Since March, ApplyBoard staff have been working remote-first, as a way to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. As we transitioned to a new virtual work environment, teams at ApplyBoard had to quickly adapt their routines and processes to fit the new virtual work environment. For our Talent Acquisition and Employee Success Teams, this meant transitioning the entire hiring, recruitment, and onboarding process online in just a few days.
At ApplyBoard, we have been fortunate to continue our growth through this challenging time. Since March, we have welcomed over 200 new employees to our team, and are continuing our growth by recruiting for 100+ roles.
To give job seekers a better idea of what to expect from our hiring process while working remotely, we sat down with Tavneet Khera and Kira Thomson, Talent Recruiters at ApplyBoard. Tavneet and Kira shared their insights on our current talent recruitment process, answer some of our frequently asked questions, and provided tips on how candidates can give themselves a leg up when applying for a job at ApplyBoard!
Interested in joining the ApplyBoard Team? We’re hiring!
Tavneet and Kira, Talent Recruiters at ApplyBoard
Can you give us an overview of what candidates can expect from the hiring process and how it is different in the current climate?
Fortunately for the Talent Acquisition Team, it is business as usual! ApplyBoard is growing, and we are continuing to hire aggressively for more than 100 open roles across the organization.
Our hiring process typically consists of 3 or 4 interviews, which include a phone screening with a Talent Recruiter, a formal interview with the Hiring Manager, a technical skills test, and a meeting with other Team Members. Our current hiring process can take up to 21 days, but with the high volume of applicants we are experiencing currently, it may take longer. We encourage candidates to be patient as we review your application, and will do our best to respond to every one!
The biggest difference that job seekers can expect with our current hiring process is a transition from in-person to virtual interviews. We utilize video-conferencing for interviews, allowing for candidates to connect in real-time with hiring managers. Given the current circumstances, you may be at home caring for children or pets—and we are too! We understand if they happen to pop up in the background during an interview.
Since virtual interviews are a new experience for job seekers, here are some of our tips for preparing for, and nailing, a virtual interview:
- Give yourself a couple of days to prepare, and practice before the interview. Do your research on the interviewers, company, and the role.
- Be online early, and ensure that all your technical elements are fully functional. We recommend checking your microphone and camera to ensure that they are working properly.
- Review the job description for the position, and be sure that you can clearly articulate how your skills connect with the expectations of the role and company.
- Dress professionally—more business and less casual.
- Put on a smile, be yourself, and have fun! We are excited to meet you!
Where is the best place to view open opportunities?
We’ve got plenty of open opportunities and welcome anyone that thinks they’d be a good fit to apply! A list of our open roles and the qualifications we are looking for in candidates are posted on the ApplyBoard Careers page.
If you don’t currently see a role that matches your qualifications, be sure to check back regularly! As we continue to grow, we may have positions that meet your skills and expertise in the future.
How is your team adjusting to the cancellation of recruitment events?
Job fairs and hiring events are a major opportunity for us to meet job seekers and showcase some of the top reasons to work at ApplyBoard. With in-person events being cancelled, we have been participating in virtual hiring events, as well as hosting our own virtual events.
Back in May, ApplyBoard hosted our Virtual Hiring Series. This was a first-of-its-kind event from ApplyBoard, connecting hiring managers with applicants through a series of one-hour webinars. Hundreds of job seekers from across the world tuned in to these online events to hear from leaders on our teams and ask questions in real-time. It was a great opportunity for us to introduce team leaders and the work being done on some of our functional teams.
In addition to hosting our own events, we have also attended virtual job fairs, including Communitech’s Tech Jam From Home. Team members from across the organization attended to chat with job seekers, answer questions about working at ApplyBoard, review some of our open roles, and get to know candidates better. If you see our team at a job fair in the future, be sure to stop by and say hello!
Virtual events have allowed us to continue to engage with job seekers directly and quickly move candidates through our talent pipeline. Be sure to check our LinkedIn page to learn more about the future events we may be participating in!
ApplyBoard Sales and Marketing leaders, hosting a webinar on the open role on their teams.
What qualities is ApplyBoard looking for in a potential candidate?
Each role has its own skills and competencies that we are looking for, but we are always searching for people that align with our mission, vision, and core values. What really makes our team unique is our collective dedication to our mission of educating the world. It is important that candidates are committed to this goal, and are willing to work collaboratively as a member of the team to achieve it.
In addition, as a fast-growing scale-up, we are looking for team members who can adapt to our pace and have a growth mindset.
Do you have any tips for job seekers putting together an application for one of our open roles?
To help you put together a solid application and increase your chances of landing an interview, we recommend you:
- Ensure that your application has a focus and builds a case for why you are a great candidate for the role and company.
- Make sure that your resume aligns with the profile of the role you are applying for. Don’t just list off every position you’ve had! Instead, highlight how your experience is relevant to the skills and abilities we are looking for.
- Do your research! Learn a bit more about the company, understand the needs of the role, and take the initiative to reach out if you have any questions.
- Put your best foot forward and be creative!
What are some of the challenges your team is facing, and how have you overcome them?
Within the Talent Team, we are very fortunate that most of our processes were already virtual, which has allowed us to maintain a similar experience for candidates in our pipeline. As a Talent Recruiter, a significant portion of our job is managing candidate activity, which is primarily done through email, LinkedIn, over the phone, and our applicant tracking system.
As our team supports the hiring needs across the entire organization, online communication and collaboration tools have become highly important. We needed to quickly adapt to online communication to ensure that we maintain the quality of our candidate experience and meet the hiring goals of teams across the organization. Our team, as well as our candidates, have demonstrated a great deal of flexibility, understanding, open-mindedness, and collaboration. I think that our ability to adapt and support each other in this new environment is a true testament to the ApplyBoard culture!
We are looking for people to join our team! To view or apply to our open roles, please visit: applyboard.com/careers
