In order to grow in the right direction, it is essential for a company to bring the right people onto the team. That includes each step of the hiring process, from publishing job postings on the right platforms to choosing the right people for specific roles.
With that being said, being mindful of our standards, objectives, and tools for matters relating to human resources is a constant in every step of the way.
In this article, we will be highlighting Snappymob’s talent sourcing process, pain points, preferred job posting platforms, as well as the different ways Hiredly helps ease and speed up our workflow.
Our Hiring Process in 6 Steps
What goes into the entire hiring process? What roles are there and who plays them? Before we talk about the tools we use, let’s talk about the process itself.
The people involved in our talent sourcing process are generally our executive assistant(s) and our team leads or department managers. From start to end in six steps, here’s a simple breakdown how we find the best fitting people to join our team:
1. Shortlisting
This first stage is handled by managers who will look through the applications that we receive via various job posting platforms, and shortlist the candidates they see fit for an open position. Aspects examined at this early stage are such as work status, professional experience, and any applicable portfolio submitted.
2. Screening
After the team leads have made their pick, the executive assistant will screen the shortlisted candidates by reviewing them further. This is typically done via a brief conversation over the phone.
Communication skills, work experience, notice period, location, reasons for leaving their current or previous company, as well as their current and expected salary will be inquired on to ensure that they align with the company’s standards. For fresh graduates, an academic transcript is requested for, if it was not included in the candidate’s application prior to the screening.
3. Scheduling
Within 1-2 days after screening is completed, managers will review the candidates once again with the additional information acquired from the screening, and decide if they want to proceed to schedule an interview with the candidates or decline their application.
4. Interviews
Interviews that are successfully scheduled are assigned to our team leads. Depending on the team a candidate is sorted under — development, business development, marketing, quality assurance, or design — the team or department managers will be taking the lead on the direction of the interview.
Typically one-on-one, our interviews are where we chat with candidates in person or through a virtual meeting to get to know them a little more beyond ink and paper.
5. Decision
After spending some time on consideration and discussion, a decision is made by our team leads within 1-2 weeks after the interview.
6. Confirmation
Team leads will communicate their decision with the executive assistant, who will then prepare an offer letter for the candidate. The offer letter will be sent to the candidate via email and be notified over the phone. Within a week’s time, the offer will need to be accepted or rejected by the candidate.
Our Pain Points in Talent Sourcing
When we seek out candidates to shortlist, we acknowledge the importance of doing it with a focus in mind. In order to find the right fits for our team, it is nothing but crucial to be particular about our goals and standards.
A Shortlist-worthy Candidate
While we try our best to give every applicant a chance by looking through their submissions and attachments, a candidate’s application can outshine the others in various different ways:
a. Outstanding resume — When a candidate’s resume or CV is visually pleasant, gets to the point, and highlights a candidate’s unique skills and experience, they have a higher chance of catching the eye and leaving a good impression. A well put together resume displays a sense of precision and thoughtfulness.
b. Skills and knowledge — Whether a candidate’s skills and knowledge match what we’re looking for is one of the top priorities. Their expertise and past projects should also match and justify their stated years of experience.
c. Personal projects — Personal projects display passion and drive in one’s pursuits, as well as willingness to deep-dive into a subject without being instructed to. For this reason, candidates that have past or present personal projects (such as self published apps/websites/blogs) are more likely to pass the shortlisting process.
d. Accomplishments — No matter how small, links to any past awards or accomplishments such as courses, projects and contests are a big plus to a candidate’s credibility when it comes to their skills and knowledge.
A Successful Interview
During the interview process, our role is to look beyond the resume to get to know a candidate on a deeper level. This would entail looking for favorable character traits and additional information that would convince us that they’re the right fit for the job.
To name a few things that would help a candidate stand out:
a. Skills and knowledge — Being well prepared and able to elaborate and expand on their skills and knowledge would help us verify what we see on paper. A candidate should be able to present themselves in a way that justifies their credentials and years of experience.
b. Pleasant personality — Possessing a positive attitude and having the ability to interact in a way that is amicable, interesting, and displays their passion in the subject at hand are great advantages in forming a good first impression.
c. Soft skills — Being able to communicate clearly and honestly about their soft skills, strengths and weaknesses will help us get to know them on a more personal level and gauge if they are a good fit for the team.
With all that being said, at the end of the day interviews are a two-way street. On our end, we aim to communicate the essentials to candidates during the interview process, including the low-down on our routine, culture, standards and demands.
Platforms We Love and Use
A significant number of new job portal platforms have been emerging as of late to make up for Malaysian employers’ dire hiring needs. Despite the lineup of choices however, we’ve settled with three. Here’s why.
