by Janine Nicole Dennis | Sep 8, 2014 | Business, Featured, Guest Post, HR Innovation, HR Technology, HR Technology Trends and Tips, Life
In 2002, Patrick G. Riley published “The One-Page Proposal” that became a bestselling self-help book in North America, China, Japan, and Korea, which described how the author succeeded in helping businesses all around the world using one-page proposals. In 2011, Patrick G. Riley and Joanna Weidenmiller co-founded 1-Page. The co-founders wanted to take the successful approach and founding principles of the book, and leverage technology to tackle the largest demographic with the biggest communication problem: companies and job seekers.
For every job post it is reported that companies receive an average of 250 resumes, with leading brands receiving up to several thousands of resumes every week. The problem goes beyond quantity, as the content received within a resumes doesn’t provide any indication on the future performances, fit and motivation of a candidate. HR departments and hiring managers need a new system of engagement to identify top candidates before the interview, enabling job seekers to pitch their value instead of simply providing a list of their past accomplishments.
1-Page provides the Challenge-based Assessment Platform that gamifies hiring, giving recruiters the access to predictive data for enhanced decision-making on talent. With 1-Page, companies engage candidates to compete for jobs based on their ability to solve real-time business challenges, to achieve company’s strategic objectives. Candidates’ ability to pitch their value to the company for that specific role, and propose their solution on a 1-Page Job Proposal, is at the core of the process.
Some of the largest US and global companies like First Republic Bank, BevMO!, UST Global, Orange, rely on the platform for:
- Hiring talent
- Engage passive candidates
- Internal promotion
- Open- source innovation
The platform helps the talent acquisition team to turn job descriptions into real-time business challenges that are unique and specific to the role, and share them through their ATS, customized email invitations, referral lists, and social media. Companies can track in real time the status of candidate’s progression, and leverage collaborative and automated proposal scoring (powered by Natural Language Processing technologies) to identify the best. Thanks to the innovative approach to hiring, the technology behind the scoring model, the great candidate experience delivered, and the results achieved by their enterprise clients, 1-Page has been awarded as one of the top three HR technologies in the US (HRO Today, iTalent 2014). 1-Page has also been endorsed by some of the leading experts in the field of HR technologies:
– “While I always ask candidates to describe how they’d solve a job-related project as part of the assessment, the folks at 1-Page.com have taken this idea a few steps further … candidates submit a one-page proposal summarizing how they’d handle some challenge likely to be faced on the job.”- Lou Adler, Best-selling author and CEO of The Adler Group.
– “The idea of a company engaging with a candidate through evidence of what he or she could do, rather than for what they have done in the past, is a very bright light in recruiting.” –Bill Kutik, Founder of the HR-Tech Conference, on HRE Online.
1-Page’s clients have been able to lower cost per hire by 70%, increase retention by 75% and reduce time to hire from an average of 13 to 4 weeks. With 1-Page, companies have significantly increased the quality of interviews and hires, while delivering the greatest candidate experience.
Author Biography
Joanna Weidenmiller is CEO and Co-founder of 1-Page, the next generation hiring solution that revolutionizes talent acquisition.
Successful and active woman in tech, prior to launching 1-Page Joanna was CEO and Founder of Performance Advertising, responsible for building one of the US leading outsourced direct sales and marketing firms for two Fortune 500 companies, with a successful exit in 2007. Joanna moved back to the US after spending 5 years in China where she developed and led technologies in the mobile and e-commerce fields. On top of building 1-Page, Joanna most recently served as Managing Partner for Hubert Burda Media (one of the largest magazine and digital publishers in the world) in China, where she headed the expansion and led all strategic operations. Joanna earned her BA degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia where she was a Full Scholarship athlete and National rower. Joanna was recruited to the FBI out of college, where she trained police in the Middle East.
Currently she lives in San Francisco, CA.
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Sep 4, 2014 | Featured, HR Technology, HR Technology Trends and Tips, Human Resources
It’s a very exciting time in HR Technology. In fact, a June 2014 article by Aliah Wright on SHRM.org, indicates an increase in both company interest and spending for HR Technology. The article goes on to state that 30% of respondents in a Towers Watson study say they will spend a substantial amount of HR spending on technology. Finally, after years of resisting the technological movement, companies are starting to realize the efficiencies and value that come with investing in the right technology.
The three areas of greatest concern according to :
- Data and Analytics
- Mobile Optimization and Capabilities
- Saas
In my opinion, we are seeing a highly saturated market where you will find tried and maybe not-so-true players in the ATS arena that are holding steady; followed by lots of marginally improved replicas or in some cases “knockoffs”. Full scope talent management systems are intriguing to businesses who no longer have the gumption to try to make separate systems speak to one another in an effort to have fully integrated systems and accurate outputs. Yet still, we have our pick of aggregators, video interviewing platforms, assessment platforms and the list goes on and on.
How does the HR practitioner make sense of all of this?
The first step is understanding what problem you want the technology to solve. The second step is understanding that technology is unlikely to solve all of your inefficiency issues. Inefficiency is first resolved by having sound processes and practices, no system can replace that. Third, once you have considered your HR Technology needs, you need to adequately research and identify appropriate vendors.
Don’t just think about your needs right now, but anticipate how you see the company growing five or even ten years down the line. This will also mean that you will have to pay attention to the bandwidth and scalability of potential systems; a common pitfall of buyers.
