How to Improve a Hiring Process: Zara Boost
Zara Tech needed to figure out how to improve a hiring process to recruit 36 young tech talents in less than 3 months (from May to September—right through the summer). They asked us for help to make it happen.
Did we do it?
Of course we did. ^__^
Here’s how.
CONTEXT
Zara Tech runs a young talent recruitment campaign that involves several phases, with tests and themed activities, through which they evaluate and eliminate candidates.
They asked us to review the talent program and give it a boost after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Goals?
Hire 36 young talents from technical disciplines.
Challenges
1. Timelines & seasonality
They needed to close all hires by September… and it was already May.
36 hires in 3 months.
We were going to sweat.
2. Summer slump
In summer, people pay much less attention to email, social media, and hiring processes.
3. Competing for top students
Starting in January would have been ideal—but we were already late if we wanted to reach final-year students, who were being chased by every company in Spain.
Some universities (like UPM) see up to 60% of each graduating class hired by companies like Accenture.
4. Attracting technical talent
They had successfully used the program to recruit for other business areas, but attracting junior technical profiles was much harder.
These candidates receive offers non-stop and need a compelling reason to join a hiring challenge.
5. National + international talent
The program targeted candidates in Spain, Germany, France, and the UK, which meant:
- English was essential
- Our mainly Spain-based community wasn’t enough—we needed to reach Europe
Conditions
The talent—whether national or international—had to be ready to join Zara Tech in Arteixo in September.
What we did
We built a microsite explaining Zara Tech’s young talent program and designed, together with the Zara team, a technical challenge presented as a competition. Almost like a mini-hackathon.
We also highlighted Zara Tech’s work philosophy and added testimonials from the team to give visibility to the people behind the product.
Then, we launched the microsite and challenge with a land–sea–air communication strategy (the Manfred way).
And what happened next was… impressive.
After launching the challenge, as of July 19, 2021, the participation results were very positive: 346 participants, of whom 10% passed the test. 34 passed during the first week of the challenge's promotion. The goal was to reach 100 participants before the end of August.
As of August 16, we were asked to stop promoting Zara Boost because we couldn't keep up with managing the 1400 applications received ^__^.
Challenge achieved!
Databox
- Participants involved: Zara.com HR (Inditex), Wired&Linked, and Manfred
- Project duration: May to September 2021
- Team: 5 people directly, ~12–15 overall
- Total participants: 1,479 national and142 international
- 1,626 completed the technical test
- People interviewed: 220
- Participants in on-site days: 58
- Hires: 31 offers extended & 27 accepted
- Investment: Paid media, PR, educational institutions, partners, travel, accommodation, challenge rewards, and Manfred advisory services
How we did it?
We rethought the entire campaign from the candidate’s perspective—from the benefits of participating to the compensation package for final hires.
We designed a three-phase hiring process that could handle hundreds of applications while remaining smooth and enjoyable for candidates:
On-site days in Arteixo to meet the Zara Tech team
Technical challenge (max 2 hours)
Personal interview
Manfredonomics
Zara Boost was, without question, a high-ROI campaign for Inditex.
Hiring 27 developers through a traditional recruitment model (with Manfred’s industry-standard fee of 15% of annual salary) would have cost €121,500.
Zara Boost cost less than 20% of that, and the return was far beyond monetary value.
Retrospective: How to Improve a Hiring Process
1. Distribution & visibility
The numbers speak for themselves:
- Twitter: 11,892 impressions with only two tweets
- Manfred Daily: 823 clicks across two posts (way above our averages)
- LinkedIn: 4,853 impressions with just one post
Inditex’s own channels amplified the reach even further.
Zara Boost generated widespread activity and reactions from organizations like Ubiqum, 4Geeks Academy, Sngular, and multiple universities.
We exceeded all expectations—so much so that we had to pause paid media because more visibility wasn’t needed.
2. Transparency
This was a big one.
When Zara shared the employment conditions for new hires, we said:
“If you make this public, half the work is already done.”
We work with market data all day long and knew the offer was strong:
€30K salary + multiple benefits and flexible compensation.
We managed to make all this public on the program’s landing page, which boosted trust and conversion.
3. Rewarding participants
We wanted participants to feel recognized for their time and effort.
So everyone who passed the technical test received:
- an exclusive program T-shirt, and
- free training through OpenWebinars
A small detail with a big impact.
Need Help Improving Your Hiring Process?
If you need support with:
- onboarding large groups
- redesigning your hiring process
- hiring many people in a short time
- or any challenge related to culture, talent, or people
We can help.
Write to us at team@getmanfred.com and let’s talk.