The CES team utilizes GitLab Service Desk to track all incoming requests to the CES team. If you are a GitLab team member and you have a request or question for the Candidate Experience team, email [email protected]
and a ticket will automatically be created within the CES Service Desk. Please see the alignment page to learn more about which CES team member will be working on your requests.
@ces
Slack pings, and lastly Slack direct messages.No action is needed by the CES team on this step. For additional information:
@ces
in Greenhouse, do not tag anyone other than the team in the same ping as it will add those users to the Service Desk project.Certain positions require technical interviews (i.e. Ruby on Rails, Golang, Frontend, etc) where candidates are asked to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Technical interview requests can be identified within the schedule request ticket as recruiters will utilize the following format: "Technical Interview, type of interview - 90 minutes".
Important to Note:
To schedule a technical interview, CES should follow the process outlined below:
The process below outlines the steps to be followed by the CES team in scheduling executive interviews while partnering with the Executive Business Administrator(EBA) team and executive recruiters. The Candidate Experience team and EBA team will adhere to a 24 hour working day SLA response time for scheduling interviews. Interview requests coming from Executive recruiters are to be scheduled in the executive calendar only.
Note: Follow up SLA is 24 hours to check for time conflicts delaying scheduling. If the times do not match, CES may contact the candidate requesting more availability or suggest some times that works for the interviewer.
The email template used for the first time interview confirmation - First Time Single Executive interview. Please use the "Updated Interview" or "Single Interview" email templates in Guide once the candidate progresses to the next level in the interview plan.
This process not only applies to executive requisitions, but any reqs or interviews that include executive team members supported by EBAs. Please note that not every executive team member has EBA support and they may be scheduled directly in Prelude following the usual CES scheduling process.
Note:
If the candidate needs to reschedule, notify the appropriate EBA in the slack channel and share the candidate's updated availability and greenhouse profile.
The EBA and CES team will communicate any interview changes or concerns in the slack channel. Other requests such as flagging an offer, completing an interview scorecard, or regarding the executive's schedule may be communicated in this channel as well.
On occasion, candidates may need to interview in person with a team member at GitLab or they may require a reasonable accommodation to be successful in their interview process. In these cases, candidates are eligible for reimbursement from GitLab to cover any expenses incurred during this process. Please see process below on to handle candidate reimbursement in these cases. DRI - Senior CES, CES Manager
Important to note: The department the candidate is interviewing for will be responsible to reimburse from their budget IF they are requiring these expenses to be incurred (i.e. face to face interview costs). Any candidate requesting a reasonable accommodation throughout their interview process will have their request reviewed and approved by TALT. These reimbursements will be paid from the TA budget (i.e interpreter services)
There are two types of reimbursement:
Please ensure you have the Prelude Chrome Extension installed on your Chrome Browser.
Prelude processes can be found here.
When a candidate or an interviewer reaches out to CES via slack / email / Guide chat with a zoom link error, the CES can follow the below steps to create a new zoom link through Prelude in under 2 minutes.
Please ensure you have the guide Chrome extension installed on your Chrome Browser.
Guide processes can be found here.
If a candidate emails the CES Service Desk stating they would like to withdraw from the interview process, the CES should respond to the candidate's email (not the Service Desk ticket) and cc the recruiter (if the recruiter isn't already on the email). The CES response should not say anything definite as there may be a chance for the recruiter to reel the candidate back in. A basic response is below:
Hi
Candidate Name
, thank you for your email. I have cc'd your recruiter in this email and if there are any additional questions, they will be in touch.
The CES should also tag the Recruiter in the Greenhouse profile of the candidate who withdrew.
The only exception to this should be for executive roles. Please just forward the withdrawal email to the Executive Recruiter and they will handle any follow-up.
To send a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to a candidate, Recruiters should ping @ces in Greenhouse. CES can then log into DocuSign, select "start" and "use a template", and then access shared templates. Once the NDA has been returned, upload the document in the "details" section of Greenhouse. Download this document from DocuSign as separate files, and only use the NDA itself (the summary is not necessary).
GitLab will obtain references and complete a criminal records check with employment verifications.
For additional information on reviewing Background screenings see this page.
Private
tab.Export to Sterling
.Complete Report
, which will redirect you to the Sterling website.Invite
, and then follow the steps below starting at the second step.Comprehensive Criminal with Employment
. If the country is not listed, choose Global Screening
Prior to giving an offer, Recruiters are required to request references and other offer-related information by sending a form in the Reference Check stage. There are a few versions of this form available on every job based on the country where the candidate is located. When CES receives a form in the Service Desk, there are 3-4 fields to look at: NYC status, PIAA (Employee Invention Assignment Agreement), Outside Work disclosure, and TMRG requests.
