Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ March 11, 2010
Stop wasting your time sifting through CVs - and get the candidates you want
8 March 2010 - According to the 2010 Grant Thornton International Business Report, lack of availability of a skilled workforce is South African business owners’ largest (34%) constraint to growth, for the fourth year in a row. Yet, employers have been trying to chase down these scarce skills using the same ineffective recruitment tactics for years.
The founders of JobCrystal, the only interactive talent management portal in South Africa, decided that there had to be a better, faster and cheaper way to recruit than the way they had always done it. When they couldn’t find one, they decided to invent it, and the outcome was JobCrystal.
JobCrystal changes the way companies recruit by putting employers directly in touch with a 60,000-strong pool of top tier candidates. It then gives them the in-depth analytical tools to quickly identify the most appropriate candidate for the position and their organisation. A scientific combination of some clever analytics and a sophisticated referral network is used to match candidates and employers. In addition, candidates are matched to the company’s culture as well as on skills and experience, further improving the hiring success rate.
Because companies can talk directly to candidates themselves via JobCrystal, it bypasses the lengthy, costly and inefficient process involving recruitment agencies. Once logged into JobCrystal, it takes as little as five minutes to be put in touch with suitable candidates.
“I am sure many companies would agree that traditional recruitment is seldom more than a crude game of snap, with employers wasting their time and money interviewing inappropriate candidates unsuitable for the organisation and position. What’s more, they probably had to wait a number of weeks to get their hands on the CVs in the first place,” said Kevin Laithwaite, Managing Director of JobCrystal.
“We remove the fuzziness in the recruitment process by making the filtering and matching process scientific. Our aim is to deliver employers 10 exceptionally strong candidates, three of whom they interview, and one of whom they hire, in the shortest possible length of time. We’re so confident the system works, that we offer a six-month money back guarantee!”
JobCrystal focusses on candidates looking to earn R150,000 per year and more. It charges a flat fee per successful placement, with no upfront charges. Companies including Allan Gray, Protea Hotels, Santam and Foschini are using JobCrystal to source candidates.
- ENDS -
About JobCrystal
JobCrystal turns traditional hiring on its head by placing employers directly in touch with a pool of passive jobseekers. The online service is highly automated and cleverly matches candidates with employers, making using the interactive talent management portal faster, cheaper and more effective than any other way of recruiting. Founded by Kevin Laithwaite and Karl Westvig and launched in August 2009, JobCrystal is already being used by companies including Allan Gray, Santam, Foschini and Protea Hotels.
For more information please visit: www.jobcrystal.co.za (for jobseekers) or www.jobcrystal.co.za/talent (for employers)
Released on behalf of JobCrystal by:
Vanessa Clark
Twokats Communications
Ph: +27 82 335 1117
Email: Vanessa.clark@twokats.com
Web: www.twokats.com
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 17, 2009
Marketing a small or medium business has its own set of challenges and opportunities. The last thing you want to do is waste time, money and the chance to stand out by merely cutting and pasting a big company strategy onto a small company requirement.
Here are five issues to consider when you set out to create a marketing strategy and plan for your small or medium-sized business. These apply equally well to start-ups.
1. SKILL SET
Be clever about getting the right skill set on board. As a business owner, you need to focus on what you do best and not be distracted by writing brochures or press releases. You need to bring in the right specialist skills and the correct level of experience, at the right price.
Be careful about appointing a junior general marketer who will need a lot of hand-holding from you, and won’t have the breadth and depth of experience to cope with your company’s specific requirements.
You need a range of strategic and implementation skills, to work with someone who can manage themselves, and also look to the future to lay the foundations for growth. They also can’t be loath to get their hands dirty, down in the trenches.
If you take the agency route, which is a good option for getting a range of skills with a single price-tag, watch out for agencies used to working with the resources and expectations of a large company.
Ideally appoint an agency or a consultant used to dealing with smaller companies and their requirements. Hiring a freelancer who works for more than one company is a great way to get the experience and skill set you require, at a price that suits your pocket. An added bonus is the potential synergies with the contractor’s other clients.
2. FOCUS
You will be presented with a range of typical and not-so-typical activities and channels to reach your customers. Choose two or three of the activities and channels that make most sense, and then focus your marketing efforts on owning these.
Also keep your customer front of mind. Twitter might be the hottest topic in social media and marketing at the moment, but if your customers are mostly reading text email using a dial-up connection - you’ll be better off sending them a simple email newsletter, letting them know about special offers.
Keep sales and marketing tightly connected and focussed on the same thing. You can’t waste valuable budget on teams not being aligned and chasing the same goal.
3. MESSAGING ON THE FLY
You will end up creating branding and messaging on the fly. It’s not ideal, but it’s inevitable. As a start-up or a smaller company you need to get out there, talking to the market, and can’t afford to spend three months sitting around a board-room table, fine-tuning the most exquisitely crafted message and brand strategy.
However, don’t let your need for speed mean you don’t ever take time out focus on your branding and messaging to make sure it’s coherent, accurate and on track. Spend time once a month to reflect on how your messaging and brand is developing, and if you need to tweak, change track or emphasise any aspects.
4. KEEP IT UP
Understand that building and marketing a brand is not an overnight activity, nor can it be turned on and off like a tap. You need a sustained, coherent programme of activities that builds momentum.
So don’t be tempted to opt for quick wins. It will be more cost-effective in the long run to run a steady strategic PR campaign that builds momentum over three to six months, than to dedicate all your resources to a high profile advert that has a shelf life of less than a month, if it gets seen at all.
5. DUCK, DIVE AND HAVE FUN
Embrace the benefits of being small, nimble and able to react quickly by experimenting and trying something out of the ordinary. If it doesn’t work out, you can quickly correct the situation with minimum exposure, and if it’s a great success, you can do more of the same. Don’t act like a lumbering, slow to change direction oil tanker, when in fact you are a nippy speedboat.
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @
SaleSearcher was an online specials and promotions listings site that allowed retailers to drive more customers to their stores by highlighting current sales.
Twokats Communications helped launch the site to retailers with a media outreach project targetted at retail and marketing publications. This is a great example of how a B2B media outreach campaign can quickly and effectively be implemented, on a tight budget. In both press releases, it was key to use third party endorsements in order to enhance the credibility of a new entity.
You can read the press releases here:
Coverage achieved:
Marketing Mix: Retailers use a little sale searching, February 2009
Mypressportal: Retailers get found thanks to SaleSearcher, 6 February 2009
Biz-community: TV, video and advertising ‘on demand’ creeps closer, 25 November 2008
Marketing Web: Fish for savvy customers online, 25 November 2008
Biz-community: New search site brings sales to customers online, 24 November 2008
Marketing Machine: SaleSearcher brings savvy customers straight to you, 21 November 2008
Mypressportal: SaleSearcher brings savvy customers straight to you, 17 November 2008
Note: Salesearcher has subsequently been put on hold by the owner, who is pursuing other activities.
