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BIPED: Candidate Management

BIPED is a web-based Candidate Management/Applicant Tracking System (ATS) suitable for academic institutions and foundations. Our system allows an institute to easily and flexibly handle large, highly selective calls, such as scholarships, PhD programs or advanced courses.

With this tool, we bring the full process of evaluating, shortlisting, interviewing and selecting candidates and all the necessary information together on a common, web-accessible platform. 

Used to select international PhD candidates at the Biozentrum since 2009

BIPED was initially developed to fulfil a pressing need: Support the candidate selection for our full-stipend International PhD Program. This is an elaborate multi-stage recruitment process, involving several hundred candidate applications annually, a number of positions to fill, and a large group of evaluators. Over the last few years, other institutions and foundations have begun using our software, as well, for their recruitment processes. 

Fit for academic recruitment processes

In large recruitment drives, relying on standard office tools like email and Excel sheets to collect evaluation information doesn't cut it any longer. At the same time, common, mass-market applicant tracking systems are often a poor fit for the academic recruitment process. Out of this necessity, we developed BIPED as a central, web-based information hub with which the administrators and evaluators involved in the recruiting can interact and get presented with all the information needed to make the best informed choice possible. 

Programs and foundations using BIPED:

  • Biozentrum, University of Basel: International PhD Program
  • Swiss Nanoscience Institute: PhD Program 
  • Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel: PhD Recruitment
  • Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Basel
  • INCATE: Incubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe

Web-based candidate management

The software consists of an applicant portal and a separate portal for administrators and evaluators. 

After applicants have submitted their first set of details to the applicant portal (this can be as little as their email address, or a complete application), they are provided with an account that allows them to edit and amend their application until a deadline. They can also (if this is desired) asked to request reference letters directly in the software. The referees will then also submit their impressions by means of the software and in a configurable but defined format. 

In the administrative portal, a group of evaluators can be defined, who can review applicants and evaluate/comment on their merits and suitability for the opening. Based on these votes, an  recruitment administrator for the call can then for instance generate shortlists of candidates to be invited for an interview. Moreover, candidates can be contacted through individual or bulk email and can be assigned states. In a second step, impressions from candidate interviews can also be recorded within the software. The net outcome is a transparent and straighforward selection process that allows research group leaders and foundation councils to make a well-informed choice.