They’re one of the most prestigious companies to work for globally. Their workforce alone includes over 96,000 people, and they have an 84% satisfaction rate among employees.
Because of this, working at this company is in demand. It has been reported that they get about 1.8 million applications each year, which is somewhat mind-blowing. For its Future Leaders Programme alone, roughly 250,000 people applied for about 800 positions.
In 2016, they realized that their old hiring practices weren’t sustainable anymore. That’s when they partnered with Pymetrics and HireVue to completely change their hiring process from start to end.
What Unilever Changed
Pymetrics changed the first part of their hiring process, the early-stage CV screening. They replaced it with 12 neuroscience-based games that took around 15-20 minutes to complete.
The games measured a series of soft skills, ranging from risk tolerance to focus, decision-making, and feedback response. Behind all this was the Pymetics AI algorithm, which would measure the candidates' results against Unilvere’s top-performing profiles.
Candidates who scored well in this stage moved on to the next round. This was the video interview. However, it wasn’t like a “normal” interview. It was an interview system built by HireVue that doesn’t require an interviewer. Instead, candidates answered a series of timed questions and were scored based on their responses.
Whoever the top candidates are from HireVue’s video process went on to the final and last stage. This was an in-person interview at one of Unilever’s assessment facilities.
The Results
According to a case study review by Bernard Marr, the entire hiring cycle dropped from four months to four weeks. A 90% reduction in time-to-hire. Unilever also saved over 50,000 hours of candidate screening and interview time in the first 18 months, alongside £1 million in annual hiring costs. The general candidate experience improved as well. Completion rates went from 50% all the way to 96%.
Why the Hiring Process Improved
The improvement comes down to basic psychology. People engage more when they feel progress, get instant feedback, and are rewarded for their effort.
The gamification of processes has been seen in a range of sectors, especially those looking to drive consistent user engagement. Most fitness apps now track how many days you've engaged with a platform, or your 'streak', as do learning platforms like the language learning app Duolingo. Entertainment platforms are no different, and the highly competitive iGaming and casino sector has had to adapt to encourage players to stick with one offering. Many now utilise daily engagement games and rewards like free spins daily to encourage consistent engagement with a platform. These engagement tools work on reward anticipation, a direct result of a gamified engagement model.
With the new Unilever process, they borrowed the same logic. Instead of a static application form, which, honestly, is pretty boring, candidates get an interactive experience that has built-in momentum.
Not only this, but it immediately measured candidates based on their soft skills. Those who passed moved on to the next round. Nobody had to review a CV, call the individual, speak to references, etc., saving hours upon hours of time.
What Other Employers Can Take From This
Unilever’s case was impressive, especially at their scale. But the principles apply at every level. A gamified assessment can test how somebody really thinks. It goes much deeper than a CV and gives you access to information about someone that isn’t possible without a person-to-person interview.
These interviews are time-consuming, even if you need to do 5-15 of them. It can take hours and days, depending on your process. By removing this and replacing it with gamified assessments, you’re able to regain that time, interview more candidates, and find someone who will truly drive your business.
