Collecting data is one thing, but using it is another. Founder and CEO of online recruitment site, OneShift, Gen George says too many big businesses are holding onto data but few are using it to create a better insight for their consumers.
George started OneShift in 2012 and said it's known as a “dating site for jobs” as it uses an algorithm to match job seekers and employers.
But George told AdNews she sees far too many “big businesses” collecting huge data, without having any idea how to get the most from it.
“It's not about holding onto data. It's not like saving money and getting interest on it,” George said.
“It's about using it for the better of the business and giving everyone a better result at the end of the year.”
One way OneShift uses data is to inform its marketing approach and keep it's marketplace “dynamic”. George said the marketing mix for the business changes on a week to week basis and is skewed in order to attract the type of job seekers or employers needed on the site.
For example, it uses Google Adwords or aggregators to advertise the types of roles available to ensure it targets the type of candidates into its marketplace that it needs to fill those roles.
“With a double-sided marketplace we need to be able to control supply and demand,” George said.
“So if we know we've just had 20 new baristas sign up in an area, we need to increase the amount of jobs available for them.
“So we take all of the knowledge based around our candidates and then market to them, which ensures our market place is remaining dynamic at all times, to what is going on.”
The business doesn't use any traditional media channels, instead using an “entirely digital” strategy comprising of social media marketing, YouTube pre-rolls, banner ads and app advertising.
George said digital addresses the need for her business to be “where its users are” when searching for jobs, which includes a heavily mobile strategy given 44% of OneShift's traffic is from mobile devices.
George said OneShift's focus going forward is building on its data capabilities. It recently acquired job sites for older job-seekers, Adage, which George said means revisiting the types of skill sets and professions in its system and skewing it to match the new demographic.
It's also trying to further reduce the time it takes for a person to be employed on the site, down from a record of 27 minutes.
“Our whole premise at the moment is reducing the time it takes to get that person a job,” George said.
“The challenge is about coming up with new ways to think about data and make sure we're constantly improving: so how do we make sure people are getting the best job possible without annoying them.”
“The analogy we use is, you don't go into the Uber app unless you actually need it. So we need to make sure we're front of mind.”
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