Dentsu Cuts Entry-Level Attrition From 70% to 2% With Realistic Job Preview Assessment

The challenge

Dentsu needed to hire entry-level talent at pace without lowering quality, and candidates often found the role did not match what they expected. Many positions focus on maximizing return on a client’s ad spend rather than creative work, which led to early dropout once new hires realized the gap.

The approach

Stockdale piloted Vervoe on 15 entry-level hires in the final three weeks of December 2021, after interviewing recent joiners to identify the real tasks and skills the role requires. He built assessments mixing multiple-choice, Excel-based, text-based, and video questions to simulate real work, placed at the top of the funnel so every candidate is considered beyond their resume. He also trained Vervoe’s AI grader against his own standards, so it matches a human marker within 1% accuracy, and selection is based on capability rather than university, degree, or background.

The results

• Entry-level attrition fell from 70% to 2%.
• Recruiter hours per hire dropped from 24.5 to 1.5.
• Time to hire fell from 60 to 16 days.
• One hire per 287 CVs became nine hires with Vervoe, with fewer people interviewed.
• Hiring volume rose from 4 to 5 entry-level roles filled in a good month to as many as 25 a month, close to a 5x increase
• One platform now runs entry-level hiring across Australia, New Zealand, and expanding into Southeast Asia
• Hiring manager feedback described as phenomenal