Inside Zappos: Changing the Talent Game Through Disruption

 Michael Bailen @BailenOut

 Head of Talent, Zappos

 Stacy Donovan Zapar @StacyZapar

 Candidate Experience & Engagement, Zappos  Founder, Tenfold

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•  Why we did it •  What it is •  How we did it •  How it’s turned out •  What parts might work

for your team

Zappos Insider Program

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Looking Back

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“Necessity is the mother of invention.” - Plato

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Our Challenges - 2013

31,000 applications - 300 new hires 30,700 rejection letters

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Looking Forward

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“Embrace and drive change.” - Zappos Core Value #2

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“Since the call-to-action is to become an Insider versus applying for a specific opening, we will

capture more people with a variety of skill sets that we can pipeline for current or future openings."

- Michael Bailen, as quoted in CIO Magazine

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Our Goals & Predictions 1. Larger talent pool with more variety of skillsets 2. Decreased bounce rate 3. Increased recruiter-sourced candidates 4. Fewer candidates per req (less volume), more quality submittals

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How It Works

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“A Zappos Insider is someone who might want to work for Zappos

today, tomorrow or at some point in the future.” - Stacy Donovan Zapar,

as quoted in Harvard Business Review

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•  NOT a Talent Community •  NOT a Social Network •  NOT Eliminating Reqs or Job Descriptions •  NOT Hiring for Culture Fit Only •  NOT Discriminatory

What It Isn’t

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•  Talent Pipeline •  Proactive Sourcing •  Two-Way Conversations •  Long-term Relationships •  Pipelining / Stack

Ranking Top Talent

What It Is •  Hiring for Technical Fit

AND Culture Fit •  Getting to Know Each

Other •  CRM on the Frontend /

ATS on the Backend •  (Almost All) Job

Postings Eliminated #intalent

Insider Engagement

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“Take a long time to hire and a short time to fire. Most companies do it

the other way around.” - Tony Hsieh CEO, Zappos

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The Results (So Far!)

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“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

- Alan Kay, Computer Scientist

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Our Goals & Predictions Goal #1: Larger talent pool with more variety of skillsets

Results?

2013: 30,657 applicants / 8,635 unique Post-Launch: 26,315 unique Insiders (annualized);

35,000 predicted (new advertising, Fortune Best Places to Work uptick, etc.)

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Talent Pool: Unique Applicants / Insiders Up 300%

8,635

26,315

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

Source: As calculated by Jobvite ATS Reporting

2013

Post-Launch

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Our Goals & Predictions Goal #2: Decreased bounce rate

Results?

2013: 80% bounce rate Post-Launch: 40% bounce rate

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Bounce Rate: Down 50%

80%

40%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100% 2013

Post-Launch

Source: As calculated by Jobvite ATS Reporting #intalent

Our Goals & Predictions Goal #3: Increased recruiter-sourced candidates

Results?

2013: 51 sourced candidates Post-Launch: 408 sourced candidates (annualized)

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Sourced Candidates: Up 800%

51

408

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500 2013

Post-Launch

Source: As calculated by Jobvite ATS Reporting #intalent

Our Goals & Predictions Goal #4: Fewer candidates per req (less volume),

more quality submittals

Results?

Volume: Down 68% (annualized)

Quality: Up 1% (annualized)

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Volume Down 69%, Quality Submittals Up Slightly

16009

5004

1009 (6% quality)

1020 (20% quality)

-1000

1000

3000

5000

7000

9000

11000

13000

15000

17000

Source: As calculated by Jobvite ATS Reporting

2013 Total Candidates 2013 Quality Submittals Post-Launch Total Candidates Post-Launch Quality Submittals

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What We’ve Learned

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“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign that you’re not

doing anything very innovative.”

- Woody Allen

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Takeaways

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“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we

created them.”

- Albert Einstein

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Thank you!

 Michael Bailen @BailenOut

 Head of Talent, Zappos

 Stacy Donovan Zapar @StacyZapar

 Candidate Experience & Engagement, Zappos  Founder, Tenfold

#intalent