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blog.softfactors.com softfactors Blog 2015-10-16T12:20:35Z http://blog.softfactors.com/feed/atom/ WordPress admin <![CDATA[Bonjour Paris: softfactors @ disruptHR 2015]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8413 2015-10-16T12:20:35Z 2015-10-16T09:56:56Z We are proud to announce that softfactors will be part of the disruptHR 2015 exhibition co-located with HR Tech World Congress. Digital technology is driving innovation in HR and measuring soft skills is a key part of this transformation process.

We believe soft skill matching should be embedded into the fabric of every line of business. That’s why softfactors will show its soft skill matching API and demonstrate how easily it can be integrated into existing HR services and solutions (ATS systems, job boards, etc.).

Visit us at our booth at disruptHR:

Visit us at booth 504 at disruptHR and don’t miss softfactors co-founder Reto Rüegger on stage:

October 28, 11:30 – Reto Rüegger: Are you hiring resumes or people?
Among some provocative statements and trends, Reto Ruegger, Co-Founder from softfactors, will introduce the softfactors recruiting suite that describes social skills and personality of applicants and compares these with the competency requirements of the organization.

 

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Video: No More Bad Hires]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8378 2015-08-31T11:53:27Z 2015-08-31T11:37:42Z What, if you know exactly who should be invited for an interview?

That’s how it works: All applicants for a position go through an interactive online application that takes them 15 to 20 minutes. This initial screening of their hard- and soft-skills uses five assessment instruments. You may choose whether or not the candidates receive an automatically generated feedback report. The softfactors matching algorithm automatically compares your defined job requirements with all candidate profiles. The result is a ranking of all the candidates.

If you want to know more, get in touch with us!

 

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Lucy Dubin http://www.softfactors.com <![CDATA[What’s Next for Shaping Recruitment Impressions?]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8352 2015-09-03T06:31:21Z 2015-08-26T08:20:38Z “But what if recruiting was like dating?”

It used to be called reputation. Now it is known as employer branding. Whatever the nomenclature, recruitment is a ripe venue for shaping and managing a company’s brand. Impression counts in every step in the recruitment process – be it appealing or repellent. Each touch point sets the tone for existing employees and prospective candidates.

Traditional recruitment methods combined with social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterist, et al) are recruitment dark hole magnets. Candidates, both internal and external, complain about bad experiences citing ATS complexity, recruiter non-response, inflated company marketing, impersonal automation, and the like.

How to mitigate a bad experience and turn alienation into an inviting and enthralling experience?

Supplementing formal ads with social media posts, marketing to different audiences, using a portfolio of approaches (corporate website, mobile apps, career pages, recruitment websites, social media pages, etc.), and ensuring courtesy in every step are key. It is also vital to build the employer’s brand into the recruitment strategy. By doing this, brand behaviors, not just promises, are created and, when well constructed, result in a positive candidate experience. The final product — employees who are company brand advocates.

Yes, impressions are made in every step along the way. Whilst automation enables volume, candidates plead for a personal touch. Whatever way the company’s reputation is managed, we at softfactors.com suggest that courtesy fused with a personal touch creates a markedly distinctive recruitment experience. How might this happen? Revisiting the company’s talent pool library for each new opening. Returning to the almost hired. Following-up with authenticated feedback. Using same level calls in the interview phase. Combining optimized recruitment technologies with personal touch points forms the perceptions of existing and prospective candidates. Change a bad experience into an exceptional one by continuously sculpting and managing recruitment processes into steps that are stimulating, differentiated, and appealing.

Join the discussion with our blog panel members

We’ve asked our blog panel members to comment about the realities of recruitment and how to shape a company’s brand in the talent marketplace. Our panel members are drawn from several geographies and multiple generations so you have a mix of comments to weigh up.

Marie Jo – Generation X (Born 1965-1979) – United States – *protected email*

Recruitment has become so automated for the sake of time. A program screens for key words to determine who will receive the auto generated email turndown or will be forwarded to the individual who is completing the phone screen process for the hiring manager. The investment in long term employment relationships have been reduced to a few key strokes and someone else’s parameters determining who is getting through. There isn’t any personal involvement anymore.

