.jpg)
Most people just think of General Motors as a car company. It makes sense right?
Chevy, Buick, Cadillac.
All American classics that are instantly recognizable on the road.
But did you know they were early innovators for household refrigerators? Or pioneered blood and vaccine sterilization?
General Motors isn’t just about cars. They’re about what’s next. Leading the way. Building the future.
But there was one achievement in particular that really stood out to me and showed GM’s consistent ability to find the impact of cutting edge technology. In 1956, GM R&D partnered with North American Aviation to develop the world's first operating system for automatically controlling computer workflow.
Now you’re speaking our language.
Automation, since its inception, has done incredible things to allow humans to spend less time on monotonous tasks and more time with other humans. Maybe in 1956 they weren’t thinking about interview scheduling, but they definitely were in 2021.
According to a new report released by the Josh Bersin Company, GM was able to save over $2 million on recruiting costs in less than a year while reducing their time-to-schedule from 5 days to 29 minutes. That's forward thinking.
Okay, now let's take a step back.
GM’s need for speed.
In early 2020, GM announced their visionary plan: create an environment with zero tailpipe emissions through the production of electric vehicles. To achieve this, they needed to scale their recruiting efforts. And fast.
These new efforts required new teams and new people. The best and boldest thinkers.
"Historically, we’ve never had to recruit the types of talent that Apple, Meta, and Tesla are recruiting for,” shared GM’s Head of Candidate Experience Eileen Kovalsky. "Our competitors from decades or even three to four years ago are very different from who our competitors are today.”
In 2021, GM employed 50+ recruitment coordinators tasked with running the interview scheduling process for the one to two million applications they were receiving. Spending way too much time looking at calendars, chasing candidates down, and rescheduling interviews last minute.
Begging the question: What happens when you take a 100% manual process and make it 100% automated?
Electrifying interview scheduling automation.
In June of 2021, GM began their journey to transform their hiring process and create a solution that would eliminate administrative work from their recruiters plates. Just like the innovation more than 75 years ago, automation opened up a new world of possibilities for the individual recruiters and the organization as a whole.
And for top technology talent, the candidate experience was second to none.
“Our candidates love the scheduling responsiveness,” said Kovalsky. “Rather than waiting days for an update after submitting a resume or completing a phone screen, candidates immediately get a message from EV-e through their preferred communication channel that will offer up times and confirm their next interview. One of the things that we know about talent acquisition is that constant communication is a huge benefit.”
Kovalsky shared an email message their recruiting team received from a candidate, “I'm also interviewing at some of the very well known technology organizations and those companies might want to take a lesson from GM because this has been nothing short of amazing.”
General Motors is doing the hard work to create a better future for all of us, their hiring efforts should be the last thing standing in their way. Want to learn more about how EV-e scheduled more than 50,000 interviews in less than a year?
Read more about the results for GM candidates, employees, and the business in a report by The Josh Bersin Company:
The electric future of motor vehicles has arrived.
