On Friday I discovered the Career Inspiration app from PathMotion, which is quite unique in the fact that it allows employees of organisations to communicate directly online with prospective candidates at all stages of the recruitment process. Obviously there are a lot of people in the “social recruitment space” now, but I was keen to receive a demo as it their proposition seemed quite unique and well integrated with Facebook as well.
Although I struggle with Facebook personally, one cannot avoid the fact that you need to take it seriously in this time and age, so I agreed to let David Rivel, the co-founder to show me around their application.
Very quickly I was impressed. Although it is not aimed at recruiters as such, it will give you some thoughts on how to engage and communicate directly with your prospective candidates at different stages of the recruitment process. The product is aimed at larger recruiters and the same could be said for the larger recruitment consultancies. In my opinion, I thought the app would work particularly well for graduate recruits/school leavers.
I think the most fascinating aspect of this Facebook app is that not just HR or the Management are reaching out to potential talent, but actual employees are used to facilitate engagement. This aspect may scare a few companies, but it has worked really well for some of its big name clients such as Deloitte, KPMG, Pinsent Masons and the NHS Academy. Basically it is using Facebook as a platform to enable prospective candidates to ask questions at any time in an informal context to their employees; like a conversation over a coffee or even a virtual careers fair. The difference is that it uses employees’ time efficiently, as they can respond from their desks, and that all conversations are stored and made accessible for all app users to read. A few of the discussions had over 500 views which I thought was a very good use to re-use valuable conversations between candidates and employees. Although the integration with Facebook is really smooth, the employees’ profiles are professional profiles set-up specifically to be an ambassador on the app, and candidates can post their questions anonymously if they wish to do so.
Another less obvious benefit of the app other than its ability to promote the company, was that by giving their staff responsibility in the recruitment process, they were empowering their staff to take responsibility in the recruitment process and making them proud to represent their company.
From a candidates’ point of view, using the app would be a good way to get noticed before an interview and I would have thought it would make sense for recruiters to encourage their candidates to participate, as I am sure it would give them an added advantage and help them be more prepared. Or the candidates can actually see if they are the right fit for the company or not, which would then allow the companies to attract more ‘relevant’ hopefuls.
All in all the system functions really well. Apart from its feature that allows candidates to interact with the company, the company can also use the viral function of Facebook to promote their vacancies, while letting candidates interact and communicate with employees, or ‘Insiders’ who can answer their questions that cannot be found in a typical careers page FAQ section.
We know that convincing the right talent to join your organization is a key challenge and involving your employees to help you to engage and attract those candidates makes a lot of sense. At the end of the day, they are the best placed to describe what the job involves and the best representation of the company’s culture.
I would encourage you to see some live examples of the platform to get a better feel of what it can achieve:
• Deloitte
• KPMG
