instead of sifting through every application. We certainly haven’t lost anything by not having a healthcare-specific system.” Stefanie said.

“One of the biggest improvements has been our reporting. We hardly got any reporting out of our old applicant tracking system and we weren’t able to track things like time-to-fill or time-to-hire. I’m not really an IT person, so I like the fact that I can go into the PageUp system and drill down and filter my reports to get what I need pretty easily. We now know if we need to do more active or passive recruiting for positions – something we didn’t have visibility to previously,” she added.

The uptake of the PageUp system across hiring managers has also been positive.

“Our hiring managers love how they can see everything they need to concentrate on each day from their dashboard which they look at first thing each morning. They find the system easy to maneuver through and love the offer process since there is no paper and it’s all done online. Most of all, they are finding the bulk move capability is saving them time. They can bulk move applicants, they can bulk send applications to a peer interview team – they’re loving the ease of all of these functions,” Stefanie said.

Job applicants and employees have also noticed the difference since switching to PageUp.

“Our applicants like the fact that they can see positions across all of the different entities and they don’t have to go to a different site to see all the jobs. We have also received a lot of feedback from employees regarding the onboarding portal. They like the fact that they can keep up with what they need and we are constantly in touch with them.” Stefanie said.

MUSC also recently integrated its preferred assessment provider with PageUp in an effort to make its candidate experience even more seamless.

How the Medical University of South Carolina created a forward-looking recruitment and onboarding strategy

Comprehensive academic health center the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has upheld a tradition of excellence in education, research and patient care since 1824. MUSC has more than 3,000 students, almost 13,000 employees and operates a 700-bed medical center and nationally-recognized children’s hospital.

Recruiting and retaining high caliber people is crucial for MUSC to maintain its reputation as both a medical and educational facility. For an organization with this breadth of employees, students and facilities, people management also needs to happen at scale. Here’s how MUSC has leveraged technology to create a recruitment and onboarding experience that reflects its strong employer brand, while also freeing the HR team to add strategic value.  

Creating a positive impression from day one

It’s important for MUSC to leave a positive impression with potential candidates and employees from the day they apply for a role right through to their first day with the organization. To achieve this, MUSC first needed to streamline their recruitment and onboarding processes. They did this by consolidating the entire organization’s talent management onto one unified talent management system. This eliminated the inefficiency of operating across multiple systems and allowed MUSC to present a united front to prospective candidates.

From the moment they accept their job offer, new starters are given access to a central portal that has all the necessary learning activities, compliance tasks and information they need to hit the ground running. Feedback from new starters has been overwhelmingly positive. MUSC is now able to deliver on the employee value proposition promised in the recruitment process.

Free to add value

Implementing a streamlined talent management system has also revolutionized the way MUSC’s HR team approach their daily tasks. The team now has the free time and access to valuable data that they need to excel in their roles. That’s because people who had previously spent hours manually inputting information and processing paper-based workflows are now free to spend time on tasks that add more value. To inform future strategic talent management, people leaders also have access to valuable data and analytics that tell a story about the effectiveness of MUSC’s recruitment and onboarding approaches.

Being able to pull data directly from a single source and drill down into metrics helps hiring teams understand more about the type of applicants they receive and where they come from. This helps the institution identify hiring trends, single out the most effective successful candidate sourcing channels, and make smarter recruiting decisions. Hiring managers spend time qualifying the best candidates, not sifting through a pile of applications.

Developing for the future

Strategically, MUSC has the tools it needs to inform and develop its talent management strategy for the future. This has created a step change in the focus of the Talent Acquisition team. Rather than dealing with day to day administrative tasks, the team can develop strategies that help MUSC build its reputation as an employer of choice and identify innovative ways to secure the best talent.

MUSC now enjoys optimized recruitment and onboarding. Given the challenges of implementing robust talent management strategies in an organization of their size and breadth, their approach is an inspiring example of best-practice recruitment and onboarding optimization.

Consolidating separate systems

MUSC operates different functions through several separate entities, which in the past meant that each entity had its own talent management processes and systems. This created internal silos that made it difficult for HR leaders to create and implement a talent management strategy across the entire organization. What’s more, hiring managers had limited visibility over critical information like time-to-fill, so they couldn’t identify opportunities to improve their recruitment approaches.

Having multiple recruitment systems and processes meant MUSC wasn’t enabling the organization to make the best possible impression on candidates. With three different application systems, candidates that applied for roles across the organization were unable to view all their applications in one place. MUSC now has a streamlined system that tracks applications and gives hiring managers valuable recruitment data, while also delivering candidates and jobseekers a great user experience.

Saving time

By overhauling the aspects of its recruitment and onboarding process that were manual and administrative, MUSC has given HR managers more time to spend on value-added tasks. Instead of spending time on the phone explaining to new starters where they need to go and what tasks have to be completed, onboarding is now a seamless, streamlined process that lets employees hit the ground running from day one.

To continue to attract high-caliber talent and deliver on its employee value proposition, MUSC has leveraged technology to improve its recruiting and onboarding processes. Doing so has freed up the time and resources needed for the organization to focus on delivering a great candidate and employee experience.

One Stop Recruitment with Medical University of South Carolina

I talk to PageUp more often than some of my coworkers – they’re more of a coworker for us, always pushing us to utiliseutilize the system as best we can, leaving no stone unturned in terms of making sure it’s used as efficiently as possible.

