7 steps to successful talent recruitment. The Testportal way

To say that COVID-19 interrupted the well-established rules of recruitment would be an understatement. Suddenly, HR specialists had to rewrite most of their rulebooks to adapt to the new normal. And when almost all human interactions moved online, recruitment followed suit.

Assessment tools became a necessity, and as their supplier, Testportal faced the challenge of expanding its team to keep up with the ever-growing demand. As a provider of candidate selection instruments, we are no strangers to the world of recruitment. We chose the best available solution, our very own Testportal app, combined with a carefully curated method of 7 steps to make sure we find the best candidates for our openings:

Job advertisement

We believe that an accurate description of the position, the company and the desired skill set increase the chance of attracting the right candidate. Our job advertisement contained all of the above in a brief, straight-to-the-point form.

We chose only well-established jobs portals to display our advertisement. That allowed us to make sure it reached only potentially interested professionals. A smaller pool of qualified candidates is always better than hundreds of resumes of little value. It saves recruiters both time and resources. It also results in the company spending less money to get the right person to fill the vacancy. This choice resulted in many applications from specialists across the industry.

Recruitment form

To learn more about the candidates, we created a Testportal-based recruitment form that contained two open-ended questions. Apart from giving candidates an option to impress us with their curricula vitae, we wanted to have some initial insight into their way of thinking about the vacant position. We used the versatility of Testportal for impeccable, two-way communication.

That allowed us to be better prepared to decide whom to call for the short, initial interview.

Initial phone call

The next part was to look past the resume. Talking over the phone or an online communicator beats sending emails every single time. The initial call was a solid chance for the candidates to make a first impression. While we didn't expect a clear 'yay' or 'nay' in any case, it did give us some insight and points to discuss during the interview itself.

Recruitment test

Instead of old-fashioned recruitment tests, we used Testportal again. This time to create a set of tasks for the candidates to fulfil. Five out of a total of eight questions that they could easily access online concentrated on the knowledge necessary for the vacant role. Another assignment based on the abilities of our app followed. It required the applicants to create an email in Polish and English or download a Testportal-based spreadsheet file from, follow included instructions and then upload the file back onto our app.

Indeed, we received valuable information not only about the knowledge and skill set of each candidate. We were also able to see their attitude, and more often than not, that virtue ranks on par or even higher than abilities. And all of that was completely automated, making the process easier and giving us more time for the next step.

Candidate interview

It was definitely the best part of the recruitment process. Getting to know the applicants better, assessing and trying to see them as a part of our team took a lot of time. We were delighted to spend it discussing the choices they made when taking the test and fulfilling tasks. It was also good to be able to provide them with feedback.

Many candidates already had a vision coherent with ours, so selecting only one of them was never an easy task.

Recruitment decision

With all the information about the candidates, we could finally make a hard decision and choose the one we believed to be best suited for the job. We shortlisted a few applicants who demonstrated that they could deliver what we expected and more.

Then it was a matter of making a well-informed decision as to which one was going to be the best fit. Once we reached an agreement, we took our time to thank each unsuccessful applicant for their time and effort, then reached out to the one we found most suitable to offer the position.

Onboarding

Onboarding is not a part of the selection process. However, we decided to include it here because a proper introduction to the firm is crucial for a successful candidate to hit the ground running. To spend some time with the new employee on day one, explaining the company, its mission & vision and getting to know the team is to give them a smooth start.

Communication is a two-way process. We talk and explain, but we also welcome any questions. The more, the better. Onboarding is a continuing process, so we make sure that the new team member has a person to turn to when in doubt.

Our recruitment values

As we believe in the power of human interactions, we used the tool we had created, Testportal, to automate the recruitment process. Its numerous features, such as applicant tracking or forwarding recruitment tasks, allowed us to spend more time on face-to-face (albeit online) communication. We got to know every candidate, and the final decisions were difficult but proved spot on.

The recruitment process is very likely to fail without clear communication. We ensured that all candidates knew more than our expectations and what we offered in return. For example, the recruitment timeline is always of utmost importance for both the job applicants currently in employment and the unemployed as they all have to adjust their plans.

For the unsuccessful candidates, the selection process should end with feedback. It is a way of saying 'thank you' for the time they dedicated to apply for the position. It is also a practical piece of advice on what to do better next time, to increase their chances of landing a job.

Case study

In two recent, separate Customer Success recruitment processes, supported by Testportal, we received 210 applications (80 and 130) via our platform. Of those, a total of 55 candidates (34 and 21) passed the preliminary curricula vitae screening and received an invitation for an initial phone call.

The second phase resulted in the selection of 21 (10 and 11) candidates who received tasks to complete, using Testportal as a platform to gather and analyze all results. We acquired detailed insights into the skill- and mindset of our candidates and were able to make a well-informed choice of inviting the best 9 (5 and 4, respectively) for a full-length, online interview.

During the last phase we were able to make good use of the comprehensive result we received as topics for the discussion. Both recruitment processes resulted in inviting one candidate to join the Testportal team.

Choosing Testportal as a tool to facilitate and speed up the candidate evaluation and selection process allowed us to obtain detailed information about the applicants both professionally and as persons. The platform offered us unbiased insights and streamlined the operations, allowing for the savings of approximately 50 hours of recruiter's time on both processes jointly.