RCEuro Member Blogs

Response handling and new technology applications:
Will technology finally unlock recruiter productivity?

Alex Charles, product director and co-founder of iProfile
Alex is a board member of HR-XML , the global standards body for sharing HR information.

Alex was second up at The Recruitment Conference , covering a topic close to our hearts and minds. I have known Alex for a number of years and worked closely with him as we got HR-XML off the ground in Europe.

His theme on recruiter productivity is a good spin – away from the usual stuff that Alex and I have done for years about what the technology is and how to use it.

Agenda

• How far have we really come?
• Future ideas
• Address capability of your staff and technology
• Threats and risks

An interesting question: Are recruiters more productive because of technology?
Only two of us in the room say yes

Why aren’t we more productive?

• Is it the quality of technology?
• Is it the challenges of the cynical recruitment business owner?
• How do we compete with the larger online players like job boards?

Good slides showing the spaghetti junction of information, tools, contacts - slides will be made available on the conference website.

Challenges about the data we hold in our databases now

• Out of date
• Duplication
• Regulatory requirements, most may not be met
• Difficult to access data in a usable format

Is there a Data Revolution coming?
The change may be from the CRM (Customer owned data) method to VRM – an independent vendor owns/manages the data on behalf of the individual or company.

Future impact of data management on our recruitment businesses

1. Will be more limited access to individual data points, data will anonymised and hidden from direct sourcing, unless you pay a large fee for access.
2. Enforcement of Data Protection/Data Privacy regulations will mean that companies must get direct consent from individuals to hold and use their data
3. Your business performance will be transparent based on web based analysis and commentary sites of your customers (candidates and clients)
4. More market intelligence will be available (aggregated data)
5. Standards like HR-XML, open social will become standard

MARKET EVOLUTION
I like this slide, with the generic business model, type of data management and Internal evolution of your business model
Tough to write without the slide - hope to feature this in another post.
Key point is that business is moving to a user (candidate) centric model, the customer (candidate) will be in control and surrounded by a ‘circle of trust’. As a business, you must provide a great customer experience to stay in that circle.

AW Comment
Interesting, is this really what Web 3.0 should be defined as? If Web 1.0 is getting online, Web 2.0 is two way communication, Web 3.0 is the customer/user sitting in the centre now controlling data, access and the communication channels.

User Centric Recruitment - what does it mean?

• Candidate can build own standardised CV - and edit offline or online with templates to change look and presentation
• Access to more tools to explore/find roles, compare to the market
• Candidate will review/view potential employers reputation
• (Have a look at glassdoor as an example of a site where companies (and salaries) are rated by current or former employees)
• Candidate will review and select agencies, with transparency of preferred suppliers and agency performance available from such review sites
• Application process – using standard electronic profile, not CV by email, for direct online applications into recruitment back office systems
• Feedback loops/channels will be standard and critical
• Onboarding – candidate profile used to get the job is used in initial performance reviews as an employee
• And then full circle, when candidate leaves this company, the profile is updated for the next job process

Opportunity or Threat for the recruitment business of the next generation of technologies and the candidate centric approach
Opportunities

• Reduce cost
• Improve productivity of recruiters
• Increased liquidity of the business (transactions)
• Agencies take lead in online relationships

Threats

• Disintermediation - we have heard this regularly, but this time it will be true
• Value proposition more transparent - to clients and candidates
• Bad feedback - can impact your business

Reality check
Where are we now? Alex has 10 key points on the recruitment companies' readiness to compete today. Yes/No answers, and then a really good chart which rates your readiness, based on the scores on ten questions – this is really good

The questions go to the heart of proper data management, proper candidate communications. business tools like ROI, database searching, consultant progress and actions and Data Protection consent.

We will feature the questions and the scores in another post.
Love his analysis of what the scores mean. This is great.

Finish with Top Tips
Operational

• Cut out manual admininstration (I have been on this soapbox now for 12 years!)
• Remove direct email and CVs from resourcing process
• Track activity to drive best practice
• Evolve service to candidates
• Stay flexible – exploit best of breed solutions

Strategic

• Secure direct access to candidates – fast – (this is what three of the presentations today are talking about)
• Move up the value chain – client and candidate
• Don’t let people be your only asset - capture the data and manage it with the right technology

This was an excellent presentation, summed up the impact (or lack thereof) of technology and the change in candidate behaviours as communications technology and the web continue to evolve.