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    "result": {"data":{"posts":{"edges":[{"node":{"url":"mobile-recruitment-the-strategy-you-cant-ignore","title":"“Mobile Recruitment” – The Strategy you can't ignore","description":{"description":"<p>Did you know that 44 % of people go to sleep with their mobile phones next to their bed because they don’t want to miss any updates, calls or messages during the night? Searching and finding great talent via mobile recruitment strategies is just one option.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>\r\n\tDid you know that 44 % of people go\r\nto sleep with their mobile phones next to their bed because they don’t want to\r\nmiss any updates, calls or messages during the night? This is what the Pew\r\nInternet Project survey recently revealed and it doesn’t surprise me that\r\ncompanies want to take advantage of this obsession in various ways. Searching\r\nand finding great talent via mobile recruitment strategies is just one option.</p><p>\r\n\tThe results of several surveys prove\r\nthat companies can’t ignore anymore the fact that they have to think “mobile”\r\nwhen it comes to meeting their recruitment needs. 68 % of job seekers look for\r\njobs by using their mobile devices (Glassdoor), 80 % of job seekers are using\r\nmobile technology in their job search (Jibe), 41 % of traffic comes from mobile\r\ndevices (Career Builder) and the list goes on.</p><p>\r\n\tCreating a mobile-friendly version of your website\r\nmeans that it can be accessed on the go from devices such as smartphones, cell\r\nphones, tablets or iTouch. People don’t want to wait until they can access a\r\ncomputer, they want their information: quickly, at all times, from anywhere and\r\nfrom any device.</p><p>\r\n\tCompanies need to know how they can apply a mobile\r\nrecruitment strategy that fits into their overall one. Let’s not forget to\r\nmention the benefits for a company, such as receiving a higher number of\r\napplications, improving the company’s brand and reducing the jobseekers\r\ndrop-off rates. A survey from CareerBuilder has shown that if a company doesn’t\r\nhave a mobile-friendly website 65 % of their potential applicants will instantly\r\nleave the website and 40 % will have a negative impression about the company. And\r\nnot just that: your company will also be automatically disqualified from 20 %\r\nof internet searches, no matter how great your SEO strategy originally was.</p><p>\r\n\tHere are some ideas on how you can easily implement\r\nan effective mobile recruitment strategy for your own company. What should\r\npotential hires be able to do using their mobile devices?</p><ul>\r\n\t\r\n<li>To filter jobs by department and function. The\r\ncompany needs to keep short job descriptions and ensure that the search\r\nfunctionality is working properly. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>To easily find useful information about the organisation,\r\nculture and job vacancies. The company needs to offer a quick and smooth\r\nprocess to apply for corporate jobs with a software that works seamlessly. This\r\nshould shorten the application process drastically. Things should not get\r\ncomplicated by directing candidates to another website in order to complete their\r\napplication. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>To watch corporate videos. Yes, even on a small\r\nscreen! A company should not miss out on this opportunity to provide jobseekers\r\nwith visual insights into their organisation’s culture. No brochure would be\r\nable to convey the same message. People love watching videos!\r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>To upload their CV easily and quickly from any\r\nonline storage location. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>To send themselves a reminder in email format if\r\nthey prefer to submit or complete their application later on from their\r\ncomputer. The company should optimize their content for bookmarking and\r\nretargeting. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>To conduct video job interviews via Skype or Google\r\nHangouts using their built-in camera. This would save both parties (candidate\r\nand HR Manager) money and time. Furthermore, it would increase the number of\r\napplicants dramatically, no matter where they reside. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>To be kept informed about the status of the\r\napplication. It should be possible to track it. The company should confirm that\r\nthey received the candidate’s application. There is nothing more annoying for a\r\njobseeker as to being ignored.\r\n\t</li></ul><p>\tOther important points that recruiters\r\nneed to consider are as follows:</p><ul><li>Advertise  job ads via social media sites (Twitter,\r\nFacebook, Linkedin) since many internet users are logged in throughout the day\r\nvia mobile device. Make sure there is a team of people who can answer\r\ncandidates’ questions (no matter in what form they are coming in) and interacts\r\nwith them on those networking sites. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Consider passive candidates. Try to attract also\r\nthose who are not actively looking for a job. You can do this by writing blog\r\narticles on a regular basis, update your social media websites, publish videos\r\non YouTube (make sure they are also mobile-optimized) or creating SEO optimised\r\nwebsites. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Consider the time. People check their mobile phones\r\nthe most in the morning before heading to work or college, at lunchtime and in\r\nthe evening hours. If you want to send out several information (eg. job alerts,\r\ninformation regarding upcoming job fairs or other career events, interview\r\ninvitations etc.) do it possibly during those times between 6-9am, 12noon and\r\n2pm and 5pm-10pm. This will help you to get responses in a reasonable time. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Last but not least, mobile-optimise your email.\r\nHave a closer look as to how your emails look on a mobile device. Make sure the\r\ncontent is short, clean and simple. Subject lines should not be longer than 15\r\ncharacters. The size of links or your ‘calls to action’ should be increased so\r\nthat they can’t be overlooked. \r\n\t</li></ul><p>\r\n\tThere is no doubt about it:\r\ncompanies, regardless of their size, need to embrace mobile recruitment\r\nstrategies if they want to find high-quality employees in a quick and effective\r\nway. Thus, offering an application process which is mobile-friendly, and having\r\na website which is also mobile-optimised are the keys to success in finding the\r\nright talent. Also the Industry Head of Recruitment and Google UK, Emma Frazer,\r\nstates that \r\n\t<em>“Not using a mobile\r\nrecruitment strategy could have a genuine ‘opportunity cost’ for the company\r\ninvolved.”\r\n\t</em></p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-04-01T14:36:27.373Z"}},{"node":{"url":"promoting-your-company-at-a-job-fair","title":"Promoting your company at a Job Fair:  How to do it the smart way","description":{"description":"<p>In\r\ntimes of Social Media and the internet does it still make sense for an\r\norganisation to participate at a Job Fair? Yes, because it gives companies as\r\nwell as jobseekers the opportunity to meet face to face without having to book\r\nfor any appointments.