Interview with Eduardo E. Campos, CEO of ScreenIT
Let's start with some personal questions. How are you and your family doing in the COVID era?
My family and I have been doing fine so far... my oldest son tested positive but without symptoms, so we're good. We are definitely not enjoying social distancing since we love to meet with friends and family... but the flip side is that me, my wife and my two sons have gotten closer during this time, playing games, paddle and golf together. But again, I truly look forward to see how this pandemic become a learning story to tell...
Can you tell us about how you founded or joined this company?
ScreenIT's birth occurred somehow as an accident, or better, as a need to provide recruiting services to my first startup which was an Information Security company. We needed security engineers, auditors, testers, and so we needed someone to get that talent for us; so instead of looking for an agency I created ScreenIT as the talent acquisition arm. We evolved to provide more than recruiting, to become a Virtual Captive Center provider to US and Canadian companies seeking to expand their engineering teams to nearshore locations such as mexico, without the need to understand the local regulation and therefore not incorporating (at least not from day one), and leveraging a local player to make the landing in the country as softer as possible.
What makes your company unique from others in the field?
We are not the typical IT Outsourcing company, a Virtual Captive Center optimizes operations and mitigates the risks of going solo on a traditional captive center model which requires: time, big finances and enduring dedication. Thus involving some legal and financial risks. A Virtual Captive Center is a low cost, high value, nor risk model for foreign companies wanting to undertake development work in Mexico. Our full transparent model makes us unique... our customers know, even before starting the engagement, the associated cost breakdown that includes the disclosure not only of the direct costs, but our margin. Our Customer Journey goes beyond signing an SOW, being a remote partner our clients rely on us to make sure things really happen in terms of communication, promises are kept, etc. all this through our Head of Remote work.
Has the coronavirus pandemic affected your business and if so, how are you adjusting?
COVID-19 affected everyone in different ways... some of our customers were affected and had the need to go into furlough, and therefore their team in mexico did the same. We didn't fire anybody but rather kept that internal cost and made it an investment. We put those "furloughed" teams to work internally to build a Video Interview platform to make our Talent Acquisition process smoother and faster. This Collok.io platform has allowed us to vet larger numbers of candidates quickly, and spend more time with the best fit applicants. Recruiting teams and hiring managers alike can use live video interviews or asynchronous video interviews as a pre-employment screen to streamline our interview process.
In addition to saving time, we can continue to interview in times when it’s impossible to meet in person. This is especially true with the rise of COVID-19. But, during more normal times in the world, people’s schedules are still busy. Using virtual interviews to vet candidates has been a great way to quickly move applicants through the hiring process. Virtual interviews are sure to evolve in the future with the rise of AI and virtual reality.
What do you think are the major trends in your field?
Sourcing is the major one without any doubt... Sourcing is the proactive searching for qualified job candidates for current or planned open positions; it is not the reactive function of reviewing resumes and applications sent to the company in response to a job posting or pre-screening candidates. This sub-process within the R&S, could take up to 65% of the whole, so those players that are focusing in making the Sourcing as efficient as possible will lead. That is why, regardless of the fact that we offer "Virtual Captive" solutions, at the end of the day our core business is attracting talent, which is why we've developed Collok.io as our Video Technology solution for Recruiting and Zourcing.com as the Search engine that provides applicant's contact information in real time to those in search of talent.
What are the keys to customer success and satisfaction and has that changed in the era of COVID?
For me the key is communication and transparency. I don't think that has changed during COVID, but has definitely forced some to put special attention. Many companies and business men (most probably including me) fell into the status quo when it came to business relationships. When COVID came and therefore layoffs, furloughs, and so on, is when most of us realized how important being in continuous communication with our customers was, but more importantly, how much value we are providing to them. Transparency on the other hand cannot be just a motto, but a way of doing things all the time.
How would you see your company ten years in the future?
I'm excited to say that we've not only survived two major financial crisis (2008, 2020), but because the great team I have in ScreenIT and the fantastic relationship that we have built with our customers and business partners, along with the continuous innovations we've worked on based on real problems we and all within this industry faces, I'm positive we'll become a major solution partner in the Talent Acquisition industry in LATAM.
Your final thoughts?
Big things are happening in Technology: AI, VR, IoT; all of them (when used correctly) tackle some major issues in different industries, including our business; but I always remind my team, that nothing could be possible if there wasn't talent behind it. That is why today our main initiatives are to work towards making our "Candidate Journey" and our "Customer Journey" the best ever, of course, supported by technology but always thinking that we are working with people by people.
COVID-19 has brought us many challenges and has made us ask too many complex questions, some of them we haven't the answer yet, but the best we can do is communicate effectively with your employees, your customers, your venders and your family, with full transparency.... that will make life easier.
Eduardo E. Campos, CEO, ScreenIT
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