TechBBQ reflections: In the future, recruitment will be big business

At TechBBQ 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the changing labor market was a hot topic.  The company Praice, who make recruitment software, took the stage to talk about the “Future of Work”.

For many years, recruitment agencies and headhunters lived well by finding the right candidates for businesses.  Now, more and more tech startups are working to digitize the recruiting process, including Peakon, Relink, and Ontame.  Praice, a recruitment startup based in Copenhagen, makes recruitment software aimed at use within companies, as opposed to aiming for the professional recruitment market.

Co-founder Christian Høeg took the stage at TechBBQ to talk about the future of the labor market  in the panel discussion ‘The Future of Work’. Praice was recently selected by the Danish Chamber of Commerce as the example of disruption within the consulting industry, and last summer they launched their business platform.

“We will bring recruitment back to the company – and make specialized personality analysis of candidates more accessible. A necessity to ensure cultural fit, which is crucial for job satisfaction,” says Christian Høeg.

He emphasizes that external recruitment and counseling has become a major expense for companies, and creates a divide between companies and potential employees.

“Every time recruitment happens outside the company walls, the company loses all touch points with the applicants, and that is unfortunate. Each applicant brings valuable knowledge with them: What are they looking for? Who are they? Where are they from? What do they like about the company? what interests them?,” he explains.

When companies themselves become responsible for all recruiting, this data is fully accessible to them.

“They strengthen their brand, they show how much they are interested in applicants, and most importantly, greater relationships are created,” says Chrisitan Hoeg.

A good starting point for dialogue

Thanks to digitalization, recruitment can now be done faster and cheaper, which Praice feels will be a strong selling point to companies looking to bring back recruiting in-house. And although the company is new to the market, Praice has already received praise from, for example, Claus Moll, head of HR at Illum and a former HR manager at the Hilton.

“Amazing customer experience is created in the interaction between personality and skills. While the latter is easiest to influence, it is the personality that creates sustainable benefits. The relationship part is Praice’s most valuable service,” he said of recruitment platform.

Companies pay to have an account on Praice while it is free for applicants. Applicants can anonymously ask their network to assess them within five categories related to their personality. Unlike the traditional services, jobs, not candidates, pay the costs.

“Without being so deep as a classic personality test, it can be for many companies provide a sufficient impression. It’s about having a good starting point for dialogue – and that’s exactly what we create,” says Christian Høeg.