Virtual hiring events deliver crucial talent fast for leading retailer

Challenges

Hiring for difficult-to-fill positions quickly

To get a new health insurance business line operational quickly with limited allocated internal resources, one of the world’s largest retailers turned to Cielo to hire for difficult-to-fill positions.

The company faced significant challenges: it was building new insurance services from the ground up in concurrence with its overall expansion into healthcare. The team needed to fill 48 highly specific technical positions in an extremely tight deadline – just six weeks’ notice (inclusive of the two weeks for background clearance and credentialing). Hiring managers also had limited availability to conduct the necessary interviews because they were busy with business-critical tasks. Not to mention in-person hiring events, often an effective source for quality candidates, weren’t possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knowing it needed original talent acquisition solutions, the retailer decided to work with Cielo for additional support. The two already had a strong existing partnership, so the teams were able to hit the ground running. 

Solutions

Virtually seamless sourcing

Understanding the necessity of a creative and efficient process to achieve the retailer’s hiring goals in the required timeline, Cielo presented an online hiring event strategy combined with mobile-first technology. In close alignment with the company’s internal talent acquisition team, Cielo sprang into action to build a market-specific sourcing and event strategy that would deliver the right candidates.

They quickly began sourcing and engaging over 2,000 candidates through targeted recruitment marketing on social media and email campaigns to identify ideal candidates ahead of the virtual events. To ensure they were reaching all the available talent that would be ideal for the open positions, Cielo also executed over 5,000 outbound calls to qualified candidates within a designated geographic range. Additional sourcing channels included programmatic advertising, engagement with local employment agencies, and targeting competitors’ talent.

Results

Virtual hiring leads to bright outcomes

Together, these efforts provided the recruitment team with a substantial number of quality candidates, generating enough RSVPs for three successful events within the space of one week. Using a leading virtual hiring event platform, the team was able to create a seamless and engaging interview experience that allowed hiring managers to successfully connect and engage with top talent. Ultimately, the virtual events led to twice the number of ideal, licensed insurance agents required to launch the retailer’s new business line in the desired timeframe.

Continuing its history of accomplishment as the retailer’s recruitment partner, Cielo delivered experienced talent for a brand-new business segment – further building on its successful partnership. The creative approach to leverage virtual events was originally created to hire quality candidates during the pandemic, but it’s adaptable to fulfill the company’s future talent needs.

Other results include:

• Delivering 62 qualified, interested, and available candidates – 29% more than asked, creating a much-needed talent pipeline
• Sourcing 158 RSVP’d candidates in just six weeks (including two weeks for background clearance and credentialing) for difficult to fill licensed insurance agent positions
• 1.5:1 screen to hiring manager interview ratio
• 1.4:1 registration to attendance ratio