How to run a No CV campaign

When colleagues ask me about creating a NO CV campaign - I can usually hear it in their voice that they expect a complicated process. But from my experience, those campaigns usually makes our life, as recruiters, actually easier.

It all started in UNLEASH Amsterdam 2017. Bill Boorman was hosting a panel about "disruption recruitment". I'm sorry that I don’t remember her name, but one of the panel participants introduced this idea of no CV process, as an example for a new approach she took in the startup she worked in. I remember that I thought, "this will not work for us", we are a large IT corporation, with processes and bureaucracy, our managers will never accept this.

And then the need came.

A few months later, I was missing a recruiter in my team. We were all stressed and overloaded and just got a new project to recruit a large number of testers. I was driving to work, one early morning, thinking again and again what to do and how to tackle this challenge. And then I remembered the discussion in the panel.

Arriving at the office, already excited I introduced the idea to the team, we spent time discussing the process and how it will work, before taking it to the managers. going live with the campaign, we got great response from the market, with high number of applicants and good candidate funnel % results. those results pushed us to try the same approach in other projects too. Looking back on this year, this was one of the projects I’m most proud of.

The principle is very straightforward- we skip over the CV submitting and reviewing phase and go directly to the first screening process. As you don't have the CV to choose from, you need a strong screening criteria and tool that will help you to screen candidates. this process can only work for roles where you have a defined and clear screening criteria. For example - specific technical skills, specific professional knowledge etc. the tool you are using should be as automatic and easy to use as possible.

On our first campaign, we chose to use our online technical test for screening. The test was built with the hiring manager, and we agreed on a specific score that will serve as our passing mark. To make the application process fast and easy, we created mini-site inviting potential applicants to submit only their name and email, answering just two additional questions about their location and work eligibility.

The next stage was to share with them a link to an online technical test. All the candidates that passed with high enough score were invited to an interview. Our social media campaign highlighted the message that - if you have the right technical skills we want to meet you (no matter your age or which university you went to).

Main benefits:

• better candidate experience- no need for long application forms.
• Fairness and diversity- eliminating class, age and gender bias.
• Fast & efficient process for recruiters and managers.

8 easy steps- how to run a NO CV campaign-

1. Review the role, make sure your screening criteria are clear and defined and that you have the right tool for screening.

2. Decide on the process you are going to have, and the tools that you will use (for candidates applications, testing etc.)

3. Communicate the process to managers and stakeholders, collect remarks and concerns and answer questions.

5. Create the candidate application landing page (I highly recommend type form as its mobile friendly).

6. Create the social media campaign and decide on the sourcing channels.

7. Let's go !!

8. Don’t forget to collect data- review the change in passing % and candidate funnel results, compare the results to your regular application process (so you can learn and improve), ask candidates and managers about their experience.