..actually, it's not. It's about a range of things. Things like industry-leading customer service, an in-depth understanding of the retail job market and the ability to bring together the cream of UK retail employers and employees. But technology is important. It's a keystone. Let's face it, job sites are ten-a-penny and new ones are popping up all the time...
So what makes The Retail Appointment different?
As a startup venture, we have had the advantage of a clean slate. We haven't been hindered by legacy technology and the need to deliver a one-size-fits-all solution. We have had the freedom to explore what makes a really good retail job site, to bring to bear our years of experience. Between us, we have a wealth of knowledge - we know what employers and advertisers look for in a job site. We know what works well and what doesn't. Like our Best Match technology.
What is Best Match?
We don't pigeonhole you by forcing you to categorise yourself or your jobs - we'll do that for you. Our categorisation system is adaptive so we can respond to changing needs. The industry moves fast and so can we. But you don't have to worry about that - it all happens silently and seamlessly in the background. All you need to know is that we're continually working to improve the way we match jobs to jobseekers. Think of us like one of those terribly clever dating sites, except without the cheesy TV adverts.
How did we manage it?
We're lucky enough to have a great technical team - one that knows how we think and what we're trying to achieve. Of course, we still have to keep close tabs on them. They'd be the first to admit that, left to their own devices, they'd build something technically perfect that was completely incomprehensible to actual human beings. Before we knew it we'd have another Skynet on our hands. For our part, we're prepared to admit that we may have tested their patience a teeny bit too!
It's been a tough ride, with an industrial quantity of midnight oil burned and a measurable increase in grey hairs all round.
But it's been worth it.
We're really proud of what we've got and we hope you're enjoying it too. We're not vain enough to think it's perfect though. Like all good stuff, it's a work in progress that's constantly evolving. Seriously, have you seen the original iPod lately?
Very true Simon but let's not also forget the input from our partners at RHR and Fashion Personnel which has been vital to making our Best Match technology work! They spent lots of time telling us all about the various roles that the retail sector has to offer which range from running stores as Branch Managers to number crunching in head office as Merchandisers (which incidentally is a very different role to being a Visual Merchandiser!). All roles are highly skilled but suit very different skill sets and every retailer has a slightly different name for each function to boot! All of these variations had to plumbed in to the system to ensure that any job title entered can be found specifically. So huge thanks to our partners and to our tech team for what has been built and for supporting it as it evolves in the coming weeks.