Jackie Carter,
Talent Acquisition Coordinator, Medical University of South Carolina

For Jackie Carter, Talent Acquisition Coordinator at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), implementing PageUp’s streamlined, centralisedcentralized talent management platform means her team can now focus on forward-thinking strategy, rather than manual processes.

CentralisedCentralized talent management

As a research and medical university, MUSC occupies a single campus but houses multiple separate entities. Previously, each arm of the university had its own separate and siloed talent management processes: with PageUp, the university now has a centralisedcentralized HR platform for one-stop talent management.  “Everything comes through us – we now have the hospital, physicians and the university associated with the PageUp system,” Carter says.

Reducing human error

“We now have a two-way HRIS system, and the benefits of that have been instrumental in reducing human error: we used to have people manually keying in new hires and their salaries and personal information,” says Carter. Having these manual processes streamlined through PageUp now means less chance of mistakes, and more time for strategic future-planning. “Being able to have that information come right from the system has definitely reduced the errors, reduced the time that it takes, and it’s also helped us with our manpower: we don’t need as many people keying into the system, so we can utiliseutilize them better in other areas of the HR department.” Read more: Case Study: The Medical University of South Carolina

Awesome service

Carter is now working closely with the PageUp team to look for ways to improve MUSC’s talent management processes even further. “The unique part of the PageUp support is that it didn’t stop after implementation,” Carter explains. “I talk to PageUp more often than some of my coworkers – they’re more of a coworker for us, always pushing us to utiliseutilize the system as best we can, leaving no stone unturned in terms of making sure it’s used as efficiently as possible.” With PageUp’s easy-to-use chat feature, HR leaders like Carter always have access to a PageUp technical expert, which means help is never far away. “My favourite way to get help is certainly the chat feature: it’s almost like you’re texting with your friends,” says Carter. “It’s easy, quick, efficient and you get your answers pretty much right away.”

Efficient Recruiting and Onboarding with Medical University of South Carolina

PageUp streamlined our onboarding. We went to paperless and the workflow is faster.

Robert Shadday,
HR generalist, Medical University of South Carolina

For Robert Shadday, HR generalist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), implementing PageUp has allowed his team to make data-driven decisions and streamline the journey from candidate to new starter.

Easy reporting

With PageUp’s easy reporting functionality, Shadday and his team are now able to access data that tells a meaningful story about the effectiveness of their recruitment processes. This helps the people leaders at MUSC make smarter hiring decisions and identify future trends. “Our favourite feature is the reporting. You can pull different reports all the way from hiring trends to applicant types and where they’re coming from, and that’s what I really like,” Shadday says.

Streamlined onboarding

Previously manual onboarding processes have now been streamlined and moved online, which means new starters have a great experience with MUSC from the moment they accept their job offer. “PageUp streamlined our onboarding. We went to paperless and the workflow is faster,” Shadday explains. “We can get the employee onboarded properly and fast – they love it because everything is online. Once they apply for a position and the offer is accepted, they go online, can view the offer, and start onboarding.” PageUp’s online onboarding functionality also makes it easy for Shadday and his team to ensure new starters are up to date with compliance requirements and paperwork, stored in a way that’s easy to access when needed. “Everything is online: new starters can see all their information, they can view their contract and do their online forms – including  I9s and W4s – then we can print that information out, they don’t have to bring it to us,” he says.

Awesome support

Whether it’s online or via the phone, PageUp technical experts are accessible when Shadday and his team need them. “They’re fantastic: from the account manager to the employees you deal with via phone or live chat, they’re wonderful, responsive and innovative,” Shadday says. And with all-inclusive support at no extra cost, Shadday always gets a timely answer to his questions. “On the live chat feature everyone knows me – I do that a lot when I have a question. They come right back with an answer.”

One-stop onboarding with the Medical University of South Carolina

It’s got everything they need right there, and they can check it off as they go.

Robert Shadday,
HR generalist, Medical University of South Carolina

With PageUp, onboarding has become a streamlined, one-stop process for new starters at the Medical University of South Carolina.

One central portal

New starters at the Medical University of South Carolina are onboarded through a central PageUp portal that has all the necessary learning activities, compliance tasks and information a new recruit needs. Having a central onboarding hub not only helps new hires hit the ground running on day one: it also dramatically reduces the time people leaders have to spend on administrative onboarding tasks. “The portal has helped not only the HR department, but the hiring managers and the candidates themselves,” says Jackie Carter, Talent Acquisition Coordinator at the Medical University of South Carolina. “Being able to have one central onboarding portal means you’re not on the phone for 20 minutes telling new starters what to do or where to go.”

Streamlined compliance

PageUp’s onboarding module captures a new starter’s important information in one centralisedcentralized place, which means onboarding and compliance activities are now simple and streamlined. “It’s got everything they need right there, and they can check it off as they go,” Carter says. “We’re able to put everything we need into the new starter forms: there’s no more taking documents like W-4 forms up to payroll: everything is done right there.” Free from these tedious administrative processes, Carter and her team can focus on strategic talent management activities. “The efficiency and the speed PageUp has given us means we can utiliseutilize our people in other places rather than tracking documents or being on the phone with applicants,” Carter says.  

A great first impression

Robert Shadday is an HR generalist at the Medical University of South Carolina, and he’s seen how PageUp’s talent management solutions have optimisedoptimized a candidate’s first points of contact with the university. “PageUp has streamlined our hiring process to paperless and the workflow is much faster, which means we can get new employees onboarded, fast,” Shadday says. “They love it because everything is online: once they apply for the position and the offer is accepted, they can view the offer and start the onboarding process.”