&nbsp;It\r\nallows you to make effective use of your time by meeting a large number of\r\npeople at the same place in a short period of time</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>In times of Social Media and the internet does it\r\nstill make sense for an organisation to participate at a Job Fair? Yes, because\r\nit gives companies as well as jobseekers the opportunity to meet face to face without\r\nhaving to book for any appointments. It allows you to make effective use of\r\nyour time by meeting a large number of people at the same place in a short\r\nperiod of time. A recent survey conducted by the Society of Human Resources\r\nManagement/Career Journal revealed that 70 % of Human Resource departments rely\r\non Job Fairs to recruit employees.  Job\r\nFairs can still play an important part in a company’s long-term recruitment\r\nstrategy and increase brand awareness about the organisation.</p><p>How can you promote your business or recruitment\r\nagency effectively at a Job Fair? Here are some suggestions you might want to\r\nimplement in the future in order to maximise every minute spending there.</p><ul>\r\n<li>Find out who the target audience is and make sure\r\nit is the right one for your company. </li><li>Location does matter. Pay attention to where your\r\nbooth is positioned, choose possibly a location between two other great\r\ncompanies so that your booth traffic is high. </li><li>Announce in advance that you are exhibiting at a\r\nparticular job fair. Spread the word so that you attract as many jobseekers as\r\npossible. Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a corporate blog are great\r\nways of doing it quickly and cost effectively. According to consulting firm Lee\r\nHecht Harrison 48 % of job seekers are active on social networking sites on a\r\ndaily basis.</li><li>Inform jobseekers about available job positions. Note\r\nthat sometimes companies are also exhibiting at fairs even without having any\r\ncurrent job vacancies.</li><li>Try to catch the visitors’ eyes’ instantly. You\r\ncould do many different things: presenting big posters, showing a corporate\r\nvideo or a recruitment video (if available) on a screen or by having two people\r\ndebating on a current career topic which visitors can stop by and listen to. </li><li>I remember once going to a Job Fair with 20 printed\r\nCVs. I was surprised that not one company was prepared to accept my CV. I\r\nalways got the same answer “You need to apply online”. Thus, instead of sending\r\naway candidates with their CV printouts equip your booth with computers in\r\nwhich candidates can easily fill in application forms on the spot or simply accept\r\ntheir printed CVs.  </li><li>Choose the right people to represent your company\r\nat this event. It would be a good idea to have some employees standing at the\r\nbooth and some walking around trying to get other visitors to visit your stall.\r\nYou could organise a draw by collecting peoples’ business cards and giving out\r\nprizes in regular periods. Bear in mind that those who are representing your\r\ncompany should be very knowledgeable about the organisation, the available job\r\npositions, the recruitment process, etc. How to speak in flattering terms about\r\nthe company is something they should all be good at. </li><li>Every corporate ambassador should be presentable, talkative,\r\npositive, informative and enthusiastic but not dominant. The focus should be on\r\nthe conversation and mobile phones should be switched off. Make sure your booth\r\nis always represented by someone and that snack breaks for employees are being\r\nallocated accordingly. </li><li>Set up a quiet corner in which mini-interviews can\r\nbe conducted with job applicants who meet the criteria for current vacancies. <strong></strong></li><li>Every company will have a corporate brochure to\r\ngive out to booth visitors but having a corporate ‘recruitment’ brochure would\r\nmake you stand out from the crowd. You could include information such as:\r\ncompany history, team members, corporate culture, reasons to be a great place\r\nto work, employees’ testimonials, employees’ perks etc. </li><li>Running a CV Corner in which jobseekers can get ‘free’\r\nadvice and feedback with regard to their resumes would surely attract long queues\r\nof applicants. That in itself would again catch peoples’ attention! </li><li>Having loads of business cards ready to be distributed\r\nis important too. Every time you interact with a Job Fair visitor hand out two\r\ncards, this will help you to spread the word quicker. A job applicant might\r\nknow someone else who could also be interested in working for this particular\r\ncompany. </li><li>Sometimes Job Fair organizers are offering expert\r\nspeeches on various topics throughout the event. It would be a great\r\nopportunity for your company having someone to deliver a speech on a relevant\r\ntopic. </li><li>Give out some merchandise gifts with your corporate\r\nlogo (e.g. calendars, writing instruments, key rings) or something more\r\noriginal that makes people talk and attract more visitors to your booth. For\r\nexample a t-shirt with the words written on it “Hire Me” or “Looking for a\r\njob”. </li><li>If you are working in the HR Department of a big\r\ncompany which has lots of open vacancies you might even want to run your own\r\ncorporate job fair. This gives you the opportunity to attract great talent by\r\nnot competing with any other company. <strong></strong></li></ul><p>As my last tip, remember that the person you\r\nmeet might not be a suitable candidate right now but could become a candidate\r\nor even a valuable customer in the future. Give therefore everyone some\r\npersonal attention who visits your booth at a Job Fair.</p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-03-27T18:53:29.990Z"}},{"node":{"url":"recruiter-its-time-to-think-like-a-marketer","title":"Recruiter, it’s time to think like a marketer!","description":{"description":"<p>In recent years recruiters have realised that their role to search, select and hire new talent has changed to some extent.&nbsp;A recruiter needs to look at his recruitment challenges from a marketer’s perspective: thinking and acting like a marketer. Creating and maintaining an excellent Employment Brand is one of many companies’ goals. This task should be conducted by the recruitment team but also supported by the marketing team.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>A recruiter nowadays needs to be a great marketer, while a marketer doesn’t necessarily have to be a great recruiter. Do you agree? In recent years recruiters have realised that their role to search, select and hire new talent has changed to some extent. Marketing is not an activity which is limited only to the Marketing Department, lines between recruitment and marketing are increasingly blurring. A recruiter needs to look at his recruitment challenges from a marketer’s perspective: thinking and acting like a marketer. Creating and maintaining an excellent Employment Brand is one of many companies’ goals. This task should be conducted by the recruitment team but also supported by the marketing team.</p><p>In order to generate initial awareness and move candidates through a continuous recruitment funnel a recruiter needs to make use of the right tools and resources. There are many stages in the recruitment process which all include some marketing elements. It starts not at the interview stage but much earlier.</p><p>A recruiter’s task should also be to conduct some market intelligence in order to be more familiar with the local or national labour market. This would include: finding out who the competitors’ key employees are, where they are getting new candidates from and where they are losing people to.</p><p>When it comes to writing a job description and a person specification it needs to be written and created in such a way that it attracts easily great talent. Often companies also include descriptions of their corporate culture and the additional benefits they can offer prospective candidates in order to increase their employment brand. Using search engine optimised (SEO) keywords in their job descriptions is another important thing that would help to be found quickly and easily online. Having therefore great copywriting and creative thinking skills can be very useful and help to achieve this goal. But it doesn’t stop there.