Warner Chilcott

“On Demand Interviews give us another method of sifting through to make sure we advance only the diamonds to our candidate prospect list. With HireVue our recruiters aren’t spending their time doing less work; they’re spending their time doing the right work.”

– Erik Hildebrandt, Director of Staffing and Human Resources, Warner Chilcott

The Challenge:

Early Video Adopters Seek a Cure for Ineffective Interviews

Warner Chilcott is a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company currently focused on the women's healthcare, gastroenterology, dermatology and urology segments of the North American and Western European pharmaceuticals markets. Based in New Jersey, the company is fully integrated with internal resources dedicated to the development, manufacturing and promotion of its products, and takes pride in the company’s competitive sales model.

With most of its recruiting program focused on sourcing and identifying top-performing pharmaceutical sales talent, Warner Chilcott employs just over 900 sales employees across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada, and boasts an aggressively performance-driven culture. Because sales professionals are rewarded and retained based on their performance, the company experiences and embraces high turnover rates of 25 to 30 percent annually. As a result, Erik Hildebrandt, Director of Staffing and Human Resources for Warner Chilcott, and the company’s nine recruiters constantly seek new talent to support substantial growth for hiring managers worldwide.

At Warner Chilcott, once a vacancy is realized, recruiters contact sales managers and schedule a mutually agreed upon  in-person interview date and location, at which time the sales manager will meet with the recruiters’ recommended candidates for further evaluation. Recruiters post the opening and source qualified candidates using the company’s applicant tracking system, as well as traditional telephone and internet recruiting techniques. Those individuals identified as a possible match are then asked to complete a 14-point behavioral based competency pre-employment assessment which matches the candidate’s responses against the company’s benchmarked human performance data. Formerly, Warner Chilcott used phone screenings and the assessment results alone to determine which six candidates should be advanced to in-person interviews with the regional sales manager. Oftentimes, in-person interviews revealed that none of the recommended candidates were right-fit, and recruiters would begin the sourcing process all over again.

“We’re not like a lot of other companies: we see sales turnover as positive outcome,” Hildebrandt explained. “We’re in a highly specialized, highly competitive market, and sales professionals tend to be happiest when they’re at the top, performing well. We needed to streamline our process to more effectively use our recruiting hours and better support the needs of our sales managers.”

The Solution:

HireVue Prescribes On Demand Digital Interviewing

As early adopters of interviewing solutions, Warner Chilcott first implemented an alternate video interviewing tool in hopes to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness. However, the company soon discovered that the tool lacked the robust features, compatibility, or technical support that the organization was seeking.  “We needed a video interviewing tool that would allow us to achieve more than just save time and money,” said Hildebrandt

In February of 2011 Hildebrandt and Warner Chilcott ultimately enlisted HireVue to help identify those candidates who should be advanced to in-person interviews. The pharmaceutical company selected HireVue’s Digital Interview Platform™ for its innovative On Demand Interviews™, recording and reporting capabilities, and for the superior customer and technical support that HireVue provides. Since then, Warner Chilcott has filled hundreds of positions using the technology.

“We chose HireVue’s digital interviewing solution for its ease of cataloging and its reporting functions, but it’s also exciting to be on the cutting edge of the digital interviewing space,” Hildebrandt commented. “HireVue is blazing the trail and other companies are following. I’d rather be with the front runners than those who are simply trying to keep up.”

Using HireVue’s On Demand Interviews, the pharmaceutical company has added an additional layer of screening to its process for faster, deeper insight. Now, after reviewing sales candidates’ resumes and applications, qualified individuals are asked to complete a web-based digital interview along with the 14-point behavioral assessment. Recruiters email candidates a link to the interview where they’re guided through a series of ten question prompts and record responses at their convenience using a webcam. Recruiters are then automatically notified that the recorded interview is available for review. After evaluating the interviews and assessment results, recruiters call candidates for a quick follow up before advancing the six top candidates to the managers.

Warner Chilcott’s Staffing and Human Resources department supplies the hiring managers with each of the six candidates’ digital interviews – along with their resumes and assessment results – a day or two before the scheduled face-to-face interviews, giving interviewers a clear understanding of the capabilities of each sales representative. Since the On Demand interview questions are designed and customized by the Warner Chilcott senior sales leadership team, recruiters are better able to identify those who best match the sales team’s needs. With the added layer of visibility, hiring managers can see the individuals for themselves and adequately prepare for the in-person meeting that follows.

The Results:

The Right Treatment Delivers Increases in Productivity and Quality of Hire

Digital interviewing has revolutionized the way Warner Chilcott evaluates potential sales hires. With On Demand Interviews, Hildebrandt and the recruiting team have been able to drastically improve quality of hire and reduced the hours recruiters and hiring managers previously spent interviewing poor-fit candidates.

Because recruiters are required to recommend four to six candidates for each open requisition, Staffing and Human Resources has discovered that nearly 30 percent of candidates who would have previously been recommended to hiring managers are now identified as a poor-fit and eliminated early in the screening stage. Now, recruiters have the time and insight to source additional candidates prior to the scheduled in-person interview date. As a result, those individuals recommended by recruiters more consistently meet the expectations and needs of each hiring manager.

“On Demand Interviews give us another method of sifting through to make sure we advance only the diamonds to our candidate prospect list,” Hildebrandt noted. "With HireVue our recruiters aren’t spending their time doing less work; they’re spending their time doing the right work.”

In a typical souring cycle, recruiters would spend about 15 minutes on the phone with each candidate. After candidates completed the pre-employment assessment, recruiters followed with a 30 to 45 minute deeper dive phone interview to evaluate fit. With HireVue, managers’ questions are already addressed in the On Demand Interview, and recruiters can leverage a short follow up phone call to sell the opportunity to the best candidates instead.

Hildebrandt estimates that the new process saves recruiters about 20 minutes for each candidate reviewed. With two open requisitions per week, and about ten candidate interviews per position, he estimates recruiters save almost a full work day each week that is now used to source and evaluate additional candidates.

Warner Chilcott notes that candidates are sometimes surprised by the technology. While at first some seem a little nervous, there is a high level of comfort with the technology, and candidates typically settle in after completing the first question. Hildebrandt appreciates that On Demand Interviews reveal how comfortable a prospective sales candidate performs under pressure and with a budgeted, though ample, time:  “In pharmaceutical sales, a rep might have three minutes, or possibly only 30 seconds with a physician. It’s crucial that they are capable of assessing the circumstances and highlighting important points in an articulate and compelling manner for on-the-spot situations. HireVue’s digital interview technology replicates that scenario.”

HireVue’s Digital Interview Platform and On Demand Interviews have helped Warner Chilcott significantly boost quality of hire, increase overall productivity and foster greater satisfaction among hiring managers and recruiters alike. While at this point, the pharmaceutical company uses the technology to fill sales positions only, it plans to expand use to the other ten percent of recruiting efforts organization-wide. 

Hildebrandt concluded, “We love this innovation. At the end of the day, it makes Staffing and Human Resources look good to the rest of the organization and to our candidates.”

It’s now more difficult than it’s been in recent history to find the best-fit candidates. According to ManpowerGroup’s 2011 Talent Shortage Survey, the U.S. talent shortage has drastically increased from 14% in 2010 to a 52% in 2011, and sales representatives are listed as the second most difficult positions to fill. Warner Chilcott beats these market challenges using digital interviewing. The always-recruiting pharmaceutical company has increased quality of sales hires by nearly 30 percent.

-ManpowerGroup 2011 Talent Shortage Survey

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