Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Interview with Lisa Scales, Director: Talent on View Ltd

We learnt recently of a new website due to launch which is a video interview solution for the recruitment industry. We caught up with the site’s Director, Lisa, to find out more……...

- Tell me more about Talentonview.com :

Talent on View is a web based video interview application designed specifically for the recruitment industry. It enables a recruiter to video their candidate whilst interviewing them and sending the video clip to their clients along with the candidates CV. When the client has viewed the candidate they can give feedback immediately which the recruiter receives via email. It is a user friendly application which saves the recruiter and client time and can expedite the recruitment process. It can be used by a high street recruiter through to a senior executive recruiter. The application is completely secure as we use the same security technology as NASA and the Department of Defence in the US.

- What is your background and what motivated you to establish the business?

My background is mainly in high street recruitment having worked for 2 major brands on the high street for a number of years. I have also worked for an executive search and selection firm as well as a HR role with a city law firm – these different roles have given me a wide overview of the recruitment industry. My main motivation to establish the business was the sense of frustration that I sometimes encountered when a client would make a recruitment decision based on just a CV. We have all been there when the client doesn’t allow you time to describe the person and “sell” them and asks for their CV on email. They come back to you saying they don’t want to see them and that is the end of the line for that candidate with that client. Sometimes a CV does not give the true picture of what a person is like and Talent on View enables clients to get a fuller picture prior to seeing them face to face.

- With the amount of websites available and the competitive offerings within the recruitment industry: how did you identify a gap and what are your USPs?

There are candidate driven video resume models currently on the market as well as the growing trend for Talent Managers to have corporate videos on the careers section of their company websites to attract talent but I felt that the nuts and bolts of the industry i.e; the recruitment companies, didn’t have a viable option to use this sort of technology. Video streaming in recent years has become more sophisticated and we live in the “YouTube” generation so I decided it would be great to be able to offer a recruiter another tool in their recruitment toolkit which was inexpensive, easy to use and a value added product. Our unique selling points are:
* Most affordable recruitment video solution on the market
* Completely web based so no need to download any software
* Speeds up recruitment process by enabling the recruiter to receive feedback immediately

- What are the characteristics and skills you have that you believe are particularly suited to what you do?

I am extremely motivated and focused, combined with the ability to juggle lots of different balls at once. I am organised and passionate about what Talent on View can do to enable the industry to embrace Web 2.0 technology.

- Favourite aspect of your work?

Talking to clients – I really like developing new relationships with clients and nurturing the relationship along to becoming a collaboration as opposed to a them and us scenario.

- What would you like to change about the recruitment industry?
I think the recruitment industry is seen as the poor relation to a lot of other industries and it has a reputation for being unscrupulous – I would like industry leaders and umbrella organisations to introduce a harder “barrier to entry” like licensing to weed out the more unscrupulous recruiters out there. The majority are doing a professional job and the minority give it a bad reputation.

- Previous jobs:
Recruitment Consultant, Contract Manager, Business Centre Manager, HR Manager, Executive Consultant
- Any recommendations for job-seekers looking at a career in Recruitment?
Approach the larger organisations for roles as they give fantastic training and will get you off to the best start in a fabulous industry.

- How do you fill your leisure time?

It’s all about family for me but I do like skiing, riding, travelling and reading a good book.

- Ultimate ambition outside of work: Design and build my own house.

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