In response to the opportunities created through the development and increasing adoption by Chinese business people in work-related communication of web 2.0 applications, particularly instant messaging (IM) and the online forum or message board system BBS, B2B International’s Beijing office has introduced IM applications into its range of methodologies offered in China.
It is particularly suited to interviewing middle and junior management positions, usually those aged under 35, among whom IM is established as a principal business communication tool and, although there will always be a place for telephone and face-to-face methodologies, offers a useful complement to these.
Alaric Fairbanks, head of B2B International in Beijing, has found many advantages:
- Increased speed in recruitment
- The ability to extend interviews into the time slots the respondent is available
- An instant and exact record of the interview
Initially trialled as a recruitment and screening tool, IM has now been applied to data collection on recent b2b projects in the packaging, waste water treatment and construction industries.