</p><p>One also needs to know what the most effective channels are in order to spread the word about job vacancies. Once applications are rolling in and it comes to the interview stage it’s again “time to promote”.  The recruiter needs to market the job and the company to potential jobseekers in an attractive way so that the ideal candidate does not hesitate to accept the job when it is being offered. For Agency Recruiters this challenge is even more difficult because they don’t need to convince just candidates but also companies in order to make the perfect match and earn good money.</p><p>Employment Branding is not just a buzzword but an important factor which will gain more and more importance in the future. A company that wants to attract great talent needs to invest some thoughts on how to be perceived in an effective and impressive way as “A great place to work”. Every candidate is interested in knowing what makes the company “stand out”, or in other words “Why should I choose company X rather than company Y” if I’m faced with two offers. The Hiring Manager who is able to convey the message of being a desirable company by using words, pictures, videos, convincing employees testimonials and his personal enthusiasm will win. Let’s face it: Influential skills are required by both parties: the recruiter who is trying to fill a position and the job candidate who is interested in getting a new job.</p><p>Competition is getting tougher as time goes by and attracting the best talent is never going to be an easy task. Finding new and creative ways to attract talent is the key to success. This should possibly all happen in a quick, easy and cost-effective way. Having a strong employer brand makes it easier for candidates to approach companies and recruiters need to know how to make the best use of their recruiting as well as promotional skills and resources.</p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-03-20T14:46:17.320Z"}},{"node":{"url":"culture-fit-the-ultimate-key-to-hiring-success","title":"Culture Fit: The ultimate key to hiring success?","description":{"description":"<p>Believe\r\nit or not, but according to Forbes 89 % of hiring failures are due to poor\r\ncultural fit. This figure should be a wake up call for many companies who\r\nbelieve that skills is all that matters, while culture fit is just a temporary\r\nbuzzword.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>Believe it or\r\nnot, but according to Forbes 89 % of hiring failures are due to poor cultural\r\nfit. This figure should be a wake up call for many companies who believe that skills\r\nis all that matters, while culture fit is just a temporary buzzword. Hiring a\r\ncandidate just because he fits perfectly in your corporate culture doesn’t mean\r\nthat the person will be able to make an instant impact on your bottom line, I\r\nadmit. What a company needs to aim for is a candidate who makes a great job fit\r\nas well as culture fit (the compatibility of an individual and a company’s\r\nvalues, beliefs and attitudes).</p><p>If a candidate\r\nmeets both these criteria the benefits can be huge: greater sense of harmony,\r\nhigher job satisfaction, faster contribution, superior performance, longer\r\nretention, better identification with the organisation, higher commitment, higher\r\nself-esteem, better physical as well as mental health (leading to less depression\r\nand anxiety), saving the company some money (no need to spend additional money\r\nin order to replace poor candidates) and having a happier person at the\r\nworkplace. </p><p>Several other surveys\r\nalso highlight the fact that considering the ‘cultural fit’ aspect in the\r\nselection process plays a key role. </p><ul>\r\n<li>9 in 10 recruiters have\r\nrejected candidates due to their lack of cultural fit. 82 % say that measuring\r\ncultural fit is important and almost 100 % agree that cultural fit is not just\r\na buzzword. (Survey by Cubiks Netherlands) </li><li>60 % did not work well with\r\nother employees due to a lack of cultural fit. (Career Builder, Poll in 2012) </li><li>81 % of respondents agreed that\r\ncultural fit, not the time and cost to hire of a role, is the most important\r\nrecruitment factor. While 11 % disagreed saying that priorities can vary\r\ndepending on the company and sector. (TMP HR Pulse survey) </li><li>78 % of respondents believe\r\nthat organisations and hiring managers do not assess for culture fit because\r\nthey do not know how to do it. (Development Dimensions International, Research\r\nPaper) </li><li>67 % of job seekers say that\r\nfinding a company with similar values to their own is important. Corporate\r\nculture was the top priority when applying for a job, leaving market presence,\r\nfinancial performance and longevity behind. (RoundPegg survey)  </li></ul><p><strong>Here are some strategies as to how a company can hire\r\nfor culture fit:</strong></p><p><strong></strong><strong style=\"background-color: initial;\">1)&nbsp;</strong>Make sure you know what the\r\ncore culture of the organisation is. If you don’t know it yet write a\r\nmission/vision statement. Ask yourself: What is most important to the company?\r\nWhat are the companies values, principles, belief systems, habits, vision,\r\nnorms, working language, symbols, written and unwritten rules, traditions,\r\ncustoms?&nbsp;</p><p><strong style=\"background-color: initial;\">2)&nbsp;</strong>Ask the right questions. Behaviour\r\nbased questions will reflect past behaviours and reveal future behaviours,\r\nwhile other questions will tell you what the candidate’s values and priorities\r\nare. For example:</p><ul><li>Please describe the working\r\nenvironment that would allow you to give your best. </li><li>Is there anything that would\r\nmake it difficult for you to perform to your full potential? </li><li>How would your perfect working\r\nday look like? What would you do and what would you want to avoid? </li><li>If you choose to work for a\r\ncompany, what is your priority with regard to that business and its culture? </li><li>What do you appreciate the most\r\nin your daily job at your current company? </li><li>Are there any episodes at your\r\ncurrent employer which have disappointed you with regard to their corporate\r\nculture? </li><li>What is your attitude regarding\r\nteamwork/flexible working hours and risk taking? </li></ul><p><strong>3)</strong> Bear in mind that an interview is a two-way process and that a\r\nsmart jobseeker might also want to test your answers with regard to culture\r\nfit. Be prepared to answer questions, such as: </p><ul>\r\n<li>What would you change about\r\nthis company if you could do it? Why? </li><li>How did this job vacancy become\r\navailable? </li><li>How does your company reward\r\nsuccess and how are mistakes being dealt with? </li><li>Jobseekers\r\ndo their research and often find useful information about a company’s culture\r\nby reading a company’s Twitter tweets, looking at the company’s Facebook page,\r\nreading the latest corporate news and what other third party review sites have\r\nto say. </li></ul><p><strong>4)</strong> Make sure the focus is on the candidate’s compatibility with the\r\ncore values of the company and not the recruiter’s values. The person should be\r\nin sync with the job position, the work atmosphere, management and corporate\r\ngoals.</p><p><strong>5)</strong> Offer insights into your company in a visual or audio format.