ORVIS: Explore the Integration of eSkill Online Tests with Taleo

Click HERE to view Case Study.

Customer overview

The Orvis Company started out in 1856 as a mail order company specializing in hunting and fly-fishing gear, expanding to include sportswear for men and women, luggage, home furnishings, and pet products. The company also operates fly-fishing and hunting schools, as well as Orvis Adventures, a travel service, and their international operations totaled more than $340 million in sales in 2012, with 1,700 employees in 70 retail stores across 30 states, as well as the UK.

Business challenge

The company’s biggest hiring challenge was staffing up for their busiest period, from Labor Day through Thanksgiving. Also, they used canned tests, but these were not integrated with Oracle Taleo Business Edition Cloud Service. Tests were sent and processed manually, a time-consuming additional step in an already complex recruiting process. The main goals for Orvis were the following:

• Use relevant assessments in order to weed out the people who weren’t a good fit.
• Integrate online assessments with Taleo.
• Simplify the hiring process.
• Reduce time wasted on follow-ups due to open loops.
• Decrease the percentage of negative feedback related to test relevancy.

Solution

The quality of hire has improved so much that Orvis was able to place some new hires in leadership positions immediately. After a successful season in call center staffing, they look forward to extending their use of eSkill assessments to cover more staff areas.

After partnering with eSkill, Orvis achieved outstanding results:

• Time-to-hire cut by 50%.
• Closed the open loop in the hiring process.
• Saved extra work in the recruiting & training phases.
• Increased quality of hire.
• Received 100% positive feedback from managers & job applicants.
• Eliminated the time spent on follow-ups.

Benefits at a glance:

• A more efficient hiring process
• Canned test replaced by customized tests that focus only on the required skills
• Streamlined recruiting process managed through Taleo

Click HERE to view Case Study.

“We did demos with maybe six other companies, and eSkill kept coming to the top, because of the flexibility, the integration into our Taleo application process, and then being able to use it in other areas of the company. Before, we had so many open loops that we couldn’t close because they were out of our control. Now, after integrating our Taleo system with eSkill, we’re able to move into the process immediately and we have scores in hand. It’s a 100% improvement in the time reduction.”

Wanda Hatchett, Contact Center Scheduling Coordinator/Recruiter, The Orvis Company, Inc.