Isaac Operations Hires Qualified Consultants By Digitizing Recruitment Methods

The Client

Isaac Operations works hands-on with organizations around the world to help them get more out of their operational processes and supply chains. From its roots in manufacturing, Isaac applies a unique engineering-based approach across a wide range of industries such as aerospace, automotive, defence, food & drink, and healthcare. They identify issues that limit cost, delivery and quality performance, and then implement practical solutions to rapidly generate measurable, sustainable financial returns.

The Challenge

Isaac Operations has a small, two-person recruitment team led by Director of Talent, Jenna Wilson. They hire a lot of engineers, but they’ve also expanded their candidate pool to include other highly-analytical people with critical thinking skills who love problem solving. Candidates also need strong communication skills to build relationships and influence decision making.

Isaac’s recruitment process has always been very detailed and hands-on. “We’d facilitate info sessions on campus, and applicants would take two written tests right on-site. We’d then travel back to campus to conduct first-round interviews with successful candidates and invite top talent back to our office for a final Selection Day.”

The process was mostly paper-based. “I was driving and flying across Canada with a massive suitcase filled with paper tests, and the team was individually marking each test by hand. It felt like there could be a better way to manage the process.”

Since one of Isaac’s senior consultants always joined Wilson for the on-campus recruitment days, considerable time and money was being spent. Moreover, a large portion of Isaac’s hiring is done in a limited window of time.

“We do hire throughout the year, but for our entry level consultant roles, we only recruit from September 1 to the end of November. We hire people for a January, May, and August start date, and then we go through the recruitment process again the following year.” Within that three month period, Isaac’s recruitment team typically receives around 1,500 applications.

Isaac needed more accessible pre-employment assessment tools to connect them with qualified consultants.

The Results

The VidCruiter platform has been “a game-changer” for Isaac. “It allows candidates to apply from anywhere; they don’t need to physically attend an info session and we’re not limited to individual schools,” says Wilson. “Since we have more people to choose from, we’ve also been able to raise the bar about who we’re bringing through to the next stage.”

VidCruiter is helping Isaac hire great people faster than ever. “Everyone is loving the tool,” says Wilson. “Before, we could interview maybe 12 people on a good day. Whereas now, interviewing is constantly flowing. Candidates complete the interview on their own time, and we review them on our own time. There’s no back-and-forth scheduling interviews.”

Isaac is saving ~125 hours each autumn simply from eliminating manual test-grading. “It took our team about five minutes to mark each test, and when you think about 1,500 applicants, that saves a lot of time.”

The rating system is also more consistent, helping minimize hiring bias. Isaac has a custom rubric built into VidCruiter’s video interviewing platform so they can collect specific data points at every part of the hiring process. “We’ve taken a good look at diversity inclusion best practices, and we want to eliminate room for bias as much as possible. We want to keep interview questions consistent and score candidates consistently,” says Wilson. “This structure has helped us do that.”

The new process has also improved the candidates’ experience because the hiring process is much more accessible and quick. “I can’t even explain the efficiency,” says Wilson. “From an evaluator standpoint, it’s so efficient for me to send over a link so we can review a candidate. It’s helping our hiring decisions, and it’s adding fairness to the process.”