Apr 16, 2017
Lorraine Buhannic & Ashley Babinecz
Campus to Corporate: How recruiting Millennials enabled AppNexus to incubate its strongest recruiting strategies
An internet technology
company that harnesses data
and machine learning to power
the world’s largest digital
audience platforms.
NA EAST 5 Offices NJ Data Center
NA WEST 6 Offices LA and Denver Data Centers
EMEA 10 Offices Amsterdam and Frankfurt Data Centers
APAC • Offices Singapore & Tokyo Data Centers
LATAM Brazil office opened in ’15 Remote sites in Argentina, Chile, Mexico
SCALED GLOBAL FOOTPRINT1091 full-time employees
23 global offices108 billion impressions seen daily at peak
120TB data processed daily at peak$2.4 billion spend through platform in 2015
Define & develop talent brand
Build a campus recruiting program
Improve data, metrics, & reporting
Diversify candidate pool
Stand up internal mobility
KEY FOCUS AREAS
INTRODUCTION Talent Acquisition at AppNexus
APPNEXUS RECRUITING BY THE NUMBERS
2012 2016
5 3
229 EMPLOYEES
GLOBAL OFFICES
RECRUITING TEAM 23 23
1091
356 HIGHLY SKILLED
HIRES PER YEAR1
2012
Notes: (1) Average hires per year, 2012 through 2015
PRINCIPLE #1 Hire for Potential
Refreshing a dry pipeline Shortage of AdTech talent meant we needed a non-traditional approach to hiring
ASSESSMENT CATEGORY
ASSESSMENT COMPONENT DEFINITION PROOF POINTS SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Intrinsics High Potential Drive/motivation: insists on high standards and drives to be great at whatever they do
Courage: takes on new challenges, pushes themselves
Intellectual curiosity: continuous learner; explorer
Uniqueness: interesting experiences professionally or personally; takes the road less traveled
Optimism: sees the best in people and situations
Humility: able to learn from others, servant leadership (no jerks!)
Self-awareness: understands their intrinsic motivations and how they are perceived by others
Did the candidate demonstrate a drive to be great both in and outside of a work environment?
Has the candidate proactively challenged themselves? Have they turned challenge into opportunity?
What makes this candidate an interesting or unique human being?
Did the candidate have a positive outlook?
Was the candidate able to show self-awareness, talk about failure and consequently self-development?
What leadership positions have you held in or out of work? What drove you to do that?
What’s an example of a challenge you took on that was totally out of your comfort zone and pushed you to the limits? What was the situation? What was the outcome? What did you learn and what would you do differently?
What’s an example of something you wanted really badly but failed to achieve?
We like to hire interesting people at AppNexus. What makes you interesting?
What are some areas you’re working to develop and grow in? What was the most impactful constructive feedback you’ve ever received?
What are you working on personally to become better?
Tell me about a time you failed (in this case we're looking for them being transparent about failure and telling someone)
PRINCIPLE #1 Hire for Potential Define what it means and how to spot it
DEFINITION PROOF POINTS SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Courage: takes on new challenges, pushes themselves
Has the candidate proactively challenged themselves? Have they turned challenge into opportunity?
What’s an example of a challenge you took on that was totally out of your comfort zone and pushed you to the limits? What was the situation? What was the outcome? What did you learn and what would you do differently?
PRINCIPLE #2 Leverage Your Community
AppNexpo An open house event for students to come check out our space, meet our teams and learn more about AppNexus
Eng@ AppNexus Video
PRINCIPLE #2 Leverage Your Community
The AppNexus Impressionist Blog Customized LinkedIn Banner
PRINCIPLE #2 Leverage Your Community
Invest in Employee Referrals 45% AppNexus employees referred a candidate this year 2X Each AppNexian who submits a referral
refers an average of 2 candidates 7% of referred candidates are hired each year by AppNexus
ü Weekly emails and office hours ü Incentives and contests ü Referral sourcing sessions
Hire for potential
Leverage your community
Create a winning candidate experience
PRINCIPLE #3 Create a Winning Candidate Experience
Tons of resumes
2 weeks to Identify, assess & close
PRINCIPLE #3 Create a Winning Candidate Experience
High volume of candidates over a shortened recruiting cycle
EXPERIENCED LIFECYCLE CAMPUS LIFECYCLE
Don’t Forget the Influencers!
PRINCIPLE #3 Create a Winning Candidate Experience
45% FASTER
Overall time to fill 100 DAYS
“Blitz” method time to fill 69 DAYS
First Round Interviews
Lunch & Interview Deliberations
Final Round Interviews
Final Round Deliberations
The Interview Blitz
Notes: Data contained on this slide reflects hiring activity in H1 2016
PRINCIPLE #3 Create a Winning Candidate Experience
PERSONALIZE THE INTERVIEW
• Turn your waiting area into a common space for employees
• Use glass conference rooms for interviews • Write a personal welcome note & interview
schedule on the whiteboard • Provide tablets in the interview room AppNexus interview room
AppNexus waiting area
Hire for potential
Leverage your community
Create a winning candidate experience
Our Top Three Principles CONCLUSION
Our Results
Hire for Potential Leverage Your Community Create a Winning Candidate Experience
Despite nearly a full work day of
interviews, I didn’t feel overwhelmed
or burnt out. It was actually a relief to
get the first round/second round
stuff done in a day. - Glassdoor
…by the end of the day I felt like I had
a good sense of the company’s
values/culture, and they had a good
idea of who I am as well as how I
think. - Glassdoor
CONCLUSION
Thank you for such a wonderful
experience. I loved the thoroughness
and transparency throughout the
process. Definitely felt very taken care
of and that you cared about your
prospective employees. Thank you!! - AppNexus Candidate Experience Survey Internal candidates filled 22% of roles in
H1 2016; 39% of transfers moved up into more senior-level roles
~200 Intern & Full-Time candidates were hired at AppNexus from our Campus
Recruiting Program since 2012
Over half of these campus hires are still at AppNexus today; 6 former interns managed interns on this summer
The @AppNexus Video Series has generated approximately 17,000 views
year to date
35% of open roles were filled with Employee Referrals so far year to date
Volume of applications to open roles has more than doubled to about 24,000 per
year since 2012