Interview with Zsolt Beck

on winning the Hungarian Quality Product Award, the HR Cloud and the challenges for HR

 

Mr. Zsolt Beck, the Executive Director of Beck & Partners International HR Consulting Ltd, was handed the Hungarian Quality Product Award in the Parliament last week for the company's latest innovation, the HR Cloud recruitment and workforce selection software. We discussed the award and the challenges for the profession.

 

Many HR professionals may have heard about the HR Cloud by now. Please present it in a few words to those who haven't yet. What does this software do?

The HR Cloud is a cloud-based recruitment and workforce selection system which greatly facilitates the work of HR professionals. We found that it helps save as much as 2 or 3 hours of work every day and it has countless advantages that are profitable in the short term. Ultimately, it is the solution for all the major issues of HR employees. Its built-in filtering and searching options make database management extremely flexible. Also, its functions ensure that candidates always get a reply and enable employees to send automatic messages. The system contains tests for filtering candidates and tools to incorporate social media into recruitment, to mention but a few advantages.

 

The Hungarian Quality Product Award is a hugely prestigious achievement. What was it like to receive the prize? Would you please tell us more about the process leading to the award?

I agree, this is an extremely valuable acknowledgment of our work. We were very proud to see our brainchild compete against so many high-quality products and services. This software is the fruit of 10 years of knowledge, development and hard work and it feels great to finally be rewarded for it, and in such a spectacular manner.

The competition had several stages. First we were required to compile an extensive tender material of tens of pages and then we had to present it in front of the professional panel. Finally, we had to submit a video material of our product.  

 

What criteria were taken into account by the jury? 

In addition to the technical aspects, it was important to show how our software was different from the market competitors, how it helps keep highly qualified professionals in the country, how it fits with safety requirements, and what does it do to help small Hungarian businesses. The Cloud is perfectly able to do all these.

 

Several similar software have already been on the market. How is your product different from these?

Perhaps our most significant asset and advantage over our competitors is our 10 years of experience in workforce recruitment. Beck & Partners International HR Consulting Ltd is a major player on the domestic headhunter scene. During all these years, we were exposed firsthand to the same challenges that we are responding to by developing this system. We fine-tuned it and created several versions before we could incorporate all the latest technologies. The system turned out to be so efficient that it gave us enough confidence to start selling it to corporations. By now, it is used with success by several large companies and SMBs such as Auchan at all business points, Alcoa, Festo or Florin Ltd. 

Another important aspect is the attractive price tag. The Cloud is offered as part of a very favorable and economical leasing agreement. Although the market tends to be quite secretive when it comes to prices, we are not aware of any product in its category which offers this many functions at such a low price. 

 

In your view, what are the greatest challenges of the HR profession and what does the HR Cloud do to address these issues?

I believe that finding good candidates in shortage occupations is a highly difficult task. IT and engineering are two such areas which require classic head-hunting skills, good relational capital, and a fresh operational database since the majority of these professionals are not actively seeking jobs. Skilled labor is another example. There are plenty of areas where there is great demand for specialists across all regions, such as welders and forklift drivers or even bakers and butchers. The extensive database built into the Cloud addresses this demand, strengthening the HR branding of our company in the same time. This is the greatest asset of our company, Beck & Partners International HR Consulting Ltd, and this is the reason why we can meet the demand and find the perfect candidate faster than our competitors. 

On the other hand, processes have greatly accelerated and were moved to different platforms in the last ten years. We have always monitored these processes along with our clients’ needs and built appropriate functions into the system. We have developed a Facebook module to the HR Cloud which provides an excellent opportunity for building an HR brand towards employees. Consistent with our experience, a lot of potential candidates can be reached with the right campaign. We are planning to include LinkedIn as well into the same system.

 

Do you have any plans for the future? What is your next objective?

We would like to introduce the HR Cloud to as many companies as possible because there is an obvious demand for its capabilities. HR employees are terribly overloaded everywhere these days.  We are motivated by helping other businesses grow, reflected by the cost-efficient leasing construction as well. We believe that small things add up. It is rewarding to see how efficiently our partners learned to use this system to achieve their goals. The SMB sector is another target for which we developed a dedicated construction, allowing them access to the same variety of functions and possibilities in a more budget-friendly manner. 

Also, we want to develop the product continuously. Therefore, we are monitoring the needs of our partners and other interested parties and modifying the HR Cloud according to the market demand.