getTalent, a service that helps companies build a relationship with potential hires before they apply for a job, is about to get more useful at real-world recruiting events, thanks to the latest update to its mobile app, which includes the ability to scan and upload paper résumés directly into the getTalent system.
Like business cards, résumés are supposed to be dead or dying, yet they refuse to disappear — LinkedIn profiles are great, but if you’re meeting a recruiter in-person, say at a job fair, you still want to hand over something physical. Still, for large companies, dealing with résumés can be a pain. getTalent founder and CEO Abraham Shafi said that many of his customers just refuse to accept physical résumés, while others hire third-party services to transcribe them.
The getTalent app combines existing OCR and parsing technology. It uses OCR to translate the physical document into digital text, then parses the unstructured document to actually translate it into something that the getTalent system can understand. Shafi demonstrated the app for me last week — it took only a few seconds to go from scanning to a structured, digital document.
The résumé-scanning feature will be available as part of the larger getTalent service at no additional charge, Shafi said, and it has already been tested by some of the company’s customers, specifically JetBlue, Viacom, and Kaiser. The app feeds directly into getTalent’s recruiting “CRM” system, so for example, a recruiter could send an automatic email confirming that the résumé has been received, then continue to track the company’s relationship with that person.
I first wrote about getTalent when it came out of stealth mode in October. Since then, Shafi said the company has grown to more than 20 customers, including Walmart.