Size
22.000+
Industry
Dairy Cooperatives
Location
Netherlands
Focus Equalture
Traineeship Hiring
“Our screening time decreased by 93%. We went from around 70 hours reviewing CVs to just 5 hours using the Equalture platform.
Beyond efficiency, Equalture helped us focus less on experience and background and more on a candidate’s potential.”
Dennis Damoiseaux, Head of Talent Acquisition at FrieslandCampina
Challenges in High-Volume Traineeship Hiring
To support long-term growth, FrieslandCampina runs a highly competitive graduate programme that attracts more than 800 applicants per intake. While the interest was high, the recruitment team faced two structural challenges.
CHALLENGE 1
Limited diversity in the trainee programme
Traditional CV-based screening unintentionally favoured similar backgrounds, resulting in a relatively homogeneous group of hires that did not fully align with FrieslandCampina’s diversity ambitions.
CHALLENGE 2
An inefficient selection process
With over 800+ applicants per traineeship programme, reviewing CVs and motivation letters required significant manual effort. Screening each candidate took around five minutes, resulting in dozens of hours spent on early-stage selection for every intake.
FrieslandCampina needed a way to hire graduates more fairly, efficiently, and based on potential rather than background.
Implementation process: Games vs CV
Pilot:
In order to move towards (soft) skill-based screening, Friesland Campina used Equalture’s Team Analysis feature. A group of well-performing trainees completed Equalture’s game-based assessments, and based on the outcomes of this analysis, FrieslandCampina and Equalture together determined the cognitive and behavioural benchmarks for the traineeships.
In order to test the success of Equalture’s assessment solution, CVs were still used by FrieslandCampina to better understand the value of the Equalture Candidate report.
Candidate flow overview for the pilot:
STEP 1
Apply with CV + Equalture assessment
Candidates not only apply with their CV, but also get invited to the Equalture assessment.
STEP 2
Equalture + CV Check + Motivation
The first selection is based on the Equalture scores. Consequently, their CV is evaluated.
(Game selection is based on the FrieslandCampina Ideal Candidate Profile)
STEP 3
Selection day/Interview
Full roll-out for all traineeship programmes
After a successful pilot, FrieslandCampina fully implemented Equalture within their application flow. This meant that Equalture is used for selection in the first round, but also in the further rounds.
The biggest change with the full roll-out was that the assessors, hiring managers, did not see any CVs any more. Everyone worked with the Equalture reports, which were also used in the interviews.
Candidate flow overview for the full rollout:
STEP 1
Apply with Equalture Assessment
Candidates do not apply with their CV, but instead get invited to the Equalture assessment.
STEP 2
Equalture + Motivation
The first selection is based on the Equalture scores. Consequently, their motivation is evaluated. No attention is paid to the CV.
(Game selection is based on the FrieslandCampina Ideal Candidate Profile)
STEP 3
Selection day/Interview
Results
Pilot results
- Candidate experience rating of 4.5/5
- FrieslandCampina satisfaction rating 9/10
- 81% of their hired candidates were within the Equalture benchmark that was created
- 19% of the candidates would not have been invited for an interview if not for the Equalture scores
Full roll-out for all traineeship programmes
- Screening time was down by 93%
- Expanded talent pool
- Improved the diversity of the program
- Better suiting candidates
Before working with Equalture, FrieslandCampina screened every candidate on different check points on their CV, this took 5 min per candidate. After implementing Equalture, using the Equalture Platform FrieslandCampina managed to bring down screening time down by 93%.
The talent pool expanded, roughly 25% of applicants that flow through the traineeship hiring process would not have been invited for an interview based on their CV. Through the Equalture platform, FrieslandCampina was able to see the potential of these candidates. With a 100% retention rate of these candidates. Allowing to see the potential didn’t just allow FrieslandCampina to find more suiting candidates, it also improved the diversity of the program.
Lastly, candidates invited to the final selection day were deemed better than prior to implementing Equalture by the Hiring managers.
