How are you preparing your talent community and internal team members for Superday?
In the investment banking, consulting, and financial services sectors, a Superday refers to candidates’ final rounds of interviews. Typically held between July to October, first-year employees endure anywhere from 3-6 interviews back-to-back, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour each. The process is grueling and the stakes are high, with offer rates hovering around 25-50% (and some experts estimate offer rates are as low as 2%).
Internally, a Superday can be just as draining, with large corporations interviewing hundreds of candidates in a single weekend. While candidates are busy prepping for interviews, organizations prepare for a heavy influx of candidates. On Friday, company leadership might entertain all candidates throughout a large welcome dinner or happy hour, before orchestrating hundreds of interviews the following day. By the conclusion of the weekend, organizations will extend offers to those who will (hopefully) become new team members.
Superday is a high-stress weekend for all parties involved. If you want to prepare your team to offer a seamless experience for candidates — thus boosting your acceptance rate — you need the right tools. Below, we explain how to prepare and engage your talent community leading up to Superday, and how the Abode platform can help.
The Two Parties to Engage Before Superday: Candidates and Internal Team Members
Superday is a nerve-racking event — both for your organization and for your talent community. Unfortunately, most existing literature on the subject guides candidates on how to best prepare for interviews, rather than helping corporations engage candidates prior to the big weekend.
Superday is notorious for two things: high stakes and high volume. On the volume side, BankingPrep reports that Bulge Bracket Bank once received 18,000 applicants for a single Superday, interviewed 2,000 for their first round of interviews, invited 600 to headquarters for final interviews, and extended roughly 350 offers (2% of the original pool). Where stakes are concerned, candidates compete against hundreds of thousands of other early-career top talent in their field, while corporations desperately try to find the right fit for new team members.
When preparing for Superday, your hiring team needs to consider two primary audiences:
- Internal team members: Your team needs to interview, make connections with, and ultimately decide between hundreds of qualified candidates. Plus, they need the organizational tools necessary to keep candidates straight — sorted by role, department, and skills — to ultimately narrow down the pool of talent.
- Candidates: As described in the Bulge Bracket Bank example, your list of candidates extends far beyond those invited to headquarters for the weekend. Instead, you need a way to keep candidates engaged through the application process, first round of interviews, Superday weekend, and offer letters in a manner that will boost your acceptance rate.
Fortunately, the Abode platform can create personalized journeys for each candidate, segmented by department, role, experience level, and other criteria. Meanwhile, team members stay organized through each stage of the hiring process, as the platform helps facilitate expectations around the interview process, organize candidates throughout the weekend, and create an internal strategy for extending offer letters.
3 Steps to Prepare and Engage Candidates Prior to Superday
Do financial firms get more applicants than they do vacant slots on Superday? Yes. Is this any reason to ignore the candidate's experience? Absolutely not.
The year is 2022, and it’s still a candidate-hot labor market. As the Great Reshuffle continues and cases of “silent quitting” rage on, hiring managers are increasingly desperate to attract loyal, hardworking top talent. To ensure your firm attracts (and signs) top early-career candidates come Superday, follow these steps:
1. Keep Candidates Updated Through Each Stage of the Process
Candidates deserve to know where they stand throughout each stage — before, during, and after Superday. Read that sentence again.
Communication can make or break any hiring process — particularly when leading up to Superday. According to a study conducted by Careerbuilder, communication was the number one cause of candidate frustration during the hiring process. In addition, over a third (38%) of candidates reported hiring managers leaving them in the dark about where they stood as an applicant.
Fortunately, the Abode platform prevents drops in communication by creating automated journeys for each candidate. You can schedule your content strategy in advance, ensuring every applicant knows where they stand throughout the hiring process (no matter how swamped your recruiting team leading up to Superday).
2. Keep Lines of Communication Open With Eliminated Candidates
You already read the stats: By the end of Superday (er, Superweekend), you will eliminate anywhere from 50-98% of your talent community from consideration. But that’s no reason to cease all communication between candidates who did not receive an offer.
Renege rates and early-career turnover rates are up nationwide. In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that 15% of early-career candidates who already accepted an offer were still actively pursuing other options. While you should never consider overhiring to combat renege rates, you should keep lines of communication open with the entirety of your talent community.
If a candidate is eliminated during their first or second round of interviews, send out a simple survey inquiring about their experience and asking if they’d like to remain part of your community. If so, the Abode platform can help you send valuable content — including recommended reading lists, invites to webinars, and professional development opportunities — to these individuals. If another candidate reneges on an offer, those who remained engaged in your content strategy could be a worthwhile alternative.
3. Make Candidates Feel Confident for Their Final Round of Interviews
Early-career candidates prepare for Superday the way they would for final exams. Translation: They want to feel as though they’ve read and understood the material, and are prepared for the last step in the process.
Pre-career anxiety is abundant amongst today’s early-career candidates, with SHRM reporting that more than half (55%) feel anxious about the next step in their professional development. And contrary to popular belief, an interview shouldn’t be treated as a pop quiz for candidates. Instead, every person coming into Superday should be fully aware of the questions that will be asked. That way, you get an honest assessment of whether they’re a good fit for your company.
Leverage Abode's platform to send out a well-rounded content strategy prior to Superday, complete with videos from your executive team, reading lists, and meetups for the cohort. That way, they feel best prepared for a weekend at headquarters.
Consider Abode's Platform to Prepare for Superday
Superday is a day when financial corporations invite candidates to headquarters for their final round of interviews. Typically held during the summer and fall months, Superday impacts hundreds of thousands of early-career candidates each year.
In a candidate-hot labor market, it’s imperative to create a positive experience for applicants and internal team members prior to Superday. Fortunately, Abode's platform serves both audiences, automating personal candidate journeys for applicants, while helping your team devise a strategy and stay organized.
Ready to see how the Abode platform can transform Superday for your company and ultimately increase your acceptance rate? Get in touch with us by scheduling a demo.
