A year ago when I started searching for a job, the most common answer I came across being a candidate was “We will get back to you shortly”. Why is it that the candidates don’t receive proper feedback on their selection or rejection? In the hiring industry, candidate experience and the recruiting performance go hand in hand, making it one of the most significant topics today. The major question that arises here is don’t the candidates deserve a proper feedback?
An article by Mr. Vinayak gives us more insight on this problem and stated that candidates actively seek and value feedback.
What is Techathon?
When our team decided to host Techathon, our main objective behind the event was to give a candid and constructive feedback to the candidates which would help them assess their skills and also help them get better at technical interviews. We decided to focus on four technologies viz. Java, Angular, Android and DevOps. Successful candidates were required to go through 3 steps 1)Technical quiz 2) Mock skype interview 3)Final F2F round. After each round detailed feedback was provided by our technical experts.
Registration:
For me as a recruiter, to conduct techathon was an experience worth remembering. We started promoting Techathon on various social platforms. The first step was to bring in registrations by posting ads, calling up candidates, sending emails and also sourcing a few from the job portals. We targeted the IT professionals having 1 to 4 years of work experience.
Our main challenge was to convince the candidates to take part in the event. Techathon was a new concept. We heard some common questions from the candidates – why shall we participate? How is it going to benefit us?
Even before we thought of Techathon, we had conducted a survey which concluded that candidates don’t receive proper feedback during the selection process .When we shared this finding with the candidates, they agreed, but didn’t register. It was quite a surprise for us.
After rigorously following up with the candidates we came across a few who sounded positive. Our survey and the objective of Techathon were able to peak interest in the minds of some. We also briefed them on how we were going to conduct Techathon. Within a few days we realized that it was going to take a lot of communication, follow up and hand holding. We also emphasized on the fact that there were cash prizes to be won. Slowly yet steadily we started receiving registrations which encouraged us to continue with this approach.
Technical Quiz:
Every resume received by us had some information that was essential but missing. How often do we reject a candidate because his resume is incomplete or how many times do we actually seek the missing info from the candidate? Rezoomex application proactively sought out the missing info by forcing the candidates to complete the missing details before they were allowed to open the technical quiz app.
For the first round, we sent the link to download the application via email to all the participants. The next challenge was to ensure that they attend the quiz. Initially, there was a lot of reluctance which required us to do persistent follow up. We also sent whatsapp reminders to the participants. Meanwhile some participants dropped out, we also had to disqualify a few who did not attend the quiz. With our guidance and follow-up, we achieved a good number of candidates who not only completed the quiz but also shared a lot of missing details to improve their overall ranking.
Interviews:
For the second round i.e the skype interview, we shortlisted 15 candidates from every technology on the basis of their final scores and ranking. As planned, our technical experts gave a detailed feedback along with grades to the candidates. We maintained a tracker with details of all the candidates complete with the feedback for each round.
We reached the final round of Techathon which was planned to be the F2F interviews. There were only 5 candidates from each technology who we shortlisted based on their feedback, grades and the final scores. Usually the F2F interviews are conducted on the weekdays. However, since all the participants were working professionals, we were uncertain whether they would actually show up on week days. Again it took us some convincing to reschedule the interviews on the weekends. We did our best to match the availability with the interviewer’s. With the co-operation of the participants and the interviewers, we were able to conduct all the F2F interviews!
Conclusion:
The winners from every technology were shortlisted based on the F2F rounds and their respective scores.
Techathon was a month long experience which we were able to complete successfully. It culminated in a grand prize distribution ceremony. To encourage the candidates, we also posted their testimonials and photos on social media. Now most of them are enquiring about the next Techathon!
Here are some pictures of the event.
Thank You!
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Vaishnavi specializes in technical recruitment. Currently she is working as a recruitment specialist at Rezoomex.
Vaishnavi is an animal lover and in her spare time likes to listen to various genres of music and go for a tea with her friends.