Mobile Apps That Have Revolutionized Recruitment

Mobile app development is one of the hot trends of this season. The companies are significantly investing in this initiative for enhancement of business processes across every segment. One such important area is recruitment. There are certain recruitment mobile apps which have caught the attention in recent times.

• The first in our list is the HireVue app. It is an iOS based application that is compatible with all ranges of iPhones. This application provides the provision for designing and development of interview questions which can be sent to the candidates. The video interviews can be recorded and shared among various people in this platform.
• Jobscience is another iOS based application has been developed by Force.com. It is one of the most popular applications tracking system available in the market. The resume submission is digitized and the employer can look and search through profiles in a faster way. It very effective in a job fair or mass recruitment drive.
• BullHorn is another mobile platform application tracking system. The best part about this software is that it is compatible with majority of the platforms including Android, iOS, Windows and such like. The CRM features of this application are worth mentioning.
• Tungle is a different type of recruitment application available in the market. It helps in scheduling meetings which is a quick and effective way of communicating with the candidates. The employer sends an invite and the candidates can reply on the same. The calendar of both the users gets updated automatically.
• Google Power Search is one of the convenient apps that help the professionals to locate potential candidates in the easiest way possible. It has got a user friendly interface that is easy to use and handle.
• Job Speak works in another dimension of recruitment. It helps in creating job listings and posting them on various popular job portals in a systematic manner. There is provision to add a hiring message of 60 second duration along with the job posting as well. Hence it has an innovative aspect which is attractive and effective.

The last one in our list is the Hire Syndicate. It is known as one of the most popular agency recruitment tools. It helps in building and management of split placement networks and close deals which are directed from the mobile devices. Hence it is popular among recruitment agencies and firms.

Mobile Apps That Can Boost Your Job Search

Connectivity is the new mantra that has influenced every aspect of corporate and personal lifestyle of people. With the advent of better internet connection across the globe, rise of mobile internet and cost effective smartphones, the world is within the reach of fingertips. It has positively impacted the way people interact with each other as well as brands and companies. So in order to reach out to the target audience, every company is currently investing in app development that is mobile and user friendly at the same time. However, there is another side to the story as well. Candidates who are looking out for employment opportunities can benefit from this trend as well. There are many job search apps that can positively aid in giving the job hunting initiatives a proper direction. Popular job search apps that can be very helpful for the first timers as well as people looking out for a job change are as follows.

• The CareerBuilder app is the first in our list. It is one of the most flexible job search engines available currently. The job search can be performed based on the specific industry selection, location or company based as well. The best part about this app is that one does not need an account for looking into the available profiles. The individual just needs to upload the resume from any smart device or a Dropbox account and then look for suitable matches. One can track applications, view the job search history and save job options to be applied for later. The candidate can also analyze his or her profile in comparison to others in the similar range to understand the current competitive trend of the market. There is option for alert in case the employer sees the profile and recommended jobs are also sent at regular intervals. The application is compatible with Android and iOS devices.

• The Reach app is the next in our list. It has been designed and developed by Big Rock Labs. It makes the search of local professionals much easier and sorted. There is the option to log in to the app with the Linkedin account or any email address. One can search for nearby users with the help of phone’s GPS or people who have checked at close by locations. The desired person can be contacted using the messaging request. When the receiver accepts the request, contact information in shared and further discussion can be carried out accordingly. It is compatible both with Android and iOS.

• If one is looking out for part time opportunities such as per hour based work in restaurants, retail joints or customer service centric companies, then Snagajob is the app for you. One can narrow down the search to effective location, type or other criteria based job hunting. There is an integrated map within the application which shows accurate location of the job. There is option for job saving and application along with email alerts. It is compatible both with Android and iOS.

How to Choose An IT Solution Provider

IT solutions are the most popular form of service that is being asked for by companies across all domains and industries. Hence the market is filled with numerous IT solutions providers making it difficult to select one. Therefore we bring to you a complete guide of parameters to select a solution provider with most affectivity.

