Psychometricians can help find the sweet spot. Oh yeah. (The latest HRchitect Beauty Pageant – Mid-Market ATS)

It's anyone's guess what's going to happen this year in talent acquisition and talent management. The economy stinks. Hiring is all but frozen. Executive management is deferring most major software purchases. Most TA/TM vendors are slashing head count (except for Taleo according to Bill's latest article). Some vendors will die, some will be gobbled up, some non-TA companies will take a shot in the space – and those that survive will come out the other side of midnight in (hopefully) better shape.

As long as they keep their marketing and PR machine revved and running. And if you use a marketing/PR firm, make sure they're the right fit and know how to generate visibility, website traffic and sales leads.

That's why the beauty pageant is such a great way to let vendors shine in a 7-minute snapshot; the marketing/sales pitch distilled in a tasty little memorable shot.

Last Friday's participants included: SmartRecruiters, iCIMS, SonicRecruit, BHI (Batrus Hollweg International), nowHIRE and SmartSearch.

Here are the stand-out differentiators for me:

• TA vendors that include social networking in their platform and use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for marketing.
  
• High marks in customer service – especially when they address the applicant experience and the resulting high marks are reciprocal.
  
• OFCCP compliant and adding I-9 compliance software with an E-Verify integration.
  
• Integrated hourly and salaried solutions.
  
• The acknowledgement that a system may not be right for every organization.
  
• Systems that have modular configurability from day one.
  
• Conversational, confident, jargon-free pitches filled with a little sweet center – contextually appropriate, non-offensive humor.
  
• And using phrases like "psychometricians can help find the sweet spot" – thanks BHI!
  
• Limited copy on the slides, vibrant visuals and screen shots. Oh, and I did mention contextually appropriate, non-offensive humor?
  

As I said, all the vendors did a good job, but iCIMS, SonicRecruit and nowHIRE did an outstanding job.

iCIMS won and nowHIRE was the runner up. I thought SonicRecruit should've been in the winners' circle with nowHIRE, but the attendees' votes were heard. (Sorry Adam. You did look really good in that tiara.)

Next week's pageant is all about onboarding and you can sign up here.

(Full disclosure: HRmarketer.com is now a media partner for HRchitect's Beauty Pageants and iCIMS, SonicRecruit, nowHIRE and SmartSearch are all active HRmarketer members. But these pageants are legit, objective and the ballot boxes are not stuffed. The vendor pitches and the webcast attendees' votes are what count.)

Post by Kevin Grossman