Canadian Web recruiter woos employers with online services
By Stefan Dubowski, Posted Apr 19, 2000, 09:56 AM

A Canadian company is changing the rules of recruitment with an online service geared towards employers.

On April 18, BrainHunter.com unveiled its online hiring process. According to company executives, this electronic method is faster and cheaper than conventional headhunting practices.

"It provides full-service online recruitment and it does so at a cost that is 70 per cent less than traditional employment agencies," said Raj Singh, BrainHunter.com's CEO.

But just as importantly, "it's not a job bank," stressed Jason Mann, the company's chair and president, during the Toronto press conference.

BrainHunter.com connects job boards like JobShark.com and Monster.com with companies looking to hire.

It's a smart move on this up-start's part. BrainHunter.com doesn't compete with the job boards. In fact, this company pays a subscription fee to publish job descriptions there.

And BrainHunter.com works hand-in-hand with one of its competitors. The Professional Computer Consultants Group (Procam) helped this electronic recruiter get off the ground. But Procam also offers recruitment services, albeit the conventional, non-electronic kind.

"We feel there's greater benefit for co-operation and collaboration in the Canadian marketplace," Singh said, speaking for both BrainHunter.com and Procam.

Mann added that Procam recruits IT professionals, whereas BrainHunter.com targets every profession. In a way, Procam gains a piece of a larger pie.

Nonetheless, BrainHunter.com is by no means alone in the recruiting market. Is the company swimming in saturated waters?

"The online advertising job market is worth about (US)$300 million in North America and there is no sign that it will fall off any time soon," Singh said by way of expectation.

"Our mission is to make is to make the connection between those seeking jobs and those who need to fill them smother, faster and more cost effective," Singh said. "We are using the Internet to accomplish this and we believe we have taken the process further than anyone else."

BrainHunter.com uses software (designed in-house) to cut down on the time it takes to hire an employee. The program filters candidates by experience, expected salary and "nice to have" qualities, among other criteria.

"We've got it down to a matter of hours," Mann said.

But according to Singh, his company's service won't replace traditional recruitment practices.

"If you look at the staffing business in general, you'll see a fundamental shift towards e-staffing. But there will be room for traditional brick-and-mortar agencies for companies looking for highly personal service."

Here's how BrainHunter.com works: A candidate enters her resume at BrainHunter.com's Web site. The company matches madam candidate with a suitable position. She receives a job description by e-mail. The candidate may apply for the job or ignore it.

It's up to the employer to decide on an interview time, but BrainHunter.com's software includes an interview-scheduling component.

On the other side, an employer enters a job description and a profile of the perfect candidate. With its filtering software, BrainHunter.com lets the employer know when the right person for the job comes along.

BrainHunter.com has its sights set on the employers.

"If you target the jobs, the job seekers will follow," Mann explained.

To that end, the company licenses its software to clients looking for an in-house recruitment solution for free. BrainHunter.com gets paid when the employer hires the candidate, taking 10 per cent of the salary or contract rate.

But once the employer and the candidate meet, BrainHunter.com is no longer part of the process. What's stopping an employer from letting the service know if a referred job seeker gets hired?

"Nothing," Mann said. "It's like a traditional consulting business. We send the candidates in there in good faith."

"You'd be amazed at the loyalty our clients have to the service."

BrainHunter.com's first office is now open in Toronto. Regional headquarters in Calgary and Ottawa should come next. The company plans to spread across Canada and the United States first. It plans to take on Europe in the coming 12 to 18 months.

But BrainHunter.com has competition in the U.S. Hire.com, an online recruitment firm south of the border, has similar filtering software.

According to Singh, however, BrainHunter.com has the upper hand. The company's software means significant savings for employers. BrainHunter.com's competitors, he said, keep any savings for themselves.

It all speaks to BrainHunter.com's advertising tagline: Hire better.

"We believe that we offer the most innovative recruitment system on or off the Web," Singh said.