How Atlassian Balanced Efficiency, Quality, and Experience When Hiring Software Engineers

While Atlassian already had a standardized hiring process, it was going through a large growth phase and needed to rapidly grow the core engineering teams, which were made up of back-end, front-end, and full-stack engineers. To achieve this, they focused on hiring efficiency and volume. 

“[W]hile efficiency is a really key priority, often that can see trade-offs in other areas, and we wanted to make sure we’re equally prioritizing and maintaining our quality of candidates but also the experience and process that they were coming through,” explained Hannah Brown, Strategic Program Manager, Talent Acquisition at Atlassian. Balancing efficiency, candidate quality, and the candidate experience is tough, but Atlassian was able to do so by partnering with Karat.

Solution

Atlassian used Karat’s adaptive technical assessment, Karat Qualify, at the top of the hiring funnel to align on what’s important for each engineering role and ensure they were only advancing candidates who had the required technical skills to the onsite interview.

As a global company, it’s really important for Atlassian to provide a positive and fair experience to every candidate — no matter where they’re located or whether they’re hired. Atlassian found Karat’s focus on equity to be unique and valuable. 

They implemented Karat’s Redo interviews, which give candidates the opportunity to redo their interviews if they feel they didn’t do their best. Redo interviews improve candidate experience, increase hiring efficiency, and help support underrepresented minority and female candidates who may be less comfortable with interviewing due to having fewer opportunities. Along with leveraging Karat’s 24/7 interview scheduling, Brown said Atlassian wanted to make sure “we are really setting everyone up for success no matter what situation they’re in.”

Results

With Karat Qualify, Atlassian increased efficiency at the top of the hiring funnel. Karat gave time back to interviewers, since interviewers would only meet top talent who had the skills needed to pass the technical assessment. Karat Quality also established a consistent global hiring bar, enabling Atlassian to maintain candidate quality. This consistency was reflected in a focus group that Atlassian held with interviewers, who shared that candidate quality felt less varied and there was more consistency in the interview experience. 

Karat has not only brought standardization and rigor to many aspects of Atlassian’s hiring process, but it has also reduced bias throughout. In going through some interviewer feedback and outcomes, Brown was able to see that the two are correlated to the candidate’s technical skills. 

Brown has also seen Redo interviews help more underrepresented minorities make it through the hiring process. “[I]t’s really promising to see that we have people complete a Redo, go all the way through our interview loop, and are successful in getting an offer — particularly those who have identified in underrepresented groups,” and these results have reinforced why Atlassian chose to allow Redo interviews.

What’s Next 

After initially piloting Karat in India in order to see Karat’s results, identify challenges, and iterate, Atlassian fully embedded Karat into their hiring process. The company’s hiring priority has also shifted from volume to quality. 

Atlassian is now focused on ironing out varying candidate quality across different labor markets. While they’ve already increased their candidate satisfaction globally and have good baseline metrics for candidate quality, they’re now working with Karat to report on standard metrics, like onsite-to-offer ratio and pass-through rate, and look at market benchmarking of their candidates and candidate satisfaction. 

By having a regular reporting cadence with Karat and using the data and insights provided by Karat, Atlassian can see how their hiring is changing over time and respond accordingly. This creates a cycle of continual improvement, enabling Atlassian to build a world-class employer brand.

Hear more about Atlassian improved their global engineering hiring, including how they unlocked more insight into their hiring process with Karat’s data and their tips for a successful partnership, in our Elevating Global Engineering Hiring: How Atlassian and Karat Boosted Quality, Efficiency, and Equity webinar.