The Institute of Recruiters (IOR) is rolling out the first module of its free recruitment software to its members. Called Lynx, it has been developed by ID Interactive Holdings, whose chief executive Azmat Mohammed is founder member of the IOR and its director of ICT and operations.

First to be released is the CV Permissions module, which will provide recruiters with a quick and easy way to acquire permission from a candidate to work on their behalf and legally send out their CV.

In the event of a dispute over a candidate between agencies, it can also act as a source of verification. The cloud-based software will build over an estimated 18-month product cycle into a fully fledged recruitment, candidate management and job posting system.

Usurp current software
Mohammed told Recruiter that initially Lynx will co-exist with a user’s current software but is confident in time it will usurp it. “Some existing software packages mean the consultant still has to spend a lot of time doing things that aren’t earning money for the agency, for instance formatting and parsing CVs, connecting to databases, bringing CVs into a system and checking the details. These are all things the computer can do and, anything a computer can do, it should be doing,” he said.
He explained that Lynx is designed to take the administration out of recruitment and believes it will prevent recruiters becoming database administrators and allow them to spend more time on account management. “We’ve calculated that the software will free up an estimated 60% of time for a recruiter to build their business,” he said.
As well as functionality, the developers believe such time-savings are made possible by the intuitive user interface and overall ease-of-use. “We said ’let’s make it so easy to use and intuitive that you don’t need training on it’,” he said. So if Apple was going to produce software in this space, how would it do it?
Mohammed explained: “We don’t have product training, just online guides, as people will be able to figure out how to use it themselves, saving them and their company a lot of money.”

Future innovation
The second module of Lynx will focus more on back-office and CRM tools. It will also feature a split-fee facility, which will allow an agency to securely share candidates’ details and split fees in a minimum of clicks. This feature is also designed for agencies that are working internationally and want to build an international network of candidates.

The IOR is keeping quiet about future modules but is promising more innovation and has said that it will offer a job-posting tool that, it claims, will eliminate the need for specialist software that does this.

The software also aims to provide the jobseeker with a better experience by automatically keeping them fully informed during the recruitment process. This goes as far as telling them when a recruiter moves any candidate who has applied for the same job to interview. “And this can’t be switched off. It means all of the administration around dealing with that candidate is automated,” said Mohammed.

Users can also expect features and tools that are commonplace in software outside of the recruitment space. Those using VoIP telephony, for instance, will have similar functionality to that used by call centre staff: if someone calls you and they are in your database, it will automatically bring up that person’s account so you don’t have to look for it. “I can’t understand why innovations like this aren’t in use already in all recruitment software,” said Mohammed.

Free to members
Lynx is free to all IOR members, including affiliates, the IOR’s free membership level. Mohammed claims in a large company it could save up to £250k a year in licence fees. Lynx does not rely on IOR users to generate revenues because it has several other business divisions that support it. Non-members have to pay for the software and Mohammed believes these will form the bulk of users in the longer term, as it is aiming at an international audience. He predicts the software will have 30,000 global users in three to five years.

One of Mohammed’s underlying aims is to provide recruiters with the same level of innovation and functionality that he sees in software outside of recruitment. Similarly, he wants to create a product that will become a software of choice just as other sectors have. “So if a recruiter moves jobs they’ll tell their employer, ’you need to be using Lynx as your current package is slowing me down and I’m making you less money’,” he said. “At the moment, if a consultant goes for a new job, they don’t care what software the agency uses.”

Software shake-up
There’s little doubt that the availability of a piece of free software and Mohammed’s bullish claims about what it can do will cause more than a few ripples among the recruitment software vendors and Lynx will be up for scrutiny in the coming weeks and months. Whatever other vendors think, though, few could doubt his passion for his role within the IOR and his commitment to bring innovation, ideas and fresh thinking to the field of recruitment technology. “Regardless of what anyone tells you, innovation is about disruptive technology. If you can’t be disruptive, everyone carries on doing what they’re doing and is on a plateau,” he said. “I believe the ideas we have in this software will genuinely change the way other vendors think.”

Developing standards
Mohammed and the IOR will also be working on developing international standards for the industry and an organisation devoted to this is being registered and a site will be live soon at www.RecruitmentStandards.org.

The first project is an international CV standard, iCVS, explained Mohammed, adding that he wanted to involve the database vendors in this.
“iCVS is about which fields a CV should contain, and the mapping of those fields to database systems and online CV portals; it’s not about the design of a CV,” he said.