Closing 8 Positions for 4 Teams, Balancing Speed and Quality for Rocket
-
126 days -
8 vacancies filled -
1st candidate hire -
HR Consulting
Ruby
Android
Python
Q/A
Client
Rocket is a fast-growing international food delivery service with an in-house tech department. In 2021, they entered the list of “TOP 30 worldwide startups with Ukrainian roots”, according to Forbes. Their product united clients, couriers, and restaurants in over 40 cities and 8 countries. They launched delivery in the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, France, Portugal, Spain, and Hungary in just six months.
Upd: Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine.
Challenge
A High speed, but old mechanisms
Rocket was in high gear, expanding across 8 countries and embarking on a mission to integrate nearly 3,000 restaurants into their application. The task called for immediate and quality hires in Android, Ruby, Python, QA, and iOS departments.
Rocket’s in-house recruitment team was overwhelmed by the rapid scaling, prompting the need for external assistance. We were brought on board to expedite the hiring process while maintaining quality.
The in-house team had a streamlined recruitment mechanism, albeit one not adapted to rapid scaling. Their existing four-step hiring process included:
- HR phone call
- Test task
- Technical interview
- Final call with the CTO.
The rigidity of the process was further exacerbated by Rocket’s insistence on office-based roles at a time when the industry was gradually tilting toward remote work.
The iOS department proved particularly challenging, with the Team Lead’s specific requirements.
Solution
After the recruitment audit, our specialists revealed two primary bottlenecks in Rocket’s recruitment funnel:
The test task: This eliminated a large share of potential candidates who either dropped out due to the time commitment required or were rejected based on the task performance.
Duration of the hiring process: The elongated process often led to losing good candidates to other faster-moving companies.
We needed to simplify the workflow without quality reduction
So, our main suggestions for skyrocketing the process were:
Flexible Work Arrangements
Workflow
There was room for improvement. And we opened it
- Recognizing that the existing process wasn’t suited for rapid scaling, we proposed a streamlined approach—removing the test task to accelerate the hiring timeline. While the client opted to maintain their original procedure, they were open to gathering data on how it impacted the search.
- After a few weeks of data collection, we revisited the discussion with Rocket. The statistics showed room for improvement, which led to a trial period for a modified process. The new approach allowed us to present candidates we were fully confident in, skipping the test task but adding an HR interview.
- Over time, our adaptability bore fruit. We introduced a more flexible remote work policy, expanding the pool of candidates. The updated process now included a merged technical and HR interview and a final discussion with the CTO.
It would be misleading to suggest that we didn’t encounter challenges. Specifically, we had difficulties recruiting for the iOS roles; despite reviewing over 20 resumes and conducting multiple interviews, we could not secure a candidate that met the team lead’s approval. Although unsuccessful with the iOS team, our agile and data-driven strategy allowed us to adapt and meet most of Rocket’s needs for the other 4 departments.
Key outcomes
The case of Rocket serves not only as a testament to the power of agile and adaptable recruitment but also as a lesson of what could go wrong when rigid processes meet a dynamic, ever-changing world. This road was filled with trials, learnings, and the constant tug-of-war between maintaining the quality of hires and meeting the timelines.
The power of expertise and adaptable recruitment
- 8 vacancies covered
within the stipulated 6 months - Successfully filled roles in
Android (3), Ruby (2), QA (2), and Python (1) departments - First-candidate success
in filling the Ruby vacancy
- Process acceleration
through strategic simplifications - Reduced the overall hiring
cycle time