Bridging the gap with Alva Labs
Upon joining the company, Christa quickly recognised the disjointed systems at play, particularly at regional market levels. “It was important for us to streamline these processes and establish an omnichannel approach,” Christa said, “ensuring both quality and efficiency across all markets.”
A key part of this streamlining was enhancing the candidate experience, which Christa identified early on as critical to Nobia's vision for a "future-proof" global hiring process.
Let’s take a look at how Nobia built a harmonised approach across its ecosystem, focused on its collaboration on digitising and automating its hiring processes together with Alva Labs. This would allow Nobia to break down the silos that existed at the individual market level and then build up a standardised way across the company.
For volume recruitment, the conventional recruitment tools like CVs and focusing on evidence-based assessments was phased out, and Nobia streamlined its initial screening process.
“It shortens the time we spend at talent acquisition,” Christa emphasised. “With Alva's assistance, our recruiters can truly focus on the human aspect of hiring, connecting with candidates and ensuring a fit that goes beyond just the resume.”
Scaling recruitment without compromising quality
Given its size as an organisation, Nobia often finds itself handling volume recruitments.
The collaboration with Alva Labs makes sure that, even at scale, Nobia can uphold its commitment to quality. So even with the added challenge of looking for talent across a wide spectrum, such as technically-skilled candidates and kitchen sales representatives, Nobia could use Alva to define the criteria of what high potential looked like early on for those positions.
Hira Wasif, Senior Customer Success Manager at Alva Labs, further emphasises the power of an objective method in high-volume recruitment scenarios.
“From research, what we’ve seen is that when you have volume recruitment and you're able to use a method that's more objective early on and correlating with success,” Hira said. “Then you know that the candidates who get through have that baseline of potential.”
This assurance of potential isn’t just about streamlining the process; it's about achieving a perfect blend of technology and human instinct. In other words, Nobia wasn’t looking for a candidate assessment platform to replace the human touch; they wanted to find technology that could enhance it.
Empowering hiring managers for added efficiency
At Nobia, the transition from talent acquisition specialist to hiring manager is a pivotal element in realising the vision of a streamlined process. This efficient handoff guarantees that hiring managers are equipped to make more informed decisions.
Talent Acquisition teams, armed with the evidence-based results from Alva's assessments, consistently observe a "99 percent match with insights from the initial talent acquisition interviews."
By the time a candidate reaches the hiring manager, they've already fulfilled the predetermined criteria for the role. This allows the interviewer to shift focus from qualifications to a deeper understanding of the candidate's personality, motivations, and fit during a structured conversation.
In instances where the final selection narrows down to multiple high-potential candidates, Alva's assessments become the determining factor, helping the hiring team solidify their decision.
“We’re saving so much time at the beginning of the (hiring) process,” Christa said.
Embracing digital transformation in recruitment
A proof-of-concept is a crucial milestone when teams consider revamping their hiring processes.
Christa valued the evidence-driven insights her teams derived from Alva, as well as the synergies realised between different functions. This confidence was further bolstered by a validation study that Nobia undertook in collaboration with the Alva Labs Customer Success team.
As part of this initiative, Hira supported in building a custom success profile for Nobia, targeting Kitchen Sales Designers in the United Kingdom.
Armed with this profile, Nobia could evaluate candidates against its bespoke criteria defining success in that role. This approach led to hires that resonated deeply with the profile, a strategy Nobia adheres to even today.
One operational tip Christa emphasises is the integration of Alva with the ATS of choice for hiring teams, ensuring a truly cohesive digital recruitment journey. Such integrations pave the way for a frictionless candidate experience, where individuals feel acknowledged and valued at every juncture.
“As the leading kitchen specialist in Europe, Nobia has the ambition to lead the way within design and sustainability”, Christa said. “This means that our candidate experience must be outstanding. Our talent acquisition strategies need to constantly evolve, particularly in areas such as digitalisation and automation, to curate a strong candidate pipeline, to attract top talent"
