randrr is a free career opportunities platform focused on providing individuals with insights to take control of their career development by helping them to identify and align with the opportunities they are best suited for. randrr’s goal is to be the only resource that people need to manage their career objectives. Here I take a closer look at the randrr platform.

Why the need for change?

randrr stands for ‘reinventing and revolutionizing recruiting’ and was developed to place the job-seeker at the centre of the job search process rather than the company, and to help people to take control of managing their careers. From their market research, feedback randrr learned from job-seekers included:

• Marketability: Having a career path was identified as the most important factor by younger job seekers in the job search process, but with key questions around marketability. For example, how do candidates know if they’re looking for jobs in the right location, in the right industry, or even in the right pay grade? Which jobs are they most qualified for? How does their compensation compare to others with similar experience in their industry or geography?
• Time: The job search process can be a long and drawn-out ordeal
• Effort: Searching for jobs is a job in and of itself
• Access: Candidates only being able to conduct a job search from their desktop greatly hinders the amount of time they can spend applying
• Uncertainty: Candidates not knowing where they are in the application process can create unnecessary stress and disorientation
• Relationship: Candidates can feel disconnected from companies
• Stagnation: Job searches have gone from paper resumes getting lost in stacks of paper to digital resumes getting lost in an email inbox.

~72% of respondents indicated that online job search technology was not intuitive or transparent. Online job searches and applications registered negative feelings, with the words ‘frustrating’, ‘disappointing’, and ‘depressing’ often being applied. In addition, job-seekers indicated that they want more feedback during the application process, more relevant and up-to-date jobs visible online, and an easier process to find jobs.

randrr aims to address these concerns by connecting people and companies in a better way – for example, using Zillow as an analogy (which allows you to see how improvements made to your home should increase its market value), the same principle can be applied to careers. Education, acquired skills and experience all increase a job-seeker’s personal value and marketability to prospective employers.

randrr approach & capabilities

The randrr approach puts the candidate at the center of things, providing the knowledge to help candidates feel confident regarding the career choices they make. This can include changing jobs, as well as exploring and taking actions to support their long-term plans and objectives. Recent recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) research conducted by NelsonHall shows that improving candidate engagement and satisfaction is of paramount concern, is one of the top drivers for companies seeking help from RPO specialists, and is also a key criterion by which vendors are ultimately selected. In NelsonHall client interviews, candidate satisfaction scored 80%. This might seem a high rating, but when asked about future importance of candidate satisfaction, clients scored it 90%, so there is clearly still an expectation gap to fill.

Phase 1 (closed beta release) of randrr started in May 2017. randrr is built to run on mobile first (>75% of all people searching for a job today do so using a mobile device); however, it also runs on other devices.

randrr allows individuals to discover their career potential and explore options for defining career paths that will help them achieve their goals. This is all done privately, so that no one else will be able to see jobs being considered, changes to job-seekers’ resumes, etc. randrr capabilities include:

• Ability to define what type of job you want to do, which may be your dream job (e.g. Sales Director), what are the steps to get there, including experience/positions needed, the top 5 skills you need to acquire, and how long it will take to get there
• randrr will recommend an occupation/job based on your experience, skills and salary – i.e. pointing to the next step in your career. Up to 50 career paths can be saved at one time, for those who are thinking of multiple career options
• Using proprietary system intelligence, randrr will match individual job experiences to desired occupations, and the algorithm will provide candidates with insights to understand available options. For example, if you have been in sales the last 5 years, what job options are available if you remain in sales, or what alternative career options are there?
• Based on your salary, randrr will compare where you are positioned relative to the market salary range across major U.S. geographies (global capability to be added). Comparisons can be done for multiple jobs by industry and geography
• By identifying job opportunities on randrr, candidates can link to the hiring company’s website and make applications
• Notification of job availability: candidates can determine the frequency of job alerts and how they wish to receive them, e.g. in app, email
• Users are able to upload their resume, or randrr can generate a tailored resume based upon the information that they provide
• Users can define and add in additional skills and other information any time, including education updates, courses taken, performance appraisals, and achievements (e.g. certificates, recognition received, articles written, conferences presented at, etc.). All this information is private and unknown to others (unlike LinkedIn, where others connected can see changes you make). Another key benefit is having a single place to store all this information
• Companies will also benefit by being able to share their job postings and an informative company profile with randrr users at no cost.

Looking ahead

The following randrr enhancements are planned:

• Ability to rate the interview process, including whether you heard back on the job application, if you were not interviewed, or interviewed but not hired (and why not)
• Additional career guidance
• Employer branding and culture: obtain information on company culture from job applicants, current and past employees, and provide feedback to the hiring company. Based on demand, consultants could be deployed to work with senior leaders to review results and work on improvement plans
• Anonymous interaction and direct connections between companies and individuals
• Global capability.

Summary

randrr helps job-seekers discover their career potential and identify the next career move to make. It also lets individuals set career goals and provides a path for achieving them. randrr helps candidates to understand their marketability based on skills, education and experience compared to others in the same position. randrr then identifies gaps to be filled (e.g. the main skills to be acquired) to enhance marketability and make progress on the job-seeker’s career path.

While built for the job-seeker primarily, a key benefit for employers is that companies with job openings will have a wider pool of the right talent available to them by reaching candidates identified as having the right skills and experiences.

The anticipated go-live date is early fall, 2017. Users can register for early access by visiting https://randrr.com/.

~3-4 months after go-live, I will interview users of randrr to get their feedback on benefits obtained and gather feedback on what enhancements they would like to see in the future.