\r\nLet other employees share what it feels like working for your company and share\r\nwhat their jobs and experiences have been so far. Publishing pictures and\r\nvideos on social media sites is one method of doing it. </p><p><strong>6)</strong>  Offer different types of\r\nsocial get-togethers, for example trial work periods for a limited time, social\r\nmeetings after an interview, etc. can be considered too. It will show the\r\ncandidate in a different scenario which can be more revealing than one might\r\nthink. Furthermore, company’s employees will be able to tell straight away\r\nwhether the person is a good fit or not. </p><p><strong>7)</strong> Check the candidates references by not just focusing on their\r\npast work performance but by getting relevant information which reassures their\r\ncultural fit in your company. </p><p>If the culture\r\nfactor is being ignored it will lead to a toxic environment among other team\r\nmembers, and people will leave after some time because they feel unsatisfied.\r\nThis will have a negative impact on both the employer as well as the employee:\r\nwaste of time, money and lost opportunities for progression. It is very\r\ndifficult (or even impossible) to make people change their values, it is\r\nsomething that you can’t just train or develop in a couple of hours. Even\r\nRichard Branson stated once “Most skills can be learned, but it is difficult to\r\ntrain people on their personality.” That explains why many companies hire first\r\nfor culture and plan to train for skill later on. However, getting candidates\r\nwho are a great job fit as well as culture fit right from the start are always\r\nthe best option. </p><p>If you hire\r\npeople who believe in your products/services, share your vision and embrace\r\nyour values, you will work with talents who are self-motivated, give more than\r\n100 % and help you to achieve your corporate goals quicker and better. Who\r\nwould not wish for that? When hiring people your main concern should not just\r\nbe “Is the person able to carry out the job?” but “Will this person fit nicely\r\ninto the company’s team?” It cannot be emphasised enough that culture fit is\r\nnot just crucial when it comes to the attraction but also the development and\r\nretention of future employees. Also in the future it will remain the key to\r\nhiring success and lead to the highly sought-after ‘competitive advantage’.&nbsp;</p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-03-11T15:07:41.167Z"}},{"node":{"url":"hiring-a-developer","title":"Hiring a Developer: what to ask and watch out for","description":{"description":"<p>If\r\nyou take a closer look at the current job market you can notice that the IT\r\nsector is one of the most dominant sectors and this is not going to change in\r\nthe future. On the contrary, it will increase even more. Hiring a great “IT Developer”\r\ncan become quite of a challenge for a company, particularly if the company is\r\nnot very tech-savvy.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>\r\n\tIf you take a\r\ncloser look at the current job market you can notice that the IT sector is one\r\nof the most dominant sectors and this is not going to change in the future. On\r\nthe contrary, it will increase even more. Hiring a great “IT Developer” can\r\nbecome quite of a challenge for a company, particularly if the company is not\r\nvery tech-savvy. In that case approaching an IT Recruitment Specialist might be\r\nthe best solution in order to find the right talent. They will be able to tell\r\nyou what role your company needs to look for. The choice is not small: Front\r\nEnd Developers, Back End Developers, Interactive Developers, Mobile Developers\r\n(Android, ioS, Blackberry, Windows Phone), Flash Developers, SAP Developer, Web\r\nDevelopers, Oracle Developers, Share Point Developers, OSX-Apple Developers,\r\n.NET Developers, Linux/Unix Developers – it’s a real jungle out there. However,\r\nthere are several requirements and skills that a developer needs to have\r\n(regardless of the IT speciality) in order to perform well.</p><p>\r\n\tYou obviously\r\nneed to test a candidate’s in-depth technical skills and here you have two\r\noptions: 1) Use a skills assessment software such as <a href=\"https://skillmeter.com\">Skillmeter</a> which will help\r\nyou to save considerable time as well as money. 2) Involve your technical staff\r\nin the interview and let them test the candidate’s coding skills and at the\r\nsame time find out if the candidate makes a good cultural fit.</p><p>\r\n\tSome other non-technical\r\nskills you should watch out for are the following:</p><ul>\r\n\t\r\n<li><strong>Problem solving skills.</strong> Software\r\ndevelopment is all about compartmentalisation (taking the big problem and\r\ndividing it into small little pieces and solving each piece separately). Thus,\r\ncompleting the objective of solving the big problem. A great problem solver\r\ndoesn’t always have to solve all the problems by themselves as long as the\r\nperson knows who else can be approached in order to sort out the issue. It is\r\nimportant that the candidate perceives problems as a challenge rather than a\r\nheadache. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li><strong>Being a quick, motivated learner and adapter of new technologies. </strong>As we all know technology is changing rapidly. Therefore, knowing\r\nhow to learn (teaching yourself or attending courses) and adapt quickly to new\r\nprograms is of paramount importance. Knowing how to keep up-to-date in this\r\nsector and being intrinsically curious is of high relevance. \r\n\t</li></ul><ul>\r\n\t\r\n<li><strong>Attention to detail.</strong> The candidate needs\r\nto be a perfectionist paying attention to every detail in order to get a\r\nsoftware 100 % right. There is no tolerance for mistakes in order to make it\r\nwork at the end. \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li><strong>People skills.</strong> Often people think that\r\ninterpersonal skills, also known as soft skills, are not relevant for several\r\nIT roles. Fact is, that sometimes a person who develops software is not limited\r\nto the technical execution of a task only. Interacting with other developers or\r\nclients might in many cases also be part of the job. Having good team-working,\r\nlistening, communication, presentation and influencing skills does matter.\r\nOften the best software is not created by one individual but by many others\r\ntoo. Being able to work in a team can therefore give an applicant the edge. \r\n\t</li></ul><p>\r\n\tIn a technical\r\ninterview you should ask lots of open-ended questions, some examples are as\r\nfollows:</p><ul>\r\n\t\r\n<li>What approach do you have when\r\nsolving problems? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Are you on GitHub (open source\r\ncommunity)? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What operating systems are you\r\nfamiliar with?\r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What programming languages do\r\nyou know? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What was the most recent\r\nprogramming language that you learnt? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What is the project in which\r\nyou were involved that made you most proud of? What went particularly well and\r\nwhat not and why? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What is the project you were\r\nleast proud of and why? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What projects are you working\r\non in your free time? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What resources (online or\r\noff-line) do you use to keep yourself up-to-date? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>What IT-related conferences do\r\nyou follow? