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As organisations around the globe scrambled to get to grips with remote working, MAFH member Bolt Talent Solutions was focusing in innovating through the adversity posed by COVID-19. Bolt Talent Solutions launched a best-in-class automated video interviewing platform to support HR leaders, business owners and corporates in Mauritius, as an innovative tool to promote efficiency, convenience and safety in the hiring process in the light of COVID-19. 

As a global recruitment agency based in Mauritius, Bolt Talent Solutions launched their video interviewing platform aimed at supporting HR leaders, business owners and corporates in the light of COVID-19. The agency is offering one-way and on-demand live video interviewing software, to help organisations find the right talent faster than ever before. The software also seeks to make the collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers far more effective than traditional telephone or face to face interviewing. In view of the current situation post COVID-19. The firm’s Founder & CEO, Vanessa Flynn, and Managing Partner, Elizabeth Keeve, share their insights on digital transformation in recruiting and how this new tool will change the HR Tech space in terms of hiring and transformation.

A new approach to interviewing in the digital era

These days, candidates expect an almost instant response to their application, a smooth interview process and rapid time to hire. When it comes to acquiring top talent, the race is on, and companies need to use every tool at their disposal to shorten the recruiting process, improve quality of hires and provide a positive experience for the candidate.

Traditional interviewing methods can waste a lot of time and resources between scheduling conflicts, no shows and unsuitable candidates. For recruiters, time wasted on scheduling means time taken away from more meaningful tasks like building relationships with candidates and building talent communities. “The video interviewing software helps to overcome many of these challenges. It’s true that thousands of recruiters and hiring managers alike have turned to Zoom, Skype, Teams and other generalist video conferencing platforms during this time to keep their hiring plans moving forward. There’s a massive difference between video conferencing and specialist video interviewing tech. Bolt’s tool expedites the recruiting process and improves the quality of hires,” says Vanessa. 

Ensuring an efficient and safe hiring process

In terms of how the process works, the recruiters create a job profile on the software platform, based on a meeting with the hiring organisation which can also provide inputs for the questions. “Candidates receive a link to complete a video interview in their own time and on any smart device. The hiring organisation is then able to view, rate, comment and share shortlisted interviews with key decision makers at anytime from anywhere,” says Elizabeth. This shortens the recruitment cycle time, as it means that hiring manager can focus their energies on only interviewing the candidates who are the best fit.

Elizabeth also highlights how this technology provides a safe solution in the post-COVID-19 context, in view of all the sanitary protocols which HR departments and candidates need to abide by. “We know HR leaders and business owners are currently working around the clock to ensure they all adhere to the correct health and safety regulations and successfully without too much disruption,” she underlines.

Digital transformation is driving new growth in the IT sector

Looking at the broader employment scene, COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the global job market and most recruiting applications were suspended in April 2020. Vanessa states, “As an agency, Bolt has continued to invest effectively in technology and in the systems with a continuous improvement approach. During the confinement, our team also focused on providing free career & resume advisory to candidates negatively impacted with job losses or pay cuts. Through various social media platforms, Bolt asked people impacted by COVID-19 to register on their platform.” By understanding in detail their professional aspirations, it has allowed Bolt to assist candidates by helping them improve their CVs and to offer them opportunities related to their respective talents. The digital transformation globally and in Mauritius has accelerated during COVID-19 and there is a rise in demand in the IT industry.

Vanessa notes that, despite the current economic backdrop, there is still significant demand in Mauritius for developers, software engineers, data scientists, business analysts, dev ops engineers, among others. “The IT and e-commerce industry are certainly at the forefront with many new opportunities available as several companies have been forced to tackle their digital transformation. We are excited at the opportunity to positively impact the talent landscape in Mauritius and Africa at large. We have focused our energy on engaging with Mauritian Diaspora and international talent looking to relocate to Mauritius when the borders open.”

Looking to the future of HR Tech

The future of this space requires upskilling and reskilling the workforce to facilitate the technological developments affecting their work and to maximize efficiency and productivity through collaboration with technology. Firms need to focus on bridging talent gaps by investing in learning and development. The digital team at Bolt Talent Solutions are on the verge of launching a number of enhancements to their tech stack which includes mobile communication solutions aimed at enhancing candidate and employee experiences with gamification, AI and skills matching tools.

Elizabeth highlights that “recruitment is one of the main areas where technology is evolving very fast. AI offers significant benefits when applied in the recruiting process and is bound to become a significant part of every organisation’s recruiting strategy sooner or later.”  The key AI tools being deployed today are: AI-driven job distribution to optimise ROI for job advertisements , automated resume match, AI interviewing, AI-based interview scheduling, cognitive remote proctoring (which leverages computer vision to securely administer online assessments) and predictive hiring which leverages post-hire performance to make hiring recommendations.

As an agency, Bolt Talent Solutions notes that the demand for top talent has never been greater to overcome the economic and socio-economic challenges being faced globally. “Bolt’s tool plays a key role at the pre-screening stage, by reducing the need for physical meetings. It can also help organisations to expedite the recruitment process and the quality of hires, while demonstrating their commitment to promoting innovative technologies and agility when it comes to remote hiring and working. As for the rest of this year and future projects, Bolt Talent Solutions is excited to be at the forefront of driving the digital transformation in Mauritius and supporting local and global businesses in attracting, integrating and retaining the right talent,” concludes Vanessa.