The process of hiring talent at Credit Union of Texas was quickly growing stale.
The Dallas credit union’s go-to source for finding employees was posting vacant positions on its online job board, but that process was slow and costly. To make the process more dynamic, the $1.4 billion-asset institution has implemented a multifaceted approach for hiring, including a new style of interviewing candidates.
This cut days out of the process and saved the institution thousands of dollars. Because of Credit Union of Texas’s ability to speed up its employee recruitment while lowering costs, Credit Union Journal has recognized them with a Best Practice Award for improved hiring processes.
The previous interview process was prolonged. Recruiters would review individual applications for open positions, conduct face-to-face pre-screenings, schedule interviews for hiring managers and then complete the employment background verification processes. On average, the institution was paying $18 per criminal verification report and $3.75 for each credit check.
But in June 2017, the credit union decided to streamline its talent search by using resume databases, talent networks, social media and onsite job fairs. Managers took charge of conducting their own pre-screenings and scheduling candidate interviews. That sped up the process by removing the recruiter from this step.
The credit union developed a new curriculum for its managers that included a full day of training that involved different departments. This gives leaders from different departments a chance to get to know each other and collaborate, said DeLeonard Fincher, chief engagement officer.
Standardized questions were developed for interviews using the STAR – Situations, Tasks, Actions and Results – technique. This method is a behavioral interview that has the applicant analyze how they would handle hypothetical situations. That tells the manager doing the hiring more about the individual compared with more traditional questions.
All of this saved the credit union a significant amount of time and ensured they were selecting the best fit for their institution.
“What would take days to do, the managers can do in a single day,” Fincher said. “It’s improved time-to-field ratio.”
The institution also started using one vendor for the background verification process and is now spending $6.50 on each criminal background and $2.75 per credit verification report. Management estimated it has saved between $15,000 to $18,000.
E-Verify, an online system that allows companies to check the work eligibility of employees, was also adopted. That brought no additional cost.
Looking ahead, Credit Union of Texas plans to roll out interviewing and retention training for managers in 2019, another in-house training curriculum that equips managers with knowledge on how to best retain talent.
As for lessons learned, Fincher suggests that credit union leaders take a step back to observe what’s going on.
“A lot of leaders come in and start making changes and functions, I suggest that you observe,” Fincher said. “Pull up your sleeve and get involved in the process. Not to the point where you’re micromanaging, but so that you understand what’s going on. Talk to your people, ask what their pain points are. It’s part of your job as a leader to build efficiencies in the process.”
