The Smart Way to Woo Candidates

The Smart Way to Woo Candidates

A new technology to help employers get a better response from their recruitment advertising and attract a better calibre of applicants has been launched by Christchurch-based technology company, VortexDNA.

“Less than 1% of people who see your job ad apply,” says Raf Manji, a director of VortexDNA. “But place a VortexDNA SmartAD link on your ad and tests show that your response rate improves and you get a better quality candidate.”

The SmartAD link enables candidates to take a short survey to see if they fit into the culture of the company. A recent survey by Hays Recruitment showed that the culture of an organisation was the number one criterion candidates look for in an employer.

“At the moment,” says Branton Kenton-Dau, another VortexDNA director, “it takes about two weeks to submit your CV and go for interview before you have any idea if you are going to fit in to the culture of the company. The SmartAD link cuts that two weeks to about two minutes.”

“Interestingly,” continues Manji, “we found that having the link on your ad makes it stand out – job seekers are drawn to the ad because it takes a lot of the hassle out of finding a job. But the truly surprising feature was that if the candidate passes the survey – and you can set the pass level - it actually motivates them to apply. In a tight job market where you often have to encourage a candidate out of their present job to go work for you this is critical.”

To test the pull of the SmartAD link, MetaWealth Limited, the parent company of VortexDNA, recently advertised for a research position containing a SmartAD link. “We were overwhelmed with responses, 88% of candidates who applied clicked on the SmartAD link” says Manji. “And 100% of the candidates we short-listed for interview had passed the SmartAD link survey. We were getting a very high calibre of candidate, some with MBA’s and higher.”

It may be still too early to say exactly how much value a SmartAD link adds to the recruitment search. However VortexDNA is taking the unusual step of inviting recruiters and employers to test the technology for themselves.

“We don’t want to make claims recruitment firms or employers can’t prove for themselves” says Kenton-Dau. “So we are offering to pay for a second ad that carries the SmartAd link so that they can compare for themselves the difference the technology makes to hiring the right candidate. They just need to give me a call.”

The Workpac Corporation, one of Australia’s leading recruitment firms, has already taken up the challenge.

“Workpac has achieved significant results using profiling tools,” says Phil Smart, Workpac’s managing director. “We see VortexDNA as a key to our growth within this key area and a cost effective marketing edge.”

“SmartAD is about taking the pain out of the job search” says Manji. “If we can do that, the job hunting process becomes more efficient and everyone wins.”

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