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Customer Stories

How focusing on human potential is optimising L'Oréal's long-term performance.

As a global organisation, L'Oréal strives to be diverse as the people it serves. "At L'Oréal we speak up for beauty without borders or barriers. We believe in beauty that gives everyone a space for self-expression and that is enriched by differences, reflecting the diversity of our world." This through partnering with Pera. Pera's unique digital interview is bias-free, enabling L'Oréal to quickly pick out the best candidates.

Challenges

Recruiters in high-vole recruitment jobs at L’Oréal faced several significant challenges:

  1. Managing a large volume of applications using limited resources: with 30.000 applications per year for just 100 vacancies, effective screening methods became crucial.
  2. Ensuring a fair and objective selection process: Maintaining standardized criteria and evaluation processes was essential to minimize inconsistencies and bias, especially given the issue of more female than male applicants.
  3. Providing a positive candidate experience: Delivering a satisfying assessment process with personalized attention and feedback to each candidate was challenging, often leading to dissatisfaction and a negative employer brand reputation.
  4. Retaining high-quality recruits: The recruitment process’s speed should not compromise long-term retention, making it crucial to identify the most suitable candidates to prevent high turnover rates.

"It's great to know that Pera's feedback loop continuously improves our ability to identify the best and most diverse talent for now and in the future"."

Alexandra Bennett, Head of Early Careers & Employer Branding, L'Oréal UK & Ireland

Solution

L'Oréal partnered with Pera to create a closer match between high-quality candidates and the company’s goals by implementing Pera's innovative digital interview method.

This approach offered several key advantages, such as a bias-free selection process, ensuring fairness throughout. Candidates could answer three questions in just 15 minutes, allowing for efficient screening while advanced linguistic techniques analysed not only their responses but also how they communicated. Additionally, the method included a cognitive assessment to provide a more complete view of each candidate's abilities. Pera’s algorithm continuously refined the selection process by learning from millions of data points, linking candidate responses to actual workplace performance. The system was also fully integrated with L’Oréal’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS), ensuring a smooth flow of data and streamlined management.

Increased diversity of recruits

In 2022, Pera’s shortlisted candidates came from 54 universities and 28 different degree courses, with similarly high average percentile scores from male and female candidates. 50-50 male/female applicants and hires were achieved.

Improved candidate experience

The digital interview method provided a positive and enjoyable assessment experience, significantly contributing to L’Oréal’s strong employer brand. Candidates experienced a stress-free, engaging, and personal process.

Enhanced efficiency and cost savings

From 2018 to 2022, L’Oréal saved 875 hours in recruitment, allowing more time for workshops, campus actions, social media, and onboarding. The digital interview and cognitive assessment reduced in-person assessments, saving nearly £225,000 in 2020-2021.

Long-term retention and quality

These methods effectively identified high-quality recruits. Between 2011-2019, 73.5% of hired graduates were key players by 2022, and 45% remained with the company, demonstrating L’Oréal’s success in attracting and retaining talent.

Conclusion

L'Oréal's collaboration with Pera has transformed its recruitment process, enhancing diversity, efficiency, and candidate experience while delivering significant cost savings and long-term retention of high-quality talent. This partnership exemplifies how leveraging innovative digital tools can lead to commercial success and uphold a company's commitment to diversity and excellence.