XPRESSJOBS
Q: What is your take of the state of the job market in Sri Lanka at this time?
A: In my view, it depends on the occupation and industry or sector. Generally, unskilled workers and new entrants to the labour force find it difficult to navigate the job market due to the challenges posed by the worst economic crisis faced by millions in recent times.
People who are engaged in white-collar jobs too are impacted by job insecurities arising from the pandemic.
Individuals have struggled to find employment as the islandwide lockdowns and travel restrictions led to disruptions in the job market’s established norms. For example, a job seeker in Ampara looking for a vacancy in a textile and apparel manufacturing company in the Biyagama free trade zone could not travel there for in-person interviews.
This is why it’s crucial for businesses and candidates to be flexible, change their strategies of outdated methodologies, adopt new processes and seek a digitalised approach to recruitment. For instance, the IT industry is already ahead of others with digitalised recruitment – with some saying it has grown by 20 percent in the past year.
Despite the unprecedented challenges encountered by many, the demand for candidates with the right set of skills has been strong. In fact, there is a void for skilled employees in the IT industry.
Q: How do XpressJobs’ operations serve the best interests of job seekers?
A: Applying for a job is a stress inducing endeavour. The inability to determine whether an application has been accepted or rejected leads to heightened levels of distress. Some candidates may even forgo lucrative job offers that manifest during their wait for another employer’s response.
We have drastically simplified the pathway of job seekers by giving them the ability to track the status of their applications by simply logging into their XpressJobs accounts. Our system offers complete transparency, and candidates can easily find out whether they have passed the initial screening, been rejected or selected for interviews and so on.
XpressJobs offers two modes of online recruitment – viz. CV submissions and ‘CV-less’ applications. Professional and skilled workers can create accounts and submit their CVs. Unskilled workers who do not have much knowledge with regard to writing proper résumés can opt for the CV-less option.
Q: And how do recruiters benefit from the platform?
A: As recruiters began to migrate to the digital realm, online recruitment became the preferred means of talent scouting.
These days, the CV has been replaced by a data form that indicates a set of requirements listed by recruiters. Employers have the option to ask generic or specific questions that candidates must answer. Both options capitalise on the filtering feature introduced by the system.
XpressJobs has a system that enables recruiters to ask potential candidates these questions and it grades them based on their level of employability through an application tracking system (ATS).
A statistical representation of a person’s compatibility with the posted job specifications is derived through the ATS. This helps recruiters attract the right set of candidates.
In addition, the video advertisement feature offers recruiters an opportunity to add a face to their brands.
An employer can nominate a person to represent the company, and create a pitch that offers an explanation of the grandeur of the hiring organisation and benefits of the job in question. These videos can be tagged to employer brands and circulated on all XpressJobs’ social media pages.
The statistics dashboard enables recruiters to monitor the progress of the recruitment process from a remote location. They have the ability to ascertain whether the heads of HR are following up with applicants.
Our self-interview scheduling option enables applicants to select convenient days that can be allocated to conduct their interviews. An additional filtering feature is incorporated to facilitate a timed online test, providing candidates with an opportunity to prove their aptitude and credentials.
Q: In what ways has XpressJobs contributed to the recruitment marketplace during the pandemic?
A: Homegrown recruitment technologies offered by XpressJobs have helped redefine the employment process during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recruitment was put on hold during the initial lockdown, which led to the realisation that it would be impossible to continue solely through traditional means. The pandemic accelerated digitalisation process has taught recruiters new techniques, the best of which can be absorbed into our ‘new normal’ process.
Furthermore, XpressJobs has given recruiters the ability to ask whether candidates have received two doses of vaccines and if they’ve followed proper quarantine protocols where necessary.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been lingering longer than anticipated and to rise to the occasion, we at XpressJobs strive to offer candidates and recruiters the best possible employment opportunities to fulfil their requirements.
