Odyssey’s hurdling platform addresses high-volume recruitment pain points
Odyssey Talent Management has built a new platform that addresses a number of pain points in the pre-hire phase of the recruitment process, particularly where there is a high number of applicants.
“There are a lot of challenges in the high-volume recruitment space, both for candidates and for employers,” explains Odyssey MD, Kevin Distiller.
“From a candidate point of view it feels like you’re in a sausage factory; you apply, you hear nothing, it takes months to get any feedback… it’s not a really nice experience, especially considering the amount of time, effort and emotional energy that it takes to complete these processes.
“For the company there’s a lot of time and money spent on a recruiter having to go through mountains of CVs, and line managers getting a list of candidates that may not necessarily be the best individuals for the role. There’s also a great deal of manual intervention that takes a lot of time.”
Kevin says corporate recruiters are always under pressure.
“There is always huge pressure to deliver CVs and candidates for interviews.”
The Odyssey platform sets up a system of hurdles for candidates to pass through in order to advance in the selection process. As they pass through successive hurdles, the pool gets smaller and more manageable.
“You can start with the low-touch, high-volume process and as you hurdle through, the funnel gets tighter, explains Kevin. “Initially you would use screening questions, which filter out the candidates who don’t meet the minimum requirements for the role.
“The idea here is, if you don’t meet these requirements there’s no point applying. It just means candidates get their hopes up needlessly and it amounts to extra time and effort on the part of the recruiter.
“The next step assesses skills and behaviour – is the candidate cognitively strong enough to deal with the complexities of the role? And would they enjoy the job itself?”
Once the candidate has passed those two hurdles we move on to the next stage, which could be deeper psychometric assessments, situational judgment tests or even an asynchronous video interview, depending on each client’s unique recruitment process.
“The next stage or hurdle depends on what the client wants,” says Kevin. “Typically it’s a video interview, which the candidate records and submits. This saves time from an administrative point of view – trying to get diaries aligned, etc. It’s a short introduction to a candidate that helps to assess whether or not they would fit in with the culture of the organisation and whether they make a good first impression.”
The candidates who pass this stage can then move into whatever the high-touch component of the process might be, whether it’s panel interviews, assessment centre days or deep assessments.
“Ultimately you hurdle out those who shouldn’t have applied in the first place,” says Kevin. “As you move through the process you get stronger and stronger candidates coming through until you get to the end of the process, with a short-list of strong candidates suited to the roles in question.”
So from a client point of view, the new pre-hire platform leads to shorter lead times, heightened automation, a more objective process and ultimately a better candidate. But there are benefits for the candidate, too.
“We’ve put together a series of development plans that we send to unsuccessful candidates at the point at which they exit the process,” explains Kevin. “So rather than hearing nothing, they get a very nicely worded developmental report suggesting some development pointers and making them feel more valued. They get something to help them develop themselves and understand how they did in the assessment.”
The Odyssey hurdling platform addresses the pain points for candidates and organisations when it comes to high volume roles – whether it’s a graduate role, a learnership role or always-on, high-volume roles where CVs are continuously flooding in.