A candidate-friendly recruitment process is here at CKSource. Come join us!

A great candidate experience within the recruitment process is the first step on the way to attracting and eventually keeping outstanding professionals on a team. If we want top talent to stay with us for years, we need to treat those valuable specialists with respect, appreciation, and consideration - from the very beginning.

And this is how it looks like at CKSource, where many solutions regarding the hiring process make it a truly smooth and positive candidate experience. We give candidates all the pieces of relevant information they need, being aware of what they want to know in the first place. Moreover, we respect their time and effort and try not to leave them without feedback. Fast and easy remote recruitment is also on the cards within our company.

What’s important, we’re open to talented junior-level candidates who may not have an impressive portfolio but a fair amount of theoretical fundamentals, enthusiasm, ability to solve problems and cooperate within teams well, and willingness to learn new things instead. At CKSource, we enable job seekers to showcase their true talents and skills - during and after the hiring process - no matter their seniority, age, gender, or ethnicity.

So what exactly does CKSource do to make the recruitment process friendly for candidates? Let’s see.

# 1. Showing respect to all applicants within the recruitment process

Respecting candidates means providing each of them with a smooth and intuitive experience when joining the hiring process. The latter should be well-described and clear, consuming just the right amount of time - enough to pick out and recruit the right person - and not to overburden all remaining applicants. For this reason, a thorough candidate screening is performed in the very beginning, so that CKSource interviewers only invite matching candidates to the recruitment and selection process. This prevents wasting everybody’s time. Showing respect also means being well-prepared for an interview, based on candidates’ resumes.

And how can they get in touch with the company? First of all, there is a general contact form available online, working also on mobile devices, where applicants-to-be may contact the HR Department with all their inquiries. And when applying for a particular job offer at CKSource, one doesn’t need to rewrite information available on their CV, but simply upload the file with their resume, and only fill in a few mandatory fields such as date available, desired pay as well as agreement type or the localization preferred (on-site, in a given city, or remote).

It’s worth mentioning that job offers are published not only in the Careers tab at the CKSource website, but also across various recruitment websites (like Pracuj.pl, and InHire.io), including those specialized in IT, such as NoFluffJobs, and JustJoinIT.

Once a candidate applies, they receive a thank you email. Next, selected applicants are contacted by a recruiter with an invitation to perform a recruitment task at Coderbyte. Usually, a link enabling that is valid for seven days, throughout three hours. Following this stage, the candidate always receives some form of information on whether they managed to qualify for the next phase, which is composed of both HR and technical interviews. And the latter also always finishes by presenting the candidate with feedback. People who’ve got to this final stage and put a lot of effort into the process may count on the most comprehensive feedback.

We're going towards candidate-first experience, and we keep mastering this procedure. The whole recruitment process typically lasts no more than three weeks from a candidate sending in a resume to closing the deal. This period depends on factors such as the team schedule, and the project type, but also the candidate's availability. Some junior positions, however, can be filled within a week, and the candidate is usually contacted within 1-2 days of receiving their resume.

The whole process is smooth, fast, and has worked out for us for many years, but has been specially adapted to the pandemic reality lately and can be performed fully remotely today. This includes such activities as agreement signing or passing the equipment for new hires that chose to work from home. Anyway, the job application process is perfectly designed to only take on people who are well-suited to our organization.

It’s because we treat our candidates like partners and we want them to be fulfilled within their professional roles on one hand, and we value long-term relationships on the other. “We treat our candidates like human beings, and not like human resources. We don’t ask fixed, cliche, or stiff HR questions, but want to get to know those people first. Next, we verify if their skills match our needs. Candidates confirm that our recruitment process is professional and friendly” - emphasizes Natalia Stachowicz.

In general, our interview process is simple yet complex enough to make the right decision. We need to verify the software developer in technical terms, in order to minimize costs and risk for both sides. We respect the time and engagement of candidates who trust us, too.

# 2. Providing candidates with enough information

But respecting applicants also means providing them with enough information - from the very beginning till the end of the recruitment process. First of all, this means enabling data on the role so that candidates don’t apply unnecessarily. Moreover, it’s important to get back to applicants fast - replying quickly after receiving their resumes and giving feedback following particular stages of the hiring process. On top of that, an informative career page is also needed and provided by CKSource.

