Cody Horton, Director of Recruiting, Diversity, and College at Wal-Mart brought a new dimension to the standard career fair format at the SIFE National Exposition last week. He decided to create a virtual interviewing room to complement his career fair activities. Once a recruiter identified a top candidate in the Wal-Mart booth, they invited them to complete one of HireVue’s one-way recorded interviews at a time that was convenient for the candidate. This flexibility was especially important as many of the students were driven by their competition schedule throughout the day.

Cody went with this approach for several reasons and explained to me, “when you meet a student at a career fair it can be very 2 dimensional. You receive a resume and have conversations that you then have to convey to a hiring manager back at headquarters or in the field. The video interview brings three dimensional life to the candidate and gives managers instant access to top talent.” Cody is also a fan of the recorded interview because it allows him to have multiple trained reviewers evaluate the candidate using different competency model assessments. All of this combined creates new campus and career fair efficiencies for his team and helps them close top talent faster than the competition.

Wal-Mart's Video Interviewing Station at SIFE

The second aspect of the career fair that I was impressed with was the attention Wal-Mart gave to their employment brand. The virtual interview room carried the same look and feel of the booth on the career fair floor. Recruiters took the time to explain why they were using the video interview process and how it would benefit the candidate. Wal-Mart opted to brand the HireVue system (click here to view).

There was positive feedback from the candidates and many were excited about the fact that several managers throughout Wal-Mart would be able to view their interviews that very same day. Throughout the event, there was a lot of buzz with many people stopping by to learn more about what Cody and his team at Wal-Mart were doing. Go here to learn more about HireVue’s campus recruiting solutions.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.

-Oh, the Places You’ll Go! – Dr. Seuss

A friend of mine graduated from university last week – May 6, 2010 – and is quite worried about his next step in life. The day of graduation, the Dow dropped almost 1,000 points (a new record!) before recovering. To put it mildly, he’s worried. During this time of year when spring has come and gone and summer is on its way, our clients are finishing up their campus recruiting programs and new graduates are coming to the market trying to figure out just what is next for them. When I was in the same position, I had no idea what to do and instead started a business as a go-between until I “figured things out” (I guess I still am!).

What Do Graduates Want?
In my position I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of people who are finishing up college or university all over the world. In conversations, I like to try to figure out what is driving them, what they are looking for, They want the opportunity to grow and develop, the opportunity to experience new things and challenges, the opportunity to be part of something special and to learn. It’s not money or fame or so many other things you might expect. This is a unique generation coming into the workplace right now and they want to be engaged, excited, and passionate about what they are doing. New professionals want to be part of the team that has meaningful impact. As an employer, you have to ask yourself how do I convey this to candidates? Or perhaps more importantly, how do I not only determine whether the candidate is a “fit” for us but are we a fit for them? I submit HireVue can be tremendously helpful here and this is where I think our business gets really exciting. Many of our customers have told us our collaboration and workflow tools allow them to transcend the “video conference” transaction to build understanding and relationships with candidates in ways they never could before.

More Than Just Webcams
Our primary charter has been to serve the needs of corporate recruiters. However, during the past 12-18 months we’ve seen a really interesting phenomenon. Campus recruiters have caught wind of HireVue from their corporate associates and we are now being used on over a hundred campuses worldwide to augment or in some cases replace campus recruiting trips. While many started using HireVue initially as a cost saving measure, most come back and tell us “this is so much more than just webcams! We’re making smarter decisions now.” We’re thrilled to see this and plan to continue to innovate for the campus space. In fact, June 1-3 we’ll be presenting HireVue to campus recruiters in Orlando, Florida at NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers – so if you’re planning to be there, look us up at booth #721.

Put New Graduates’ Enthusiasm and Innovation to Work for You
I believe that a lot of innovation happens during the summer.  It’s when Ryan and I started HireVue and when I know a lot of passionate entrepreneurs decide “I’m going to do something for myself instead of working for the man.” All jokes aside, it usually means they can’t find a job that inspires them to jump in and they might as well give a startup a shot (it’s a well known fact that the most new companies are started during recessions). Aren’t these the kind of employers you want to hire? Wouldn’t you rather they innovate for you than on their own? New graduates like my friend can be amazing employees that will truly change the dynamics of an organization. It’s time to stop just filling positions with any comers, it’s time to fill your positions with passionate up-and-comers. So many new graduates wonder about all the places they’ll go – now’s your chance to inspire them, hire them, develop them and repeat.

Have a great start to summer.

Mark Newman
CEO, HireVue