| | MARCH 2025MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8In MyOpinionENHANCING EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE THROUGH STRATEGIC RECRUITING AND ONBOARDINGBy Oksana Antonova, Head of People Sourcing, Recruiting and Onboarding, Allianz [ETR: ALV]Antonova's Professional JourneyI have been fortunate to gain more than 15 years of leadership HR experience, in companies such as P&G, J&J and Allianz, which are all represented in global top employer rankings. Currently, I am the Head of Recruiting, Sourcing and Onboarding at Allianz SE in Munich, Germany, where I ensure that our recruiting and onboarding processes are offering top notch employee experience. I am also involved in a number of other engagement initiatives where I can contribute with my extensive experience in HR. I am also the leader of the local chapter of Allianz's Beyond Employee Network ­ an employee network dedicated to people with disabilities.The Influence of Positive ConsistencyIf a superior customer experience is part of the overarching business strategy, processes around employee and candidate experience should be part of a company's DNA. Candidates often share their experiences about application processes, particularly through sharing their feedback on social media. Even though, as a company we are not able to offer a job to everyone who is applies, we should respect our candidates, the time they spend on their application, and provide prompt response in regards to our decision. Measuring candidate satisfaction and benchmarking it with the best-in-class is also key to understand whether you as an employer are on the right track. To ensure this, my team and I dived deep into a candidate's experience journey. We mapped out different interactions and milestones that the candidates encounter and defined at which point in time candidates get a friendly response from the company in the reasonable timing. Improvement in this area also requires training for all the parties involved: not only recruiters but also those who interview from the specialist departments and of course the respective hiring managers. Crucial Elements of a Structured Onboarding Program After having hopefully executed a smooth hiring process, onboarding is the next step in the employee journey. Having had experience with both remote and face-to--face onboarding programs, I would strongly suggest investing into an onsite experience. Getting to know the new company is something that in my view is best done in person. At Allianz SE, my team and I developed a very comprehensive approach. For instance, we use a pre-onboarding portal, so that curious new joiners have the possibility to learn about the company before joining. On the first day of each month, we invite our new joiners to a welcome breakfast at the office, during which they learn about the company business and values from existing leaders, have the chance to create new connections with other colleagues and learn about practical onboarding steps and resources available. They also receive their IT setup and go through a Metaverse Virtual Reality experience, where employees are able to explore the world of Allianz, company key achievements and strategies in a fully immersive way, ensuring the best information retention. We keep in touch with the new joiners for few Oksana Antonova
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