We are a product company, not a software house, and every candidate knows what team they are going to be a part of ahead of time. Meanwhile, an appropriate team leader will be present during the interview. Candidates can speak freely about what they expect from their future employer and supervisor. They may ask as many questions as they like, including those concerning the job description, tasks involved, duties, and responsibilities. However, there may be some modifications implemented later on - we simply listen to our employees’ needs.

At every stage, we are very honest. There are highly appreciated standards and procedures worked out and introduced but we listen to our candidates' voices and can adapt easily. For example, a task that was previously found to be too complex has been removed from the recruitment process. We are also flexible when it comes to prolonging the talks with our candidates. If the interview runs smoothly, and a candidate asks many questions, we are here for them.

We keep in touch with applicants later on, providing information - by phone and email - on what the current status is, and what will be done next. Candidates are also well-informed about everything they need to know to get to the CKSource office if the recruitment process is performed on-site. Of course, everything can be done 100% remotely, as well as the majority of professional duties later on. In remote-first times, it’s crucial that the candidate selection process is aligned to the applicants that are located in someplace else, or who just feel safe when being interviewed online. At CKSource, a candidate journey is adapted to the remote reality very well, and online interviews are close to perfection.

We are well aware that applicants expect to receive precise information on things such as remuneration, what exactly is expected from them, what the team structure is like, and what their role within it will be. Respect, truthfulness, and empathy are also highly appreciated by them - a survey by NoFluffJobs revealed.

It also showed that over 70% of candidates screen the prospective employer online. And in the case of CKSource, they definitely can find sufficient information available over the web. The company’s products, their most important features, as well as entire teams within the organization, are precisely described. Extensive information is also available when it comes to recruitment issues and current job openings. Aspects like the salary (along with perks and benefits), expectations and responsibilities, as well as the role within the team are made clear ahead of time for all candidates.

# 3. Appreciating junior software developers

This openness, one of the hallmarks of CKSource, also applies to junior software developers. While junior programmers who don’t have extensive interview experience and a rich portfolio of projects to show off may have difficulties in finding their first job, CKSource gives them a chance. “As a junior who was hitting the walls of 20 different companies, and not getting any responses at all, I was delighted with the very fact that I could take part in the recruitment process at CKSource, and no matter how long it would be, and how many stages it would involve” - emphasizes Łukasz Gudel, Junior QA Engineer at CKSource.

An interesting NoFluffJobs survey suggests that two-thirds of junior developers thought that expectations towards candidates, expressed in job offers for junior positions, were too high. The technologies expected for juniors to be familiar with, as well as tasks required to be performed at a given position, were topping the list. At CKSource, a well-designed test of skill or proficiency check is performed - it comprises practical tasks as well as multiple-choice questions. We value knowledge and skills, and not seniority or years of service in any previous employment.

"I recently joined CKSource as a JavaScript Technical Lead. I must say that the recruitment process was one of the most pleasant experiences I've ever had in my professional life. It was pretty challenging yet satisfying. I spoke directly to the people I'm working with right now. The recruitment tasks were a mix of typical coding challenges and a take-home project. The first part was pretty easy, the next one was the opposite, though. I was involved in so many things that were new to me, like real-time collaboration, or advanced algorithmics. Once I was done with all of it, my mind was blown away. It was the type of satisfaction you get when you finally nail a difficult problem".

What junior candidates also find crucial is receiving feedback from hiring managers. As many as 82% of juniors surveyed by NoFluffJobs said that they wanted to know as many details as possible concerning their failure in getting the particular job. At CKSource, feedback is something important at every stage.

Plus, applicants also complained that job openings for junior developers didn’t include information about the salary offered. According to No Fluff Jobs, this data is not enclosed in the majority (63%) of job offers for juniors, although as many as 84% of them regard information about remuneration offered as the most important one. At CKSource, however, it is clear for virtually all positions, including junior ones.

Want to join us? We are hiring! You may find all current openings here.