ITCRA Backs New CV Database

I read an interesting article on iTWire (read here) about an online CV system invented in the UK that is rumored to become the standard here. A few big name IT recruitment agencies including Ambition and Paxus have thrown some dollars at it.

What is iProfile?
iProfile are the creators of the dynamic profile for professionals, which is replacing the tradtional CV by unleashing the potential of both jobseekers and recruiters. We help recruiters make placements, faster, and for candidates it means more control and feedback when job seeking.

I got pretty excited about the prospect of the standardisation of the CV. Imagine a site which houses everyone’s electronic CVs…how convenient, how streamlined, what an advantage to job seekers!

Unfortunately, my excitement dwindled soon after entering the site.

The option is given to re-do a CV or to upload your current one. Who’s gonna re-do it? I uploaded mine. It turned out to have major formatting issues and looked ridiculous. Basically a lot of fiddling around for little results. Any candidate worth hiring would not have the time for this.

Once you’ve uploaded your CV, it quickly becomes apparent that raison d’etre of the site is not to give you a new standardised CV, but to collect your data for recruiters to access. In other words, it’s nothing more than a resume database.

I can’t imagine any candidates worth their salt spending the time to do what a recruiter would do anyway and input all of their details so they can be listed and solicited.

I will stick with my Visual CV…

MyCareer The Head Hunter

I reported on the Jobfox and MyCareer technology deal back in early January.

At the recent Australian Talent Conference, the fruits of this partnership were revealed. MyCareer is set to launch a new product called Head Hunter. Here’s how it works:

Candidates complete an online interview that captures skills, desires and competencies. Head Hunter then matches these with available jobs. Employers can access the information and rate the matching candidates. They then get a shortlist of candidates for a particular role.
By MyCareer’s own admission, resume databases just don’t work (Taken from MyCareer’s presentation at the Australian Talent Conference, 2008).

And as I see it, there ain’t much difference between the Head Hunter concept and a resume database. The only difference is that, provided the technology being used is adequately assessing the suitability of candidates (and I am skeptical about this. It’s really difficult to design valid questionnaires for testing skills etc. and the whole idea of such flimsy concepts being reliant on the self-reporting of candidates makes me cringe), as a recruiter I get the most suitable candidates in my Head Hunter backend, rather than a bunch who I have to sort through.

Frankly, with the ‘manageable’ number of apps. I get from MyCareer (usually about 3 per job), sorting through the applicants is not really a big deal. Why would I want to pay for the service.

This brings me to wondering about the strategy behind the introduction of Head Hunter. Was it to provide a service to recruiters? I doubt it, recruiters aren’t too interested in being cut out of the recruiting process in this way, and paying extra for it.

Was it to cut out the role of the recruiter and offer a method of recruiting for employers? If yes, PageUp People already does this.

When a company devises a strategy for a new product, it needs to have some area of the market that it plugs; it needs to give it something that it’s longed for – or that you can convince it it longs for.

This ones just all flailing around with its arms in the air like it’s lost out at sea – and there’s no life jacket anywhere close by.