T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

It seems like lately I’ve had the chance to review some really big, really dynamic HR Tech enterprise level tools.  I’m excited today to get back to a tool that everyone can use, especially those small and medium size HR and Talent shops.  On T3 this week I’m reviewing the automated phone screening tool Talkpush.

Talkpush is just what it says it is.  The solution automates your normal phone screens.  We don’t talk about phone screens as much any more, because in HR Tech everything has gone digital with the explosion of video and video screening tools (which I love). The reality is, though, many employers just don’t need, or want, a video screening solution.  Talkpush fills the need for a phone screening tool quite well.

95% of candidates never get ‘heard’ by a potential employer.  A recruiter spends only 7% of their time, on an average week, with candidates they’ll actually hire. When candidates are interviewed about their experience with an employer it comes up constantly that they don’t feel like they ever got a fair chance to be heard. A tool like Talkpush allows the candidate to have a voice, and recruiters to more efficiently spend their time.

The system is super easy to use and you can have the system up and running for your candidates in the matter of minutes.  No need to get IT involved, just signup and start using it.  All the screens are saved into separate audio files that you can attach to a candidate in almost any applicant tracking system. These same files can easily be shared with a hiring manager, who can hear first hand how candidates respond to your own questions.

5 Things I really liked about Talkpush:

1. It’s super easy to use.  We get caught up so often on wanting purchase and use overly sophisticated systems, and then don’t use them for that same reason. Talkpush can be implemented and used even by people who could never figure out how to set their VCR clocks, or still have a VCR!

2. Inexpensive. Free trial to start with no obligation, $1 per interview and around $300 per month for unlimited interviews.  You can’t beat this cost as a screening tool.  It costs more than $1 to have a recruiter dial the phone and leave a message!

3. Great for volume hiring.  Send out mass invitations to screen hundreds of people all at the same time. I’ve had to open new locations for employers and it can be a major headache when everyone is applying all at once.

4. Audio files are searchable.  Technology is an amazing thing.  Someone says they have experience in robotic programming as part of their answer to a screening question. Months later you need someone with robotic programming skills. Talkpush has the capability of you searching all of your screens for key words, and potentially finding talent you had no idea existed.

5. Questions are in your voice, your language.  You record the screening questions that will be asked, and they can be different for every single job you have, if you want.

Talkpush has a really smart dashboard as well, that tracks all of your responses, allows you to push those responses to managers along with LinkedIn Profiles, photo of the candidate (if you wish), resume, etc.  I think some people will look at this review and think this is a ‘low-tech’ as compared to the digital platforms that are on the market.  I look at it as a different hi-tech solution for organizations that don’t need or want a video solution, but still have a great need to screen candidates.

The fact is, many people are still uncomfortable with video.  Probably not your younger candidates, but once you get above mid 30’s you’re dealing with people who didn’t grow up on video, and might just might be much more comfortable doing a screen via the phone.  Check them out, I really believe Talkpush fills a market need for so many companies!