What If You Received a Video CV??

An interview with the Founder of City Sail: Yi Xu 

Technology consistently changes how we work, communicate and live our lives. For decades it brought us closer, made us more efficient and faster. Now with sensors, data science & artificial intelligence it promises to significantly improve our performance and quality of our decisions. Technology is once again people focused. 

I had a pleasure of meeting Yi Xu when she was a business TV presenter and her investment banking career was still fresh in her memory. A year has passed and now she’s bringing to life one of the most interesting HR technology start ups I’ve seen in a while. Is how we hire and are hired to change forever?

Maciej Markowski: Yi, let’s pretend we’re in a 20-floor elevator ride and you are to explain your company to me.

Yi Xu: CitySail is the LinkedIn of video CVs. It’s a comprehensive database that brings candidates’ profiles to life. It helps to connect the applicants and employers on visual basis. 

MM: You still have a couple of floors left…

YX: (laughs) The biggest challenge in recruiting industry is the mismatch between the paper CV and the candidate. We bring the candidate screening, that normally takes place only in face to face interview phase, much earlier into the recruitment process. It helps employers focus only on the right candidates at the first step of the recruiting process and drastically reduces cost and the time involved. 

MM: Who are the team bringing this to life?

YX: I have 10 years experience in finance, mainly M&A in Credit Suisse. I took a turn and became a TV presenter for Shanghai state-owned finance business channel where the idea for CitySail came about. While working there it dawned on me that even for professionals it’s nearly impossible to hide anything in front of a camera. All the face expressions and emotions are lain bare. You can learn so much about somebody by watching them. 

MM: And that’s how the idea came about! Who else is in your team? 

I have a great CTO, Wenchao Zhou who I know for 16 years now. He’s an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. His PhD dissertation was recently picked as the Global Gold Award best in the database field. He’s also won the ACM International Programming Contest in Asia last year. He’s a star. 

As for my advisory board, I have a privilege to work with Katariina Jalas, current Head of HR at Eversholt Rail and a former EMEA Head of HR, Credit Suisse. She’s in the field for 16 years and I am yet to find a question she doesn’t have an answer to. 

MM: Very impressive. But now, let me be a little suspicious. Youtube launched in 2005, we have video blogs, Snapchat… How come no video recruitment platform existed earlier?

YX: Monster.com tried to introduce the concept four years ago, but the market was not ready yet. Also usage of video in recruitment is not completely new. There are companies doing video interviews, some existing for five years now, which people associate with as upgraded Skype. Monster.com tried to introduce something that was the closest to what we want to create. 

MM: So what has changed since?    

Today’s generation is more used to video, to filming themselves. I am convinced that this is the right time reintroduce it. We can see the innovation wave in HR, the so called HR 2.0. The industry that was rather conservative is now changing. The HR used to spend money on software allowing them to bring off-line processes on-line. Now the money is spent to help business achieve their goals, to attract and keep the best talent. Data science is pushing recruitment to a new era and focus on user experience - the candidates’ - is becoming the new norm.  

MM: Do you think HR will embrace it? They don’t strike me as the most bold in testing new technologies. Having worked on many consulting projects with HR departments I know they - and often rightly so - are extremely cautious: considering legal implications, compliance issues etc. 

YX: Correct. HR is rarely expected to be the ‘industry innovator’ or pioneer. They are however constantly checking what is happening in the field of technology. They know that’s where the disruption will come from. We received unanimously favourable opinions from the heads of HR we have spoken with. 

Leading consulting and financial firms have already trialled our software and we’re in discussion over contracts. 

MM: CitySail is about video CVs. How do you want it used and where you want to take it in the future?

YX: We want the recruiting industry to hire talent. To be able to identify potential, not just skills that can be described on paper. We want people to be recruited for who they are. 

I believe that the paper CV has served its purpose for decades, it allowed HR professionals to quickly judge candidates’ skill-sets. 

However what’s more important to candidates’ success within a firm is their attitude, passion and culture fit with the future employer. All these relate to who the candidate is. 

Our algorithm is able to extract this from the video and combine it with their knowledge. Video CV combined with a paper CV provides information that will allow employer to find the best possible match. 

MM: What exactly can you extract from a video?

YX: We can track the voice pitch, extract audio content, eyeball movements and hand gestures for example. We will relate those to scientific data on what these mean, what these reflect on someone’s mood, and possibly even personality. 

MM: Would these video CVs be company specific or will there be a common core.

YX: There is a guidance provided on our platform for what kind of a general video CV candidates are supposed to submit. For specific roles we provide flexibility to upload extra videos for employer’s consideration. They can answer additional questions, share additional stories. 

We also want employees to know who they’ll be working for. We encourage the companies to provide videos about their organisation or better yet about the specific role, even the team they’ll be working with or their manager if the company so decides.

MM: I can see a lot of benefits for the recruiters & employers. Apart from the one above - what are the benefits for the employees?

YX: You can show your personality & attitude that a piece of paper cannot convey. It allows you to stand out from other candidates. Also, it allows you to learn more about who you’ll work for. 

MM: Do you think CitySail might be controversial? Paper CV is silent about your looks, often even about your race. Video CV puts it all on display.

YX: I think what you just said reveals the biggest problem of the existing recruitment industry - the mismatch between the paper CV and the actual candidate. And the same problem exists for the candidates - they want to apply to companies they will feel at home in, fit culturally in and they want a manager they can get along with. Video CV bridges that gap. 

As for the controversy, nobody is ever hired ‘blindly’. If there is a bias, it will interfere with the process during the face to face interview, and day-to-day interaction at work after the hiring process anyway.

MM: I still think that when facing a biased recruiter you stand a better chance given 30 minutes face to face - you can convince them, prove them wrong. Video CV gives you a weaker shot at this. 

YX: Possibly, but think about it… If an employer wants to have a more diverse team, the video CVs will rather help. They leave a more robust track record of who was hired and who was rejected. 

MM: Can I have somebody in my company try it out already?

YX: Yes, the product is developed and was fully launched. Within the first month of launching we had over two thousand candidates creating profiles on our platform, and we now have a reach of c.1 million users. The first companies that wanted to work with us were start ups and quite a few have already successfully finished recruitment processes using our platform. We are also in discussions with a number of large corporations who are trialling our product. 

MM: I think this can really change how recruitment is being done. It can alter how we look for jobs…

YX: I think it will allow companies to focus on the candidates fitting the company. It will allow them to focus early on their potential, personality and if they’ll be able to embrace the company’s culture. It will help them to hire the right candidates. 

MM: Do you think the value of ‘top-notch’ education will decrease? Harvard degree or Insead MBA are unmatched on paper and often without them you cannot even dream of a face to face interview, but video CV allows you to display other important factors.

YX: Funnily enough, there is an existing Credit Suisse research analysing the correlations between the quality of a degree, background, experience and the performance at Credit Suisse and the answers are surprising. It really is down to who a person is and if there’s a cultural fit. It was reasonable for recruiters in the past to use education and experience to filter the candidates, but now much better filters are available for screening candidates. 

MM: And you are a team consisting of Insead and London Business School MBAs…

YX: Yes!