DoYouBuzz – Technology, Analytics and How Recruiters Are Using It Innovative Ways – Interview with Evy Wilkins – Part 3

In Part 3, the concluding part of my interview with Evy Wilkins of DoYouBuzz, we learn more about the technology that is powering DoYouBuzz.com including the search engine optimization to get your resume on top of search results.

Evy also talks about resume analytics that help you measure and track your resume’s performance and how recruiters are using DoYouBuzz resumes in very innovative ways. Finally we find out how (well!) DoYouBuzz is performing in France in less than 3 years since inception.

Evy leaves us with some inspiring advice for all readers!

Interview with Evy Wilkins of DoYouBuzz – Part 3

Can you talk a little bit about the technology behind the website?  Like, are you guys using web standards like HR-XML?

We are.  We are using HR-XML.  That’s one of the really exciting things about DoYouBuzz: today all of the data that’s in a resume is highly structured, because it’s based on HR-XML and also Microformats.  And so what that means is that we are able to analyze a resume and match it with a job offer or a recruiter search.  So one thing we’re working on is coming out with a recruiting offering, so that recruiters can come and source candidates from DoYouBuzz.

And to do that, we are working with researchers in France on semantic search, because the idea is to use all of this information that’s in your resume—in a DoYouBuzz resume, you typically have twice, if not three times as much information as in a normal resume.  So we can use that information – well, there’s a lot more information to search within, and we can make matches between people, even if you don’t use the same words as the recruiter.

Oh, so it’s more relevant and more specialized, so if I’m a chef or someone and I use different words to describe my resume, I’d still get found if someone is looking for it.

If you are a developer and you don’t use the word database, and someone’s looking for database, you know, based on the technology you’ve used we can put your resume up there – this guy is right for the job, even though in typical search you would never find him, because he just didn’t use this word.  There are lots of examples on how this is really going to change how we search for people.

I see – Okay.  So is it possible to see who’s viewing my resume and stuff like that?  Like, you know, I’d want to know who is looking me up!

Definitely, we understand that.  Today we can tell you how many people have been visiting your resume, and how many pages they’re looking at.  Are they clicking through, or are they just coming to that home page and leaving?  So that helps you kind of decide, Is my resume up to par, do I need to work on it?  You can’t actually see today who these people are. We are working on more advanced statistics.

Great! Is this service only for people in technology and programming for geeks or can other people use it, too, like if I’m a chef or a baker?

Oh yes.

Or a truck-driver!

We have truck-drivers.  We have bakers.  Yes, we even have a clown that uses DoYouBuzz.  DoYouBuzz is really for everyone.

It’s simple enough for anyone to use.  I always say, if you can drag and drop, you will be just fine.  There is  no coding.  You don’t need to know HTML.  It’s really a fun tool to use to do something that was previous tedious, which is, you know, who likes doing their resume?

So, no, definitely very simple.

Okay, so I guess that answers my next question which was going to be: I don’t know any HTML or coding, so is it fairly easy for someone with basic technology of the internet and websites to build it on their own?

Definitely.  You know, to change designs, all you have to do is click on the design you want and it changes the whole thing immediately.  Editing is in real-time, so when you’re making your edits, you see what it will look like at the same time.

It’s very, very simple.  No need to understand web analytics or search engine optimization.  We do it all for you!

Okay, cool.  And then how do you compare to other sites?  I mean, I guess you should not be comparing because everybody offers a unique service, but how do you compare to other online resume sites or other people who seem to be providing a similar offering?

Okay, that’s a good question.  DoYouBuzz is different in many ways.  Number one, we have adapted the resume – as far as I know, we are the only ones who have really adapted the resume to the web.  A lot of people might offer a service where you have a one-page kind of site where it’s basically a Word document copied onto HTML, and it’s not structured data, and you don’t get any of the benefits that come from the web.  So, search engine optimization, for example, so you’re not – on some of these other sites you’re not showing up in results, because these websites were not properly formatted.

Other differences: definitely the design and the quality.  Why do you want just a white page or very limited designs?  It’s the web, right?  You need to take advantage of that and express your personality.  And so DoYouBuzz has put a lot of energy into giving professionals a lot of choice and high quality designs.

Okay, cool.  And are you noticing any change – like, are you guys getting user behavior feedback or do you know how both recruiters and job-seekers are using your website?

Right – definitely.  Job-seekers today are…one of the most interesting things, maybe, is that they’re tweeting the resume a lot.  Having that link to a great site is a great way to make a connection with someone.  So, just a simple 140 character tweet: “I’m really interested in working with you here’s my resume” – that’s totally different.  That wasn’t happening even a year ago.

That’s true.

Another thing, too, we’ve seen a lot of users really go the extra mile and turn their DoYouBuzz resume almost into their own company website.

Oh, like small business or service offering, like accountants, or –?

Exactly.  So they will use it very much as their only web presence for their company, and have a lot of examples of their work and things like that.  DoYouBuzz makes it so much easier to create a web presence.

Okay, awesome.

Oh, and then how are recruiters using it?

Recruiters - what they really like about DoYouBuzz is that the information is so easy to access.  It’s adapted to the screen.  So, instead of scrolling around through resumes and you’ve got 500 windows open, they go to the website and in 10 seconds – and that’s all the time they have - in 10 seconds, they can see on that home page is this person someone I need to spend more time on or not?

And then when they say, Yes, this is someone who’s interesting, then they have all of this extra information, which can help them make that decision and, you know, do I call them or not?  What questions do I need to ask them?  Which is a lot more difficult when all you have is one page.

Okay, yeah, you can’t say much on one page.

No, you can’t.

So how are you guys doing in France since inception, in terms of number of people signing up and feedback from the users, positive, negative?

Feedback has been really great, especially in the last six months. DoYouBuzz is kind of entering into that phase where the general population is kind of getting to know who DoYouBuzz is.  I would say that it’s slowly becoming the norm, and this is how you do your resume now in France.  We have 45 thousands users in France.  So, that puts us – you know, just to give that a little bit of context – we’re getting into that group of some of the largest resume sites in France.

Oh, awesome.  Congratulations!

Yeah, that’s great news.  And we’re really excited, too, to be in the United States and start offering this service, too.

I’m sure you’ll do well.  So, is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

Well, I would just like them to know that if they’re looking for a job, or if you are interested in your personal brand, you should come to DoYouBuzz, check out the service.

If you have any questions or get stuck, we’re there to help.  All you have to do is send us an e-mail and we’ll be in contact.  So, thank you.

Okay, awesome. Thank you.