A University of York graduate has created an innovative new mobile app which allows employers to contact students and offer them jobs. The free app, called Debut, was created to improve the entry-level recruitment process for UK companies that want to search for top talent among graduates. It aims to cut out the bureaucracy surrounding application forms, making the recruitment system easier for both candidates and companies. Despite only launching in October 2015, its partners already include Google, KPMG, Jaguar Land Rover, Clifford Chance, L’Oréal, TeachFirst, PwC, Rolls Royce, RBS, Microsoft as well as many more.
Debut requires users to complete a profile which asks for basic information like university, course, work experience, extra-curricular activities and skillset. Hiring managers can then use the advanced search function to find a candidate they like and send them a direct message inviting them to an interview or assessment day. This feature, known as the Talent Spotter, means that candidates do not need to actively apply for any particular role, since the employer can find them. It even matches candidates to jobs, and L’Oréal claims to have used the app to employ an engineering graduate who would never have considered applying for the role himself.
Charlie Taylor, the CEO of Debut says, “Imagine you’re walking down the street and your phone vibrates. It’s a push notification inviting you to a final round of assessment. You’ve never met or applied for this company, but they know you’re suitable.”
“In a candidate driven market it is… a no brainer for graduate employers to consider reaching their audience (which happens to be the most mobile audience in the world) through a mobile phone app, anything less and the employer will struggle to be as compelling as other millennial day to day activities.”
Another interesting feature of the app is that users can play games that test their aptitude skills, with the results acting as another indicator for whether a candidate is suitable for a certain role. Through these games, which are “fully bespoke to every employer”, players can also win internships, interviews and assessment days. Taylor, who studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics, adds “It’s the world’s first non-gaming app to integrate gaming for recruitment.”
Debut represents the creative and diverse methods now being used to enhance recruitment. If executives are keen to cut back on the number of electronic applications they have sift to through, it does a good job of presenting an interesting alternative which gives hiring managers more autonomy. As well as that, it provides employers with a greater range of candidates to choose from, since they are no longer restricted to choosing from those who have sent in an application.
This technology aims to open up recruitment for everybody involved, and it has the potential to do so, especially since it has the backing of so many big companies. But by giving its partners more control, Debut is taking control away from candidates. Applicants no longer have the opportunity to introduce themselves and their interests in a cover letter, or to present their academic and work experience fully in a CV. These two elements are important and should not be underestimated, as they allow applicants to play an active role in their own selection. Not everybody will like the idea of handing all the power to recruiters, while being asked to sit back and wait for a push notification that may or may not ever come.
The CEO claims that the app is inclusive and accessible to all, however, many users have complained that Debut does not recognise their degree (for example, Health Psychology) which brings into question the open and accepting claim. But Taylor rejects suggestions that the app is in any way elitist: “It’s everything but elitism. It’s all about being accessible – it’s mobile which is very accessible, and it builds holistic profiles of candidates. You’ve not just got that one stamp that society gives you.”
