Deichmann (4600 stores in 14 countries) needed to redesign their careers website and brand themselves as a modern and inspiring workplace. Read how this became possible with the help of great software development.
A fresh look towards HR requires software that can help drive this vision.
Flexibility to ask different questions to different candidate groups.
One website, 14 countries with different setups and backend systems.
Launch Website
Deichmann needed a modern, fast website which would allow for frontend customizations, automatic syncing of their >3000 jobs, allowing people to apply.
A combination of WordPress, PHP, Python and REST APIs, was used in order to allow for easy content management, speed and integration with Deichmann's Recruiting backend.
A modern-looking, speedy website which aims to showcase Deichmann's innovative culture, provide a fully configurable backend, overcome technical challenges due to the volume of information and attract young talent.
Deichmann's HR department was faced with a challenge to tackle the below problems:
Employer branding is one of the most important things when we're talking about attracting talent to a large organization. It's all about the culture, the benefits and imagining yourself working there.
14 countries, different backend systems, different fields for each country is a challenge not to be underestimated.
A very thorough analysis and mapping of the underlying differencies and common points was something that we prioritized, together with building the application in such a way that it is flexible enough to adapt to changes in requirements.
Having a common visual language is also extremely important for employer branding. We proposed to develop a component library and a set of blocks which would allow for reusability and interoperability across the different countries. Creating new landing pages was made a breeze and a matter of minutes.
Apart from the visual aspect of things, analyzing and integrating with Deichmann's 3rd-party application software allowed us to showcase our adaptability and technical skills.
During development and through discussions with the key stakeholders, we identified that the software could become a lot more flexible if certain business rules were externalized. The suggestion was well received and the administration team is now able to be totally flexible in terms of the configuring the system's behaviour based on certain job properties.
Increasing speed was one of the trickiest challenges. The speed was constrained by the 3rd party backend and utilizing syncing and database optimization techniques we were able to increase the speed of fetching job results by a factor of 10!
Since we are talking about employer branding, one of the main aspects was to create a design that makes the potential applicant imagine him/herself working in a great environment!
An initial discovery phase identified the key challenges and features which would deliver the most value to the business.
Discussing the KPIs, the ultimate business goals and the various constraints we were able to make suggestions on which features would be best to be included in the first launch of the product and which ones to be developed at a later stage.
This practice reduced risk for the Deichmann team as well as increased the business value of the delivered product.
Our mantra is that in order for a project to be successful, we need everyone to feel engaged and informed about the progress and any obstacles. The truth is that obstacles will arise. The important thing is how you decide to overcome them together, as a team!
A lot of research went into finding a design that represented the Deichmann brand. After the initial research, we came up with suggestions and mockups to discuss with the stakeholders. After 2 rounds of comments and discussions we had a final approval.
One of the most challenging bits was to map the various data flows and inner workings of 3rd-party backend systems in order to bring everything into one platform. We were happy to take on this challenge and develop a flexible system with the ability to connect to various backend systems in order to show jobs and send applications.
Software is a living organism and it can always be enhanced with functionality based on user feedback. After having a functional version live, we were discussing and making suggestions on features that could improve the user engagement and increase the number and quality of people applying.
Close to the delivery date we organized an online workshop for Deichmann employees of how to use the platform, the best practices and reviewed the created content. It is important for us that everyone feels comfortable using the platform and any feedback is taken on board and re-prioritized.
Once everything was ready, we coordinated with the various departments that needed to be involved in order to flip the switch. And just like that, the new career website was live!
But nothing ends with a go-live.
New features are continuously developed in order to make the experience of the users as fun as possible and target and attract the right talent for Deichmann's needs!
Team Leader Employer Branding & Recruiting @ Deichmann
A mix of technologies were used. WordPress was chosen as a framework for easily allowing the Administrator to modify content and manage the website. Building the website on a proven framework, where we have years of experience was the obvious choice here.
A well thought-through architecture was designed in order to get and query the large number of jobs from the backend system, while being flexible to support multiple backend systems.
JavaScript was used for creating the application forms. Creating a dynamically interactive application form was key to the purpose of the branding, that's why we proposed to develop a modern-looking application form which moved through various steps in a fun and interactive way.
Finally, we used REST to get the job offer data and submit applications to the Recruitment software backend, handle errors and retries.
Our specialty is responsive design and allowing the design to adapt to the user's device. CSS Media queries and responsive HTML5 images elements, improve the user experience and allow great look & feel on all devices.
We are always very focused on page speed and therefore, following best practices, our team installed caching and image optimization plugins, which are serving images in next-gen formats like webp, lazy loads images, resulting in a smoother user experience for the website's visitors and potential applicants.
Finally, our team integrated a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to the website, drastically improving the user experience and increasing the responsiveness of the website.
The main goal of the new Deichmann Karriere website was for Deichmann to be able to attract top talent for their stores and Headquarters.
Since the website went live, we have seen a significant increase in candidates applying and a huge flexibility for the client's Employer Branding team for targeting applicants!
New landing pages are now a matter of some clicks, significantly improving the marketing campaigns and increasing the conversion rate of job applications.
Innovation never ends!
Deichmann is a trendsetter organization and continuously searches for new ways to innovate in employer branding.
We are helping this great Deichmann team throughout their journey towards innovation, whether it is adding new functionalities to make the application process easier and more fun, gathering statistics for key KPIs or improving existing infrastructure.