But what if recruiting was like dating. Various dating portals determined to find you the best match for forever happiness are using similar programming to create a list of potential matches. More time is spent on finding forever love than in the recruitment process. Hours are spent in extensive chat sessions used to determine favorite food, wine, and activities to determine whether or not the first date is even worth it! Yet, recruiting often does not engage the primary stakeholder until the interview takes place- the first date.

Time is the most important investment in a long-term employment relationship. The first screen, the phone calls, the first interview are all factors in the applicant’s brand impression and are investments into the employer-employee relationship. The personal contact provides data to both parties that will determine if the essential information of whether or not this position, candidate or company is a good fit. And if there’s going to be another date.

Franziska Liese – Millennial aka Generation Y (Born 1980-2000) – Switzerland – *protected email*

Nowadays professional and private lives of the individual are more and more blending into one. Companies are trying to use this as a chance for promoting themselves and jobs they have on offer.

Promoting a company via Social Media is absolutely necessary in today’s market place. No organization can afford to loose talent by not being present on the Internet or promoting himself in the wrong way. Interestingly I have never looked for a new position using Facebook, I also have never read on new employers following their tweets. I read job ads, and I talk to people who are already working in the company. LinkedIn is as far as I get when it comes to employer branding. For me Facebook, Instagram etc. are channels only used in my private life, something I wish to keep separated from my professional career. Or would you “like” the Facebook page of a Financial Services Organization?

The same applies on recruitment processes. I prefer sending in my CV by email to an actual person with a name attached to it. Somebody I can call when in want of feedback and to answer questions I might have. Online application forms that are sent into the nowhere are not appealing to me; in prospect of a future employer they turn me of, not on.

Considering my year of birth (1981) I am falling into the category of Millennials (at least an old one), a group people expect to be Social Media experts and to use their smart phones for work and free time. Interestingly I meet more and more young(er) people that keep those separate, who switch off their work phones after leaving the office and who enjoy their free time without PowerPoint and emails from work. I meet people that prefer the traditional ways, who follow their gut feeling when it comes to a future employer and who are not blinded by organizations’ online presences. Apart from all the technical benefits we are a skeptical generation. And maybe that’s what organizations and their HRs need to focus on: How do you create a presence that is appealing without loosing the professional touch? How do you recruit efficiently without being too efficient?

Written by: Lucy Dubin – Baby Boomer (Born 1943-1964) – USA and Switzerland – *protected email*

References:

Moreland, T. (2015). Leveraging Employer Branding as a Key Business Strategy. In D. Ulrich, W.A. Schiemann & L. Sartain (Ed.), The Rise of HR (pp.493- 498). Virginia: HR Certification Institute.

Your ideas and comments are welcomed.

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Video: Candidate Screening with Soft Skill-Recruitment]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8341 2015-09-03T07:18:56Z 2015-07-27T09:51:07Z Meet Tim the recruiter:

Do you sometimes share Tim’s frustration?

Get in touch with us, we have a solution.

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Recruiting Suite now available in French]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8258 2015-08-03T13:19:13Z 2015-07-15T13:36:16Z Nouveau : La suite softfactors existe également en Français

We are continuing expanding our softfactors Recruiting Suite! The candidate experience and exercises are now also available in French. The French version runs at one of our customer’s job sites, a utility company, and has passed the test. For the moment our Recruiting Suite is available in English, German and French. Which language will be next?

Interested?

You can now enjoy the soft factors Recruiting Suite from the applicants point of view – and apply for a fictitious demo job.

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Competency-based e-Recruiting]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8251 2015-07-13T12:45:08Z 2015-07-13T12:06:00Z Recruiting the right human not the resource

When talking about competencies and recruiting, you have to think about the link to a company’s objectives. We all agree that employees are responsible for making strategy happen. softfactors believes that HR plays a big role in linking HRM to business objectives. This link creates leading indicators to improve talent acquisition outcomes.