There are tools to suit almost every company need. The hard part is taking the time to do the research to find the diamonds in the ruff.
That said…
Those that have been following me for sometime know that every September I celebrate my blog anniversary with a month-long HR Technology series. I do this every year to commemorate my first post which was on called ” To Automate or Not To Automate…That Is The Question”. This year I have coined my series ” I am Revolutionizing HR”. I am highlighting 1-2 HR Technology start-ups per week to open your eyes to vendors that are uniquely solving HR problems.
In doing the research to find what is out there, I was extremely impressed to find vendors solving HR issues in a practical and unique way. None of them are replicas or knockoffs, but they all have a sincere desire to help the everyday HR practitioner work more efficiently.
The first HR Technology start-up will be showcased on Monday, September 8th. Please stay tuned the entire month to get the scoop on some innovative and cool players on the HR Technology scene.
I hope you find each of them helpful.
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Mar 21, 2014 | Featured, HR Technology, Life, Sponsored Post, Talent Acquisition
FTC Disclosure: I received compensation for writing this product review listed below as one of the services I offer my clients. I only work with companies I feel have great products, services and offerings. In accordance with my blog disclosure statement, I will only work with and showcase products and/or companies I believe my readers will benefit from. iCims is an ATS provider and I have either reviewed or used their product personally. I have not made any absolute statements about its functionality but endorse the capabilities I have personally observed. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Image courtesy of stockphotosforfree.com
When we speak about Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) capabilities, we often overlook its impact on the spectrum of users and instead focus on the bells and whistles that tend to be non-essential or less relevant to its primary recruitment function. After all, the purpose of an ATS is to automate and streamline recruitment, hiring and onboarding processes so that it saves time, resources and energy.
The question is: who is really saving the time? Has ATS technology to date been too heavily focused on the recruiter and hiring manager experience?
The gap in ATS technology has been the lack of emphasis on the candidate experience.
2014 is the “Year of the Candidate” at iCIMS. With this initiative, they are refocusing their intentions out of both necessity and utility to better serve the candidate from a technology standpoint. Today’s candidate is on-the-go, always looking for the next opportunity and an easier way of reaching you the employer. With the increased influence of social networks, mobile capabilities and the flattening groups of passive, active and non-active jobseekers, it is only right that iCIMS look at ways of improving candidate engagement.
iCIMS is taking the lead on reengaging the workforce by revamping and developing technology that encourages the candidate to engage with companies and seek out opportunity rather than deter them from the hiring process. In January 2014, The International Labour Organization (ILO) reported a dismal outlook on economic recovery and job creation. In this report, they state that, 23 million people globally have left the labor market due to difficulties in finding suitable employment. Slower job creation can be blamed for that statistic, but I’m sure we can also agree that finding the jobs that do exist has become increasingly onerous as well.
The mobile advantage
Two in five candidates say that their perception of a company is hurt if a company career website is not optimized for mobile. iCIMS has created an extremely responsive career portal that is optimized for candidates to utilize on mobile devices and tablets of all screen sizes. The clean and simple look and feel of the career portal is enhanced with intuitive navigation, making it easily accessible for candidates-on- the move.
Candidates that have embraced using “the cloud” for document storage, will find ease of use in being able to upload their resumes from their Google Drive or Dropbox accounts. In addition, the more social candidate can reap the benefits of iCIMS social integrations which allow candidates to submit their resume for a job with their social accounts like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+. Social capabilities also ensure that candidate applications that reach recruiters are as up to date as the news feed on their social networks.
Another convenient capability is the location based job search tool which uses GPS technology to search for positions within a specific radius of the candidate’s location. The ideal situation for any candidate is pursuing a job within a reasonable commute. This technology allows candidates to focus on opportunities in their area. This also benefits employers as it allows them to target candidates looking specifically for opportunities in the markets where the business is located. The “Year of the Candidate” is all about connecting the dots and creating a “fit” for both the candidate and employer.
Video as the rule
Video is no longer the exception, but rather the rule. Increased time constraints, diminishing budgets for travel reimbursement or coverage for out-of-state candidates, coupled with a glocal (global +local) candidate ecosystem makes video not only cost-effective, but practical. Video is the shining star across the iCIMS Talent Platform whether it is as a branding initiative on the careers page or part of the real-time Skype integration for interviewing candidates remotely.
Their newest and most exciting feature is the video cover letter. The video cover letter is one of iCIMS newest candidate screening tools that allows the candidate to showcase their skills above and beyond the parameters of what a normal resume can tell the employer. The candidate can record a short video to be submitted for consideration with their application from a computer webcam or mobile device. Rather than submit the same old cover letter that recruiters have seen for years, they get to truly understand from the candidates’ point of view why they believe they are qualified- while gaining an opportunity to assess how they communicate orally.
HR technology takes the guessing out of recruitment; while reallocating power to the candidate, in an effort to allow them to put their best foot forward as they pursue new opportunities with you. Start simplifying recruitment today and make 2014 the “Year of the Candidate”
Company Bio
iCIMS, is a leading provider of innovative Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition solutions, is an Inc. 500 and Software Satisfaction honoree focused on solving corporate business issues through the implementation of easy-to-use, scalable solutions that are backed by our award-winning iCARE Customer Support.
Joanna Weidenmiller is CEO and Co-founder of 1-Page, the next generation hiring solution that revolutionizes talent acquisition.