Japan Background Checks
Background Checks for hires in Japan will need to be conducted before the offer is sent.
Global Reference Check Forms will have a question for hires asking if they are located in Japan. If the candidate selects "Yes", you will need to perform the following steps:
CES will then need to track the request to know when the Background check clears and we can move forward with sending the offer. Please follow the following steps:
NYC Location
USA Reference Check forms only: It's important to note that the USA Reference Check form should be sent to the candidate and Step 1 should be completed before presenting a verbal offer. If the candidate selects “Yes” to indicate that they are located in NYC or its 5 boroughs (They will be listed as Brooklyn, Bronx, New York (Manhattan), Queens, or Staten Island), you will need to complete a two-step background screening process:
Please note that Long Island is not part of NYC and this process does not apply to residents there.
CES service desk receives a ticket indicating that the candidate has submitted Reference Check Process Information - USA form. CES notes that the candidate has selected “Yes” for the NYC location question.
CES will add the text expander snippet refchecktodo into the ticket to help guide them through the process. CES will add the “NYC BGC” label.
Tip: when the CES desk receives the contract ticket, add the NYC BGC label immediately to remind yourself and your team members that this candidate is undergoing the NYC two-step background screening process.
Troubleshooting Tip: If you receive an "expired" error when initiating Step 2 through the Greenhouse Sterling integration, you can navigate to the Sterling Direct dashboard. On the right hand side, under "E-Invite Applicant to Background Check", enter in the candidate's email address and select "Invite".
PIAA
In the form, you'll find a question that informs the candidate that they will be required to sign an Employee Invention Assignment Agreement. They are asked for invention disclosures. If they state "none" or "n/a", you can skip this step. If the candidate discloses any outside activities, CES will take the following steps:
CES - PIAA Disclosed
.Outside Work
If the candidate writes "none" or "n/a", you can skip this step. If a candidate discloses any outside activities, CES will need to take the following steps:
CES - Outside Work Email
, you can either copy and paste what the candidate has disclosed or you can attach a screenshot of the "outside work" section of the form. Send this email to the Hiring Manager. The Recruiter, Coordinator, and Team Member Relations will automatically be CC'ed.See more information about this process here.
TMRG Conversations
Our hiring process includes an optional step where candidates can request to meet with a TMRG team member. We will offer this to a candidate when they complete their interview process before an offer is made. Whether or not the candidate decides to take us up on this offer will have no impact on our overall hiring decision.
All current TMRGs have agreed to take part in this process. You can find the group list here.
When a candidate requests to meet with a TMRG team member via the Reference Check Form, the Candidate Experience Specialist will do the following:
Once submitted, the request will ask volunteers to reply with their Calendly link and LinkedIN Profile (optional) for us to share with the candidate.
Once a volunteer has been found the Candidate Experience Specialist will email the candidate the 'TMRG Opportunity' email template in Greenhouse. The CES will update the template with the Team Members name, Calendly Link and LinkedIN profile if provided and then send to candidate.
If a volunteer has not been found within 24 hours the CES team member will reach out to the TMRG in their dedicated TMRG Slack Channel.
As a GitLab team member taking part in these calls, we advise you to start with a short introduction to you and your role here at GitLab. From here, we advise you to let the candidate lead the conversation as the goal is for you to answer their questions and offer insight into how we work.
These calls don’t require you to submit a scorecard in Greenhouse. If a candidate mentions something that you see as a red flag (e.g. they outline a past action of theirs that goes against our values) or shares something that would help us set them up for success, we advise you to share the details of this with the hiring manager for the role they’re interviewing for. It will be the responsibility of the Hiring Manager to review this and decide whether we need to alter the hiring or offer process for the candidate.
See Candidate Experience Specialist Contract Processes section of the handbook
The Candidate Experience Specialists will prepare the contract. While the Candidate Experience Specialist will prioritize a contract above other tasks, the expected turn around on the task is 1 business day. If the contract is time-sensitive, please provide context for the rush. If the Candidate Experience Specialist cannot meet the 1 business day they will inform the recruiter and CES manager via Greenhouse and will provide context.
Recruiters should make themselves familiar with the basic knowledge of the contract processes that can be found on the CES Contract Processes page and the Contracts, Probation Periods & PIAA page, as well as the Employment Contracts page in the internal handbook.
Hired
inactive role). View candidate merge instructions in the Candidate Hygiene section. NOTE: If this step is skipped, it will create problems with privacy and increases the possibility of a new hire seeing their own Greenhouse profile.Details
> Source & Responsibility
section of the candidate's profile is correct to ensure accuracy in reporting.people-connect_ces
. The Contract, Greenhouse and Workday should reflect the same start date regardless of the actual onboarding date. The last part of the Candidate Experience Specialist's responsibilities with a candidate is to hire them into the system and pass them on to People Connect. The hire-in process includes more complexities, so CES created the following guidelines to clarify start date exceptions and confidentiality around new hires.