So why is it that HR struggles with recruiting the cream of the talent crop? Wanting to be ahead of the curve in competing for talent is not enough. To unlock the talent market, attracting and hiring people with the right skills and attitudes is critical. But how do you best recruit them?

Competent employees build company success

At softfactors we define competencies using measurable behaviors. The competencies for any given job is a bundle of unique skills, abilities, experiences, and attitudes. The competencies are used to achieve specific job-related goals and support the employee to contribute to the overall success of the organization.

The good news is that competencies can be measured. And when you can measure it, you can also evaluate and compare it. This is what competency based e-recruiting does. Using the softfactors recruiting suite combines the art with the science of recruiting. You jump start hiring decisions with a solid and measurable foundation based in hard and soft data. These provide talent intelligence to solve your hiring needs.

Competency-based job descriptions

How can you describe the necessary skills and competencies of a job if you have never done it before? It is easier then you think!

softfactors has compiled competency-based job descriptions into a comprehensive job library. This library is an integrated part of the softfactors recruiting suite and is free with our cloud-based software solution.

The job library consists of easily customizable templates. For each job position there are market-proven competency suggestions for you to use. The competencies can be modified and weighted according to importance and individual job requirements.

In total there are 26 competencies in the softfactors recruiting suite. The competencies are further defined using a portfolio of over 100 facets. Depending on the job profile, a competency can have unique attributes. The attributes are emphasized using selected facets. For example, the competency of “Drive for Action” may need risk taking in job A and in job B it may require initiating changes.

softfactors provides you with the tools to fine-tune the competencies and their facets for every job and helps you to create an accurate and unique job description for each opening.

Competency-based recruitment is akin to matchmaking

Competencies should be an integrated part of every job description. This enables a data driven match – comparing the job requirements to the skills, abilities, experiences, and attitudes of applicants.

The softfactors matching algorithm is the core of our competency-based e-recruiting. It filters the job fit of suitable candidates at an early stage in the application process. From a process point of view, it works like on-line dating.

A dating platform compares profiles of both parties using an intelligent and smart matching algorithm. The romance seeker receives a list of suitable partners, which s/he then evaluates more closely. softfactors is similar — the hiring company receives a list of suitable applicants, measured and weighted according to their competency match to the job profile.

The company’s success is always in focus

HR is often under pressure to do more with fewer staff members and deliver a greater ROI. Now it is easier than ever to implement your organizational objectives through recruiting. softfactors is a cloud-based solution that delivers a straightforward way to find the right candidates with the competencies to meet the specific job requirements and thus contribute to the overall company success.

Intrigued? Test the Recruiting Suite!

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Lucy Dubin http://www.softfactors.com <![CDATA[What’s Next for HR Practitioners?]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8141 2015-06-29T09:05:27Z 2015-06-29T08:55:36Z Join the discussion with our blog panel members!

We all recognize and experience that the world of work is on a trajectory of continuous change. It is rapid. It is pervasive. And, at times, it is both overpowering and awe-inspiring.

In the recently published book, “The Rise of HR,” Diane J. Gherson and Seth Kahan, describe the multitude of changes, many based in technology, that provide striking challenges and substantial opportunities to HR professionals.

They gear us to think about today’s technologies (smart objects, wireless technology, big data analytics, cloud computing, and social media platforms) plus changes in the way we work (work done anywhere and anytime, mission-driven companies, reshaped employee expectations). Gherson and Kahan propose this combination of technologies and workplace changes demonstrate dramatic shifts that can and do impact existing HR practices, processes, and mindsets.

We propose that with this myriad of unceasing social and technological disruptions, the HR field is prompted to redefine its approaches and agenda. In turn, HR professionals need to be prepared and enabled. To quickly and thoroughly come up to speed and reshape their capabilities.

We’ve asked our blog panel members to talk about the skills, competencies and mindsets they believe are critical that HR professionals procure and develop to succeed in the very different world of work that is upon us.

