New technologies are playing a significant role in recruitment.
A GREAT number of candidates for many roles in Western Australia are from interstate and overseas. In the past these have been difficult to assess; even where video conferencing is available at the client end, the candidate end is not so easy to facilitate.
Also, arranging for the interview team to be available at the same time can be a difficult task. To further complicate matters, even if a candidate appears to have the right qualities, a client may elect to interview the local candidates first, therefore lowering the remote candidate’s chances.
A new option is web-based video interviews. The interview questions are prepared in advance, a link is sent to the candidate and they, in turn, record their answers to the questions online and the result gets emailed back. It operates just like a real interview; the candidate has a set time to collect their thoughts once the question is asked, with no time to refer to Google etc. What you see is the real response just as if you were there in the room. The candidate only gets one chance and they cannot return to the questions once the program starts.
By utilising this process, we can get a lot more than from a telephone interview. We can see how confident they are, their general demeanor, eye contact, etc.
The recorded video can be emailed to an interview panel, which can use it to compile a short-list.
Companies offering this service include PieHire, which provides all the back-end system software, along with training for the recruitment consultants.
Another issue for many employers is dealing with too many recruitment consultants. If you have more than three recruitment companies on your preferred supplier panel for any particular segment, then you are on the wrong track.
There are cases for more than three but they are few and far between when you consider the financial costs and quality of service organisations receive when going above three.
How many times do I hear when bidding for work the phrase ‘we have enough companies on our panel’? A good organisation should say ‘we have the best companies on our panel’.
An excess of agencies leads to far higher internal costs for you to manage.
Cutting the number of agencies will also get you better candidate submissions, faster. When you have a smaller panel, there is more incentive for the recruitment agencies to find the best candidates faster for you as their chance of winning the role increases.
The key is obviously ensuring that you have the best agencies and not just a large number. It is a common misconception that by having a large number of agencies you will get a wider range of quality candidates.
What you will get is a greater number of candidates, which is a completely different thing. The more poorly fitting candidates to your requirements sent to you, the higher the impact on your internal team. The best agencies give you the best candidate.
So, how do you evaluate agencies? The first step is to perform a quality audit of your existing agencies.
Which ones have supplied the majority of the candidates that you have hired, which provide direct contact points within their agency for your requirements? How fast do they respond to a request, do they ask for additional information, do they understand your requirements? Has the recruitment agency taken the time to talk to the appropriate personnel within the company to enable them to understand the culture of your company?
Mining, for instance, has a high OHS requirement for all skill sets; a safety culture is required both on and off site.
Having a good culture fit for your organisation can be equally important as a great skill fit. Also, does the agency have a large database of past contacts in the field of operation you need? You need an agency that uses web-based search technologies (Seek, CareerOne etc.) as a last resort, not the first.
Another key, which is often overlooked, particularly when it comes to contract staff, is the relationship between the contractor and the agency they use. The contractor needs to feel part of a team and not just an income stream. Agencies that treat their contractors well retain the best people in all categories of work.
This in turn ensures that the agency you have on your books always has the best contractors for you to choose from.
• Barry Newman-Sparks is executive business development manager at Trilogy Resources IT Recruitment.