SMARTER STRATEGIES

A Better Connection for IT Hiring Tools

Dennis McCafferty | Date: 11-26-10 | Comments

Gaming technologies, social media and more sophistication in search filters are upgrading the job recruitment process, making it easier for IT talent and other workers to land that just-right career opportunity.

Contrary to what a long-suffering, out-of-work IT employee may think, there are companies out there that actually want to hire promising tech talent. But there have been complications in the transition from the classic "e-mail the resume to HR" routine to one that's now inevitably conducted via company or recruiter Websites and social media tools. The digital screening of job applicants for keywords has left many highly qualified candidates on the outside looking in. And some recruiters have gotten frustrated with results from the online hiring process.

Fortunately, solutions providers are coming up with new tools to work out these kinks and actually make the process, well, kinda fun. Here are several such innovations that are helping hirers and workers connect:

● Serious "play" for job applicants. Want to put your tech skills to the test? GILD.com from San Francisco-based PAC Labs lets tech professionals distinguish themselves from the pack via social gaming. Participating companies will sponsor a competition, such as a challenge involving a particular programming language. Users are then ranked according to personality, aptitude, technical and communications skills. GILD also allows users to earn certificates and credentials. Since its launch in May, GILD has drawn more than 60,000 registered professionals and top employers. Employers using the tool include eBay, Oracle and Skype.

Sapient, for example, has tracked more than 2,000 job seekers via GILD, and has found 100 qualified candidates. "These 100 applicants have been pre-screened for core technology skills," says Alan Wexler, a senior vice president/managing director at Sapient. "With other services, we'd typically look at that 100, start evaluating from a core-skill perspective, and find there are none left. And that's before you even take into consideration other aspects like, say, values and culture fit."

● Filter your online profile. Did you ever wonder if a prospective employer Googled you, would this possible future boss call up all of those photos of you at those keggers in college? The online tool Vizibility not only helps you avoid this kind of embarrassment, but can ensure that employers call up the most job-relevant online information when they check you out. Users (potential employees) go on the site, pick the keywords desired for employment-related searches and then select the queries from the results that are most relevant to the experience they're trying to showcase. After this, Vizibility allows for a customized URL that will display only these results. For employers, it ensures not only that the hits are most relevant to the candidate's experience, but that they're calling up information on the right applicant. Given the wealth of "common" names out there, job screeners are often fed search engine results from the wrong person's profile. Major job sites like Monster.com are already integrating Vizibility into their services.
● Social media makes for a job-hunting party. Given that the vast majority of job-seeking users are on social networks these days, hirers are constantly looking to make maximum use of these sites. Toward this end, CareerBuilder's new Facebook referral app, Work@, enables professionals to identify which of their "friends" are a match for open positions within their own company, and instantly share these opps. Via its Talent Network solution, the company also provides relationship-management tools to recruiters to automate the process of keeping prospects engaged and increase conversions. The network�which is mobile-device friendly�also lets employers analyze candidate demographics, and the alignment of their candidate supply versus the organization's demand. Also, LinkUp now has a Facebook app to help recruiters better leverage the dominant social media site for recruiting. It allows for enhanced keyword and location searches, customized and multiple job tabs, and analytics/ROI tracking. So far, companies installing the app have included Intuit, the Hard Rock Caf� and USA Today.