A recent experience has made me realise how dependent the recruitment process has become on the electronic world.
Through our DWP sponsored Jobsearch Support Service I have been helping a candidate to get back in to work. The initial discussion centred around the fact that the candidate did not have online access at home and consequently could not send me a copy of her CV to review. Being out of work meant that options such as mobile broadband were not practical.
This made me reflect on the use of technology throughout the recruitment process such as: internet for looking for opportunities; email to apply and communicate; and the move towards cloud computing meaning that many of our applications (eg Word) will available for free online.
The extent of the disadvantage to my candidate started to become clear the more I prepared for the support session. I also recognised how much I had taken for granted the ease with which I am able to find information and communicate.
I thought back to my experience of recruitment before the use of current technology to when I was as a candidate, immediately after university, when the norm was filling in application forms with a pen!! This could be a painful process given that each potential employer asked the same question in a slightly different way requiring variations on the same answer.
Email did become more prominent shortly after this (I am not that old!!) which made life easier but was still treated in the same formal way as you would take with a typed letter.
Looking at the possibilities further we were able to determine that the candidate did have free internet access at a library but this was limited to only a hour. I also discovered that the candidate did have a laptop albeit not connected to the internet.
We therefore concentrated on developing a strategy that maximised resources. Having a laptop meant that certain activities could be conducted off-line ensuring the on line time was dedicated for communication, searching and downloading information. This did rely on the public access equipment playing nicely with flash drives. Further down the line the candidate was also exploring using the internet connection of a family friend although the desire to find work would need to be balanced with not becoming a nuisance.
Part of the approach also involved only spending time on jobs that the candidate has a realistic chance of getting rather than a blanket approach that involves applying for everything. There are tools within job boards and search engines that allow for a more targeted approach, that and posting a CV on online databases and with agencies all are better uses of time.
The ease of access
Reflection on ease of access possibly makes us sloppy in our use of technology. Perhaps it is worth considering that if you only had limited access would we do things differently?
Image © twodolla and used with permission.
