Electronic Arts (EA) Builds Extensive Global Talent Acquisition Platform on Robust Salesforce CRM and AppExchange Solution

Challenge

• World’s leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for advanced entertainment systems needed a system to optimally manage its talent acquisitions activities
• Disparate spreadsheets failed to measure conversion rates of contacts to candidates or the success of recruitment campaigns 
• Wanted a global, multilingual, end-to-end talent acquisition platform—beyond the scope of sales and marketing functions—to unify a wide array of recruitment applications

Solution

• Evaluated CRM solutions from Microsoft and others, but chose Salesforce CRM for its extensibility, simple email features, and flexibility and speed to respond to a rapidly changing global talent environment
• With the help of a third-party consultant, deployed with Outlook integration and mobile access in two weeks to 40 users in the U.S., U.K., and Canada
• Built a University Relations application using Force.com to effectively manage relationships with colleges and universities
• Added 14 applications from the AppExchange,  including Campaign/Marketing Management, Social Network Sourcing, Internal Candidate Tracking, Global Employee Referrals, and Event Manager
• A Detailed Pipeline Statistics custom application also enables EA to accurately forecast how many people the company needs to contact to fill any given position
• Recruiters received interactive training in small teams customized for each location and team structure, followed by one-on-one training tailored for each user and their role within EA's talent acquisition team, which led to a 95 percent adoption rate
• Dashboards indicate how well a pipeline is working and allows talent acquisition leaders to oversee recruitment efforts on a global scale
• Plans to integrate with multiple mission-criticial systems are underway

Results

• Realized its vision of a consolidated, global talent acquisition system—the most advanced of its kind, according to Corporate Executive Board—now available in 12 languages
• For the first time, can track leads to contact conversion for a critical indicator of how well the company brand resonates in the marketplace
• Can track contact to candidate conversion and measure the number of applicants for a specific position
• Can also capture prerecruitment information that would otherwise be lost post-hire 
• Recruiting specialists are thrilled to be using real sales tools to help them find and close the best talent worldwide, increasing both data capture and sourcing/prospecting effectiveness
• Recruiters are now able to gauge the amount of effort needed to meet hiring managers’ needs, e.g. how many candidates they must contact to bring 10 in the door—making it easier to plan campaigns and meet requirements
• By fully integrating enterprise apps such as PeopleSoft HRMS and subsuming its Applicant Tracking System into Salesforce CRM, EA is on pace to close the loop of its entire recruitment process worldwide