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Do you participate in technical\r\ndiscussion forums? What was your experience with it so far? \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Which technologies would you\r\nuse for our company considering our budget and scope of work? (Look out for\r\nexamples in which the candidate talks about the pros and cons of various\r\noptions and why the suggested ones seem to be the most suitable for the company.\r\nHow knowledgeable and enthusiastic does the candidate sound?). \r\n\t</li>\t\r\n<li>Do you have a personal website\r\nor a blog? (The insights of the person’s blog might be much more revealing than\r\nthe CV in itself). \r\n\t</li></ul><p>\r\n\tThe information\r\nthe candidate will provide you with will reveal many things: what they know,\r\nwhat they value, what role they were playing in different companies, how they\r\nsolved problems, what their thought process is, how well they explain\r\nIT-related terms and how they communicate to other people.</p><p>\r\n\tTwo things you\r\nshould do without hesitation: 1) Ask candidates to provide some links with\r\nexamples of their work or show a portfolio of work samples. This will give you\r\nan additional insight into the candidate’s performance. 2) Contact previous\r\nclients or companies they were working for. They can share their personal\r\nexperience regarding the applicant’s proactivity, reliability, attention to\r\ndetail and results-orientation.&nbsp;</p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-03-04T14:58:39.850Z"}},{"node":{"url":"10-creative-ideas-for-your-employee-referral-program","title":"10 Creative Ideas for your Employee Referral Program","description":{"description":"When it comes to setting up a referral program most companies focus on how to spread the word about their products or/and services. But let’s be honest, how many companies actually consider this strategy also with regard to their recruitment needs?"},"body":{"body":"<p>\n\tWhen it comes to setting up a referral program most companies focus on how to spread the word about their products or/and services. But let’s be honest, how many companies actually consider this strategy also with regard to their recruitment needs? Few companies offer in-house referral programs in which employees are being encouraged to find the most suitable talent for the company and future work colleagues to work with.</p><p>\n\tThe benefits for a company to set up an employee referral program and involving their own employees in future hiring challenges should not be ignored. Some of the advantages are as follows:</p><ul>\n\n<li>A cheaper alternative (instead of outsourcing this task to recruitment agencies which often charge a fee of 10-20 % of a person’s annual gross salary)\n\t</li>\t\n<li>Increase of employee engagement and level of responsibility (employees would feel more empowered) \n\t</li>\t\n<li>Higher retention rates (it has been proven that referred employees stay longer)\n\t</li>\t\n<li>Higher number of passive candidates \n\t</li>\t\n<li>Increase of the organisation’s brand profile\n\t</li>\t\n<li>Referrals are getting hired quicker (according to Jobvite applicants start a new job after 29 days compared with 39 days via job boards and 55 via career sites)\n\t</li>\t\n<li>Referrals make a better cultural fit (they are familiar with the way the current employees are working) \n\t</li></ul><p>\n\tWhat approach can your company take to implement an effective referral program among their employees? First of all, you need to realise that having a positive work culture in a company is of paramount importance in order to attract great people. Secondly, everyone needs to be given the opportunity to participate, no matter in what position they are working in. Thirdly, everyone needs to know all the details for the open vacancy so that everyone can act like a great ambassador.</p><p>\n\tDon’t expect that a referral program works by itself. Your company needs to think of a well-thought through plan in order to get the best out of this strategy. I would like to give you some ideas as to how you can create an effective referral program that works and which will help your own employees to attract their next colleagues.</p><ul>\n\n<li><strong>Train your staff</strong> in terms of rules and policies surrounding recruitment. Teach them how to talk positively about the\ncompany to recruit the best talent. Ask them to watch out for every opportunity they might have during or outside of their working hours to spot great people. For example, when attending seminars, conferences, professional association meetings or even in their spare time. Let them know that the candidate pool should go beyond their own personal networking circle which they are already familiar with. \n\t</li>\t\n<li><strong>Create a corporate Career website </strong>in which candidates can get really insightful information about the job, company, culture etc. (Don’t miss to read my previous article which will give you 12 ideas as to how you can approach this task: <a href=\"https://skillmeter.com/blog/12-strategies-for-your-corporate-career-website\">https://skillmeter.com/blog/12-strategies-for-your-corporate-career-website</a>).\n\t</li>\t\n<li><strong></strong></li>\t\n<li><strong>Let your employees spread the word</strong> on various Social Media Websites, such as Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+. Give them some samples as to how they can grab a reader’s attention. Make\nsure you write compelling job descriptions and mention that it doesn’t just\nhave to be words; pictures and videos are often more effective. Remind them\nthat they should portray the company’s professional image at all times. \n\t</li></ul><p>\n\t<strong></strong></p><ul>\n\n<li><strong>Get T-shirts printed</strong> which read “We are hiring”, show a team picture and mention your website address. Encourage your employees to wear these t-shirts also in their spare time when going out. \n\t</li>\t\n<li><strong>Get stickers printed </strong>with the same content and ask your employees to put it on their cars. \n\t</li>\t\n<li>Show people that they make a difference and that their efforts are being rewarded and appreciated. \n\t<strong>Reward them with some incentives</strong>. It can be highly motivating for your staff if you offer different options from which they can choose. Personalisation does make a difference! Some people might want financial rewards, while others might prefer getting more extra time off, a holiday trip abroad, shares or products of the company, a paid educational course of their interest or the option to donate the reward fee to a charity. Now what would be the best moment for giving the reward? The choice\nis yours: you can give small rewards for having referred great people (who were not hired now but could get hired in the future for similar positions), and bigger rewards on the new employee’s first working day or upon completion of their probationary period. \n\t</li>\t\n<li>Printing small cards (in business card format) for each employee is another way of spreading the word. These cards should differ from the normal business cards and should be created for recruitment purposes only, think creatively! Apple, for example, has cards which say on one side \n\t<strong><em>“You’re amazing. We should talk.” </em></strong><em>While on the other side it says <strong>”Your customer service just now was\nexceptional. I work for the Apple Store, and you’re exactly the kind of person we’d like to talk to . If you’re happy where you are, I’d never ask you to leave. But if you’re thinking about a change, give me a call. This could be the start of something great.”