FMI and NCS Pearson Announce Value-Added Internet Recruitment Service for Supermarket Industry

NEW ORLEANS, LA – February 18, 2000 – Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and NCS Pearson (formerly National Computer Systems, Inc.), a leading provider of human resource solutions, announced today a new Internet initiative that expands employee recruitment tools available to the supermarket industry. The announcement was made at the start of FMI’s 2001 MARKETECHNICS, a showcase of the latest in supermarket technologies being held here.

The new venture links NCS Pearson’s Quik-Screen™ recruiting system to FMI’s superjobmarket.com, a comprehensive assembly of highly targeted career search engines that enables food retail employers to post job opportunities and to search for registered job seekers. With the new linkage, FMI members can use the Quik-Screen system with all of their open positions to capture data on job seekers’ qualifications. The system can also administer a brief selection assessment and schedule interviews.

Employers and job seekers benefit from the 24/7 access Quik-Screen offers. Specifically, the system screens the applicant and, after determining that minimum qualifications are met, offers the candidate the option of completing a pre-employment assessment online. The candidate is then asked to select an interview time and location from those set up by the hiring manager. The recruiting company benefits from a larger applicant pool, access to better qualified talent and substantially reduced time spent processing applications.

“FMI is very pleased to announce this important technological alliance with NCS Pearson to help our member supermarkets hire the best talent for their stores,” said Tim Hammonds, FMI president and CEO. “Today’s young people are increasingly turning to the Internet as their career search partner. This dynamic new Internet recruiting system will put our members on the forefront of this trend and make them relevant to our industry’s most important talent pool.”

Visitors to FMI’s ninth annual MARKETECHNICS are invited to view demonstrations of the Quick Screen service at the superjobmarket.com booth, located next to the DemoNet area on the exhibit floor. Show floor hours are 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. February 18 and 19, and 9:00 a.m. to Noon on February 20.