Can you briefly introduce yourself to readers?
I deal with modern trends in recruitment. And because I graduated from the Faculty of Informatics, it has been successfully combining HR & IT for 14 years. At the same time, I am leading the company Český Trh Práce s.r.o., which has been breaking through with the recruiting software and application Recruitis.cz for the last four years, the mission of which is described in the slogan: “make your recruitment of employees enjoyable“. I stand behind the project HRLeaders.cz and moderate the program Personalistika Zet with Jirka Landovsky on the radio Zet.
Why did you decide to go from the IT world to the world of HR?
I did not leave, by developing recruitment software, I am ideally combining my recruiting skills that I have been doing for several years and designing information systems that I have studied and enjoyed.
You are also devoted to educating the HR community. Can you describe how you do it and why?
Important is the “why”. I want to contribute to a faster change in the mindset of HR community. I am especially interested in the understanding of changes that have occurred in the market over the last few years and the changes that HR managers themselves have to undergo.
Everything is based on the fact that the roles of the buyer and the seller have switched. Formerly, the buyer was a company that chose from dozens of candidates, and today the candidate is a buyer who chooses from dozens of offers. However, this does not mean that as a company I will not sell my product (a job offer) , but I have to change my mind a lot. The best companies today are those that, even when they were buyers, they behaved as sellers. Thanks to such an “enlightened” approach, they usually behaved internally to their employees very correctly. Today, such companies are proud of their Employer Brand. Even in today’s role of the seller, they have “enough” candidates.
I am trying to highlight the positive examples of HR managers who have gone through the change and capture their experience both on HRLeaders.cz and on the radio program Personalistika Zet. I organize a lot of seminars, etc.
To be fair, my “why” I want to trigger a change of attitude in HR managers, goes hand in hand with our Recruitis product, which is a recruitment software, without which, in case you change your attitude, you won´t make it. It solves how to quickly and efficiently handle a candidate in the recruitment process.
Your Recruitis software makes life easier for recruiters. What is Recruitis about and how can it help them?
Recruitment software Recruitis eliminates the problems that today’s Czech and Slovak recruiter is facing. It digitizes and automates, giving him more room for faster and better communication with the candidate and with the entire internal team, which is more or less part of the recruitment process.
The speed of recruitment. This is the key to success. However, most companies do not measure at all and do not monitor their speed and quality of recruitment. This, however, proves to be significant when deciding on multiple candidates’ offers.
It is also about working with a hiring manager and recruitment team. This is a very painful point for most medium-sized and large Czech companies. The Hiring Manager is actually a line manager, who informs the recruiter about a lacking person in the team. However, the recruiter’s activity is perceived as an internal service of “delivery of a new hire” and does not understand its essential role throughout the process. Often, it is delaying the feedback about the candidate, what plays a crucial role in poor communication with the candidate = subsequent failure with the candidate + bad influence on the employer’s brand awareness as it spreads quickly.
Measuring KPI is the next. Perhaps every manager knows that what you do not measure, you cannot manage, and the same goes for recruitment. Do you want to improve recruitment? How, when it’s 80 percent (my personal estimate) of Czech companies about “guts science”. How fast is your recruitment, time to hire, where do you waste or save time? What are your main resources, how are they relevant, etc.
At the same time, we try to unify the answers into one place. Thanks to the fact that we are connected to most of the work portals (profesia.sk, jobangels.com, etc.) on the Czech and Slovak markets and we are easy to integrate into internal systems (career web, personalist´s calendar, hr system, etc.), we save time significantly.
Last but not least, it is the legislation or GDPR. Company that does a bigger recruitment (manages more than 50 candidates per year) without recruiting software today, I dare to say that they cannot comply with the law. How do you now distribute (send) candidates and their personal information around the company? Mostly Outlook. And do you think that when the selection process is over, somebody is trying to remove the CVs from all of the employee accounts? Or that all printed CVs would be shredded?
Perhaps I would say in general that we professionalize and make the entire recruitment more transparent. Our goal is to make recruitment enjoyable for you, what clearly reflects on the quality of recruitment, that is, on the approach to the candidate, and on the employer brand. Our “why” is clear for us and the British-American author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant Simon Sinek would certainly praise us.
How does the use of effective ATS affects the overall business results?
The most important is the relationship with the candidate, or the candidate experience. Most of the problems that arise when working with a candidate are in speed and quality of communication. Recruitis keeps track of the timeframes you promised to move the candidate in the process or let him know. All the activities that the recruiter is doing towards the candidate are giving us the data to help you improve everything.
The second important part is the significant saving of recruiter´s time, which can be more dedicated to the candidate. For example, we can save time by up to an incredible 96% (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13c7HLIE_Cs).
The third fundamental pillar is working in a team. We will ensure communication with the candidate, clear outcomes for the hiring manager, but also, for example, a “watchdog” for the feedback to be provided by the hiring manager.
But it is also another cluster of synergy with corporate culture, referral program, career site, etc.
You are trying to raise capital for Recruitis through Fundlift, what do you plan to achieve with more capital?
Exactly, if someone wants to buy a stake in our company and “get a ride” for the future exit that we are planning, can do so here: https://www.fundlift.cz/#/projekt/1273.
We are not built on financing as a classic startup. We have always made money, before spending it on something. But we realize how crucial it is now to seize the opportunity of a “maturing market”. Logically, we can catch less with a small team. The second strong “attraction” is the international expansion, where we can see that we can already compete, for completely different money.
At the same time, we believe that if we manage to get it to nice numbers abroad in the next three years, everyone will reap nicely with an exit that is “waiting” abroad.
We will use the money primarily to strengthen the team – development, sales, and abroad. Everything is beautifully presented in the ongoing Fundlift campaign.
And finally, what is your favorite quote?
If you find in your life a road without thorns, it’s probably leading nowhere!
Translated from the original interview in Czech language.