JobStreet
JobStreet was the first hiring platform Snappymob hopped on for recruitment. If you’re Malaysian, you’ve probably guessed it due to its popularity over the last couple decades. Since launched in 1997, JobStreet has now garnered over 7 million active users across Southeast Asia. Adults, young adults, and students alike have all been on this long withstanding and trusty platform in search of job opportunities.
Hiredly
Hiredly, previously known as WOBB, has also been one of our most used hiring platforms through the past few years. Despite being relatively new in the industry, over just a short amount of time, the app has quickly proven to be the best fit for millennials. First launched in 2014, Hiredly has grown a user base of over 630,000+ job seekers and is expected to grow even more with at least 15,000 new job seekers monthly.
LinkedIn has been the perfect platform for not only hiring but also marketing and connecting with other businesses and business owners. With 740 million users worldwide, it has been our #1 social networking platform of choice when it comes to delivering company news and announcements, seeking engagement, as well as scouting new team members.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| JobStreet | Hiredly | ||
| Plan Type | Monthly subscription (Premium / Business) | Pay per usage | Annual subscription |
| Pricing | RM250/month = RM3000/year | 1 job ad = RM600 (1 use only) | 1 job slot = RM1800 (1 year)RM150/month |
| Listing Flexibility | Limited listings | Non-reusable listings | Reusable listings (1 year) |
| Monthly Boosting | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free unlimited internship postings | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Resume Search | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Company Page | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Company Reviews | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Salary Tools | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Social Media Blasting | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Company Profile Production | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Feature Comparison: Weighing Cost Against Returns
The amounts we spend on posting job ads on average vary depending on our subscription plan for each platform. This is when we must consider objective costs and how much closer each package can bring us to our goals. Among our top hiring platforms, here’s how they compare.
Let’s start with the most basic plan we’re on — LinkedIn Premium Business. Subscribing to their premium business plan allows us to enjoy free job postings, or, Limited Listings. However, these listings are only visible to candidates who search for jobs on LinkedIn or on a company’s LinkedIn page.
On Hiredly, we partake of an annual subscription plan, choosing one of two popular packages — job slots and unlimited job tokens. Job slots are job advertisement spaces on the app, while job tokens allow for unlimited job postings on the app. As a development agency that often has openings for the same role, the first package was better for us. With each job slot, we can reuse our listings as many times as we want over the course of a year.
JobStreet, lastly, works on a pay-per-package plan. It sure looks like a better deal when we place their pricing side by side with Hiredly. With JobStreet, we can save at least RM500 per job slot. But the disadvantage is that their job slots are not reusable once used.
Ultimately, when deciding on which platform to use, we always weigh the pros and cons with our goals in view. We’ve grown comfortable with using all three of these packages simultaneously to keep our hiring strategy flexible and adaptable. However, if we were asked to choose only one, the obvious choice would be Hiredly.
Why Hiredly Works Best for Us
Recently, we’ve noticed a growing success rate in our hiring strategy with Hiredly. In fact, 50% of our new hires in the year 2020 alone came from the app. How does Hiredly hit all the right spots as one of our top hiring platforms?
Right People, Right Place
As a web and app agency, we are always on the lookout for young, open, tech savvy, and creative minds. Hiredly gives us better access to Millennial and Gen Z job seekers, while still including seasoned and experienced creatives.
Tip-Top Product Experience
One huge thing that sets Hiredly apart from their competitors is their amazing user experience. For both employers and job seekers, it’s just easy to use. Despite operating equally on both web and mobile, their mobile-first approach has definitely been a game changer for job portals.
Posting a job listing has never been easier with job slots. Credits are fully customisable on Hiredly. Which means we decide the number of slots we want, without settling on packages that don’t properly meet our needs. We can also repost and replace job listings as much as we like, within a 12-month period. This is extremely cost-effective for us and fits our strategy like a glove.
Another great point for efficiency worth mentioning is their virtual interviewer feature. With the use of Hiredly’s AI system, also known as Aivi, potential candidates can be automatically screened through a virtual Q&A process. This has saved us a lot of time. We can now skip the manual screening process altogether and proceed straight to the next steps.
Great Tools for Branding
Job seekers in this modern era are, for good reason, more particular in selecting and applying for jobs. A sustainable work culture and good reputation are among the top driving factors in today’s job applications.
Lucky for us, our culture is one of the things we love here at Snappymob. Being able to showcase that aspect of our team really serves us an advantage in our search for like-minded individuals. With Hiredly’s tools for personalization, showcasing our culture with rich media on our company profile is nothing but a breeze.
Work With Us
Snappymob is a place for people who are obsessive about what they do, relish the minutiae, love great user experiences, and enjoy chiseling away at hard challenges with teammates. These tenets are what earns us a place as one of Malaysia’s top web and app development agencies.
If you align with us, you might enjoy working with us. Drop by our profile on Hiredly to see our open positions — you might find something you’re a good fit for!