Zalando assessed 26,000 engineering candidates on one standard_

The challenge

Gender diversity in tech teams is a priority for Zalando. Yasar Ahmad, its global head of tech talent acquisition, was asked to build an inclusive recruitment process that kept both candidate quality and candidate experience high.

“Gender diversity is a massive priority for Zalando. This problem represents half of the population of the world.”

Yasar Ahmad, Global Head of Tech Talent Acquisition, Zalando

During COVID, applications surged, and screening them took recruiters hours. Yasar needed to automate the process and make sure every candidate was judged fairly.

How Zalando uses Codility

Zalando built a standardized recruitment process on Codility. Every candidate starts with a take-home assessment in Codility Screen that shows their technical and problem-solving skills. From 2016, Zalando sent more than 26,000 of them.

Top candidates then have a remote interview in Codility Interview, a shared, live coding environment where candidate and interviewer work through the solution together and draw diagrams. Zalando ran more than 6,000 of these interviews.

“We looked at Codility to help us battle unconscious bias by assessing all the candidates equally and fairly.”

Yasar Ahmad, Global Head of Tech Talent Acquisition, Zalando

The results

Assessing every candidate on the same tasks helps Zalando reduce unconscious bias and build a more inclusive workplace. The team raised the quality of its candidate pool and cut the time recruiters spend screening thousands of applications every year.

“Zalando becomes more inclusive with our tech assessments, as we no longer judge individuals by just their CVs.”

Yasar Ahmad, Global Head of Tech Talent Acquisition, Zalando

“With Codility we’re getting the right quality of candidates, engaging with those who have the right skill set.”

Yasar Ahmad, Global Head of Tech Talent Acquisition, Zalando