\n\t</strong></em>  Think of something similar and give your employees tools to facilitate great new hires. \n\t</li>\t\n<li>You might also consider setting <strong>goals for team referrals</strong>. In that case reward the team with the highest volume of referrals. \n\t</li>\t\n<li>You could give it a try with a <strong>third party software</strong> but letting your employees think more creatively on their own might be the better choice. \n\t</li>\t\n<li>Show also all those employees who were able to find and hire a great candidate for the company what impact that person had on the company’s performance/success. Giving them a <strong>hand-written card</strong> would be something unexpected and surely appreciated. It would motivate them to work even harder in the future again! (And which boss does not want to see that?) \n\t</li></ul><p>\n\tI consider it as important to let your staff know about what worked well and what didn’t work so that future mistakes can be minimised. You also need to make clear to your employees that if they keep on referring poor candidates (who initially get hired but get fired shortly afterwards) they will not be given the opportunity anymore to search for future employees. It will have a negative impact on a company’s image and hiring the wrong people can become costly. That’s something that nowadays no company can afford anymore in the long run.</p><p>\n\tThese were some suggestions for your employees but if you want to take your hiring challenge a step further you might even want to involve also other stakeholders too, such as: suppliers, clients, retired employees, your twitter followers, Facebook fans, Linkedin connections etc. The more people you involve in this process the bigger and more diverse your candidate pool will be from which you can choose the most suitable talent. Offering a recruitment referral program should not be the only hiring strategy but can\nsupplement your traditional techniques.</p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-02-26T16:55:52.920Z"}},{"node":{"url":"video-interviews-temporary-craze-or-trend-to-stay","title":"Video Interviews: A temporary craze or a trend to stay?","description":{"description":"<p>Are\r\nyou one of those recruiters who already started interviewing potential\r\ncandidates via video or do you think this approach is something that is never\r\ngoing to happen or not really needed at your company?</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>Are you one of\r\nthose recruiters who already started interviewing potential candidates via\r\nvideo or do you think this approach is something that is never going to happen or\r\nnot really needed at your company? In 2012 a survey conducted by Office Team\r\nshowed that 63 % of Human Resource Managers use or have used video interviews\r\nin their hiring process. There are many more studies which show similar results\r\nand prove that digital interviewing is not just a temporary craze but a trend\r\nto stay. Let’s also not ignore the fact that there are already more than 100\r\ncompanies available on the market that offer their own video interview software\r\nprograms.</p><p>What does that\r\ntell you? Hiring practices have changed dramatically in the last years because\r\nmore and more companies are facing larger amounts of candidates and feel forced\r\nto rely on various software programs in order to achieve their goal: to hire\r\ngreat talent quicker, better and cheaper. It is known that many companies start\r\ntheir screening process by using screening software programs (Applicant\r\nTracking Systems, aka ‘ATS’) first, followed then by online skills assessments\r\nand last but not least video interviews. This makes us aware that global competition\r\nis getting increasingly tougher and strategies need to be applied in order to\r\nfacilitate the whole process. </p><p>A Recruiter has\r\nbasically two options to choose from: </p><p>1) A Live or ‘Two-way\r\ninterview’: Using Skype/GoogleHangouts/FaceTime which comes at no additional\r\ncost and is being conducted live on a certain day and time. </p><p>2) A ‘One-way\r\ninterview’: Using a video interview platform whose price can vary depending on\r\nthe vendor you choose. Most of them come with additional benefits, such as: pre-recording\r\nyour questions and watching/listening to the candidates’ questions in your own\r\ntime, a branded interface, an end user support for potential questions,\r\nspecific compliance factors and note tracking. </p><p>The benefits from\r\na recruiter’s perspective to interview their potential new employees via video speak\r\nfor themselves: it gives an interviewer a better understanding of a candidate’s\r\npersonality (body language, behaviour, appearance, communication style), it\r\nreduces considerable travel costs (particularly if you would have to invite\r\nsomeone from overseas), a tremendous amount of time can be saved and thus\r\nproductivity increased, re-evaluation is possible for the Hiring Manager as\r\nwell as other panel interview members, a wider candidate attraction and search is\r\npossible (more passive candidates would be motivated to apply because they\r\nwould not have to take time off in order to attend a face-to-face interview),\r\nbetter employer-branding, convenience for both parties and thus more\r\nflexibility, a better multimedia enriched experience, it is easier to organise (there\r\nwill be no scheduling issues) and if you choose free software programs (e.g. Skype)\r\nit is also affordable without having to spend anything extra. </p><p>Other reasons\r\nwhy Hiring Managers will not ignore video interviews in the future are stated\r\nhere: </p><ul>\r\n<li>An estimated number of laptops\r\n(79 %) have built-in cameras that make the process easier for candidates as\r\nwell as hiring managers. Why not make use of it if it is already accessible to\r\nboth parties? </li><li>Time is a scarce resource\r\nnowadays in every person’s life. According to a study conducted by Accelir\r\n‘saving time’ has been rated as the most important factor when choosing video\r\ninterviews. ‘Saving money’ was another important criteria which every company\r\nappreciates. Why would a Recruiter want to waste time and money? </li><li>Research has also shown that\r\npeople feel more comfortable participating in a video interview than a phone or\r\nface to face interview (after having experienced their first video interview). So\r\nwhy talking to someone on the phone if you can actually talk, see and relate to\r\na potential candidate in a more personal way via video? </li><li>In\r\nthe past few years as we know the consumption of videos was mostly limited to\r\npersonal entertainment. Nowadays corporations take advantage of using videos\r\nfor different reasons at several stages in running their business, not just for\r\nrecruitment purposes. Video Recruiting has and will become standard for many\r\ncompanies regardless of their size, location or type of industry. The question that\r\ncompanies should ask themselves is not “Video interviews in the future: yes or\r\nno?” but “How sophisticated is our company’s video hiring tool going to be in\r\norder to quickly find the right candidate?” And let’s not forget: video\r\ninterviews are beneficial in many ways, however, Recruiters still want to meet\r\na candidate in person before taking their final hiring decision.&nbsp;</li></ul>"},"publishedOn":"2015-02-16T20:45:53.473Z"}},{"node":{"url":"12-strategies-for-your-corporate-career-website","title":"12 Strategies for your Corporate Career Website","description":{"description":"<p>There\r\nare many companies who emphasise that their staff is their most valuable asset\r\nbut out of all those: How many make an effort to present on their corporate\r\nwebsite valuable information for jobseekers? The benefits of having your own\r\ncareer site are manifold.