Assessing skills for candidates who might not yet have work experience is a more complicated hiring process than most. Reviewing a CV and ticking off a list of prerequisites simply isn’t possible when identifying the best fit for a role. So, where “experience” is lacking, what comes next?
It’s a problem SEEK — one of the world’s leading online employment marketplaces — knows all too well. And an obstacle that presents itself time and again in their Strategy & Operations Graduate Program.
Established in 2017, SEEK’s intensive two-year graduate program boosts analytical and problem-solving skills and delivers hands-on operational experience with promising long-term global prospects, and, according to Ariel Hersh, Head of Strategy at SEEK, doesn’t prioritize prior experience.
“We’re looking for individuals with no specific background or experience across every degree type,” Ariel said.
As a result, SEEK experienced firsthand that with minimal application criteria came a high volume of applicants that required them to think differently about their approach to candidate selection and the need to move towards skills-based hiring.
This thinking required Vervoe’s AI-powered platform to help streamline the process to ensure no standouts slipped through the cracks.
A streamlined approach that gives everyone a chance
For SEEK, the challenge was finding the best possible candidates for their graduate program without needing to assess thousands of resumes manually.
Searching for a solution to accommodate their unique requirements, Ariel believed there was no tool more powerful than Vervoe’s AI-powered platform. This allowed them to put a large number of their applicants through an interactive assessment that gave them the best chance to stand out.
According to Ariel, SEEK chose Vervoe because, “it met the needs we were looking for, which was a really friendly experience for the candidates, easy to use, and quite flexible in the type of questions we could ask and present to the applicants”.
Finding a custom solution that fulfilled SEEK’s vetting process was a distinct key to success. For Ariel, this meant working with the Vervoe team to create a mix of problem-solving multiple-choice and short-form questions made possible by the platform’s AI-powered grading.
Vervoe’s powerful AI-grading helped in two ways. The first was auto-grading answers — including text-based responses — and ranking the best candidates at the top of the list to remove the manual process.
The second was understanding SEEK’s preferences over time and what they deemed good answers to provide an accurate recruitment solution that grew with the changing demands of the business.
In doing so, Vervoe’s assessment platform allowed for better recruitment accuracy and efficiency to help streamline a traditionally tedious task for SEEK.
The confidence to hire with ease
For Ariel, without Vervoe, the risk of letting suitable candidates slip through the cracks was high.
“We’ve designed a selection process to identify the best applicants,” he said.
“And for us, that means not missing any of the great ones, but also making sure the ones we get are wonderful and suitable for the program.”
This approach required a solution that would allow for complete customization in the types of questions they could ask while ensuring scalability. Now, SEEK’s candidate experience is one built on accuracy, fairness, and confidence.
“It saves us time in doing what’s a really critical process in selecting the best candidates and applicants to take through to the next round,” Ariel explained
“We really trust the system. We appreciate the guidance that we’ve received from Vervoe along the way on the right questions and the AI grading. When we get to the applicants we pick, we’re confident that they are the best ones, and we haven’t missed any.”
A win-win: A positive customer and candidate experience
Without Vervoe’s technology, Ariel admits they would not be able to assess the volume of applicants they receive each year properly and would be forced to use alternative methods to shortlist candidates.
The custom-built assessments, versatile question types, and AI-grading aren’t the only benefits SEEK has found using Vervoe. According to Ariel, the platform has helped them create a candidate experience that’s a league well above the rest.
“Candidates and applicants are graduating from university or applying to programs and going through processes similar to ours across multiple businesses,” Ariel said
“[Yet], we hear time and time again that ours is one of the friendliest processes. And we believe that’s in large part due to the online assessment from Vervoe.”