ON-LINE PRE-SCREENING IS A TIME SAVING REVOLUTION FOR THE RECRUITMENT SECTOR

Recent surveys suggest posting vacancies on-line can attract a typical response of up to 150 applicants. Whilst advertising jobs through the Internet is a cost effective alternative to traditional recruitment techniques, the soaring cost of filtering applicants for interview has alarmed many employers and recruiters.

People Genie has today announced the integration of a powerful applicant pre-screening tool as a bolt-on service to its groundbreaking recruitment software program.

Marc Hendrickse, Managing Director of People Genie Ltd commented: The Internet is an increasingly effective medium to reach job seekers, but whilst most recruitment agencies specialise in selected industries, many jobs on the Internet are advertised on non-specific job boards and therefore attract a wide-ranging response. Whilst targeted advertising by a recruitment agency can attract 30 to 40 responses, it can be fivefold from an on-line advert.

Our standard People Genie service enables recruiters to advertise on any number of job boards simultaneously, so we knew we would need to develop a system to help to filter the applicants. Teaming up with e-validator.com, we have integrated an on-line assessment test within People Genie that recruiters can tailor for each vacancy. 'Genie Screen is a highly effective screening program that will enable on-line vacancies to be processed more efficiently eradicating the setbacks facing recruiters when choosing an advertising medium."

Genie Screen boasts set questions covering over 130 skill areas. A recruiter can devise a test with questions taken from any skill area as well as adding their own. A time limit is given for the set questions, which are often in multiple-choice format. To provide a comprehensive screening report, recruiters can score each question individually depending on the nature of the role.

David Harrington, Managing Director of e-validator.com said: A lot of candidates cannot recognise that their skills do not fit the advertised job description, so they eagerly send their CV to a company and await a response. CVs arrive in several different formats and it is not always easy to identify the strongest candidates from a basic manual screening process.

Recruiters who have already adopted this system are increasingly advertising the fact that the first stage of assessment is an on-line interview. This method of assessment not only gives candidates an immediate insight into the skills required for the role, but it also enables recruiters to give feedback to applicants quickly by simply setting a required attainment level for the next assessment or interview stage."

The Genie Screen assessment test significantly reduces the time spent processing an application before the interview stage. If a job seeker successfully reaches the required attainment level, the employer is advised to include certain questions in the interview to qualify that the test was carried out by the individual applying for the vacancy.

The People Genie concept is being developed in response to market needs for a technology based solution to deal with every stage of the recruitment process apart from a face to face interview. The program incorporates solutions which can be integrated with a clients own software or it can operate as a stand-alone system. A recruiter can send a vacancy advert to any number of job boards, then collate the CVs in a customised database.

Applicants can be filtered automatically by an on-line interview or through software that filters CVs using criteria tailored to each role. At any stage of the recruitment process e-mails and SMS text messages can be sent to applicants to update them on progress. If a job advertised on the Internet is filled or withdrawn a message can be sent to the applicant to inform them immediately. People Genie can also produce reports and analysis on which job boards provide the best quality candidates compared to their competitors.

Marc Hendrickse added: The current jobs market is competitive, so job seekers are sending their CV to an increasingly wider field. Whilst some recruiters may have less vacancies to fill, each one advertised on the Internet could take up to twice as long to process compared to only advertising in traditional print media. This is largely due to the ability for applicants with Internet access to view many more vacancies and therefore issue their CV to a complete cross-section of recruitment agencies and employers."

People Genie software is powered by Microsoft®.NET and is compatible with any PC with internet access. It is predicted that over 100,000 vacancies will be sent to job boards via the software in 2003. People Genie operates through the Internet, rather than traditional client/server configurations, so it does not require an expensive installation process or in-house technical backup.

People Genie software is available through a selection of reseller Agents and also direct from People Genie at prices starting from 200 per month for unlimited use. A revolutionary 'pay as you go option costing 10 per use will ensure the software is accessible to businesses of any size for all online recruitment requirements.

Additional facilities which are also likely to be integrated with People Genie include a Natural Language Processing database engine utilising powerful patented Pattern Matching techniques and also the option of operating a client-hosted version of the software. To request further details, call +44 (0)870 922 4061 or log onto www.peoplegenie.co.uk

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Press release drafted by Charlotte Crossley at Core Marketing 0121 643 8151