Our soft skills-based recruiting software has successfully conquered its maiden flight. It allows a new candidate experience, wherein candidates have their personality at the center of the application process – not the CV. This gives companies a real advantage when it comes to Employer Branding.

It all started in March 2014. As part of a leadership training at a renowned Swiss reinsurance company, we used the first soft factors instrument: personality @ work. It allows a quick assessment of the preferred communication and decision style. The results were convincing in their reliability and allowed an individual, timely and targeted personnel development.

April 2014. The idea: As HR shop we run internal and external job assessments that worked well – also digitally. We thought that this knowledge ought to be applicable to recruitment and screening. This set us full steam to work: through practical assignments and calibrations of prototypes, working with real candidates, the digital screening solution was produced – based on “soft factors”.

November 2014 is the date where the first beta version of the soft factors screening solution went online.

In January 2015, we found the “softfactors AG” in Zurich Switzerland. We bring the heart of the recruitment back: focus on the human.

May 2015. Takeoff. Our first customers actively recruit their candidates on our platform: A milestone achievement for which we are proud of.
Of course we are far from finished. This is just the beginning. We continue to develop content and program our instruments into the actual software.

8 May 2015 is a milestone in our (still) young company history. We are committed to many more to follow.

A surprising number of companies in Switzerland use Haufe / Umantis (14%), even more than Taleo(14%) or SuccessFactors (3%). SAP is listed in the study under “other or own brand”. Refline, a Swiss product from Muri AG (recently acquired by Abraxas computers) is with 4% ahead of SuccessFactors and Brass Ring. The solution stands out above all by the professional tender of vacancies and integration with job boards. Basically, we see this market very strong in motion.

Often we observed a huge gap between the regular career site and the process in the ATS. A more seamless integration would be desirable according to the panelists.

In general it can be said that despite the use of ATS (or because of) the quality neither increases nor decreases. Companies that employ an application tracking system scored higher in “recommending the job” than those who do not have an ATS in place. Most ATS support this feature and makes it so readily available. The contact details and personification are naturally higher and of more quality with companies that do not use an ATS.

Generally the application complexity increases with the use of ATS in same cases even drastically.

Basically, the test persons were willing to take a substantial effort in the application process to apply as long as they felt that something was given back in return from the hiring company. An application process is always mutual: not only the candidate is applying, but he or she also wants to know what the job involves and why he or she is the perfect fit.

Of course you can argue that a job application without ATS and e-mail means less work. In the analysis we considered this factor into account separately, as these two types of recruitment are poorly comparable. Depending on the situation, the test persons considered the application with an ATS with uploading a CV and a cover letter only marginally as more effort than sending this same per email. Except some of the more enterprise ATS who use endless and unnecessary questions in drop down menus who made the candidate experience painful and user unfriendly.

Softfactors conducted a comprehensive study of the current recruitment process and analyzed over 265 websites. The emphasis was placed on the study of the Candidate Experience and the simplicity of the application process. The results were as expected: old economy prevails.

We wanted to know it a little bit more precisely and conducted an extensive study. In the period from 9 to 22 February 2015, six fictitious candidates (three men and three women, 26 to 60 years old) applied to over 265 companies in Switzerland. At each company two different candidates applied to a job, often with unpleasant experiences, such as cumbersome logins and CV upload. Only by actually applying, a qualitative statement about the good and not so good factors of career pages could be made. The result is the “Career Pages survey 2015”. The study tested the 265 career pages after ten criteria on a score of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good). The ten criteria include: ease of access, job reccomendation, structure of job adds, personal contact, process description, look-and-feel, and application effort.

The study also looked at the the use of ATS (Application Tracking Systems) and how they affect the Candidate Experience.

You may download the extensive study in German for free.

You can find the first Online Soft Skills Recruiting @ Personal Swiss 2015! We are in Hall 4, Stand 09

We will be happy to show you our soft factors solution or inform you personally about our extensive study of the Swiss career pages 2015. Or just have a coffee or glass of champagne with us and look forward to the product, which assesses soft skills, makes them measurable and comparable, the first HR recruiting solution that REALLY cares about the Candidate Experience, comes out of the cloud, runs by algorithm, is mobile and has a responsive design, bladibladibla. Interested? Are we going to see you there? Come and join us: soft factors, smart digital recruitment, Hall 4, Stand 09.

Please don’t forget to bring your own chairs because we are a startup.

So I tried to explain how it all came about… and ended up scribbling on the back of a napkin. Luckily, she uses paper napkins.

We are not an ATS!

First, I had to convince her that ATS was not the ATM to get cash and what it really does (or rather promises but does not). So we agreed that just a focus on process improvement and candidate application management would never result in an overall good experience. I was lucky to have her on my side on this! Of course softfactors provides process improvement but much more: we want to improve the quality of hiring. “Quality of hiring”, she said… you mean assessment tools?

We are not an assessment tool shop!

Okay. to screen a candidate on soft skills and softfactors needs some tools. Skills, cognitive thinking, personality tools, you name it. Here we really got the conversation going, because this was her home turf. After a lengthy debate why MBTI is preferable over HBDI and why Disc will never be used by her… I tried to explain to her that softfactors uses a combination of CV requirements (hard facts, experience, education, skills, etc.) personality assessment (including EQ and softskills), ability testing and video exercises. “Sounds exciting”, was the answer! And I got another piece of that tiramisu!

We don’t replace the interview but make it more effective!

Nipping at a good Italian espresso, she remarked that a good structured interview by a trained recruiter or psychologist is still the best hiring method. Of course I agreed (admiring the delicious amaretti biscuits on the table) However, with softfactors some candidates who would never have made it to the interview, will be considered because of their strengths and fit. Good news? Yes indeed. And an in-built a-synchronous video engine helps not only testing language skills early on but also gives a better 360 view on the candidate. Vero? Si, certo! E il candidato è dimenticato?

We don’t forget the candidate!

Job search are twofold. the company wants to learn who the applying candidate is, the candidate him/herself wants to know if he/she really wants to work for that organization. There are different market situations, depending on the specialization and area of the business. At softfactors, I explained, we make sure that the hiring manager introduces himself to the candidate early in the process. It’s all available now. Candidate’s don’t have to wait until the interview, to see for whom they will be working. This speeds up the hiring process and enables a great candidate experience. Wow! This was the explanation that saved me another piece of Tiramisu. Fantastico!

What are your napkin stories? Until we meet again!

Reto