Company Using Amazon Kindle to Create Chicago Jobs

Posted on November 9, 2010

Parcon Research’s new tools are putting the spotlight on unique ways to create Chicago jobs.

Following four months of trials, ScreeningInterviews.com (http://www.screeninginterviews.com) today announced that companies evaluating candidates for mid- to senior-level executive positions can now listen to those candidates’ screening interviews on the Amazon Kindle 3G+WiFi. To make the process as simple as possible, ScreeningInterviews.com will provide the Kindle devices to clients pre-loaded with candidate interviews.

Since 2005, ScreeningInterviews.com has delivered its professionally conducted short-list candidate interviews to clients through secure content delivery servers like Amazon CloudFront. As clients began to request a way to listen to interviews without being connected to the network, ScreeningInterviews.com responded by introducing the new Kindle delivery method. Secure and mobile, Kindle provides a way for executives to evaluate candidates without being tethered to a network. Hiring teams can listen to candidates’ interviews — which are always conducted with candidates’ express permission to be recorded — via the Kindle’s built-in speakers or on the device’s headphone port while viewing the corresponding resumes on the Kindle screen. New resumes and candidate notes can be wirelessly transferred instantly to the Kindle via Amazon’s cellular-based Whispernet.

“We are pleased to give ScreeningInterviews.com clients another way to listen to candidates’ screening interviews,” stated Tal Newhart, managing partner of ScreeningInterviews.com parent company Parcon Research. “While recorded interviews will still be available to clients via secure server, hiring teams can now choose the delivery method that works best for them.”

ScreeningInterviews.com is limiting the Kindle option to mid- to senior-level executive candidates, new product concept interviews and succession planning projects. Standard candidate interviews will continue to be available via the proprietary ScreeningInterviews.com Web platform, which can also port interview content to BlackBerry and iPhone devices. For all clients, ScreeningInterviews.com will continue to provide recorded interviews, conducted uniformly and with candidates’ permission, of candidates sourced by clients or by outside recruiting firms. Each high-quality audio interview averages 20 minutes and serves as a permanent record of the interviewing process. Clients can log on to the user-friendly ScreeningInterviews.com interface to view resumes and listen to the unedited interviews.

Thanks to the ScreeningInterviews.com method of screening candidates, coupled with the simple Web interface that allows clients to listen to interviews at their convenience, hiring firms report an average of 30% reduction in their face-to-face interviews and travel time. What’s more, candidates tend to be more truthful when they know their answers are being recorded — giving hiring teams a more accurate picture of each candidate while also reducing legal exposure. To control for any variability, the same interviewer asks the same questions of each candidate for a particular job. This also helps with OFCCP Compliance for U.S. government contractors.

“ScreeningInterviews.com will continue to provide highly professional candidate interviews via the ScreeningInterviews.com Web interface to clients around the world,” Newhart said. “Our new Amazon Kindle 3G+WiFi delivery method will simply enhance the industry-leading service hiring managers have come to expect from ScreeningInterviews.com.”