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>There are many\r\ncompanies who emphasise that their staff is their most valuable asset but out of\r\nall those: How many make an effort to present on their corporate website\r\nvaluable information for jobseekers? The benefits of having your own career\r\nsite are manifold. It will first of all, give any potential employee the\r\nimpression that you really care and value your staff. Secondly, your company\r\nwill be perceived as a professional, attractive, innovative and well-organised\r\nenterprise. Thirdly, it will also save you time because you will deal only with\r\ncandidates who (hopefully!) read all the details and think they are the perfect\r\nmatch.</p><p>If you want to\r\nstand out from the crowd you might also want to get a corporate recruitment\r\nbrochure printed which could be distributed at Job/Career Fairs and several\r\nother events. It would give you the opportunity to brand your company as a\r\ngreat place to work for. </p><p><strong>These are 12 strategies which will help you to create\r\nan impressive career website: </strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><ul>\r\n<li>Make the <strong>CAREER section on your website instantly visible</strong> to job seeking\r\npeople. Many companies call this section ‘WORK FOR US’. The mistake that they\r\noften make is that people need to dig for this information because it is hidden\r\nsomewhere and just mentioned as a subcategory. How to make it more effective?\r\nPut it on the front page of the website on the main menu bar. This way it will\r\nbe instantly visible and noticeable. </li><li>Publish your current <strong>open vacancies</strong>. Be aware that the more\r\nspecific you are in the job description and the person specification the more\r\nsuitable candidates you will be able to attract. You might want to consider of\r\nproviding a job ad also in video format, this would be surely something that\r\nwill make you stand out from the crowd. It would also give the applicant an\r\nimpression about an employee who is already working at that company. </li><li>Providing a <strong>step-by-step description of the recruitment\r\nprocess </strong>is something that every job applicant would highly appreciate.How many interviews can a candidate\r\nexpect? What type of interviews (face to face, panel interview, phone\r\ninterview, video interview, lunch interview) is a job seeker going to face? How\r\nmany people are involved in each type of interview? How long will the interview\r\nlast? Are there any tests/assessments/presentations that need to be done? What\r\nis the timeframe in which a decision will be made? </li><li>A <strong>video about your corporate culture</strong>. A picture can tell you more\r\nthan 1000 words but what do you think can a video tell you? No job ad in the\r\nworld would be able to give you the same impression of a company’s culture like\r\na video. It will obviously require some more time and money but it will be well\r\ninvested. It will help jobseekers to decide quickly whether they would fit into\r\na particular culture or not. Every applicant would appreciate of getting a\r\nglimpse (even though maybe just a short one) into what it looks and feels like\r\nworking for a particular company. How do the offices look like, what kind of\r\npeople are working there, does it look like a fun or more serious environment? <strong></strong></li><li><strong></strong></li><li><strong></strong></li><li><strong>Testimonials</strong> from employees can be very\r\nrevealing. Listening and watching someone talk about their job (what they like\r\nabout it, why they love to work for that company) would surely help to increase\r\nthe company’s public image and motivate people to apply. Adding to each job\r\nvacancy a story, such as “A Day in the Life of a (job xyz) at (company xyz)”\r\nwould be something that would not be overlooked! </li><li>Make a list of the <strong>Top 5 or 10 Reasons</strong> why it is great to\r\nwork for your company. Focus on what current employees really appreciate and\r\nwhat makes them think that your company is special. These points might have\r\nalready been mentioned in the videos, however, reading about them one more time\r\nmakes it more memorable. </li><li><strong>Avoid asking your candidates to register</strong>,\r\nsign up or fill in lengthy forms in order to apply for a job at your company.\r\nFor most of the job applicants it will just lead to one thing: to look for a\r\njob somewhere else.Make the whole\r\nprocess instead easy, quick and smooth so that the number of candidates\r\nstopping halfway through the process will be minimised as much as possible. </li><li><strong>Include social media buttons</strong> (Twitter,\r\nFacebook, Linkedin etc.) at the top of your job vacancy. This will allow people\r\nto spread the word about certain jobs quickly and easily.  </li><li>If candidates can’t find a\r\nsuitable job, give them the opportunity to submit their <strong>speculative application </strong>in an easy way. It would be great if your\r\ncompany could create a system in which speculative CVs would automatically be\r\ntransferred to the corporate talent database. </li><li>You might also want to consider\r\nto <strong>set up a job alert tool </strong>which\r\nwill notify jobseekers about suitable jobs in the future. </li><li>Offer a <strong>Live Chat Option</strong> in which interested people can ask specific\r\nquestions before they decide to apply. </li><li>Create an <strong>interactive quiz</strong>. If your company is keen on having people aboard\r\nwho are very knowledgeable about the company, their products and services it\r\nwould be great to make them participate in a fun and interactive quiz. Here you\r\nwould have two options: a) Make it a part in your screening process ‘How much\r\ndoes the candidate know about us?’ or b) Offer it just as an entertaining tool\r\nwhich will help jobseekers to be better prepared about what the company is all\r\nabout before heading to the interview. But you could also offer it for everyone\r\nwho would like to learn more about your enterprise. </li></ul><p>Companies need to realise that in today’s\r\ncompetitive world it’s not just about marketing their products or services.\r\nAdditional efforts and investments need to be made in order to attract great\r\ntalent. It’s a two-way selling process between a company and a candidate. Companies\r\nare getting more demanding in their requirements but so do also jobseekers.\r\nThey want to spend half of their life (which they do at their job!) doing\r\nsomething that they love and they consider as meaningful at a company that\r\nappreciates their contribution.</p>"},"publishedOn":"2015-02-11T19:15:47.063Z"}},{"node":{"url":"new-feature-test-center","title":"New Feature - Test Center","description":{"description":"<p>\r\n\tI've just released a new feature of <a href=\"https://skillmeter.com\">Skillmeter Testing Platform</a> called Test Center, which contains a set of predefined tests that cover IT topics - from Development (ASP.NET, PHP, Python, Java, Javascript, HTML) to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Project Management (Microsoft Project).</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>\r\n\tI've just relesed a new feature of <a href=\"https://skillmeter.com\">Skillmeter Testing Platform</a> called Test Center, which contains a set of predefined tests that cover IT topics - from Development (ASP.NET, PHP, Python, Java, Javascript, HTML) to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Project Management (Microsoft Project).\r\n</p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tAll Skillmeter users have now access to the Test Center and they can import and use any of the existing predefined tests (some of the tests are still in progress & will be coming soon).  