A welcome to our panel members who graciously volunteered to contribute their ideas to each edition of this blog (actually glog as it is a group blog!). They are drawn from several geographies and multiple generations so you will discover a mix of ideas to mull over.

Evrim Asma – Generation X (Born 1965-1979)  Turkey and Switzerland:

“The HR world has been changing and the skills needed are not just around people skills, solving employee issues, designing processes and implementing but it is more going towards business. I do think HR professionals are needed to be much more business oriented, understand the business, and speak their language but also to coach and challenge them. I see lately companies bringing business people to HR roles and I do think this brings additional value to the table.

The other challenge here is to be much more data oriented and much more analytical. The data is always a challenge as it is still hard to get the right data but also hard to make sense of the data for HR professionals. But, it is moving in the right direction. What is needed from HR next 10 years and what was needed 10 years ago are very different.

In the future, we will need to also anticipate much more in advance – especially with demographics changing, Y and Z generations demanding different things from the workforce.”

Aleks Sibilia – Generation X (Born 1965-1979)  Switzerland:

“I believe that foremost the mindset and attitude of HR professionals need to undergo a substantial change. We can only tackle the “disruptions” and the fast changing environment we are facing, if we shift from uniform and simplified processes to individualized solutions that serve the unique and complex realities of organizations and its members. This means we need to start thinking of organizations as living systems, rather than a collective of fixed structures and hierarchies.

To best serve this living system we must understand it’s dynamic and needs, engage in constructive dialogues and solutions that will serve as effectively as possible the system and its members. The HR professional of the future as I see it, will be a systemic-thinking, agile, creative and innovative navigator, that develops individualized solutions with the stakeholders involved and with that will guarantee the survival and growth of the system.”

Sebastian Hälg – Millennial (Born 1980-2000) – Switzerland:

“One of the future core competencies of HR professionals is to reduce things to the essential. Why is this so important nowadays? As a young person starting a career for example, you’ll look over tons of job offerings. But you’ll always encounter a huge amount of requirements, which in the end might hinder talents to go for the offering. The same principle can be applied to employees in various positions, because no one can take lots of recommendation of improvement in big amounts. So the information could literally get lost in translation (in its Latin meaning).”

Your ideas and comments are welcomed.

Written by: Lucy Dubin – Baby Boomer (Born 1943-1964) – USA and Switzerland

References:

Kahan, S. (2015). Twelve Predictions for a New World. In D. Ulrich, W.A. Schiemann & L. Sartain (Ed.), The Rise of HR (pp.41-46). Virginia: HR Certification Institute.

Gherson, D.J. (2015). HR Disrupted: The Next Agenda for Delivering Value. In D. Ulrich, W.A. Schiemann & L. Sartain (Ed.), The Rise of HR (pp. 303-308). Virginia: HR Certification Institute

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Soft Skills make the difference]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8117 2015-06-24T07:46:56Z 2015-06-19T07:23:57Z Checking soft skills early in the recruiting process – just a „nice to have“?

Every recruiter knows the problem: time and again, the candidate with the perfect CV is not the most suitable candidate for the job. “Suitable” means: a person whose typical behavior matches with the job requirements and whose personality fits with the team.

Poorly fitting soft skills lead to expensive wrong hires, not just in management positions but everywhere in the organization, especially when the relationship side of a team shows dysfunctional symptoms.

Our behavior as human beings results from deeply rooted personality dimensions and is thus difficult to change. Do you remember how hard it can be to change an old habit and the beliefs that are attached to it? This is another reason why we should put an eye on the preferred behavior patterns of candidates.

However, the reality is often very different: Still today, many organizations focus first and singlemindedly on the fit between CV and job requirements. Only at the end of the hiring – in interviews or assessments – they eventually take a closer look at the human side.

In many recruitings, after a round of disappointing interviews, the hiring manager returns back to the initial pool of names to find another applicant. What a waste of time and resources, and how frustrating from a human point of view!

Checking soft skills early in the recruiting dramatically enhances chances of identifying a well-fitting candidate and also reduces time to hire. And the good news is: a standardized soft-skill screening is easy to implement, thanks to latest technologies. Say goodbye to elefantastic IT-implementation projects!

