e-Recruitment

The Internet and recruitment certainly looked like a perfect marriage in the 1990s.  Candidates keenly embraced the Internet for their recruitment needs, and are still going there in droves looking for their first jobs.  In the UK, some 96% of first time job seekers now look to the Internet for their first role. 1 

But it hasn't been without its challenges for employers and recruiters.  Access to candidates on a global scale has certainly improved, but adequate tools to quickly and effectively get to qualified shortlists (from potentially thousands of CVs) simply haven't been available. 

The new wave of recruiting provides a more sophisticated toolset from which to filter and screen candidates, and has introduced the concept of companies building and developing their own talent pools from which to recruit.  The e-Recruitment model has truly come of age with this new paradigm, and employers in New Zealand are now starting to reap dividends from it.

What does it look like?

The US Department of Labour spent five years creating an exhaustive and sophisticated database of 950 job descriptions and related job goals called O*Net, and continues to invest heavily in updating this data.  New Zealand based StaffCV is currently the only company globally to work with the USDOL to integrate this data into a meaningful environment where people can use it to make recruitment decisions.

StaffCV completed validation of its industry strength psychometric profiler against O*Net's job goals in September 2002.  The StaffCV tool now provides a valuable link between a job seeker's psychometric profile and job roles that they are best suited to, and therefore more likely to thrive in.

How is it being used?

With the high volume of candidates usually received via Internet advertising, a number of different 'lenses' need to be applied in order to get to an accurate shortlist.

Employers are now able to filter Internet-sourced candidates based on any 'hard skills' criteria they wish, as well as on their work-preferences based psychometric profile.  What this means is that if 100 candidates on a shortlist all look the same, then a filter can be applied which will measure their suitability for the role (chosen from O*Net's exhaustive database).

Employers can filter even further by capturing the profile of someone within their business considered to be a 'Star Performer' - and search for someone who has the closest fit to their profile.

The result?

Employer requirements when it comes to recruitment haven't changed.  Everybody wants performance, and the ability to select the right person for the job, first time.  What the StaffCV:O*Net formula provides is a method for selecting people for jobs that they will ultimately love, and thrive in.

From a job seeker's perspective, there is also an ever-present desire to be pursuing a career that they will love.  StaffCV allows for job seekers to reverse the equation, and carry out personal profiling to determine what roles they are best suited to, given their work preferences. 

It's a perfect marriage.

1. Society for HR Management (SHRM)/CareerJournal Search Tactics Poll (2001)

December 2002