Time to change your recruitment currency

By William Barribal, managing director, In2Vista

For decades, the only currency with which the job applicant has had to trade has been the curriculum vitae (CV).

Though many attempts have been made over the years to improve the way in which personal information is presented, this paper-based document remains, at heart, a simple, chronological description of the prospective candidateís employment record as the only guide to suitability for the role the employer is seeking to fill.

As a result, unless a particular aspect of the job history ëleaps off the pageí as especially outstanding or unique, the inherent restrictiveness of the medium makes it very difficult for any candidate significantly to differentiate themselves. And this applies, irrespective of whether the relationship is directly between the potential recruit and the employer or via a specialist recruitment intermediary.

However, the recruitment landscape in general, and candidate profiling in particular, is about to undergo a dramatic change with the introduction of tools which provide a much more powerful, insightful and compelling case on behalf of the individual applicant.

Better exchange rate
Common to companies, recruiters and candidates alike is the desire for a recruitment mechanism which offers an improved ëexchange rateí ñ in other words, a much better return for the time and effort invested in the process.

In response, a number of attempts have been made in recent years to develop client-specific systems, many of which have little or no parallel benefit to the recruiter or candidate. Workflow applications designed to manage the supply of candidates, for example, have had arguably little impact on the process, as it continues to trade on the same inadequate and ineffective information ñ the written CV.

Recognising this, In2Vista has developed a series of interlinked services focused directly on making the early stages of the recruitment process work better. At the heart of this is In2View, an easy-to-use, integrated communication system that creates, collates and distributes the critical information - or currency - that drives every recruitment decision, supplementing more traditional methods with the inclusion of streaming video.

When candidates are interviewed by recruitment consultants or a resourcing department, part of the interview is captured on video: this is then automatically collated with standard information such as CVs, confidential reports and psychometric tests and can be viewed directly from a clientís desktop anywhere in the world. The portal allows multiple ìstakeholdersî to view the same information simultaneously, enabling a much faster and fairer selection process. The individual profile can be viewed by the clientís HR team and line managers simultaneously or independently ensuring that everyone involved has access to the same ìrich contentî of information, ahead of a face to face meeting or interview.

The portal allows individuals to add their personal comments about candidates, create shortlists and even rank them in order of preference. The process improves candidate visibility, as their details can be accessed directly by anyone who needs to see them. As a result, it enables clients to gain a much stronger impression of candidates earlier in the process and develop a better feel for them prior to interview.

In addition, In2View gives the recruitment company and the candidate a higher chance of placement in a shorter space of time, where there is a good fit between the client and candidate.

Effort rewarded
So how will this change the candidateís life? In short, it will enable a huge reduction in the amount of time and effort required throughout the recruitment process and increase significantly the number of opportunities likely to be generated for each individual.

An example: today, a typical candidate may register with, say, five recruitment companies and supplement their efforts to find a job by scouring the press, investigating company websites, talking to friends, perhaps responding to head-hunters and so on.

Each opportunity this generates represents a mammoth effort on the part of the candidate, who at the start of what almost inevitably will be an extended, multi-phase process, must tailor their application in response to the specific requirements of the direct or indirect channel in question. If granted an interview - with a recruitment company and then, hopefully, the prospective employer - this will require considerable further investment in time and, in many cases, travel costs.

Throughout, however, the candidate will have to repeat the same basic story many times, which is wasteful of time and effort. Equally, the quality of performance may change markedly, depending on a range of factors, including the mood of the candidate ñ who may be unwell or have had a problematic journey, perhaps arriving late for interview - and the responsiveness of the interviewer.

The irony here is that, the more job opportunities which arise, the worse the problem becomes. A candidate doing all the right things in this way may achieve, say up to ten interviews in three months, a figure which may double if their details feature on recruitment websites or happen to be one of the illusive ìbetter candidatesî that the rejection letters refer to all so often.

The problem is that each company expressing an interest is working on very limited information. The reality may be that the candidate may be ërightí for no more than perhaps one or two roles on offer: equally, at the outset the candidate will have relatively little understanding of the company or the requirements of the role. Each party therefore may have to invest significant ñ and unnecessary ñ time and effort before the inevitable outcome of lack of ëfití is identified.

If the candidate is currently in work, this wasteful process creates unnecessary time pressure. For those who are unemployed, more problematic may be the associated cost: further, the candidate is more likely to retain a declared interest further into the process, whatever reservations they may have, because of the overriding need to get back into work.

In each case, this leads to frustration and disaffection on the part of the candidate. As a result, they may start to make arbitrary and ill-informed decisions about which opportunities to pursue, which does nothing to help an already flawed process.

In2Vista believes that this is fundamentally wrong and can be easily rectified. If a video showcase of a candidate can be created - linked with existing information - at a stroke this greatly reduces the hassle factor, by presenting to the client at the outset a clear and fully-rounded representation of the individual.

From the candidateís perspective too, the ability to say up-front, ëthis is the real meí, represents a major step forward. If the employer likes what they see and hear, this is likely to make any subsequent meeting more meaningful: equally, if they are not seen to be suitable, the candidate has lost nothing and neither has wasted each otherís time.

Reduced stress
Any interview is, by its very nature, a stressful situation. And indeed, a level of stress is recognised as beneficial to the recruitment process: the candidate is unlikely to perform well if too relaxed and the employer gets to see how the candidate responds to pressure.

Yet it is not only unnecessary but also counter-productive to create an additional level of stress through the recognised inadequacies of the recruitment system. At present, each party approaches the interview armed only with limited information on the person they are about to meet, a number of assumptions and a leap of faith that it will generate a positive outcome.

By taking the care to provide a more comprehensive showcase of the candidate as an individual, both parties can approach the interview feeling more positive and with greater confidence ñ and so better-placed to perform to their potential. Put simply, it offers many of the benefits of the second interview at first-interview stage.

This creates a virtuous circle: the individual achieves more effective exposure, the employer accesses a pool of more appropriate candidates and the recruitment consultancy will save the client time and money by providing a greatly enhanced service, as the basis for improved client retention.

The result is that rare commodity ñ a truly win/win outcome.