Using Vieple to select and grow Māori and Pacific leaders for a greater Aotearoa
TupuToa was borne from the need to see increased Māori and Pacific representation in leadership positions in the corporate sector.With over 100 partners this year, from Microsoft to ANZ, TupuToa works to recruit and nurture Māori and Pacific students, and to build cultural capability in the wider community. TupuToa is the largest recruiter of Māori and Pacific interns in Aotearoa, scaling massively from a cohort of 28 participants in 2016, to over 350 in 2023.
With demand for the summer internship programme growing year on year, application numbers were growing significantly faster than the team to manage them. The selection process for the internship programme included a phone interview stage which was creating a bottle-neck for the team to process applications efficiently. In addition, with the recruitment team growing, there were challenges to ensure consistency of experience for each candidate invited to the phone interview stage.
Talent Solutions has been a community partner of TupuToa since 2016 and believed that video interviewing could be the solution to address this challenge. The team agreed and are now in their fifth year of using the Vieple video interview platform.
“Our team wasn’t growing as fast as our applications were! Vieple allowed us to navigate the huge growth we’ve been through – and to truly see the essence of who people are”. - Maruata Reweti, Kaiwhakatere Matua, TupuToa
THE CHALLENGE
“We wanted more than the scripted STAR answers from our applicants – we wanted to get to the essence of who people are.” - Anne Fitisemanu, TupuToa Chief Executive
With an absolute focus on supporting rangatahi to succeed, the TupuToa team used Vieple to optimise their process, whilst maintaining the ‘vā’ – or relationship – between candidates and assessors.
There was a lot of conversation initially about whether candidates would respond positively to a video interview stage (as opposed to a phone interview). To ensure a successful transition, the team utilised the full range of features that enabled personalisation to ‘humanise’ the experience. With ‘Kia ū ki te tikanga-ā-iwi’ or being ‘culturally driven’ as one of TupuToa’s core values, the team used the software in a number of ways to ensure that the process provided a mana-enhancing candidate experience.
THE OPPORTUNITY
1. Connection
The team made use of Vieple’s ‘introduction video’ feature. By uploading pre-recorded videos, each question was asked and introduced by the smiling faces of the TupuToa whānau. This ensured that the human side of recruitment was not lost in this digital format, allowing candidates to feel at ease so that they could put their best foot forward.
2. Quality
The team provided ‘tips for success’ to provide every applicant with the opportunity prepare and excel. Questions were kept short and simple and the first question was provided in advance to settle candidates into the process and build confidence from the start.
“We wanted more than the scripted STAR answers from our applicants – we wanted to get to the essence of who people are.” - Maruata Reweti
3. Responsibility
“Ultimately, we are selecting candidates who will be showing up to internship opportunities where expectations around their communication skills will be high. The Video platform provides us with a tool to help better prepare our rangatahi for their experience and also sets our participants up for success for when they encounter video interview processes in the future with other employers. Video interview is such a common tool used in graduate recruitment processes – so we are also playing an important role in upskilling our participants to excel at this type of assessment”. -Anne Fitisemanu, TupuToa Chief Executive
4. Empowerment
The video interviews weren’t just used as a part of the selection process. After candidates were accepted onto the programme, the recorded interviews were used as a growth and empowerment tool. In preparation for their final interviews, candidates could view their own interview videos alongside a TupuToa Navigator to understand their strengths and develop in their growth areas.
“They didn’t always like seeing themselves in the videos! But they were so useful for working together towards development.” - Sione Taunga, Lead Navigator
THE RESULTS
TupuToa have used Vieple to manage 1,000s of applications over the past 5 years, improving the efficiency and quality of their selection process, with an incredible conversion rate of over 90%. By making the most of the customisable features, the team have developed a unique and warm candidate experience, which places the students at the centre of the process.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.
