Hiring 34% faster and securing top engineering talent

Nadia Vatalidis, the Head of People and Culture at TestGorilla, has seen firsthand how the company has transformed its recruitment process, resulting in a significant reduction in hiring time and an increase in the quality of candidates.

Taking 38 days to hire just doesn't work for TestGorilla

Of the standard hiring process, Nadia notes it is time-consuming and inefficient. Typically, recruitment teams manually review thousands of applications, which is not only labor-intensive but can lead to biased selection decisions and missed opportunities. This style of recruitment creates significant delays - with the industry seeing an average hiring time of 38 days.

How assessment science and talent-first strategies support skills-based hiring

TestGorilla introduced a skills-based hiring approach, using their product to assess candidates' competencies at the top of the funnel. This approach not only streamlines recruitment but also ensures fairness and equity. The company also adopted the applicant tracking system TeamTailor and activated the TestGorilla integration, allowing the recruitment team to manage the career page and protect candidate data effectively and easily.

In addition, the recruitment team has been working on key initiatives to help optimize their recruitment process: 

• Assessment review best practices: In 2023, TestGorilla worked with their Science team to improve assessment review practices. They focused on the top 10% of applicants based on assessment scores, speeding up the interview process.

• Video introduction and transparency: TestGorilla created a video explaining their application process to address candidate concerns. This increased transparency and dispelled assumptions, improving the performance of applicants and building trust in the assessment process.

• Ecosystem for hiring engineers: TestGorilla identified a specific challenge in hiring engineers. They addressed this by refreshing the engineering assessment, reducing its duration to under 60 minutes, and creating an informative video about the application process. The changes led to a significant increase in the quality and quantity of engineering candidates.

• Assess engineers on multiple measures: The team evaluates engineers on a variety of levels including their hard skills, soft skills, cognitive abilities, personality, and role-relevant knowledge. This multi-measure approach gives candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their full skillset, and hiring teams a well-rounded view of the talent in their applicant pool.

"Skills and competencies are the future of work. If you're not assessing for skills, you're not hiring for the future, you're hiring only for today." Nadia Vatalidis, the Head of People and Culture at TestGorilla

TestGorilla screens, qualifies, and hires top talent at industry-leading speeds

The results have been impressive. The average time-to-hire has been reduced to 29 days, significantly faster than the industry average of 38 to 48 days. The quality of candidates has also improved, with top applicants reaching the interview stage within three to four days.

TestGorilla has also seen a significant increase in the completion rate of assessments, particularly among engineering candidates, after making the process more transparent and reducing the time required for assessments.

• Reduced the average hiring time from 38 days to 29 days, a significant improvement from the industry average of 36 to 44 days.

• An improvement in the quality of candidates, with top applicants reaching the interview stage within three to four days.

• A 45% increase in applications after enhancing transparency, reducing assessment time, and enhancing marketing of job roles.

• A boost in assessment completion due to these improvements.

• Created a more equitable hiring process using a skills-based approach, ensuring all candidates are assessed fairly.

• Streamlined the recruitment process, saving time and resources for the talent acquisition team.

• Successfully hired 10 engineers in one quarter, exceeding the set target.

TestGorilla's approach to recruitment demonstrates the power of skills-based hiring.

By focusing on skills and competencies, TestGorilla has significantly reduced hiring time, improved the quality of candidates, and created a more equitable and transparent hiring process. This approach not only streamlines the recruitment process but also prepares the organization for the future. As the world of work continues to evolve, skills and competencies are becoming increasingly important. 

TestGorilla's platform allows you to assess these crucial factors effectively and efficiently, saving you time and resources while ensuring you hire the best talent for your organization.