Colas, a subsidiary of the Bouygues Group, is a world leader whose mission is to promote transport infrastructure solutions for responsible mobility.
With numerous online applications, Colas wanted to optimize its candidate experience and improve their candidate conversion rate. Thanks to close collaboration with Oracle, Textkernel was able to increase Colas’ candidate conversion rate by up to 440% while maintaining Oracle’s powerful tracking functionality. We spoke with Cédric MENDES, Deputy Director of Employer Branding and Engagement at Colas, about why they implemented Textkernel technology in their Oracle Talent Acquisition Cloud service.
Why did you approach Textkernel?
Cedric: Each year Colas recruits for 3000 jobs and 1800 internships in France alone. The quality of the candidate experience is key to our recruitment strategy. As an employer, we need to treat online applications as a real service to our candidates and make use of the best practices in the market. We wanted to address the issues that lead to candidates abandoning the application process before they’ve completed it, resulting in a less than ideal experience, and contacted Textkernel to help us achieve this. These issues are common to all online application processes which don’t live up to the fast and fluid experience candidates are used to, and expect.
What improvements did you make?
Cedric: We implemented Textkernel’s resume parsing software with our Oracle Talent Acquisition Cloud service and connected their Apply-with widget to our website. Our candidates can now complete an online application in seconds from their PC or mobile by simply upload a resume from their device or the cloud. Textkernel’s technology automatically extracts the data needed to finalize an application; it’s that simple! The result is applicants no longer waste time and energy manually entering their data for online applications.
How do you, your applicants and your recruiters benefit from this?
Cedric: We were able to reduce the time candidates would spend on responding to our job offers. This quick and simple process meets their expectations of online applications, improves the candidate experience and improves our image as an employer. We also saw a decrease in the number of abandoned applications, meaning more candidates made it through the application process. More candidates and an improved application process enhances the satisfaction of our recruiters and hiring managers.
What results have you seen so far?
Cedric: The most spectacular result is the completion rate for online applications which has increased significantly over the same period last year. Two ad hoc recruitment campaigns spring to mind. The candidate conversion rate doubled on the first campaign, while on the second the candidate conversion rate increased by 440%! This decrease in abandoned applications is directly measurable and justifies our investment by itself. We hope our new fast and fluid application process powered by Textkernel technology will also help us improve our employer image in the eyes of applicants.
Interested in finding out more about this integration of our resume parsing software and Apply-with widget? Then download the full customer case here.