Employer Branding creates tangible value for the candidate

Soft-skill recruiting not only improves quality and speed of hiring. It also creates a new and different candidate experience which leads to a concrete and real benefit in terms of Employer Branding.

The old way is to use a technocratic ATS-system for uploading CVs filled with hard factor evidence through an often times complicated platform. The new way is to offer the candidate an easy-to-use and pleasant (or even fun) access point for applying, and even though it is still an electronic platform: it puts the human side of the candidate in the center of the process.

In a way, you can describe it as a digital mini-assessment where candidates create a description of their thinking and communication styles. As a result, you get an understanding of the preferences and habits that drive the way we think, take decisions and interact with others. And all candidates automatically receive the results of the screening summarized in a short and easy-to-understand personality profile.

Imagine how you feel as a candidate when you not only get the usual “Thank you for applying…” confirmation mail but a report indicating the strong and weak aspects of the fit between you and the job and allows you to have a realistic look at your preferred communication patterns. Quite a different message for a candidate, even if she/he doesn’t get the job in the end, isn’t it?

Employers can thus create a win-win situation with a double benefit: They receive candidate profiles that are more meaningful than just the CV and, at the same time, they create a positive image towards candidates by offering them a better value from the application.

Professional soft-skill screening – based on clear and thorough job profiles

If you want to benefit from such a win-win situation (after all, a successful hiring is nothing else but a win-win situation, isn’t it?), you have to start at the beginning: a clear and thorough job profile.

Take a look at a typical job description: A list of detailed and well-written tasks and responsibilities, but when it comes to personality- or behavior-related qualities the language becomes vague and general, pop psychology-like and the words become exchangeable (for example, think of the word “team player”!).

The challenge is to bring the job to life: What kind of human being would you like to see on this job? Somebody delivering thorough research results or somebody keeping a strategic look at things? What special skills do you want a new member to add to an existing team? These are examples of specific attributes which define a “team player”. And this is the language you need in a meaningful job profile.

If you think that writing such a job profile must be a complicated and time-consuming task, think again: softfactors has a job library full of templates, based on 26 competencies and more than 100 behaviors. Writing a job profile becomes fast and easy, and the result is the foundation of soft-skill screening.

Your choice: Be a CV broker or a recruiter with human touch!

Give it a try and check us out: We invite you to experience the softfactors recruiting suite from a candidate’s perspective. Get to know our field-tested instruments which offer a fast and reliable first check of hard factors and soft skills, leading to an impactful screening of candidates.

Click here to start the free demo.

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Video: The wrestling nurse]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=8101 2015-06-24T07:47:06Z 2015-06-12T12:54:40Z Did you know that Pythagoras was multiple Olympic Champion in wrestling?

We don’t know if wrestling was Pythagoras’ source of inspiration to develop his most famous formula: a2 + b2 = c2. Of him we think when we see the following video clip. Look at it with us, it takes less than two minutes.

Would you hire the professional nurse that you saw in this video clip? Do you think he is a good employee? And if yes, why?

The person does the job – not the CV or diploma

Volunteerism, except professional commitment, sports – from these actions we can derive crucial personality traits and skills, transferable characteristics and competencies. We believe it is always the person as a whole who does the work and makes the difference.

Softfactors matter.

PS: Soft skills like “focus” and “resilience” are measurable. And that’s what we do.

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Barbara Bünger http://www.softfactors.com/de/about/barbara-bunger/ <![CDATA[Quickly and reliably detect your behavioral preferences]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=7985 2015-06-24T07:47:14Z 2015-05-28T09:10:20Z Personality@Work: A straightforward tool for the complex world of work

When filing a job, putting together a team or designing an employee’s development plan, it can be beneficial to have a sketch of an individual’s temperament. The personality structure of a person and the associated behavioral preferences play a central role in a good-fit to a job and a company.

Softfactors proposes it is sufficient to use a comprehensive and economical assessment tool to understand a person’s basic preferences and personality. Offered in our Recruiting Suite, Personality@Work is an uncomplicated and easy-to-use tool.

