Today we are presented with more ways to do things ourselves than ever before. This is a phenomenon that I spend many a waking hour thinking about. What are the drivers of self-service and the motivations behind why people are willing to take a DIY approach to services they’re used to having someone do for them? 

The rise of self-service shopping in supermarkets started as early as 1916 but did not come to the UK until after the Second World War. Shopping was a slow process, limited by the number of shop assistants behind the counter, who would fetch each and every item on your behalf. Allowing customers to select their produce from the shelves directly meant less staff and more convenience for the customer. A classic win-win. Now we can weigh our own veg, scan our own barcodes and even checkout our own purchases all in the pursuit of lowering costs and increasing speed and convenience.

The self-service movement has since been applied to more complicated and skilled services. IKEA has turned the ham-fisted into cabinetmakers; Expedia has made us all travel agents, and YouTube houses a galactic library of 'How To' videos giving the layman the power to take on all sorts of jobs normally reserved for professionals.

This brings us to self-service business tools that are challenging traditional practices with clever use of cloud-based technology. MailChimp, for example, enables a novice to create and execute beautiful HTML email marketing campaigns without the need for an expensive agency. Xero streamlines the management of a company’s finances, reducing their reliance on bookkeepers and accountants. Google allows businesses to control how many visitors come to their website on any given hour, on any given day, on a pay per click basis. Transparency, control, ease of use, efficiency, and cost reduction are the living embodiment of these self-serve businesses.

My business, Krooter, brings these same self-service benefits to recruitment. Our online tools enable businesses to reliably recruit by themselves while saving time and money. For the inexperienced, Krooter provides optimised job ad templates and algorithms to match the most appropriate job boards with the role. Professionals, meanwhile, can copy and paste their own ads and select their preferred job boards from our extensive list. Post to multiple job boards in one click and save by benefitting from our discounted media buying. Share your vacancy to your company’s Facebook page, LinkedIn page, Twitter or even your website and have candidates apply direct. An applicant tracking system collates the applications and provides a smart short-list so you can hone in on those candidates most suitable first. 

The economic drivers and consumer benefits of self-service recruitment are obvious and unlike the 50 years we had to wait to do our own shopping, UK businesses will benefit immediately. 

For further information, please call 0808 168 5340, visit Krooter.co.uk or email [email protected]