WHAT: 

• Mystery Shopping in Slovakia’s TALENT ENGAGEMENT ACQUISITION PRACTICES.
• Find out how TA professionals in Slovakia engage with leads. 

SCOPE:  

• Applied to various [but relevant to my experience] jobs via job portal profesia.sk (aka Alma Career). [see used CV here and used motivation letter here]. 
• Application window – October 31 – November 3
• Results Evaluation cut off time – November 7 (21:00 CET)
• Disclaimer: I understand that the particular  week  was specific in terms of national holidays in the country.  However, at core of my mystery shopping was search for automated processes and e-commerce types of engagement  – not if recruitment departments have enough capacities nor exact measure of their TAT.

• Filter when searching for jobs applied:
  • Bratislava + 100km
  • Salary 2000+ Euro
  • Full time

• 15 Jobs applied:
  • Sales Manager / Director (2x)
  • Business Development Manager (2x)
  • Director (Insurance) (1x)
  • Project Manager (4x)
  • Senior HR Business Partner (1x)
  • Head of PMO  (2x)
  • Customer Experience Manager (1x)
  • Head of Customer Care (1x)
  • Partnership Lead (1x)

• Companies applied to
  • 1 job in Top 3 TELCO operator in Slovakia
  • 1 job in Top 5 FMCG retailer in Slovakia
  • 1 job in TOP 3 BANK in Slovakia
  • 1 job in Top 5 IT solutions provider company in Slovakia on CEE level
  • 1 job in Top 5 firm invested by Crowdberry
  • 1 job in Global Think Tank Slovakia branch
  • 1 x job in Top 5 Insurance company
  • 2 x jobs in other insurance and insurance services related companies 
  • 2 x Municipality office jobs
  • 1x job in Automotive company 
  • 3x job posted by Personal / Headhunting company

RESULTS:

ABANDONED CART

I am using a digital marketing technical term here. This refers to a situation where a customer begins a process of purchasing but for whatever reasons leaves the merchant without leaving a lead or finishing the purchase. This happens for many reasons – changing his/her mind, order is too expensive, finding products elsewhere etc. Often what happens then in e-commerce is that you get prompted to come back and finish your shopping…..

In my job application submissions [as a part of my mystery shopping]  I abandoned the process in 2 cases. Both cases are very significant employers in the market. 1 is a top 3 shared services center in Bratislava, the other is a major player in OIL & GAS.

In both cases I was “forced” to leave their profesia.sk company profile site (upon clicking on submission button) to go to their career pages (this is fine and normal practice). However, when I got there, I was then forced to do several steps including creating an account and password, answering several rounds of questions and other steps just to get to the application part. As a semi- passive candidate – if it’s not simple and less than 4 clicks, I am done. KISS (keep it simple and stupid)  is the rule. What is worse, abandoning process means that next time I come across their job post I remember my previous experience and most likely avoid them all together. 

BTW – do you think I received any follow ups urging me to come back to my “abandoned cart and finish shopping?…take a wild guess.

POOR RESULTS – LITTLE OR NO ENGAGEMENT.

Upon submitting my application (CV+motivation letter) I received automated message from Profesia.sk about registering my application. In some cases, message was personalized from TA team of the company I applied for. Often message was received stating (in various forms) : “We register you. We have many applications. We will get back to you in 30 days. If not, you were not selected.” 

NO OTHER INTERACTIONS SINCE THEN. NOTHING. NO CONTACT.

‘WINNERS’ ARE:

• Top 3 Telco operator in Slovakia
• Top 3 Bank in Slovakia
• Top 5 FMCG retailer in Slovakia
• Top 5 IT solutions provider company in Slovakia on CEE level
• Top 5 firm invested by Crowdberry
• Global Think Tank Slovakia branch
• 1x job in Automotive company 

 SO-SO RESULTS: LIMITED ENGAGEMENT. AND DIED OUT FAST.

Upon receiving first automated message, they reached out to me via non-automated personalized message. They told me that they gave it a consideration, but I am not a fit. I responded to them that I was interested in their company, their brand and their values and would love to talk to them about other opportunities with them. In one case  – when my application went directly to business manager – he responded that he is happy to hear that and that he is forwarding my application to HR. Have not heard from them since. The other ones I received no reply to my wish to talk with them more about their company. 

‘WINNERS’ ARE:

• 3 x jobs in other insurance and insurance services related companies

GOOD RESULTS: REPEATED ENGAGEMENT. WANTED TO TALK TO ME ABOUT OTHER JOB VACANCIES AND OVERALL MY INTEREST IN THEIR COMPANY. 

Upon receiving initial response, I was contacted immediately with request for a call. Some suggested right away that they wanted to speak with me about other jobs. With headhunters, I am not surprised. Its their daily bread and butter. Municipality surprised me. Kudos. Not only on their engagement but also on the followed up conversation. They were able to sell me on the idea. They managed their lead well.

‘WINNERS’ ARE:

• 2 x Municipality office jobs
• 3 x job posted by Personal / Headhunting company

SO WHAT?

The state of affairs is not good. Based on my results, there is little automation. Little lead management. The practices are reactionary. If a candidate does not fit the mold for the current job search, there is little consideration for future sourcing. Scale up seems to be limited to the number of headcounts in the TA team. The fact that there is NO reply to the application speaks volume about your employer brand. NO matter how many baristas you put in your free canteen or how hyped you are by investor platform.