• The first thing to look out for is the flexibility of the solution provider that is the benchmark of the capability to align itself with the client company work culture and environment. You should ensure that the service provider increases the productivity of the organization as a whole without disrupting the security and causing inflation within the organization.
• A majority of the service providers are laden with some very convenient yet effective apps and features. These help in increasing the productivity of a company and aids the overall revenue generation in a positive manner.
• Nothing is more important than a complete customer service which should have the clause of contacting and gaining support at any time of crisis. It is very helpful during the implementation phase and day to day usage time for a smooth functioning.
• The user experience should be versatile. This means the client company should be able to utilize the system from multiple devices at multiple locations and perform necessary actions that will be updated and integrated across all channels. But it should not compromise on the simplicity and functioning structure of the system in any way.
• The cost is an important element of any organization. The productivity of the business process should increase but not at the cost of higher budget. It should bring down the human effort and keep the functionality stable by all means.
• The corporate environment is rapidly evolving. Technologies are being launched very frequently. Hence the solution provider should be well informed and updated about the changing and evolving demographics and take necessary steps for the same.
• Data theft and cyber crimes have increased tremendously in recent times. Protecting the company information from such attacks is crucial. The service provider should be proactive towards securing the systems with maximum level of protection software and systems.

Lastly the service provider should be reliable in terms of providing timely updates, progress reports, monitoring and tracking details and maintain a dedicated communication channel for a completion solution environment.

Details of Functionalities of An IT Consultant

An IT consultant acts as an advisor to a client or a company and assists the same towards effectively using Information technology for business process enhancement and productivity. This professional also works towards improvement of IT systems within an organization in order to streamline the supportive process that assist in smooth business operations. The following are the basic pointers related to the job description of an IT consultant.

• Education

The first and foremost knowledge in this job role is the technical skill set. It is variable according the industry or domain requirements but usually most companies prefer a professional with bachelor degree in computer science or information technology. Some of the professionals often follow it up with a master degree in business administration with focus to IT management. The MBA courses relevant in this area are database management, global IT management, organizational behaviour and technology management in addition to innovation.

• Fields of Expertise

The specialization of an IT consultant can be any technology depending upon the area of expertise. But the basic technical skill is that of computer science. Often most consultants in this area learn on the go as this segment is very dynamic and new programming technologies and innovations evolve very frequently. Most common specializations include web analytics, cyber security, data management and maintenance, infrastructure, mobile technology, risk management, storage systems and backup technology.

• Duties

Understanding of the client company business operations and ethics is essential for an IT consultant. As a part of the process, the consultant needs to interact with the management of the client company or any designated professional in order to understand the requirements of the project and its associated services. After this a strategy should be formulated to meet the previously mentioned requirements. Then the technology infrastructure is set up by working with the company’s technology department. Developing training materials and knowledge sharing among the actual users is also part of the job for the consultant.

• Core Skills

Communication in terms of verbal and written is an essential skill set for the consultant. Usually such professionals are proficient in two to three technologies, but they need to be informed about the technology updates at regular intervals. They need to have a fair knowledge about the software development life cycle (SDLC). Along with all these time management and independent working abilities are also essential.

• Salary and Outlook

The salary of the IT consultant is dependent on years of experience, knowledge about types of technologies, number of projects handled and previous client base. There is no fixed benchmark in this case. The demand for IT consultants has been on the steady rise in recent years due to the requirement spread across every industry and business domain. With the advent of new technologies becoming very frequent, the top notch professionals having expert knowledge on the same are high on demand. Hence the compensation demand has also risen. Companies need to select a professional based on technology requirement, budget and professional expertise.

Advantages Of Cloud Services

Cloud services refer to the services or solutions provided by a cloud computing company through internet to its users on demand which is channelized through company’s own servers. The popularity of cloud services is reaching new heights in recent times. Hence it is essential to put forth the benefits of the same that is driving its increased adoption across the globe.

• This type of service is ideal for companies who have a fluctuating demand bandwidth or they are in the growing or development phase. It is easy to increase or decrease the cloud capacity according to the need of the company.
• Many companies now days are investing considerable in the disaster recovery systems and processes. But this initiative is pretty expensive for small and medium enterprises. However, with cloud services, this initiative has come within the reach of such organizations.
• The best characteristic of this service is that the servers are not within the client premises. The service provider is responsible for them and regular updates are provided and maintained at their end. Thus the maintenance management is not required at the client end.
• These services are very cost effective in nature. There no cost related to the hardware and its maintenance as well. The services are provided based on monthly or yearly subscriptions which is convenient and cost efficient at the same time.
• There is higher level of collaboration within the organization. Employees can share, edit and access documents at any location and time. This increases the visibility of the entire process.
• It facilitates work place flexibility to a great extent. Employees can work from home or different locations and still have access to required documents. This enhances the productivity and efficiency.
• As the files previously got transferred multiple times between various employees, there were increased chances of document corruption. The cloud services help in setting up the document control security measures that limits the access of edits and shares according the need.
• Data loss due to thefts of laptops, mobile and other devices were common even a few years back. This resulted in significant loses of businesses. Now with cloud computing, the data is stored in a secured manner which is not dependent on any hardware devices.

