ResumUp, the infographic résumé startup that emerged from two innovation contests last December, is launching a new product, currently in beta testing, bringing some fresh air to online recruiting.
While its first product focused on infographic résumés using data from social media profiles, the St. Petersburg startup now takes an extra step, matching visual résumés with visual job vacancies.
“Not only are visual job vacancies far more attractive and easier to understand than traditional text-based job offers,” the startup claims. “Visual vacancies allow companies to attract candidates through social network channels, such as Facebook or Pinterest, much more effectively.”
The Resumup system also allows users to see whether they fit the necessary criteria and to apply in the same visual way.
Resumup’s visual resumes and vacancies
“In recruiting, we’re still in 1950s,” says Resumup founder Eugene Barulin. “Sure, we use online job boards, text editing software and e-mail instead of newspapers, typewriters and envelopes. But the core document – the résumé – has remained the same, until now. By matching visual résumés with visual vacancies, we aim to set new standards in online and social recruiting.”
It remains to be seen whether Barulin’s bold vision of a new approach to finding employment will become standard, but his embryonic startup has already been persuasive enough to enroll the Russian Human Resources departments of Adidas, Groupon, Kraft Foods, the Russian payment company Qiwi, and search engine giant Yandex in an experiment with visual recruitment.
“We are striving to be innovative beyond just food production,” Kraft Foods Rus HR Director Karen Grigorian said. “This hi-tech vacancy visualizing tool could be a great opportunity to attract top talents.”
Turning this experiment into a scalable business model will not be easy, Barulin acknowledged in an exchange with East-West Digital News. “We aim to provide recruiters with a service of exceptional quality. But in many cases we’re going forward wearing blindfolds, since we’re not cloning any existing concept or technology.
