Zuzuhire is Swahili and means “a simple, streamlined screening process for staffing companies and recruiters.”
Not really. I just made that up because I realized after a somewhat lengthy Staffing Talk exclusive interview with Tyler Abernethy, the founder and brainchild of Zuzuhire, that I forgot to ask him the inspiration for the name. And that might be the first thing you think about.
The first thing I thought about that though was asking the 28-year-old Abernethy what problem this brand-new site solves.
“I am a recruiter and work for a company called Chase Professionals. My dad Roy started Chase in Atlanta in 1979 as a contingency recruiting firm, and then grew it to 35 branches by also providing contract and temporary employees. About a year or so ago I was feeling some pain when it came to being able to screen candidates effectively. We were interviewing for some temp positions and it was really hard for me to determine the quality of the candidates based on their resumes alone. So I thought there had to be a better way and set out to build it.”
The younger Abernethy admits he and his dad had an ongoing debate. Father said it couldn’t be done. Son said oh yes it could. What do you say now about the chip off the old block, pops?
Tyler told me Zuzuhire could be used as a screening tool that’s attached to a job posting. There is a link that routes the candidate through Zuzuhire’s site, the candidate answers a series of questions, and then they submit their interview along with their resume.
This could replace the phone screen, the process that you want all candidates to go through, or you could simply use it as a way to gather a little more information on a candidate.
Tyler says what it doesn’t do is replace any in-person interview or meeting between the employer and the candidate, nor is it ever meant to.
“The biggest advantage to the system is it saves time. That is essential. Anyone in recruiting knows that it’s tough, very labor intensive, to screen every applicant. That is particularly true for a rather common job that will attract scores of candidates. This system give you more information at your fingertips, without setting up interviews, spending the actual time on the phone and then keeping track of the results.”
He says they can also send this electronic interview to a staffing client with the candidate’s resume attached. So when they are “viewing” the candidates they truly are.
“Also, when a client logs in on a dashboard, they can see all the open jobs, click on one, then all of the responses to that particular job will populate. You can review the results, rate the candidates, and then begin making some decisions.”
There is also a link for each candidate so that the HR person, or a recruiter, or whomever on the client side, can share that interview with others and get feedback on particular candidates. Kind of cool, huh?
The pricing model is also different. There are some other video interviewing sites already out there, and they may charge you from $50 to $150 for every completed interview with every single applicant.
Zuzuhire flipped that model on its head. For a flat fee an interview template is created with a particular set of questions. It doesn’t matter how many candidates apply for that position, or how many interviews actually take place over a 45-day period, there is just that one $20 charge per position being filled.
Right now, however, there is no charge. As in free.
“We just want people to use it,” says Abernethy. “We aren’t trying to make any money off it at the moment, we are really just trying to attract some more users so we can generate some feedback and figure out how to make it better.”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I like FREE!!
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Hopefully this doesn’t make it easier to discriminate. No one wants to talk about it, but it happens.
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Zuzu Hire seems to be no more, as of at least today….
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