It is environment friendly too. The energy usage is dependent on the capacity of usage that controls carbon footprint in an intelligent manner.

Mobile Workforce Management Trends That Will Impact Corporate Structure

Mobile applications and mobility services are the new face of innovation across industries and domains in global arena. The very concept of “on the go” and “connectivity at all times” has driven the popularity of this technology. Apart from industry usage, the corporate structure is also making use of this technology in all possible business processes. Workforce management is one of them. Hence it is essential to look out for certain trends that will dominate in the mobile workforce management segment in current year.

• By the end of 2015, approximately 0.8 million organizations have made use of mobile workforce management through mobile and wireless technology. According to published sources, this figure is expected to rise to 2.5 million by end of 2018. This shows a huge leap of this technology in the corporate segment. Until now mobile driven technologies were more customer centric, but now internal business processes are being influenced by the convenience and simplicity of this technology. Major industries which will experience this technological innovation are construction, healthcare, distributions and other field operations. This will also lead to implementation of various legislative frameworks across various markets.
• The “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD concept which already has a tremendous impact on the business processes will continue to grow for the next couple of years. This initiative will be driven by employee interest and satisfaction levels across different organizations. Published surveys say that 38% employees have acknowledged the fact that usage of mobility services has increased the efficiency and productivity of the workforce. This would be utilized to promote flexible work environment and easy connectivity for the workforce while they are functioning at different locations.
• Big Data has created uproar in the corporate arena. Large data sets can be organized and analyzed to understand various trends related to employee behaviour pattern, workforce mind set in general and so on. This information can be channelized through mobile workforce management software. The reliability of the data will be much more dependable and it can be used to determine more accurate insights of the employee mind set as a whole. The feedback and suggestion system can also be maintained through this approach to address any concerns or implement strategic decisions.
• It will bring together consumer technology and workforce management on the same platform. Based on the consumer feedback and suggestions, the internal workforce management policies will be altered or new policies will be implemented to increase the production and bring down the costs at the same time.

There will be an increased demand for IT professionals in this segment of development in the coming five years. This segment is comparatively new and there are very few professionals who are well versed with this type of development. Last year has already seen rise in demand for compensation by the professionals increase by 7% and 10%. This depicts the clear demand for such professionals. Hence it can be safely assumed that top notch talents in this domain will attract recruiter attention.

Upcoming challenges for HR industry

Recruitment segment has been under pressing conditions for the past two to three years. With the increase in demand for various skill set, there has been a rising concern towards availability of skilled professionals across various segments. So while the situation grows more intense, below are the rising challenges of the recruitment industry in present and coming years.

• There is a significant lack of technical professionals across various industries worldwide. This factor has specially impacted the IT recruitment segment to a great extent. The need for project specialists and developers has seen a steady rise in the past couple of years and there is a significant deficit towards qualified professional count. The situation becomes all the more difficult as there are many technical segments which are now included across multiple business segments. So there is a rising demand for technical professionals across various industries now, beyond just IT.
• If finding the right skill is difficult matching to the client requirements is even more challenging. Around 76% of the recruiters expressed their concern regarding this matter in 2015. There has been already a declining trend towards certain skill sets. This coupled with skill mismatch is a rising concern for recruiters and this is definitely not going to be favorable for the industry in coming years.
• The contractual labour hiring rates have gone up steadily. More companies are now inclined towards hiring temporary, part time or contractual labours who can work on project basis. This has helped in bringing down the operational cost of hiring and maintaining permanent employees. But this has also propelled the rates for contractual labour costing.  Matching the demand of the clients within budget along with the demand of such professionals is becoming a tedious task for the recruiters.
• There are new reforms coming up in terms of recruitment and employment legislation across different countries in the global prospect. With the changing structure of the corporate environment, the regulations have been influenced to a great extent so as to accommodate the employee requirements. Finding talent and matching up to the legislation criteria is becoming difficult.
• Coming to the candidate side, it might be true that the unemployment rates have been on the rise as numerous professionals are graduating each year and there are many looking out for job change. But there is another side to the coin as well. The density of top notch professionals has decreased. The candidates who belong to the elite class in terms of knowledge and skill set are now very selective towards employment terms. Just a fat pay check and a higher designation is no more substantial to attract the talent pool. Other employment benefits, work culture, provisions and such like are influencing the employment considerations.

