Selfies are the future of sales recruitment - start-up
Tinder-style mobile app allows young sales hopefuls to apply for jobs via video selfie
Video selfies could be the key to saving businesses time and money recruiting young sales staff, according to a new start-up whose platform aims to add some fun to the recruitment process.
Swedish start-up SelfieJobs launched in the country at the end of last year, and following success in the wider Nordics region and Germany, is now branching out to the UK.
The firm's offering works by getting young sales hopefuls to apply for jobs through the medium of a short video pitch in which they outline their skills, educational background and other information such as their favourite Instagram photo.
The idea, the firm claims, is that businesses save time trawling through long CVs by being able to judge candidates through social media, similar to the process on dating app Tinder, it says. SelfieJobs also claims its app will help attract good sales staff who are put off by the formal job-application process.
"We started SelfieJobs to let young people self-express their job application in a way not seen before," said SelfieJobs' chief executive Martin Tall. "A few bullets about your education and work history, your favourite picture from Instagram and a short video pitch is all you need to get started.
"Companies in service industries love this interview-first approach because they can see and screen the applicant and opt to chat with them instead of reading through a long, detailed CV. This makes the job search simple and fun for both applicants and companies while illuminating millions of hidden talents through user pitch videos across the UK and European market. Add in the popular Tinder-style user interface and you get a fun, frictionless job app that shakes up the traditional hiring process.
Tall added that the process is a good way to attract the most outgoing sales hopefuls.
"The best young talent in sales and services just want to get to the interview to showcase their skills to sell, promote or provide the best customer service," he said. "Service companies need outgoing young professionals to hire in positions where self-expression is the biggest or only requirement.
"Using this hypothesis we took inspiration from success stories around the web including Uber and Instagram and combined it with our own secret sauce. The result has been greatly received with over 10,000 users abroad."