Hiring 2.0

It’s no secret that Henderson, Nev.-based Zappos.com is known for its innovative hiring techniques. The young company continues to live up to its reputation with a new e-hiring tool.

The company first created buzz in the retail HR field with a hiring strategy called “The Offer,” in which the company tests the enthusiasm and commitment of new hires by offering a $2,000 bonus to quit. (New hires are told about the offer at the end of the first week of their four-week training class.)

Finding passionate, qualified employees who exemplify the company’s core values is critical to the company’s hiring process. As Zappos looked to grow its employee base, the company started to evaluate how it manages the applicant pool.

For the company to effectively manage and channel applications from the various hiring outlets it uses, zappos.com decided to move away from a paper-based system.

“We are always looking for the right people to take the company to the next level from both a technical perspective and a cultural one, but we needed a fast, thorough, cost-effective and efficient way to do so,” said Christa Foley, recruiting manager at zappos.com.

In November 2008, zappos.com selected San Francisco-based Jobvite to streamline this process.

Since then, the company has been looking for candidates in a variety of ways. These range from posts on social-networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and job boards including Monster, Dice and Craigslist, to employee referrals and staffing agencies. Jobvite integrates the results from each of these recruitment efforts and helps the company build an organized pipeline of strong candidates to fill jobs quickly.

The on-demand application manages the company’s recruiting and hiring process, including applicant tracking, sourcing, career site, employee referral, internal mobility, reporting and compliance. It also features an online recruitment application that involves all of Zappos’ employees in the hiring process. For example, an associate can send Jobvites, or electronic job invitations, to their own social networks.

“Current employees are a great resource for finding talent because they live and breathe Zappos, and they know what we are looking for culturally,” Foley said. “The Jobvite model makes referrals and networking with employee connections very easy.”

In addition, Foley said the system is simple to use. When someone applies for a job, a Microsoft Outlook e-mail notification is sent to the recruiter, who can access the Jobvite dashboard on either a computer or handheld device.

The system also keeps all of the candidate information, correspondence and interview comments in one place. This provides a centralized location that can be accessed by both recruiting and the hiring managers.

“Overall, Jobvite will definitely complement our previous hiring methods and help us make the process much more efficient,” Foley said.

Zappos.com is still working on the candidate-facing side of the Jobvite portal, but it aims to make it an accurate and informative “inside” look at Zappos.

“We are also working to make our online application fun and weird just like we are, and hopefully a fun experience for candidates,” Foley said.

Zappos.com also hopes the communication tools in Jobvite will make it easier for recruiters to contact candidates with the same quality of service zappos.com customers have come to expect, in a quick and timely manner.

“Ultimately, our goal is to provide the same level of service to applicants as we do to our customers,” said Foley.