South African-based AtPlay Interactive Talent provide talent and tech solutions within the African market. We’ve interviewed CEO Christelle Hargroves to hear why she enjoys working with us, and how Arctic Shores has helped with some of AtPlay’s recent success.

Hi Christelle, we’re really happy to speak with you! Can you tell us a little bit about what AtPlay does?

AtPlay Interactive Talent are a technology and people solutions company. We have developed our own gamified video interview platform that we couple with other dynamic talent solutions – like the Arctic Shores assessment. 

We have a team of business psychologists, and we have a passion for bringing new and innovative products to the African market.

Why did you start working with Arctic Shores?

Over the course of a couple of months, we conducted extensive research on the unique and innovative talent solutions that weren’t being offered in Africa. We engaged with multiple assessment providers and Arctic Shores caught our attention immediately! 

You completely align with how we position ourselves and our own gamified solutions. We love the fact that we can measure both cognitive and personality traits in the one assessment, whilst delivering a great candidate experience. 

There were a lot of suppliers in the market who lacked the science behind the assessments. As a team of business psychologists, and from an ethical point of view, we always want to do the right thing. As Arctic Shores have that scientific rigour, we never worry about how the assessment is applied because we know it will be done so fairly. 

For us, it felt like a very natural fit. 

How was the onboarding experience? 

It was great. As soon as I reached out, Joe (Wilson, Head of Partnerships) got in contact with me.  Soon after, we received our training and it was just a very smooth process overall. 

Even for our clients, when we are onboarding them, the partner support from Arctic Shores is just absolutely fantastic!

What do you enjoy the most about working with us?

So, I would say collaboration with like-minded people. I also love how Arctic Shores are constantly innovating and improving based on what works within the market, and for their partners. 

It’s also opened up a new market for us and allowed us to conquer the volume recruitment space – particularly for BPOs and call centres, as well as learnership and graduate intakes. 

What have some of your key successes been?

We worked with Arctic Shores to get them listed with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA – a statutory regulator of health care professionals, including psychometrists). This is something that a lot of corporate and financial service providers look for, so we’re expecting an increase in growth within this sector, especially for those who offer graduate intakes. 

How has working with us helped you and your customers achieve your goals?

Our partnership with Arctic Shores allows us to provide a practical solution to the problem of sifting through large numbers of applications, whilst remaining fair and candidate-friendly. 

To give some context, across Africa, some countries have a particularly high unemployment rate – it’s around 30% in South Africa – which means that vacancies in these countries can receive thousands of applications. 

Our customers want to make sure they appoint the right talent in the quickest time possible, without compromise, and together, with Arctic Shores, we help them achieve that.

Finally, what’s next on your journey with Arctic Shores?

The one milestone that we’re heading towards is our systems integration. We’ve been working on this for a while now and it’s all coming together! This will create a “one stop shop” for our interviewing tool and the Arctic Shores assessment and make our processes much more streamlined.

I’m really excited to become more established in the wider African market and get our products in front of more people!