Korn Ferry Launches Virtual Recruiting Technology Solution
June 2, 2020 – Korn Ferry has launched Korn Ferry Recruit, a fully integrated, virtual technology solution for high-volume hiring. Nimble uses best-in-class AI, along with the proven recruitment intellectual property of Korn Ferry. The firm said that the new solution “is designed to leverage a client’s brand, shifting to a candidate-driven experience by sourcing, attracting, assessing and selecting the right people for the job at an affordable cost-per-hire.” It is part of the firm’s line of Nimble solutions.
“Nimble is an efficient and effective tool for organizations that need to quickly ramp up high-volume hiring,” said Jeanne MacDonald, president, Korn Ferry global RPO solutions. “Nimble not only helps widen the net of qualified candidates, it creates success profiles that ensure the people with the rights skills are short-listed. Nimble offers a positive candidate experience in a virtual environment that increases the chances the candidate will accept an offer and stay on the job.”
“Nimble starts at the beginning of the high-volume hiring journey by first creating success profiles that identify candidate attributes needed to be successful in a particular job,” Korn Ferry said. “This ensures the right fit for a role and increases chances of longer tenure once the candidate is on the job.”
It then creates a sourcing strategy using AI to find internal and external candidates. There is a “text to apply” feature, and an AI assistant (a chatbot named Juno) provides 24/7 candidate support. Candidates are guided through each phase of the process, having their questions answered and being updated as to where they stand in the process.
Robotic Process Automation
Candidates that meet the skills requirements are moved into an interview that leverages robotic process automation (RPA) tools to simulate an interview with a recruiter. In the virtual interview, candidates are quickly assessed answering questions which help determine if they have the right skills for the job (e.g. managing ambiguity, communicating effectively).
Based on the results, top candidates are stack-ranked and short listed. They then are automatically scheduled for hiring manager interviews with the help of the AI assistant. Background checks are also automatically initiated, and references are checked. Offers and contracting are managed as per the client process, Korn Ferry said.
Coronavirus Concerns
Korn Ferry, the largest globally and in the Americas as ranked by Hunt Scanlon Media, recently said that the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus, primarily due to the largescale efforts being taken to contain its continued spread and the number of conflicting and rapidly changing data points regarding the impact of the virus on society, has clouded the near-term predictability of Korn Ferry’s business. In recent weeks and days, out of an abundance of caution, select governments and companies have implemented social distancing—limiting either travel or in-person individual or group face-to-face interaction.
“The extent to which further, incremental measures are put in place or additional authoritative bodies adopt such measures is a major unknown,” Korn Ferry said. “The measures taken to date will most certainly impact our business for the fiscal fourth quarter and potentially beyond and due to the rapidly changing nature of this crisis, combined with the lack of visibility with respect to further measures to be taken, it is too difficult for us to accurately assess and quantify the impact at this point.”
Consequently, Korn Ferry will not be issuing any specific revenue and earnings guidance for the fourth quarter. The firm said it will reassess the suspension of its guidance once Korn Ferry is comfortable that the coronavirus uncertainties have passed.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media