The Challenge

Already an A-lister in university recruiting, this global IT giant knew they needed to scale their process so they could expand their target schools and quickly identify and secure a more diverse candidate pool. Moving beyond traditional on-campus recruiting meant adopting a secure, scalable virtual platform, and they envisioned a nationwide talent testing platform that was automated and extremely efficient, without compromising the rigorous assessment process they knew was necessary to identify the very best emerging talent.

The scale required for this endeavor was breathtaking: The initiative called for assessing approximately 100,000 candidates across hundreds of individual campuses, against multiple competencies including coding, cognitive abilities and written English language competence. AI-driven auto-proctoring would enable scaling, while ensuring the quality and integrity of the process. Evaluating candidates against specific performance criteria would ensure that only the most qualified and best fit candidates would be invited for face-to-face interviews, making the entire process more efficient and effective. One of the common challenges in entry-level recruitment is the high volume of applicants, hence ensuring you can filter them efficiently to find the hidden gems is crucial. The philosophy was simple: Through carefully controlled prequalification, they could select more while interviewing less.

The Solution

At SHL, our comprehensive cloud-based assessment platform had everything this global IT leader required to automate their entry level hiring process, including a proven skills assessment platform, advanced written English language testing, and an engaging coding simulation platform augmented by powerful auto-proctoring technology. Working closely with customer teams, we compiled and implemented a comprehensive assessment suite to evaluate cognitive aptitude, coding acumen, and written English abilities, so our customer could reliably secure the best-fit emerging talent from all across India.

We coupled SHL’s assessment for English comprehension, vocabulary and grammar skills with an AI-driven automated evaluation of email and essay writing skills, supplemented by our engaging, AI-powered coding assessment platform that tests applicants’ programming capabilities with hundreds of well-structured questions in over 30 programming languages. Auto-proctoring and anti-plagiarism technology ensured quality control and test integrity, even at the massive scale this initiative required.

The Results

SHL’s comprehensive solution delivered the rigorous and reliable assessments our client needed for their entry-level hiring, at scale. We set up 139 test centers with dedicated infrastructure (physical and online) and hosted students from over 500 colleges across India. The autoscaling platform was set up to easily deliver 50,000-70,000 assessments per day, with the ability to administer as many as 25,000 concurrent assessments. Approximately 110,000 students took the assessments over a three-day period and received their results via email/SMS.

Streamlined operations management made it easy for our client to manage the application process from first touch to final interview, so that only the most qualified candidates (approximately 10,000 students) were selected for final interviews—a dramatic reduction in interview quantity that optimized interviewers’ time. SHL’s AI-powered evaluations reduced the manual effort required, enabling a dramatic increase in reach from 50 to 500 recruiting campuses. The fair and objective assessments also reduced unconscious bias from the process, delivering the customer a broader and more diverse pool of candidates.

Finally, the candidate experience was significantly improved, and applicants reported very high satisfaction in the selection process, appreciating the significantly shorter application process (15-minutes) and the mobile-friendly, highly engaging assessments. In addition, the experience for our customer’s assessment teams improved. The automated platform to screen and evaluate candidates significantly reduced costs (including travel for in-person talent acquisition), improved overall efficiency in the client’s entry-level hiring and university recruiting process, and increased productivity. All in all, an incredible win for our client—and for SHL.

Learn more about our Graduate Hiring Solutions, which help hire best-in-class entry-level candidates.