The tests can be used as-is or they can be modified per everyone's needs - by adding/changing/deleting questions.\r\n</p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tAs always, let us know what you think about this new feature, or if there are other tests that you would like to see included.\r\n</p>"},"publishedOn":"2014-11-20T11:42:27.397Z"}},{"node":{"url":"screening-candidates-two-methods-to-choose-from","title":"“Screening candidates” -  Two Methods to choose from","description":{"description":"<p>Imagine you are working for a multinational\r\ncompany which receives hundreds or even thousands of job applications for\r\nvarious jobs on a daily basis. How would you differentiate the star achievers from\r\nthe poor performers right from the beginning? Screening candidates can be a\r\nlengthy process, there are two methods that a company can choose from.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>Imagine you are working for a multinational\r\ncompany which receives hundreds or even thousands of job applications for\r\nvarious jobs on a daily basis. How would you differentiate the star achievers from\r\nthe poor performers right from the beginning? Screening candidates can be a\r\nlengthy process, there are two methods that a company can choose from.</p><p>Bear in mind that it is of paramount importance\r\nthat you include the absolute MUSTs in your initial job description and person\r\nspecification, otherwise you will have to deal with many unsuitable candidates.\r\nSo why wasting time with that? The purpose of screening is to eliminate\r\nunsuitable candidates who don’t match the\r\nrequirements. There are two methods that you can apply: </p><p>Method 1: Screening manually by reading through\r\neach single CV, this is what small sized companies usually do if they have a\r\nmanageable amount of CVs. </p><p>Method 2: Relying on a Resume Screening\r\nSoftware. This is how lots of mid-sized or big companies are approaching this\r\ntime consuming task due to the fact that they often face high volumes of\r\napplications. </p><p>Let’s have a look at\r\nmethod 1: </p><p>If you are screening manually then the first\r\nthing that you look at as a Recruiter is the candidate’s CV. These are\r\nsome things that I used to look at when screening candidates and that made me\r\nforward their application to the next stage of the recruitment process:</p><p>-Does the CV have\r\nthe right length (possibly not longer than 2 pages)? </p><p>-Is it well designed\r\nand clearly structured? </p><p>-Is it free of any\r\nspelling or grammar mistakes? </p><p>-Does it mention\r\ncertain keywords (as mentioned in the original job ad)?</p><p>-Does it include\r\nonly relevant information? </p><p>-Does the candidate\r\nmake clear that he has the relevant skills and experiences (as outlined in the\r\njob ad?)  </p><p>-Did the candidate\r\nmention any impressive achievements?</p><p>-Did the applicant\r\nincrease the responsibilities in each job role?</p><p>-Does the candidate\r\ndemonstrate similar experiences at companies of similar size and industry?\r\n(this might not be of relevance to every job position)</p><p>There are also some “red flags”\r\nwhich I used to\r\nlook at a bit more critically. For example: employment gaps, frequent job\r\nhopping, mentioning years instead of months in the career history, mentioning\r\ndegree programs without any indication of graduation, multiple moves to other\r\ncountries, considerable drop in the list of responsibilities and sudden change\r\nof a career direction. If a candidate generally seemed to be a good fit on\r\npaper I used to give the person a phone call to ask follow-up questions.\r\nCandidates got the chance to clarify certain aspects in their career in more\r\ndetail. Often the reasons were valid to be put forward to the next stage in the\r\nhiring process. </p><p>I also never underestimated the power of a good\r\ncover letter which can also reveal a lot about a candidate, if written\r\neffectively. I focused on the following points:</p><p>-Does it sound like\r\na standard letter or has it been customized forthe position and\r\nthe company? </p><p>-How convincing and\r\nmotivated does the candidate sound?</p><p>-Does the applicant\r\nmention a valid reason for changing job? </p><p>-Can I notice any\r\nurgency in changing job? </p><p>Those candidates who write tailor-made CVs and\r\ncover letters know that their chances of getting to the next stage of the\r\nhiring process are high. The problem is that many companies nowadays start with\r\na screening process which is first computer-managed and at a later stage only\r\nhuman-managed. </p><p>Now let’s see how you can\r\nscreen candidates by focusing on method 2. \r\nAccording to Human Resources Leader already ten years ago 90 % of the\r\nTop 500 US employers were making use of Resume Scanning Software. Making use of\r\n<strong>Applicant Tracking Systems</strong>, so called ATS, has on the one hand the\r\nadvantage that it offers companies a time-saving and cost-efficient solution\r\nand is considered as less biased and doesn’t allow any form of\r\nfavoritism. On the other hand these software programs are not flawless and have\r\nthe disadvantage that highly qualified talent might be disqualified from the\r\nbeginning. Reasons for that could be for example: </p><p>- they include logos, images, graphs and other visual\r\nsigns</p><p>- they mention their job title differently than what the\r\ncompany would call them (e.g. you mention your experience as a “Secretary” but the computer is programmed in such a way that it recognizes only the\r\nword “Office Manager”\r\nfor\r\nthe same job)</p><p>- they list their different jobs, years of experiences,\r\nlocations of companies and other details in a different order</p><p>All these points could be a reason why\r\ncandidates might get disregarded due to the fact that a resume screening\r\nsoftware (not the human being!) screens through CVs and doesn’t\r\nrecognize certain formats, words etc. If the computer is confused about certain\r\ndetails on a CV, no matter how good the candidate is, the job applicant will\r\nnot get a chance to pass this initial screening stage. </p><p>Some resume screening software programs are\r\nquite advanced and sophisticated. They:</p><p>-are focusing on\r\ncertain keywords (that the company considers as paramount) </p><p>-might give higher\r\nscores to candidates who graduated from elite schools </p><p>-are able to figure\r\nout how dated a candidate’s skills are (the\r\nmore often the keywords are mentioned “the more recent and\r\nsubstantial” the candidate’s skills will be\r\nperceived by the computer!)</p><p>-might also\r\ndisregard those candidates who live outside a certain area (because employers\r\nmight not want to pay additional charges for relocation) </p><p>-might be programmed\r\nin a way that allows them also to spot a candidate’s social media sites.</p><p>Times have changed and more and more activities\r\nin our daily life will be replaced by computers. It requires from both parties\r\na certain willingness to learn and adapt to new situations. The recruiter needs\r\nto learn how to use various types of Application Tracking Software in order to\r\nmake the best use of it and jobseekers need to find the perfect balance in\r\nwriting a CV which is acceptable for a computer as well as a human Recruiter.\r\nNot an easy task and maybe one day this will be the only strategy that\r\ncompanies will apply.&nbsp;</p>"},"publishedOn":"2014-09-20T20:16:03.737Z"}}]}},"pageContext":{"skip":180,"limit":10,"pageNumber":19,"hasPrevPage":true,"prevPageLink":"/blog/18","hasNextPage":true,"nextPageLink":"/blog/20"}},
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