Imagination-to-Integration

Most competitor systems are designed to meet the needs of a very large, broad audience. As a result, these systems are overly complex and have many unused features for you and your firm. You'll pay for them anyway and these unused fields will negatively affect your ability to retrieve information from the database.

We offer an intuitive database solution that is maintenance free, requires no in-house technical support and is completely customizable so it will adapt to your processes now and in the future. We can promise you the Velvet database will be the last database you'll ever need. In fact we've never lost a single client who's added a Velvet system because it can adapt to meet the changing needs of you and your business.

Senior Level Executive Recruitment

Our customers are uniquely focused on senior level executive search. It's a smaller customer base that receives a lot more attention than that given by our larger competitors. Our customers have unique needs to address their business and our system is the only one offered that is capable of adjusting, without limits, to meete your needs. Here are a few basics:

Unique Development Goals
Because a recruiter's time is of higher value than that of the support staff, Velvet is designed to make the recruiter exprience intuitive, simple and attractive. Velvet allows the recruiter to enter and manage data in the simplest way, while automatically delegating more time-consuming data management to your support staff. Unlike our competitors, Velvet was deisgned by senior level recruiters, not researchers, so its first priority is on the data entry experience while its second priority is complex q uerying. (a researcher benefit)

It's Web-based
Because our systems are web-based, there's no local technology needed. We host and support everything for you. All you need is an Internet browser. Even the few competitors that offer web systems still require you to download software to your machine. Our systems don't, which means you can access them from any device - anywhere, anytime - Blackberries, iPhones, vacation resorts, airport terminals and even client offices. There's no need to lug that laptop around anymore.

It's Proprietary and OSS
Each database is exclusive to each customer and separated with hardware. This means there is absolutely no risk of cross-mixing data among customers. Ask our competitors how they separate data for you (software only) and compare the risks. Our systems are written in OSS, which means we don't have to wait for a large software company to address our needs. We can do it immediately. In fact, most of our customer requests for cusotmization are completed within 24 hours.

It's Customizable and Innovative
Because our systems are completely customizable, they are always improving and adding features to address the latest industry developments and technology. Our ability to create individual customized solutions means this database will be the last one you'll ever purchase. Here's a fact: While we've replaced FileFinder, Encore, Bullhorn and many others, we have never been replaced by a competitor. All of our original customers remain customers today. That is a testiment to our system's ability to evolve with your buiness.

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Basic Features

Below are some of the features included in our base Velvet system.

Single Page Views

Why navigate all over the place to find what you need?
Velvet allows users to view a project, its details and the entire people pipeline on one scrollable screen, giving senior recruiters a single overview of the entire project and its status.

Recruiter-minded Task List
Recruiter home screen lists active projects, business development opportunities, people to call, messages left and upcoming follow-ups. Recruiters can use this one page to manage all of their tasks.

Text-Searchable Document Storage

All of your search materials in one place
Users can upload and store documents in project records, people records and company records. All documents, regardless of type, are text searchable. This means users don't have to re-enter a person's entire job history because it will be found during database searches. Eliminates the need to re-invent the wheel because it stores templates, presentations, contracts, invoices and proposals too.

Embedded Notification System

Communication
Velvet automatically sends email notifications based on additions or changes to information in the database. For example, when a new search is added or completed, Velvet will email all users, notifying them of the news, solliciting feedback and access via an embedded link to the project.

Delegation
Velvet automatically assigns tasks to less-costly support users on behalf of senior level recruiters. For example, when a recruiters enters a new job title and company, Velvet will delegate the task of completing the company record if it does not yet exist in the database. This simplifies data entry for the recruiter and shifts the data management responsibilities to the support staff - automatically.

Integrated Delivery

Contact Extraction
With a single click, users can export a person's contact information into MS Outlook contacts and other contact management programs, allowing users to easily syncronize important information with their PDAs for road trips.

Research & Administrative Requests
Right from a person or company record, the senior recruiter can click a link to request information or delegate a task to their support person via an email that includes an embedded link to the Velvet record. Exmaples include a need to schedule a meeting, research a company, and more.

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Customization

In addition to the base features, Velvet offers unlimited customization for each of our clients. Below are jsut a few examples of customization, each of which can be added to your system within 24 hours. Velvet is limited onnly by your imagination.

Resume Parsing
Velvet's resume parsing process is one-of-a-kind because it reduces the process to a simple mouse click. Resume parsing is an imperfect science due to the variations in resume formats. Our competitors may not be totally honest when they portray resume parsing as perfectly accurate. In fact, the process usually requires the user to manually make corrections in various fields - a painstakingly time-consuming process. Our innovative process uses a simple mouse click to incorporate any corrections, eliminating the need to manually type. Seconds instead of minutes.

Off-Limits Indicators
Velvet's off-limits indication includes relationship manager information and expiration. It boldly presents warnings to individuals viewing off-limits people and companies and can notify relationship managers of any breach..

Parent-Subsidiary Mapping
velvete connects parent companies, subsidiaries and branch locations, displaying the maps and links for your team.

Education Verification
Velvet allows users to enter education infromation and display verification information such as who verified and when.

Referral Mapping
When on a call with a source, velvet allows users to enter referrals and connect individuals to one another (even those not yet in the database). Over time this evolving map becomes a very important and relevant feature in today's recruitment process.

Embedded Expense Reporting
Users can create and manage expense reports within Velvet, which not only manages chargebacks and the approval process, it also tracks the cost-of-search for each project, helping recruiters assess the profitabililty of each search more accurately.

Time Management
For mid-size and larger firms, velvet offers a time management system that allows users to enter time spent on projects and other business issues, and tracks those costs based on an hourly rate set for each user. This helps recruiters identify and monitor the resources applied to each search project.

Revenue Tracking / Credit Management / Accounting System Interaction
Velvet offers users the ability to store accounting information for each project, including fees, structure, expenses, billing dates, etc. In addition, it allows firms to assign credit for new searches and execution. Even more effective, Velvet can also communicate directly with accounting systems. In fact, our Corduroy accounting system is designed exclusively for executive search and can interact directly with Velvet live, eliminating the need for double entry.

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Client / Candidate Interaction

Because Velvet is a web-based product, it can link directly to your website and offer clients and candidates a unique direct-connection to your system. Velvet can display information in the form of client worksite or candidate worksite, with you in control of the information dispalyed.

Integrated Clients = Repeat Business
It's been proven that clients who are happy and integrated into your system are more likely to come back to you for future work. Velvet allows for clients to create custom interfaces where clients can log in and see search status information, billing information, candidate letters/write-ups, resumes and any other information - controlled by you, but updated automatically through your interaction with Velvet.

Candidate Interaction and Tools = Operating Efficiency and Impressed Candidates
With a Vevlet canddiate interface, candidates can log in and enter/update their information for you. In addition, you can offer additional tools such as scheduling information, feedback, directions, expense submission, and career research.

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News Feeds

Do you know what your clients and candidates know?
Velvet has a unique connection to access and instantly display important news about your client companies and candidate companies. For senior level executive recruiters it's critical to be aware of this infromation as it happens. In one case news of a candidate's CEO replacement came minutes before a scheduled client-candidate interview. The recruiter quickly advised the client and it had a significant impact on the interview.

 

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We're Limited Only by Your Imagination

Our internal OSS developers stand by to respond to your changing needs
For all of our clients we stand ready to develop and deploy tools and features to address their evolving business needs. We have the ability to create any tool or feature, and have created system components to address various peripheral components for our clients who offer services beyond recruitment.