Setting and exceeding hiring standards

A company operating at the scale of Click&Boat requires a strong customer support team to help connect its vast network of owners and tenants. The demand for services also skyrockets in summer, so the company needs to hire quickly and effectively during this season to cover the gaps.

As the Vice President of Customer Care, Jonathan Couverchel is responsible for finding and recruiting the right candidates for the job.

“In my position, I hire a lot of seasonal workers just for the summer because more people are cruising during the summer. So basically, my customer care team goes from 5 people, let's say, in December to 30 people from June to the end of August.” - Jonathan Couverchel, Vice President of Customer Care, Click&Boat

Manual skills tests are inconsistent and frequently ignored

The customer support position at Click&Boat requires a unique profile. Team members must be tech-savvy and have strong language, logic, and soft skills to provide the level of care clients expect.

“We have to be sure that every team member speaks English proficiently because you could have a Croatian boat owner and an Italian tenant. In this case, you’ll speak English to ease communication between them. We also do a lot of booking modifications. For example, a tenant might want some extra feature with their rental or might add a few days to their booking, so strong mathematical and logical skills are a must.”

Before using TestGorilla, Jonathan’s team assessed these skills using manual tests emailed to candidates after an initial HR screening. Successful applicants would be moved on to an interview with the hiring manager.

These tests were prepared in-house and regularly updated to keep them fresh for new applicants. However, every time the tests changed, so too would the basis for comparing candidates’ results.

Also, because of the sheer volume of applications, tracking candidates’ performance at the assessment stage became increasingly difficult. By the time interviews rolled around, hiring managers were often forced to rely on subjective judgments rather than objective metrics.

“For me, the biggest problem was assessing and comparing the quality of the candidates. When you have to hire twenty people in one process, it’s difficult to remember how each applicant scored on their tests by the time they get to the interview. We really needed a tool to rationalize our recruitment. So we could say, okay, if they don't score more than 60% in this area, it's a no-go.”

TestGorilla provides a clear rationale for ranking candidates

After considering different talent assessment solutions, Jonathan decided that TestGorilla provided the best toolset for evaluating and comparing candidate skills.

Once we had fully explored the test library, Jonathan quickly set up an assessment to screen for the skills he wanted in new hires. This included tests for English language proficiency, specific cognitive abilities, and custom questions to check for role-relevant technical skills.

Jonathan also used the welcome video feature to create a more personalized candidate experience. It gave applicants a chance to see the hiring manager for the first time and get a better sense of what the company had to offer.

These differentiators are particularly important in the customer service niche, where the competition for talent is still extremely tight.

“Everybody says the same things on their recruitment page: We're awesome, we're the best, etc. In our process, candidates speak directly to HR for about 30 minutes during the initial screening, and the video gives us a chance to show, for the first time, the real people they’re going to work with.”

Great assessment results predict exceptional employee performance

TestGorilla has become essential to recruitment in Click&Boat’s customer service department. All candidates who pass the initial HR screening are invited to take the custom assessment. Those who score above benchmark levels in key areas make it to the interview stage.

“TestGorilla helped me rationalize my recruitment criteria to get the best candidates that are the best fit for the best job.”

For Jonathan, the benefits of TestGorilla become clearest at the end of the summer season, when he can compare candidates’ assessment results against their performance on the job.

By tracking test data and agent quality metrics, Jonathan determined that since 2023, the top 20% of TestGorilla assessment takers have been among the top 20% of performers in Click&Boat’s customer service team.

On average, these individuals are 30% more productive than the rest of the team.

Let skills set the standard for your hiring decisions

The data is in. Skills unlock successful hires. Don’t rely on gut instinct and biased screening tools to make critical recruitment decisions. With TestGorilla, you get a real understanding of your candidates and see how their unique talents can bring value to your organization.

About the company

Click&Boat, the premier online boat rental platform, is accessible in 11 languages and through its mobile app on both iPhone and Android. With over 550,000 members and a fleet of 35,000 boats across more than 50 countries, Click&Boat has solidified its leadership in the market. The acquisition of Nautal, the second-largest player in Europe, in 2020 significantly expanded Click&Boat's community, which is now nearing one million users.