Assessment with easy handling

Personality@Work is a digital self-assessment that describes the way someone thinks, makes decisions and interacts with people.

Completed in 15 minutes or less, it consists three on-line tests using self-descriptions. The process is intuitive to use and easy to navigate making it efficient and fun!

Personality@Work is one of the instruments of the softfactors Recruiting Suite, which includes a total of 12 instruments. The Recruiting Suite measures the social skills and personality of applicants and compares with the requirements of the advertised post. The tool Personality@Work can also be used as a stand-alone assessment solution.

Crisp profiles and groundbreaking reflection questions

Our Personality@Work tool measures six behavioral aspects:

  • Social
  • Rational
  • Thorough
  • Creative
  • Extrovert
  • Introvert

The distribution of responses to these six dimensions shows a person’s specific behavioral preferences in an easy-to-read diagram.

Uniquely, softfactors provides each person with a customized profile including an infographic showing his or her preferences plus reflective questions for personal development. This is an exclusive feature – much appreciated by job-candidates and employees.

If you need to quickly understand personality structure

Personality@Work enables you to quickly map the essential behavioral characteristics of individuals. It effectively supports the employee interview or candidate selection and can also be used for the composition and development of teams. It is an inclusive tool that provides a basis for development processes of all kinds.

Test your Personality@Work – as one tool of the softfactors Recruiting Suite!

Curious? We invite you test-drive this tool by creating your own Personality@Work profile. It is easy to do – just click on the link. Your customized profile will be sent to you automatically and free-of-charge by email with no obligation.

Click here for digital Assessment “Personality@Work.”

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Reto Rüegger http://www.softfactors.com/team/reto-rueegger/ <![CDATA[Soft Factors Takeoff: We are online!]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=7945 2015-06-24T07:47:24Z 2015-05-13T14:36:13Z Since last Friday, May 8, 2015 the softfactors recruiting suite is live in action. Two of our pilot customers recruit on renowned job portals real candidates, benefitting of the soft factors platform.

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.

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Reto Rüegger http://www.softfactors.com/team/reto-rueegger/ <![CDATA[ATS harm Candidate Experience!]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=7897 2015-08-03T13:19:38Z 2015-04-21T06:56:54Z In recent years, many companies invested heavily in so-called ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems). Especially around the company SuccessFactors / SAP a real hype emerged in different channels. We wanted to know the truth: About 41% of the examined career sites in Switzerland do NOT (yet) use an ATS.

ats englishA 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.

 

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Reto Rüegger http://www.softfactors.com/team/reto-rueegger/ <![CDATA[Career Pages survey 2015! Old economy prevails!]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=7829 2015-08-03T13:19:50Z 2015-03-27T13:21:32Z Send us a cover letter and a resume! Swiss career sites study online!

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.

10 faktoren im vergleichWe 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.

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Reto Rüegger http://www.softfactors.com/team/reto-rueegger/ <![CDATA[First Online Soft Skills Recruiting @ Personal Swiss 2015!]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=7430 2015-08-03T13:20:02Z 2015-03-10T07:57:52Z Right on time to our product launch the yearly Swiss exposition Personal Swiss in Zurich-Oerlikon will take place from April 14 to 15, 2015:  Ideal for us to test our running shoes and endurance as standup exhibition personnel and to demonstrate the soft factors recruiting suite.

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.

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Reto Rüegger http://www.softfactors.com/team/reto-rueegger/ <![CDATA[The Napkin Story – Softfactors, or what we are not!]]> http://www.softfactors.com/?p=7179 2015-05-28T11:14:33Z 2015-01-15T15:06:23Z It’s always great to wine and dine at my friend’s house. She is a great Italian style cook. Food that is perfect for body and soul! And of course she wants to know about that new techie stuff that I was working on. Softfactors! As a coach she is familiar with all the HR slang phrases and buzz words, however, technology is not her piece of cake (BTW: Her tiramisu is one of the best in the greater Zurich area).

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

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