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Most companies spend thousands of pounds on marketing agents and surveys. You watch a movie.
(laughs)
Yep, that’s right.
(laughs)
Watch an old, black and white Jimmy Stewart movie!

You are a romantic. Now, can you able put Zuzuhire in a nutshell for the readers of Wise Man Say?
Sure. Zuzuhire is a screening tool. It allows you to easily create multi-media interview questionnaires to screen applicants at the front end of the process. Now it’s debated as to whether we’re an interview or screening tool, but I err on the side of it being a screening tool. There is a video component, but we see it has a means of screening the applicants at the front end.

Video is only one of a large number of components in the assessment. Any reason why you’ve gone pick n mix?
Great question Wise Man Say (of course)

When I was doing research on this, I realised that video was OK, but my clients told me that they wanted to have different options. They wanted for test writing skills or oral skills and video was not always the best option for every case. You want different skills on different positions, and the appropriate tests for those skills. Now if you’re sales, maybe video would be appropriate. if you are in PR, then written skills are more important. So we’ve put everything in there, so that the client can customize their interview assessment as best fits their needs.

Where is Zuzuhire at the moment, is the product out there?
Yeah, we are at Beta right now. It’s actually at Open Beta. We’ve got people can use it, and can create a free account and have one free interview so can try it out. We’re kind of taking it in steps at the moment. We’ve bounced enough ideas around here, and we decided the best thing we could was launch it and see what the market is telling us.

Reid Hoffman had something to say about people like you: ‘make sure you launch your product at a stage where you are still embarrassed by it’. So, what part of Zuzuhire embarrasses you?
(laughs)
Yeah, that’s great! I can totally identify with Reid. When I look at the site, I see everything about the site that is not right, but every comment I get back is not what I see. They see something totally different from me. You just get the trained eye with everything that’s wrong with your baby…….

(Wise Man Say engages the CEO of Zuzuhire on a brief diversion into cod anthropology, millenarian cults and ‘semiotic arousal’. We agree Ty is afflicted by the latter)

Anyway, back to the interview. I’m an employer – how do I get the questionnaire to the candidate?
Two ways.

Firstly, you can email a link. Every interview questionnaire gets a unique url, and you can send out that out to candidates who you want to do the assessment. So basically replace the phone interview. They get the test, do the assessment and click submit.

Another way is to embed it into a job posting, so the applicants can see the job on a job board. We handle the response issue by including a multiple choice feature on the site which ranks responses according to their scores, so that instead of getting a tonne of candidates you can’t process, you can opt to see only the guys that rank the best.

….so the from job seeker’s perspective, I may contacted by a recruiter who will send me a link or I may see an advert with a link and I click on it and I’m through to the platform?
Yeah that’s right. We also send it out through social media platforms, so that’s another way we can communicate the vacancy to a wider audience……

…Social Media? Friend or Foe?
Oh, it’s a friend. I mean social recruiting is a bit of a two edged sword. I can argue that it’s a great thing, and I can argue the other way. But I think generally, it’s a good thing. Zuzuhire works well with it. What we are trying to do is enabling the recruitment process to be a more conversational. It allows you ask more questions, to your candidates at an earlier stage. I think in this respect, social media and Zuzuhire are really broadly aligned, and they integrate very well too. Personally I embrace social media and I think we work well with it.

You mentioned you’ve done your research. So what makes Zuzuhire different from others in the market?
First of all, there are lot of great video platforms out there. I demo’d a couple, and they had good platforms but they all do something a little different. But what I was looking for was the front end screening. Whilst these video interviewing platforms were great for interviewing – internationally and what not – I didn’t feel any of these did what I wanted, which was screening the applications at the front end.

Secondly, was the pricing model. They charge according to completed interview. Some of them charge from $45 per completed interview to $150 per completed interview. When you are looking at volume that just doesn’t make sense.

Those were the two reasons for why we went in the direction we did.

Our pricing model, you pay $20 to create an interview questionnaire and you can have unlimited usage of the platform for 45 days. You can interview as many people as you want in those 45 days. There is no problem with large numbers of people coming in from a major job board – you don’t get charged every time some completes the interview. We also package them in bundles. You buy 5, 10….. we also have an unlimited plan where for $200 per month, you can have unlimited access to the site.

What do you do with the data?
We store all these interviews for 2 years. The client owns the interview. And because each has a unique url, you have the ability to drag and drop the interview into an ATS, and save it for those two years. If you are a third party recruiter, you have the ability to brand the interview, put your logo into the corner, remove all contact details and send them out as a shortlist to your clients. And that link is also going to be active for two years.

When are you getting rid of the BETA?
That’s a kind of shifting date, if you will. I want to keep the BETA up there for the time being. Anyone who has launched a website knows that you get a little forgiveness if you have BETA up there! I don’t want people paying for the site and not getting an experience that is less than what is expected. If there are any bugs or whatever, I want to be able to deal with that in a very flexible way with our customers who are already using the site. So, we’re going to keep BETA up there until we are absolutely sure that it’s working the way we want.

….OK Ty, final question for you. How long til world conquest?
I think that with the video component……that’s the sexy element to it of and that’s what’s going to drive our sales. I think as video catches on more and more, then so will our site. But for us to get the message out about what we do – we do video but we are a multi-media screening tool – that’s going to take a while. Right now, we’re seen as just another video interviewing service. So, it’s making that differentiation in the marketplace. But we’ve got a number of developments in the pipeline that are really going to help us do that. I’d say…..about a year or so.

