Talent Cloud was able to interview ~55% of managers about where their hires were 1-2 years later. Here’s what we learned:
- ~95% of hires were still in the Government of Canada
- ~80% of hires were still on the same team
- 50% of those who were still on the same team had received extension:
- ~30% term extension
- ~20% moved to indeterminate position
We interviewed around 33% of the employees hired through Talent Cloud. Some of them were still working in the position they were hired for, while others have moved on to other opportunities within the government.
These interviewees applied to a job using Talent Cloud for a variety of reasons. Some of them were just looking for a job in general, while others intentionally searched for opportunities to join the government. There were also employees who were just passively browsing, but certain information in the job advertisement prompted them to apply. In particular, the impact statement, information about the team, and the manager profile were cited to be motivating factors in influencing their decision to apply.
"Being able to see the composition of the team helped me to know what I was getting into. It was not a blindsided decision. The platform really gives me a lot of information to make a decision."
~ Employee
"The write up on the manager was very important, and information about the team's working style was important. I wasn't a motivated applicant (not expecting to leave my previous job). That information definitely helped me decide to apply."
~ Employee
Many of the interviewees reflected on how reading about the team culture helped them to make an informed decision.
The manager profiles also helped foster a human connection between these employees and their potential managers even before their first meeting at the interview. Being able to get to know about the person they were going to work with was one of the most mentioned positive experiences they had using Talent Cloud.
All interviewees (except for one whose skill set was in such a high demand that he was hired by another team whom he interacted with during the assessment process, so he never got to work on the job he applied for) reported that once they started working, they found the information provided on the job advertisement was an accurate representation of both the team and the work. They also reported being a good fit for the team.
One employee’s story highlights various details that help applicants decide if the job is the right fit for them, and if they’re the right fit for the job.
“I wasn’t actively looking for employment when I found the job poster on Talent Cloud. I was curious about the types of jobs that existed for people with my specific skill set, so I was poking around online using one skill as a search term. When that skill popped up in a government job title, my interest was piqued. I had always had an interest in government and was surprised to see such a specific role posted for the general public.
I remember reading through the tasks and skills in the job poster and being impressed with how clearly everything was laid out. I also remember starting to get excited, because it felt like the criteria were written for me! I was pleasantly surprised to find information about the hiring manager and her leadership style, and a description of the team culture. By the time I got to the end of the poster I understood exactly what the job would entail, I was clear on the skills that would be needed to succeed in the role, I had insight into how my personality would fit on the team, and I knew I really wanted the job. There was only one problem - I lived in Toronto, and the team was based in Ottawa. I re-read the poster and noticed I had missed a detail - remote work was allowed! That sealed the deal, and I decided to throw my hat in the ring.
I’ve been in the role almost two years now and I couldn’t be happier! I really enjoy the work I do, and love that I get to do it with a group of kind, fun, and talented people. I’m so lucky to have found that poster, and grateful that it made my decision to apply such an easy one.”
Talent Cloud was able to interview 55% of managers who made a hire on our platform. These managers came from 8 different departments and accounted for the hiring of 18 employees through the Talent Cloud platform (some of which we didn’t even know about until we went back to conduct interviews. Turns out, quite a few of our managers went back to get additional hires after the initial process data we tracked.)
These managers covered the entire time span between the launch of the platform to the most recent major feature release in 2020. (None had used the 2021 release of the Advanced Applicant Timeline screening feature.) While some of them had initially volunteered to participate in the Talent Cloud pilot, others did so at the request of their departments (volun-told to be part of this Talent Cloud innovation project their department was funding). The group of interviewees also included managers who ran the process from end to end, those who took over the process mid-way from another manager, and managers who were not involved at all (where their HR team had handled applicant screening and selection) and were assigned an employee at the end of the process.
All except one manager reported their hires to be a good fit for the team. Although there were learning curves and adjustment periods for some, especially for those who were from other sectors or joined during the pandemic, the managers reported that their hires worked well with the team.
Amongst the managers we interviewed, some eventually made a hire that was not expected when the job was advertised.
As Talent Cloud job advertisements were designed to tailor for a specific job and team (read more about the Five-Factor Match), we asked them to advertise the jobs separately if they wanted to staff two positions that had different responsibilities or were in different teams, even if the positions were at the same classification and level.
If the positions were identical, however, managers could hire multiple candidates from the same process. In fact, we had a manager who made four hires (and counting) from a single process and reported that they were all a good fit. (A fifth hire from the same process was reported during the interview, but is still being finalized.) Read more about her story in next article.
On the other hand, there have been instances where managers found a candidate during the assessment process that they believed could help meet other needs vacant in their organizations. The candidate was eventually hired for a job that was different from what they had applied for. Significantly, in cases where hires were chosen for roles other than the one advertised, managers reported that it didn’t result in a good fit. This was consistent with what we heard from managers who initially reported challenges in finding a good fit when using generic pools. This finding suggests the importance of the other factors in improving fit-to-team, in addition to the job requirement and the person’s qualifications. This is one instance where failure actually confirms the theory, which is that the five factor match is an important component in producing strong, high performing talent-to-team matches.
