How to give resumes a third dimension

SkillGigs is an auction-based recruiting and hiring marketplace that uses innovative technology to present a 3D picture of candidates.

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Technology has impacted almost every facet of the job search process from how candidates advertise themselves to how businesses source, recruit and hire talent, but one thing has remained pretty much the same: the resume. It's still one of the best ways job seekers can demonstrate their skills, knowledge and experience to potential employers. And for recruiters and hiring managers, it's a time-honored way to gauge a candidate's value and fit with an organization.

But a resume is both literally and figuratively a two-dimensional document. It can show only a candidate's previous experience, skills and education -- not their mastery or their competence, or their potential cultural fit within an organization. This third dimension is the focus of auction-based recruiting and hiring marketplace SkillGigs, and it's this that sets it apart from other technology-enabled sourcing and recruiting solutions.

"The standard two-dimensional resume doesn't give you an entire picture of a candidate. If you're looking for a Java developer with J2EE experience, a resume can't tell you how intensive their usage of that technology was, or what percentage of their job role required using those skills. You could guess, but that usually requires time and effort - and cost - spent to bring candidates in for interviews, only to find the skills don't match," says SkillGigs co-founder and CEO Kashif Aftab.

Candidates using SkillGigs input their skills and experience, and the site uses advanced analytics to calculate the percentage of their past and current job roles devoted to using specific technology and skills. That is then correlated to the amount of experience and mastery they've achieved with those technologies, and the data is used to create a visual, graphic representation of a candidate.

A perfect match

From the hiring and recruiting side, the Gig Creation Wizard helps client organizations input the specific roles, skills, technology and experience they're looking for and the levels of competency or mastery required. SkillGigs then delivers matches between candidates and hiring organizations, tailored to organizations' exact requirements.

"It's all data-driven, based on input from the candidates and from our business clients. We ask for very specific skills, knowledge and experience and businesses can tweak those requirements up or down based on exactly what's needed in the roles they're trying to fill. Then the technology takes over and helps them match up with talent," Aftab says.

This approach can significantly reduce time-to-hire, improve the quality of hires and help organizations attract passive talent.

"Recruiting and hiring is about more than just a candidate's resume. Our clients tell us it usually takes between 45 and 90 days to hire for vacant roles, but they've seen that cut down to as little as two weeks," Aftab says. And, as an auction-based marketplace, SkillGigs offers passive talent the opportunity to consider offers from hiring organizations, even if they're happily employed.

Finding a dream job

Candidates can determine if they're open to a new role if their dream job comes along, for the right price, he says. Of the approximately 10,000 registered users, Aftab says SkillGigs data shows 53 percent are open to new job prospects but are currently employed. About one-third of those users 'converted' to being active job seekers once they saw the opportunities available in the marketplace, he says.

"The unemployment rate in IT hovers around 3 percent; about half of the overall U.S. unemployment rate, and many organizations find that the people they want to recruit and hire are already employed. We can help solve this problem, too, by helping build relationships and show talent what kind of opportunities are available out there," Aftab says.