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Alex Desjardins, of Bubble HR, speaks with Morgan McKinley Technology recruitment on how tech may influence the future of recruitment as part of their Tech Talk series.

 

 

Can you tell us a bit more about the video side of things and how that comes into play with the recruitment process?

It’s very important that we enforce the whole idea of mobile video in the workplace and why this can benefit as opposed to the traditional professional production that companies were normally using.

When we looked at how we can bridge the gap emotionally from candidates and employers we started to look at how we can really communicate effectively and showcase authenticity.

The whole point of the recruitment process is to get the candidates to trust you. By presenting a professional production, that may show people in the office acting, it’s creating an artificial perception which [in] a lot of cases can harm a company in the recruitment process.

The whole idea behind using mobile video is to capture things in the office that would happen whether you’re videotaping or not. You’re capturing the things that are real, that are in the moment. When people outside the company get to see this, it’s a feeling of human sincerity. You’re getting to create that trustin  with the process. That’s really the main benefit of mobile video and why we're pushing it so hard.

Derek: That’s really interesting. Not to say that people aren't’ being sincere when they’re going through a process like that. It’s certainly, people get a little bit salesy. People want to promote themselves to the employer and vice-versa, they want to make their company look good. It takes that element out. That's pretty cool actually.

You see trends coming into the recruitment industry, the video aspect. There’s artificial intelligence now as well becoming a big part of everyday life in recruitment. What do you see in the future of the recruitment industry?

The future of the recruitment industry comes with a lot of things. It comes with the ability to showcase what it really going on. It also comes with the ability increase and improve the way that we understand cultural fit and the way people fit into the workplace. 

What we’re seeing now is utilising artificial intelligence, or algorithms per se, to look inside the company before we even go outside of the company. What we’re looking for is potential weaknesses from within a team of people based on what makes a team effective, how people behave in a group and this is all tied to psychology. What we’re really looking for is the dynamic of a team and how people are interacting so that we can find people outside of the organisation that may have skills that are missing in this team. We’re not just looking for the best person, we’re not just looking for the best performer, we’re looking for the person who will bring new energy go the team rather than someone you may already have on your squad.

Derek: I always revert back to sports when I think of things like this. If you’re missing a certain type of player on your team, you don’t get another player that you already have right? Just because they’re a good player. You get the player you need. Makes a lot of sense actually, pretty good.

We’re seeing so many emerging technologies, happening over the last few years, what’s the coolest thing you’ve seen in the last year?

I’m a big believer in video and expressing rich messages, so into the future, and what I’ve seen in the last year and hasn’t really peaked yet. Virtual reality is a really interesting technology to me and how we can actually implement that into recruitment and showcasing an environment and the way people are interacting.

I think this is the be all and end all of offering that immersive experience with mobile video. I think that in the future virtual reality is definitely something that will be quite an important aspect of how we showcase what it’s like to work in an company.

Derek: Even in the local market it seems to have taken a big stride over the last couple of years. I remember when I first encountered virtual reality it was all about gaming, having a 
virtual reality type of experience, but we’re seeing it come into every walk of life. Kind of scary but pretty cool.

The hype on it is just starting to kind of trickle down now. I think everyone is getting over the hype around it but now it’s starting to make more of an realistic impact. People are starting to understand what the real implications are. 

Besides virtual reality and how it’s affecting video and things like that, is there anything else that you see coming up over the next few years that you think will be the next big thing in technology?

I think obviously the way that we go about measuring people with the algorithms in terms of seeping inside of the organisation. I really foresee that being a major, major trend coming up in recruitment. I’m seeing a lot of the competitors in the space right now starting to adopt that method. I think algorithms in general will continue to have more of an effect. I think that’ll be continuous over time.

I like how that all ties back into recruitment specifically. It’s interesting to see how it all unfolds. Obviously I hope it doesn’t take my job away from me! But exciting changes for sure.

What annoys you most about the recruitment process as it is today?

Alex: Number one is that it’s too dry. There’s no emotion. There’s no really, truly...

Derek: I don’t know. If a deal does go in or goes out there’s a lot of emotion in our office sometimes!

Alex: I’m talking about before you meet, and before you actually get to the end person  interview. Right now, with the job postings, the things that we’re using to describe what’s in our environment is really just not the way it should be. We should be showing, and not telling. Instead of talking about the list of perks and benefits we should be showing the benefits of what it’s like to work here. We should be showing the personality, the energy in the office and that’s really the way that we’re going to overcome that. It’s the dryness right now that annoys me the most.

Derek: It’s a good point. I look at a lot of job descriptions online and you see it’s so factual, ‘We’re looking for this. You have to have this, this and this. If you have it, get in touch.’ It’s so inhumane. It’s so impersonal. I’m personally not a fan of that kind of job description. I do realise you’ve got to get something out there but you say it’s going to counteract that somewhat?