What a year!

This time last year, 2Vouch was called Purple People and was little more than a sketch in a notebook… and it’s been a heck of ride since then.

We managed to secure a COMET grant to move us to the first stage, develop some initial specifications, create a basic model, do focus groups to see how people responded to the concept, bring on a full time person to get things going, engage a development company to fully spec and build the system, create some marketing ideas and look to how we are going to grow a business and actually help some companies find great people.

Is it just us, or has 2007 been really hectic?

So, as the year draws to a close, we just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone all the best for the Festive Season and a successful and happy 2008.

Keep an eye out for the JobGenie… he’ll be there to make your hiring wishes come true!

Back in 1997, McKinsey & Company coined the phrase “The War For Talent” to highlight the growing shortage of talented staff and show the growing importance of intellectual property - the asset class created by “talent”.

Now, a decade later, Michael Gregoire writing on ZNet warns that things have gotten worse, not better. He argues that we will see a massive exodus of talent from the workforce over the next decade. In order to comba this trend, employers must promote themselves, manage talent pro-actively and provide policies that are “talent-friendly”.

In the midst of this new, more intensive war for talent, one of your most powerful weapons is the ability to create a motivated talent scout network who are well connected to the people you want to reach.

This insight is the core concept that lead to the creation of 2Vouch…

When used effectively, referrals are probably the best way to find good people. Why?

1. Typically A grade players know and associate with other A grade players: in my experience I’ve found that when I asked high quality candidates for referrals to people in their network for a job that I was working on, the large majority of those people would refer candidates that were high quality too and I’ve often thought about why this is….I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because people are essentially saying that I’m putting my ‘social capital’ on the line when vouching for this person and by doing this it creates a sense of accountability to ensure that the person they refer is a credible candidate.

2. Filtering & Qualification: the referrer screens the prospective candidate for you with the assistance of context; they have either worked together, were a client, or maybe a supplier etc….in other words they have seen them in action, and therefore provide a opinion with the benefit of experience of having dealt with that person. This is a very important point, as this gives you the recruiter or the employer the confidence in the candidates ability to achieve the performance outcomes for the job that your are hiring for.

3. The value of the Vouch?: we all like 3rd party endorsements, and we consider them when making purchasing decisions about many things such as: restaurants, books, music, movies, service providers and the list goes on….Employers and Recruiters make important decisions during the hiring process, and sourcing candidates from referrals particularly where people have vouched for the candidate definitely increases the conversion rate from hire to successful contributor to the company.. so it’s obvious why the preferred and most successful method of sourcing people are referrals that come with recommendations.

So when you are looking for people, don’t overlook the power of referrals.

- Riges