No matter how much effort goes in to finding a talent, a considerable amount of it is lost when a candidate drops out of the recruitment process because of slow hiring. Many recruiters have expressed that at least one in ten drops off the selection process due to the unnecessary delay.

Staff Augmentation And Its Benefits

Staff Augmentation refers to the outsourcing strategy related to project staffing that meets the business objectives. The approach that is usually taken up by companies in case of staff augmentation is analyzing and evaluating the existing employee base and then pointing out the additional skill set required for a particular project. While some businesses may not agree to staff augmentation approach but there are many striking benefits of this service. Many times it happens that a crucial project arrives suddenly which requires immediate involvement and the company does not have the right amount of skill set among its existing employees. It is under such situations that this service comes to the rescue. There are major benefits of this service.

• Enhancing the professional skill set with recruitment of trained professionals on a per project basis builds up the confidence of accuracy in work and deliverable. Since they are experienced, they would not require training or assistance like interns or temps. The company needs to assign the project work to a staff augmentation service provider and the professionals from the sourcing will deliver the work with perfection and quality.
• Permanent hiring is always a cost sensitive decision. In case of a project that is due to be completed within a few weeks or month, hiring a permanent employee would result in loses in the longer run. Also a company needs to provide additional benefits to a permanent employee along with monthly compensation. In case of augmented staff, one does not need to worry about such additional costs. The company pays the service provider according to the agreement and the professional is paid by the service provider itself and not the company.
• This service aids in the selection of specific skill set professionals. One does not needs to worry about a professional who has general knowledge across various technologies. The company can benefit from the experts provided by the third party who will be a specialist in a particular segment. This aids in better workflow and productivity which results in better performance.
• Bringing in a fresh professional in to the team adds a fresh perspective to the project at hand. Many times working along the similar lines, the team loses touch of creativity. With a new professional who is experienced and updated with recent trends, he or she can contribute ideas that boost up the performance and project workflow in a positive manner.
• Staff augmentation service promotes flexibility that is cost and time effective at the same instance. In case of full time employees one cannot expect that he or she will work extensive hours within a week and complete the project. This is possible with this approach. When a company goes for the service, it clearly defines the terms which needs to be followed. Hence it ensures timely delivery with quality.

Staff augmentation service is currently one of primary services provides by many recruitment consultancies. It is one of the effective measures towards implementing project wise professional help that is budget friendly in nature.

The protection of computing devices, networks, programs and information from unauthorized access and usage is known as cyber security. There are benefits and disadvantages of introducing and following cyber security. • One of the major advantages of cyber security is that it protects the systems against harmful viruses, malware, worms and spyware. It also acts a shield against unwanted programs that disrupt the system functionality or slows them down. • Data theft is an important crisis in the modern world. It effectively prevents such activities. • It reduces the chances of the system being hacked by unauthorized people. • It helps in preventing computer and system freeze and crashes. There are certain systems which performs program testing and critical analysis from time to time. If the system crashes in the middle of such a testing process, it might result in heavy loss of data as well as the program might get corrupted. Cyber security is a preventive wall against such a scenario. • It increases the level of privacy in terms of information sharing between the users. • It is an active defender of cyberspace. It aids in increasing cyber defence and enhances the speed of the systems. With all the benefits, there are certain limitations associated with the cyber security as well. • It can be price sensitive for average users. This user group may find cyber security initiatives a bit costly. • The firewalls are not always user and system friendly. They are quite difficult to configure. • As the technologies have advanced, the hackers and unethical users have formulated new programs and methods for unwanted breaches. Hence the cyber security programs need to be updated on a regular basis to prevent the situation. • Lastly, systems tend to slow down with the installation of such security programs. But above all, it is a necessary element in the global business arena. There are certain measures which need to be followed towards its successful implementation. • First up, the attitude of the user needs to positive. It might seem that he or she can never become a victim of cyber crime. But that is not true. It has to be understood that every user is an active target. • Password management is a good practice and an active defence tool against cyber crime. Complex passwords are more difficult to be predicted by the stealth programs. • Unattended devices are one of the easiest and common targets for cyber crime. It is better to lock the systems and phone while not using it. Even flash drives and external hard disks should be locked. • Now days we all receive huge amount of junk mails in our mail box. There are certain emails which contain an element of urgency and instruct the user to click on certain links and download attachments. If not sure, these actions should be avoided. • Sensitive browsing which involves payment details, personal details and banking information should be done on personal systems. • Data backup should be performed at regular intervals. • One should keep a close eye on the information shared over social media platforms. • The online accounts should be monitored closely in order to detect any suspicious activities.