The benefits of Cloud computing come at a price

There is no disputing that Cloud computing has changed the way global organisations operate. The technology has enabled organisations to act efficiently and usually at a reduced cost. Cloud computing modules can be deployed quickly and scaled up or down based upon software requirements and usage, so that organisations only pay for what they use. This means that organisations can now look to replace on-premise legacy technology with those applications offered via the Cloud.

Sounds compelling. So what’s the downside?

Simply put – bespoke customisation. The promising offer of a flexible payment model and low upfront costs certainly make an outsourced approach tempting – but how flexible is the actual Cloud solution? If an organisation was to adopt a true ‘multi-tenant’ Cloud solution, where one product services multiple locations,then the flexibility within the solution remains limited.

That said, Cloud technology does provide a certain amount of adaptability and configuration through the wide range of different technologies on offer.Organisations have the luxury to choose a product that suits their needs,rather than having to make a compromise. Recruiters can choose whether they want technology that is low cost and quick to deploy or technology that is a little more expensive and takes more time to deploy, but can be customised and is flexible enough to match the specific requirements of each location.

The knee jerk reaction would be to go for the model that is most cost effective from the outset – which is most likely to be a Cloud solution. However, there is a strong case to be made for the benefits of taking a step back. Making the additional investment of time and money in the deployment phase can then result in an organisation having a product that has true longevity and meets critical business requirements. Add to this the ability to be flexible enough to deal with any changes within the organisation over time and you begin to realise the real value of making the extra effort in the initial stage.

If at first you don’t succeed

...try and try again! Granted, a phrase we are all familiar with, but not necessarily one we’d want to attribute to the recruitment process. The fact is sometimes we have no choice. Recruitment processes differ from one organisation to the next,but they all have one thing in common - they are designed to continually hone in on candidate key skills to find Mr or Mrs Right. If you want to avoid the route that Richard Curtis took when auditioning for what was to become the Oscar nominated Four Weddings and a Funeral, where he auditioned over 70 people before finding Hugh Grant, then intelligent technology can provide a helping hand.

Intelligent technology can help you to refine candidates without having to go through a detailed qualifying processes or sift through endless CVs. Capture technology can extract the key data from CVs, plugging it into an internal database. At this point the recruiter can search and match key skills and capabilities to rapidly identify the front-runners for the position, consequently shortening the recruitment process by focusing on those most suited to the position.

However,what happens when an ideal candidate becomes unavailable at the last minute? As galling as a last minute drop out can be, what it actually does is provide the recruiter with yet more understanding of exactly what they need in order to find the right candidate to carry out the job required.

If a recruiter has decided on a suitable candidate and is about to make a job offer only to discover that this person is no longer available, then having intelligent technology enables the recruiter to go back and conduct a ‘find me more people like this’ search – keying in the skills, experience, qualifications and other requirements which make up that ideal profile. So whilst it might be frustrating, from a management perspective a deeper understanding is gained into what is needed to fill a position successfully and from an operational perspective, intelligent technology enables additional searches to be made across a number of sources in order to find a suitable match quickly.

So don’t be too hard on the person who drops out at the last minute, they may have just provided the opportunity for the perfect candidate to rise to the surface.

How well do you know your candidate?

So you’ve got your basics inplace, you know their credentials, checked out their employment history andhave some inclination of the grades they got a few years back. Granted, a greatstart, but enough to convince both you and the client they’re the right personfor the job? Probably not.

So where do you turn next?

Even the savviest database willonly hold a candidate profile which is reasonably dull and provides littleinsight into true candidate behaviour. But with an abundance of ‘big data’readily available online, recruiters need to harness it and turn it intosomething workable.

Social media is a greatstarting point. For one, it highlights the active and not so active jobseekers. Who are they engaging with on Twitter? Have they asked for a recentrecommendation on LinkedIn? Have they been looking at Monster? All of thesesigns segregate those who are actively looking as opposed to those who areperusing and often time wasters.

So you may have established howbest to contact them or the kind of opportunities they are looking for but whatelse can social media provide you with? Businesses want to know the sort ofperson they’re recruiting, do they like to travel or blog in their own time forexample – all of which is freely available to find online.