SETTING GREENHOUSE REMINDERS - CES should utilize reminders in Greenhouse at least 12 days before the start date and maintain consistent communication with the recruiters to ensure the candidates in the requisition are cleared completely. CES can make use of the "Need to hire into Workday" label and set due dates in the GitLab issue to track as well.
The People Connect team has an SLA period of 10 working days to onboard an entity-based team member. In the event of an exception, the minimum notice required for the People Connect team is 5 working days.
PROACTIVE COMMUNICATION- CES should promptly notify in the #peopleconnect-ces slack channel when the CES experiences a delay/ issues with the PEO contract generated. In case of any start date issues, the responsible CES must keep the People Connect team updated about the changes. The People Connect team requires a minimum of 10 working days to onboard a new team member from a PEO successfully. While generating the PEO contract, please ensure the PEO payroll cut off date is also factored in. Most recruiters are aware of these dates.
NEW HIRE EXCEPTIONS - For any confidential hires that necessitate a public announcement, please inform Alissa Meeks or Melody Patel about the specific scenario. Additionally, loop them in any communication related to the role to keep them in the loop. This will also be considered as an exception.
VERIFYING GLOBAL HOLIDAYS - CES should verify whether the proposed start date coincides with a holiday in the new hire’s location. It is the responsibility of the recruiter to check with the Hiring Manager to ensure that the new team member has a support/ onboarding buddy on the first day of onboarding.
START DATE EXCEPTION EMAIL FOR URGENT HIRES - This email seeks a required explanation and business justification for the proposed changes in the start date. The People Connect team will review this on a case-by-case basis. Urgent hires refer to situations where the HM requests an earlier start date than the previously agreed upon one, and the new start date does not adhere to the standard 10 working day SLA period for candidate onboarding. Important: an exception will not be made without a minimum of 5 working day notice to the People Connect team.
Prominent reasons for urgent hires are Critical Skill Gap / New business opportunities, Equity vesting grant options and Unexpected departures or backfills. CES can access this email under the "Email the team" option in the candidates' Greenhouse profile.
People Connect Specialist will create the onboarding issue and start the onboarding tasks no later than two weeks before the new team member joins. Should a contract not be signed prior to 10 working days from the start date, a new start date will be required.
For questions about the new team member's onboarding status, you can @mention them in the #people-connect-ces
Slack channel.
For questions about the new team member's laptop, ping IT Ops in Slack. If the questions arise through email, forward the email to [email protected] and ping IT Ops in #it-ops Slack, and @it-ops-team too due to volume.
When team members depart Gitlab, People Connect will create an offboarding issue. The CES team is responsible for completing tasks under the "@gitlab-com/gl-ces" section. Please note that offboarding issues are time sensitive and should be completed by the due date set on the issue. Completion of these tasks also ensure Gitlab remains compliant.
Go to Employment Issues where the offboarding issues can be found. In the search bar, filter issues by the "CES: To Do" label and work on the issues by due date. Once you open up an offboarding issue, navigate to the "@gitlab-com/gl-ces" section and complete the following steps.
Open Google calendar, select the "Interview Calendar", and type in the team member's name in the search bar at the top. Ensure the team member offboarding isn't in any active interviews. If applicable, post in the ces-team slack channel the departing team member's name and list the interviews they are currently scheduled for. Advise the CES team member to work with their recruiters to review any other interview plans and update accordingly. Any interviews that have been grayed out on the calendar, have passed already.
Check any interview plans and reqs that the team member might be on by searching the team member's name under Users
in Greenhouse. When searching the team member's name, select the profile with the team member's GitLab email address; this will navigate to their Greenhouse profile settings.
Under "Permissions" check what the team member's permission level is. If permissions are anything other than "Job Admin: Hiring Manager" (i.e. "Basic" or "Job Approver") you can skip to step 4.
If the permission is listed as "Job Admin: Hiring Manager", check if the job req title has "Closed", "Draft", or "Template" in it. If so,you can skip to step 4.
Please note you may encounter a "Job Admin: Hiring Manager" who has both "closed" and active job reqs. If there are active job reqs you must take the following steps:
While in the Engineering hiring repos, select Backend / Interviewers.md / search the team member's name using their gitlab username (i.e Eric Johnson = ejohnson). If they do not show up, there is no further action needed.
Next, navigate back the Engineering hiring repo and select Frontend / 3- Technical Interview / Interviewers.md / search the team member's name using their first and last names. If they are not listed, there is no further action needed.
If the team member is listed in any of the engineering hiring repos, remove their name from the hiring repo and submit changes through a merge request e.g "Removed John Doe from list of ruby on rails technical interviewers".