Setting the Scene
Get to Know the Mo: Movember is a global charity with a mission to change the face of men’s health. We fund and deliver research and programmes that support mental health and suicide prevention, as well as prostate and testicular cancer initiatives around the world. At its core, Movember is about connection, community and making a lasting impact.
The Mo Talent Team: Movember’s Talent team is led from Melbourne and partners with leaders across Australia, the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland. Over time, the function has grown from focusing purely on filling roles to playing a broader role in shaping how people experience Movember from their very first interaction. We’ve introduced smarter systems and better processes to support global hiring at scale, while keeping the experience personal and aligned to who we are as an organisation.
The Challenge
While we were successful at filling roles, the overall experience needed improvement. As a purpose-led organisation built on empathy and human connection, our hiring journey did not always reflect those same values.
We identified several gaps:
- Job ads and careers content felt informative but not particularly engaging
- Candidate communications were standard and process-driven
- Coordinating interviews across time zones slowed momentum
- High application volumes made it harder to engage consistently and personally
We wanted to do better. Not just in speed, but in how candidates felt throughout the process.
Goals & Success Metrics
We aimed to improve both efficiency and engagement.
- Create a more engaging, human and mission-aligned application journey
- Strengthen candidate sentiment and increase satisfaction and recommendation scores
- Enhance global interview processes and enable more candidates to progress
- Increase scalability for a small central TA team
- Introduce AI innovation in a way that protects fairness and accessibility
Approach & Actions Taken
Rewriting the Mo Hiring Journey
We began by redesigning communications and content end to end.
- Redesigned our careers site to better showcase our global offices and how we work
- Created more engaging, on-brand job ads that reflected our personality
- Refreshed messaging at every stage of the process, including an occasional GIF
- Added optional, light-hearted prompts in the application form to help break the ice and build rapport, not to assess candidates
We also rewrote unsuccessful communications to be more thoughtful. We acknowledged the realities of a tough market, and reminded candidates that this outcome does not define their capability or potential, encouraging them to keep going and not lose confidence in their value.
Candidates responded strongly:
- “The friendliest rejection ever. It was so good I may apply again just to get another rejection.”
- “That was the most unique and enjoyable application process I have ever been through”
- “I absolutely loved your advertising copy. It made me feel more comfortable being myself in my application.”
Moving to a Candidate-Centric Platform
We implemented TeamTailor, a more intuitive hiring platform that enabled us to redesign the experience end to end.
- Candidates self-book interviews into live calendars
- Global time-zone coordination automated
- Recording and AI summary function supporting better quality feedback
- Built in candidate feedback at every step of the way
These changes reduced administrative load and increased efficiencies. The result was a smoother, higher quality experience for candidates, recruiters and panels alike.
Introducing Joel, Our AI Recruiter
To support global access and scalability, we offered candidates the option of Joel (via Outhire) to conduct phone interviews.
- Available anytime across global regions
- Accelerated early-stage screening
- Removed scheduling barriers
- Enabled more candidates to progress through early stages
Introducing AI was not a set-and-forget solution. We continue to gather feedback from candidates and hiring managers, listen carefully to what is working and adjust where needed. For us, innovation means improving the experience over time and ensuring technology supports accessibility and fairness without losing the human touch.
Feedback has been positive:
- “Loved Joel the AI robot.”
- “Joel was great, I was shocked at how real he was to talk to.”
Outcomes & Results
Operational impact
- 136 annual hires supported by a small TA team
- 37-day time to fill from approval to offer
- 20-day time to hire from inbox to hire
Engagement impact
- 111,000+ career site visits in the past year
- 7,500+ applicants
- Strong and consistent visitor-to-applicant conversion
Experience impact
- 95 percent positive satisfaction at application stage
- 88 percent positive satisfaction at interview stage
- 93 percent company recommendation rating at interview-stage
Qualitatively, candidates consistently describe the process as fast, engaging and unusually human, with even unsuccessful applicants expressing willingness to reapply.
“In a job market that is tough right now… Movember has restored my faith in the recruitment process and that there are organisations who care about how they engage with candidates.”
Key Learning
For smaller not-for-profits, often working with limited resources, improving candidate experience does not require big budgets or complex programmes. Simple, practical changes such as clearer communication, easier scheduling and more thoughtful feedback can make a meaningful difference.
Our progress came from a series of small, deliberate improvements across the hiring journey. Candidate experience is not something you add on at the end. It is shaped by everyday decisions and how consistently they are applied. When those decisions reflect your purpose and values, the result is an experience people genuinely remember.
