Kiwi recruiter banks on hi-tech revolution

By Graeme Kennedy

Friday 30th July 2004

New Auckland company Global Video Recruitment (GVR) has plans for up to 70 offices worldwide to handle its new system designed to make staff selection easier, faster and more efficient.

Managing director Russell Withers said development with the support of Auckland incubator Ice House and trialing over 18 months had created a breakthrough in the recruitment industry, which had suffered from lack of innovation.

GVR, he said, gave potential employers a digital video clip of an informal interview with job candidates as well as the usual CVs, qualifications and job histories.

"The video enables the employer to view candidates and gauge their personalities through mannerisms, attitude and body language all the soft skills you see through speech, dress and presentation," Withers said.

"Employers feel they have already met the person when the time comes for a face-to-face interview. And the employer can gauge whether the candidate is the type who would fit into the organisation's culture.

"It saves time through the whole recruitment process and can be accessed anywhere in the world, with strict security controls."

Withers, who has worked in the IT and recruitment industries since the early 1990s, said he developed the video system after becoming tired of hearing that all recruitment agencies were the same and offered identical services.

"I felt that was a challenge," he said. "I had to change the way agencies operate.

"Internet job boards have been taking a lot of business away from recruiters and are targeting employers directly so that the perceived value recruitment companies offer these days has been seriously diminished.

"They simply haven't moved on and apart from email and job boards very little has changed in the industry until now."

Withers said the GVR system, which has a patent pending, had been used by a major New Zealand IT firm for the past six months and an Australian office would be set up by the end of the year with plans to move into the UK, every US state, Europe and Asia next year.

"This will be huge as it delivers much more information than ever before about candidates, so employers can make better informed decisions," he said.

"We have to move fast there is a lot of potential for the product to give employers the value-add they need."

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