Over the past three years, in large part due to the success of ALEX, Jellyvision has been growing like gangbusters.
In 2013, we had fewer than 100 employees. Now we’re at almost 300. And we’re planning to hire 100 more in 2016. It’s nuts, but in the best possible way. Especially considering our thorough and unusually hiring process.
Today, I thought I’d talk about that hiring process a little bit here on the blog. Why? If you’re interested in the way we approach HR communication, maybe you’d be interested in the we approach hiring, too.
Of course, maybe I’m wrong.
However, maybe I’m right?
Anyway. Presuming you might be up for hearing about another company’s vetting process, here’s how we try to find good, funny, hard-working people…and keep our diva levels low.
#1. We ask our candidates to take their cover letters really seriously…and to write them so their personality shines through
How come?
- We’re big on concise, interesting, and on-point communication (it’s kinda what we do). So we like to see how our candidates can handle the challenge to communicate that way right off the bat.
- We want to get a sense of the actual person, not just their job skills and history
- Asking that people go the extra mile early on helps us weed out candidates whose hearts really aren’t in it to win it
#2. If a candidate makes it past the first few stages of the recruiting process, we ask them to do an audition
This doesn’t involve a candidate trying to sing “Lady Marmalade” while we make Simon-Cowell faces at them. Not usually. What this actually means is: we ask candidates to complete a task that they would likely have to take on if they got the job, within a set amount of time, totally off-site. (This, by the way, requires the creation of an appropriate audition, which is a collaboration between the department in need of staff and HR.)
This extra step in the hiring process accomplishes two important things: 1) it shows us whether the candidate can actually handle the work they’d be asked to do, and 2) it also gives candidates a chance to see what the role would really, truly be like, so they can feel sure Jellyvision is where they belong.
#3. We have people interview with a variety of the team members they’d be working with
If a candidate has done well on the audition, we then bring them in to talk with not just their potential boss, or their team, but a wide range of people they’d potentially be working with. The more, the merrier. Another plus to being thorough with this step: it’s nice for this future new hire to show up on day one and see a bunch of familiar faces.
And there you have it!
This process is one that has worked for us really well–and has led to our Director of People, Mary Beth Wynn rightly being honored as 2015 Talent Acquisition Specialist of the Year.