Staffing - with a twist

The word ‘interview’ can make even the most confident of job seekers wince. The phrase CV, equally, often makes seasoned recruiters grimace and hold their heads in their hands.

 

Sadly, however, these are a necessary evil if you want to get that rather elusive job and in most cases, as a job seeker, you’ll have to endure the agony of the first interview more than once.

 

For employers, the issues accompanying the various recruitment methods are many and varied, but because the whole industry centres on people -individuals, it’s not easy to streamline this tricky process without losing the human element.

Professional recruiters charge commissions which smaller business owners are reluctant to pay, but are worth their weight when they get it right. Advertising a vacancy in your local paper or on the Internet is certainly cheaper, but ever so time consuming and costly when you tally up the time spent of sorting CVs, screening, referencing and the rest of the ‘things you should be doing’. And let’s face it, when you’re sitting with two hundred CVs in your inbox that you have to go through, how accurate is your screening going to be?

 

Science Careers writer David Jensen published an interesting article last year where his research clearly showed that many employers make subconscious decisions about people within the first ten seconds of meeting them. So what does that mean for the average job applicant? Essentially it means that before you’ve said little more than a polite greeting to this potential employer, you have been assessed and categorised. So if you’re late, underdressed, sweating and out of breath from running for the bus, flustered or nervous, this all tallies up like an invisible set of weights that you have very little control over.

For employers this means that the hour you’ve just scheduled to interview this promising candidate is an hour of your life that you want back - as she’s arrived wearing socks and a Mickey Mouse wizard’s hat, and smells like a camel.

 

With technology advancing at the rate it has been, a whole new opportunity has now been opened up in this tired industry. First Interview Staffing has just launched an Internet job site where job seekers get to upload a quick introductory video alongside their CV. This can be done using a web cam or mobile phone. They are encouraged to keep it short – one to two minutes will suffice – and here they get a chance to ‘sell’ themselves to any potential employers who view their video. A short set of questions is provided as a guide to cover the basics, but essentially this is their time to shine and show who they really are. A huge benefit of this method is that the video can be redone until they are satisfied.  Employers now need simply to click ‘Play’ and they get to meet the person behind the CV, and in under two minutes find out far more than a CV can ever tell them. Are they professional, do they present themselves well, will they fit into my company culture? Job seekers can make themselves available for hundreds of virtual interviews every day without having to call in ‘sick’. Employers who may not be actively recruiting may find a job seeker online who blows them away and whom they’d like to contact. It certainly saves time on undefined traditional first interviews, along with the associated cost and travel. This too is an excellent tool for recruiters who can show their clients a little about this candidate before scheduling interviews.

Matriculates and Graduates who’s CVs may be a little thin but have sparkling personalities can get their foot in the door and avoid being tossed in the ‘No Experience’ pile. Job seekers with mobility impairments or other disabilities will find this especially useful, especially since their profiles are offered to employers and recruiters at no cost.

There are significant benefits to using a system that puts employer and candidate together in such a non-invasive and practical way.

So the wheel turns, and now that we all have the technology, literally, at our fingertips to change the face of recruitment perhaps it’s time to dig out our Sunday best and take centre stage. More information can be found at www.firstinterview.co.za