PART 1 OF A TWO PART POST:

The 6th Sense. Our senses, they help us see, hear, speak, smell, and touch.  Now, with the advent of Monster.com’s semantic 6Sense technology we can seek candidates in new and innovative ways.  Never before have I seen such research, forethought, and planning go into a new process.

As a recruiter, it cuts down the sourcing time exponentially.  As a candidate, you search with a far greater focus.  In February, I had the opportunity to take part in a conference call/webinar where this new technology was demonstrated to industry leaders. 

The call was lead by Javid Muhammedali, Director of Product Management, for Monster.com  Eric Weingardner, VP of Client Adoption was the moderator.  Also in attendence was Kathy O’Reily, Director of Social Media Relations,Monster.com, Matt Charney, Social Media Engagement Manager, Monster.com, John Sumser, HR Examiner, Sarah White Chief Strategy Officer, HRM Direct,  Sioux Logan, President, RedStream Technologies,> Mr. Steven Choi, CEO & President, Innovative Pharma Solutions, and I. 

By now, everyone knows that Monster acquired HotJobs on February 3, 2010.  The presentation, was also in February, and I waited until March to offer my two part report.  Primarily, I wanted to see the impact of what the acquisition would have on the industry, and to see how much of a difference it would make.   I am extremely impressed by the time and research Monster.com has invested in 6Sense, and power resume search technology.  There’s a reason Monster.com is considered the leader in the industry, it’s because they work so hard to maintain gold standard quality .  What I respect most about what I’ve observed is that they keep raising the bar higher and higher.

“Upon the closing of the acquisition, Monster will become Yahoo!’s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the U.S. and Canada,”  according to Javid Muhammedali.

This positions Monster as one of the largest providers of talent in the recruiting industry.  Conversely, it opens more access to jobs for candidates.

It’s only been a month since acquisition, and our conference call, but the results are already being tabulated.  I needed time to investigate the technology, confer with my colleagues before reporting back to you.  The new product was available to search firms in October of 2009, but it wasn’t rolled out to candidates publicly until this year. 

Here’s the statement Monster released: “Finding the “best” resume in a pool of candidates has long been a major challenge for the human capital industry. With Power Resume Search, powered by 6Sense, recruiters can now quickly, and precisely find and target candidates who meet their hiring needs.  With the size of the resume databases growing from thousands to tens of millions, 6Sense is perfectly-suited for the challenges facing businesses  today – especially since the need to expeditiously fill openings is a top priority for employers. For job seekers, 6Sense powered search provides relevant job search results, precisely matching people with opportunities better than ever before.”

While 6Sense search technology is still in its beta-phase it is filled with promise, and I was impressed with the potential it holds for our industry.  Because the material in the presentation is dense with data, I will go into greater detail in my next post.  What I found most compelling was the discussion about context verses concept searching. The ingenuity, and level of innovation is astounding.  Even the Boolean Blackbelt himself  applauded Monster.com in a recent post.  He remarked that as he was helping a recruiter in a recent training course to find candidates for their client, who happened to be“Google,” he formed a massive boolean string.  Guess where he found the candidate? Monster.  Far too often, recruiters criticize the job boards as being “too vague,” or “too large,” or that they can find everything they need on linkedin or through a google search.  Glen Cathey suggests that those who complain the most may not be using the technology properly.   The new technology on the horizon is going to change the game.   It is my hope that recruiters, managers and executives will begin to see these new tools in a higher light. 

The people at Monster.com have been more than gracious in providing me with all the information I need.  They are going to be my guests on Compassionate HR April 5, where we will discuss the importance of Corporate Philanthropy. 

In my next post, I will drill down the comparative details of the rest of the presentation, and my thoughts now that some time has passed.  In addition I will post technical information that recruiters and job seekers will find interesting. Stay tuned for part 2.

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