MyCareer The Head Hunter
April 22, 2008 by Geoff Jennings
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.
Geoff
I soooooo agree with you. Resume data bases were always fairly worthless for searching for top end candidates and I think My Career have just tried to call something that doesn’t work something else. They keep trying to sell it to us and we are just not interested. I’m a bit wary of that lot at My Career too as they just seem to constantly want to charge you extra for the same service. I mean that enhanced listing change was just a good way to get clients to pay extra for the same product - albiet with an ability to put a logo up. Eventually you had to go with it or you didn’t get seen. I don’t know if you’ve ever met any of them at MC but I have to say that the guys at Seek are so much more switched on. I sometimes think that MC was just in the right place at the right time. Getting a bit too critical now so I’ll stop.
Adam Walker. Conduit Recruitment.