If you’ve ever been in charge of applicant screening you know what a grind it can be. Endless applications to sort through, and in most cases you can quickly see non-starters that mean an applicant is a hard no. How nice would it be if you could auto-filter those applications out and also highlight the applications that are the perfect fit for your role?
That’s exactly the problem Tyler Leber, co-founder at Coconut faced. Coconut is a company that helps you hire talent in the Philippines. They get 1-2,000 VA applications a month, and they used to look at every single one which would take 20-30 hours every month, and great applications would have to wait in line just like non-starter applications.
So they implemented an Interact quiz in the form of an applicant qualifying assessment, and now all the applications are screened automatically and filtered to the right place. Non-qualified applicants are rejected right away within the assessment. Top-fit candidates are highlighted and added to Monday CRM for immediate processing and individual onboarding.
The Experience Starts on the Application Page
I applaud this because the “one action per page” principle of user experience design is vastly under-rated. And this apply page for Coconut only has one action, which is to take the quiz. This increases engagement and click through pretty dramatically because there is only one option for people so it makes it easy on applicants.
The Applicant Screener is Fully Automated and Rejects Non-Fit Candidates
From the very beginning this screener asks questions which will auto disqualify non-fit candidates. The first one being “Are you located in the Philippines?” since Coconut only operates in the Philippines.
If Candidates Pass Each Check They Continue to Be Further Qualified
This quiz uses branching logic to auto-reject unqualified candidates in a kind way. If someone chooses the answer that moves them on, then there are further questions asked for additional qualification and if they answer the option that disqualifies them, they immediately see a kind rejection screen.
Ask additional qualifying questions
For the candidates who pass initial pass/reject questions, you can further qualify the candidates who are at least minimally qualified to determine what level they are coming in at. This can all be tagged in your marketing automation, CRM, or ATS system through Interact’s direct integrations.
Filter applicants based on skill level
The Coconut applicant quiz filters applicants based on skill level so they can automatically match people with positions that match their skill level.
Sort applicants into specific roles
Tyler told me that every question on their assessment leads to specific roles. This means they are able to instantly route people in their ATS system based on which role(s) the person qualifies for.
Set expectations with applicants
At scale, you can share expectations about salary in a way that involves the applicant and makes them part of the process. You can also sort based on what people want.
Auto-process applicants and communicate their status back to them immediately
Applicants know exactly where they stand immediately after completing the assessment. No waiting around to hear back. This helps keep them engaged and bought into the process.
Communicate Next Steps Right Away
Give people their next steps immediately so they can prepare and you don’t have to send the same email over and over again.
Key Results from the Coconut Application Assessment
To Recap the Coconut Applicant Assessment, here are some key results.
- 20-30 hours saved each week
- Instant routing for qualified applicants
- Scalable applicant processing
- Elegant and engaging experience for applicants
By implementing the applicant assessment through Interact, Coconut has been able to streamline applicant processing and build a system that’s scalable without additional people hours.