Tipico hired 110 engineers from more than 9,000 applicants

The challenge

Tipico’s engineering team grew past 250 people in a few years. The company needed senior developers who could work in Java, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP and cloud technologies.

In 2019, more than 9,000 candidates applied for its technical roles, and 2 technical recruiters handled them. Each engineering team hired its own way, so the talent team needed one process that could separate the great candidates from the good ones, fast.

“The challenge at that time was that we gave the engineering teams freedom to hire themselves. We had different standards, we used different techniques and ways of defining what good technical talent is. The process was lengthy and painful, teams were overcomplicating the interviews, trying to get that perfect seniority.”

Jose David Arteaga Alvarez, Talent Acquisition Manager, Tipico

How Tipico uses Codility

A pilot with Codility grew into a partnership between Tipico’s talent and engineering teams. Together they designed one workflow for every senior developer who applies, with a set number of steps and a standard technical assessment.

1. 01

   Phone screen

   A technical recruiter checks what the candidate wants from their next role and whether they match the requirements.

2. 02

   Technical assessment in Codility Screen

   2 to 3 coding tasks related to the job, designed to take 2 hours or less.

3. 03

   Culture fit interview

   A conversation about values, leadership and how the candidate approaches problems.

4. 04

   Technical interview

   With the hiring manager or an engineering leader. Some teams run it live in Codility Interview to see how candidates think through problems.

5. 05

   Meet the team

   Candidates meet their future teammates and learn about the job.

The take-home assessment lets recruiters establish technical competence before hiring managers invest their time. The team can dismiss unqualified candidates quickly and fast-track strong ones.

“We found a sweet spot of 2-3 coding tasks, all related to the job so that the candidate can show their knowledge and skills but also get a better idea about working with us in real life. We also make sure that the test can be completed in 2 hours or less, being mindful of our candidates’ time.”

Jose David Arteaga Alvarez, Talent Acquisition Manager, Tipico

The results

With one workflow for each senior technical role, Tipico narrowed more than 9,000 applicants to 156 who scored above 80% on their Codility assessment, the top 1.7%, and hired 110 of them.

More than 81% of candidates said Tipico evaluated their Java coding skills fairly and had a positive experience with Codility.

“Many of our headhunters noticed we raised the bar and consistently keep our hiring process at a high level.”

Jose David Arteaga Alvarez, Talent Acquisition Manager, Tipico