This information, paired withthe internal database, provides recruiters and head hunters with the necessaryinformation of when to engage. An interface between the two sets of informationcompletes the circle between internal and external and often opens up newchannels of communication – active Tweeter? Tweet them. Always on LinkedIn?Then send them a message.

There is a huge amount of dataout there, half of which is redundant but half of which is awaiting interrogation.In a competitive market where having the business edge is key, recruiters needto do all they can to obtain a true candidate profile.

Successful social recruiters must connect with personalservice!

The use of social media amoungst teenagers worldwide is prolific and while its value within the corporate world remains questionable to some,its use within the recruitment space is reaching epidemic proportions. Since January, G4S has reported a rise in the number of click throughs from its Facebook site to the careers site, totaling 100,000. Of those 100,000, the security firm has received 11,000 job applications. This clearly demonstrates the power of social recruiting and while companies like G4S are recognising the value of social media as a recruitment tool, most recruiters are also harnessing social media to some advantage.

At its most basic level, recruiters are using LinkedIn to identify and contact candidates regarding vacancies. However, this is often conducted via a blanket approach, which is easily spotted by candidates and deters further interest.

The key to successful social media recruitment is personalised engagement. Those recruiters who insist upon following thousandsof potential candidates, in the hope they will follow back, or push out generic information across Facebook and LinkedIn, risk becoming a nuisance to the most relevant candidates.

By its nature, social media is a less formal channel of interaction than the traditional recruitment process, offering recruiters insight into each candidate on a more personal level. By investing time to identify an individual’s likes and needs through social media, recruiters are able to present both candidates and businesses with the most suitable opportunities.

Furthermore, additional effort to retweet relevant candidate tweets, share useful information or suggest people to follow that reflect that person’s requirements will encourage a dialogue and ultimately interest the most suitable candidates.

It is through this targeted, personalised approach to social media that recruiters differentiate themselves and become more effective, resulting in successful placements and recommendations. Social media is a valuable tool that recruiters cannot afford to neglect, but treat it as a generic tool and you are likely to see limited value.

Combating the tech skills gap

Thetechnology skills gap has been a hot topic in the recruitment and IT presslately with researchrevealing that two-thirds of techprofessionals do not have the necessary skills and experience required to deliver on mobile projects. With mobile IT roles set to be vital withinbusiness in just threeyear’s time, this is a concern for the wider industry.

So what can be done?

A newly launched “Creative Technology andEnterprise” Masters Course – a hybrid of computing, creativity and business –at Bath Spa University signifies a pre-emptive drive to fill the gap. However, whileon paper such a move seems positive, a year long course is unlikely to be enoughto meet the current high demand – not least because employers also wantindustry experience.

As well as affecting IT professionals’ jobprospects and those businesses that need specialist tech employees, the skillsshortage also presents a problem for the recruitment sector. Recruiters will befaced with the task of filling vacancies with only a finite number of suitablecandidates available. The challenge for recruiters will be identifying those illusivefew who possess the required skills and industry experience.

Current basic recruitment technology used byrecruitment officers identifies candidates via a keyword match. In other words,if the employer specifies a competency in mobile projects as a required skillin the ideal candidate, then the basic keyword search will present anycandidate that mentions the word ‘mobile’ in a CV or application, irrespectiveof context. This often throws up a huge number of irrelevant applications thatthe recruiter has to manually sift through – an arduous task that doesn’t solvethe problem that they had in the first place!

For recruiters to truly combat the skills gap,they must implement intelligent technology that goes beyond a basic keywordmatch. CV search tools that utilise natural language semantic meta-searchtechnology enable recruiters to accurately identify those candidates to haveheld a role that has exposed them to the relevant skills and competency. Theseintuitive tools also score and rank jobseekers according to their level ofskill. By automating the search and match process in this way, recruiters cansignificantly reduce the time spent finding suitable candidates, enabling themto present a shortlist of the best applicants to the employer before anyoneelse.

A skills shortage shouldn’t hinder therecruitment process – with the right technology, it is a matter of findingthose hidden gems!