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 ces@gitlab.com
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 for scheduling executive interviews should always be followed from here.
If you have any questions about the process, please post in #eba-team Slack channel and @ mention the correct EBA. You should include a link to the #eba-team Slack channel thread in your issue so you know where to find updates.
TA/CES will be using a custom slack channel to consolidate all requests directed towards CES from GitLab Team Members who participate in interviews.
Slack Channel: #interview-help-ta
IMPORTANT: Please DO NOT use candidates full names in the channel. Instead, please use their initials and/or link to their GH profile when communicating.
This channel will be monitored by CES team members on a rotating schedule to accommodate varying timezones.
How Gitlab Team Members will utilize the Workflow within #interview-help-ta
CES team members will respond to Gitlab Team Member workflow requests in the channel directly themselves and/or ping the designated CES to assist. Once the request is handled, the CES team member will mark the workflow with a green check mark indicating that the request was actioned and resolved.
The purpose of this private Slack Channel is to:
This will allow:
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 background check with employment verifications.
For additional information on reviewing Background checks 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
Extended Global Sanctions
. Then click "Add".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.
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 creating an offer. If the candidate selects “Yes” to indicate that they are located in NYC, you will need to complete a two-step background check process:
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 check 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. NOTE: If this step is skipped, it will create a duplicate profile exported to Workday when the candidate is marked as hired.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. It is important that the Candidate Experience Specialist notifies the People Connect Team of any important changes regarding the new team member, which also ensures the new team members are handed off properly to the People Connect Team.
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 itops@gitlab.com and ping IT Ops in #it-ops Slack, and @it-ops-team too due to volume.
For candidates requesting interview reimbursment the CES team will partner with the Accounts Payable (AP) team to ensure requests are processed confidentially and in a timely manner. AP and the CES team utilize GitLab Service Desk to track incoming emails to the Interviews@gitlab.com email.
Under the Interview Reimbursement Service Desk set up the proper notifications
Additional process details can be found on the project README page.
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".