Xavier Garcia | IT Recruiter at Nuvolar Works
Nuvolar is an IT software company whose core focus is the creation and development of apps. Their main industry is private aviation. “We talk about private jets and our users are professionals like pilots and crew members,” says Xavier Garcia. “We also have health, consumer goods, and other kinds of products. In addition, we are certified as a Salesforce partner. All our projects are in-house and we develop everything ourselves.”
Interviewer: How many job vacancies for developers have you opened during the past year?
Since September 2019, we have filled 20 vacancies and we are looking to fill two more. Most of them are intended to grow the team. When we open vacancies, it’s because we want people to stay, since we don’t have temporary projects. If they are happy at Nuvolar and they work well, they can stay until they decide to do otherwise. We are very lucky, considering the current situation. It’s business as usual for us and working remotely has been the only change. We even hired 10 people during CoVID.
I: Uncertainty is always very complex, congratulations for handling it this way. What profiles and skills do you want at Nuvolar?
We look at the big picture – not only candidates’ knowledge and technical skills, but also their soft skills. It’s a matter of making sure that the person fits into the company culture and that they have motivation. I always give an example during the interviews I conduct: if there are two candidates and one has way more experience than the other one, we know that this person is going to bring performance straight away. But if the second one, who is a bit more junior but still with a strong background and knowledge, and is very into Nuvolar and they are excited to join the team, we’d hire them instead. We seek a balance between knowledge, motivation, and interest.
I: Let’s delve deeper into Candidate Experience. How do you structure your job descriptions at Nuvolar?
We first include what it feels like to work at Nuvolar. We want to share the experience we have and our impact on the industry, and how proud they would be of working for us since they’d be transforming industries. We hire people, and for us that’s the most important thing. The company environment is great here, and we like to reflect that in our job descriptions.
We then explain the role, the team, the industry, and the applications they would be working with. Instead of just writing down their responsibilities, we like to describe what their day to day is going to look like. We use dynamic and funny language, not just with bullet points.
In the requirements or “about you” section, we specify that we are looking for team players who are motivated, want to learn every day, and have technical skills. Sometimes we include what we call “nice things to have”.
I: Tell us about the perks and benefits for developers working at Nuvolar.
We offer private health insurance that is completely free for the employee and has a discounted premium for their partner. It includes dental care. We also have several gym discounts and hold free language courses for Spanish, Catalan, and Business English at the office. We offer an open office space with meeting rooms, a terrace, remote work, and training in the form of courses and internal workshops to learn new technologies. This helps employees grow not only vertically but also horizontally, if they want. Every year we have 4 or 5 big events like: calçotadas (a Catalan-style BBQ featuring a special grilled green onion- they’re delicious!), summer parties, weekends out, a Halloween party with competitions and awards, and, of course, the company Christmas party. We all have a lot of fun!
Also, we like to go for a drink after work, or to go bowling, and we have Lunch & Learn days, which are days where an employee can present anything that they consider interesting to their colleagues. The company provides lunch and everyone eats while learning. We are a very international company, with 52 people, and 45% of employees are foreigners. The office location couldn’t be better, as we are right in front of Plaça de Catalunya. Also, we give everyone the day off on their birthdays!
I: What practices do you include in your hiring processes in order to guarantee a good Candidate Experience?
Candidates really appreciate transparency and quick responses. We try to be as transparent as possible starting from our first call: I begin telling them about our needs and our company, and then I ask about them. When rejecting a candidate, we also give them feedback. The market is very competitive, so we place special emphasis on agility while conducting our hiring process: if the process is taking a bit longer than it should, I always inform them. If we immediately see that the developer fits the role, we speed up the process, while also making sure to abide by our quality standards.
I: Excellent. What’s the hiring process like for a developer at Nuvolar?
We first have a phone conversation with them and we send a technical test. If the test results are not good enough, we explain to them where they failed and how they could improve. They really appreciate this feedback. If they pass the test, they’ll have a face-to-face interview with the human resources department. Then the technical interview with the team leader comes, in which they review the test. The CEO is always involved somehow in the process, he knows about all the candidates -even interns- and if availability allows without extending unnecessary the recruitment process, he likes to have a chat with the candidates and he is involved in all onboarding processes.
I: Do you measure your CX?
We send a survey to the candidates who have invested time in our hiring process, such as by doing a test or attending a face-to-face interview. We send this survey after the rejection, and we also send it to those who were hired, 2 weeks after onboarding, to check if we’re meeting their expectations.
I: Talking about the onboarding process, do you have any structure or career path already set up?
The employee’s experience during the very first months is extremely important. We have a 6-month plan based on the learning process, the milestones and how they can achieve them, what’s expected from them on a month-by-month basis, and the available training courses and sessions for each month. Obviously, the person will already be productive before the sixth month. We have recently hired 10 people and all 10 onboardings have been carried out remotely due to the COVID-19 situation. The company and team focused on making the onboarding process go smoothly for the person and they all really appreciated it. Every employee that joins Nuvolar has an “angel”. This is a person that will guide them and answer any questions they may have during their first days. It works very well!
I: If I’m not mistaken, one of these hires was through Circular, congratulations! How do you integrate Circular into your hiring process?
Indeed, we recently hired a candidate through Circular and she is extremely good! We knew about her soft skills because of the interviews, but then the team was amazed by her technical skills. So, for us Circular is a resource we use to look for developers. The success of Circular starts with the high quality of the candidates using the network. If it provides us with a top-notch hire like it just did, even better! It also gives us the possibility of helping those that we liked but for whatever reason weren’t the right fit for the role. Candidates really appreciate it when we endorse them for Circular so they can find another great job through the network.