Thanks Ty, that’s a wrap. It’s been nice chatting with you
Hey, it’s been great. Really appreciate it.

I’m great. Let me guess, with a name like that, you must be Norwegian?
(pause)
Actually my family is Danish. And I’m from Bedford.

I’ve offended you within 5 seconds of this interview starting. (Moving swiftly along). Now how about answering a few questions for Wise Man Say?
Yes fine, what would you like to know?

Ovia.me – put it in a nutshell for the readers of Wise Man Say’s blog?
Ovia.me is a video interviewing platform which allows employers to interview whenever and where ever they want. We can reduce both cost and time to the interview process. How it works is straightforward. The employer records a number of questions which he would like the applicants to answer, the applicants receive an email inviting them to respond, and they then record their answers through their webcam, which can then be reviewed by the employers convenience. All through the Ovia.me platform. You can see a video of the process on our site.

So, the value here is……?
Employers get a chance to see a little bit more of the personality and communication skills of the candidate, before he or she is invited to interview. In effect, we are replacing the telephone interview screen or the first stage interview, with this technology. That’s our aim.

So this is not a Video CV?
No. We are interviewing through and through. I don’t see Video CV’s adding too much value – that come’s down to who can produce the best looking video. We are providing an interviewing tool which allows employers to gauge candidate suitability without going to first stage face to face interview. For the candidates, this tool will help those who have strong communication skills, but perhaps are a little weaker on the paper CV. Also, it has obvious application in cases where communication skills are the core requirement of the role in question.

For example…..?
Sales or Customer Engagement roles. Or any role with a language requirement. We are working with two companies already that are interested because of this angle we can provide for them.

All this sounds great. Also sounds expensive. How do you make your money?
(pause) We are here to save companies money and we can prove that our service can reduce costs by up to 80%. Direct costs are also quite low. We charge per completed interview, so the employer only pays for the value he gets back. Of course, we do packages for particular clients based on volume; if a corporate recruiter wants to do a thousand Ovia.me interviews, then we can come up with a package that suits.

How long until world conquest?
About 2 weeks. No seriously, we don’t know. We are still at open BETA and will continue with a series of soft launches until we are ready for a formal announcement. Our first task is to put some case studies onto the site – as a video company we need to promote through the medium we’re evangelising about – and you should see some online in a few weeks. Also, we are tweaking the functionality in line with the feedback we have received from applicants and employers who have already engaged at BETA phase and will continue to roll out improvements throughout the rest of the year. As for world conquest, I don’t know. We are speaking at the Mobile & Video in Recruitment Conference in London on the 28th September, as will be YouTube and other interesting rich media companies, so maybe it will start there.

Kes, I like the concept. Thank you for spending the time in speaking with me today. And sorry about the Norwegian/Danish thing earlier
No problem Wise Man Say. Have a good week.

Anyone else got great questions for the interviewee to ask at interview?

1. Crossing your arms

This is the classic defensive posture, creating a barrier in front of you to prevent a hypothetical attack to your upper torso. In the interview context, it signals a resistance to ideas and hostility to the opinion of the others. It is extremely difficult to build rapport when holding this posture (try it next time you are with your friend or partner!) and if it is your habit, it must be corrected. Keep your hands in your lap or on the table (if there is one) in front of you, when standing, keep hands at your sides. This lets the other person know that you are defensive and are open to discussing new ideas and opinions.

2. Looking down when speaking

This is the classic deference posture, looking down to signal recognition of hierarchy and avoiding a hypothetical thump from any alpha male. In the interview context, this can be readily interpreted as obsequiousness – not an attractive quality to present to an employer. It is extremely difficult to build respect and an equality-of-relations if you habitually drop your gaze when speaking. Look into the eyes of the listener when you begin your sentence, follow the 3 second rule before glancing away and look again when you have finished speaking. This lets the other person know that you are interested in engagement, whilst giving clear visual cues as to when he or she can interject.

3. Checking your watch

There is NO reason to do this at interview. Checking for the time or any other substitute distraction (flicking a pen, checking your phone, taking a call – I’ve seen them all!) indicates boredom, a lack of interest and a keeness for the interview to be over. If that truly is the case, you will do better by concluding the interview yourself and excusing yourself from the exercise.

4. False smiling

Many primatologists think that the smile was originally a sign of aggression – lips open, teeth bared – a warning to stay away. It has since evolved into a near universal way to communicate sincerity and friendliness, but it can quickly go wrong again if poorly executed or used out of context. A false or forced smile is one of the most hostile facial expressions – signaling deception, hidden motive, attempt at manipulation and a disguised threat. A genuine smile involves the entire face – eyes & mouth, whilst a false smile uses only the mouth. People seem to be very good at seeing the difference, so at interview, smile only when you mean it!

5. Poor posture

Slouching or hunching your shoulders immediately makes you look smaller and signals a lack of self-confidence. Your posture is possibly the first thing that people notice and often sets the tone on how you will be treated – and therefore, how the interview will go. Standing up straight with your shoulders back displays confidence and self-assuredness – this translates directly into respect. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, head held up and your line of sight parallel to the floor. This will automatically stretch the spine, relaxes the shoulders and communicates your comfort in your surroundings.