What happens when I complete my expression of interest?

Every company handles candidates differently and you might wonder what happens after you submit an expression of interest with Pinnacol on www.pinnacol.com/careers. Once you click the submit button two things happen. You'll immediately see a screen pop up confirming that your expression of interest has been received. Additionally, you'll be sent an e-mail from our system saying the same thing. Sometimes people don't get this e-mail due to their spam filter settings on their computer or because they made a mistake in typing in their e-mail address on the expression of interest. Either way, we did receive your expression of interest into our system.

With some companies not every applicant is screened by a person. Software exists that can filter out candidates based on key word searches and other criteria. Some companies simply get too many expressions of interest for their open positions so after say, the first 50-100 candidates who have responded, the remainder are simply archived in the system for a future look if needed. At Pinnacol I'm proud to say that every candidate's expression of interest is reviewed by a real person. We look to see whether the skills and experience match the current vacancy, and if not, what other types of positions we may have that are a closer fit. Information on candidates that are a close match for the vacancy are generally forwarded to the hiring manager for their review as well. The HR team at Pinnacol doesn't "tell" the manager who they have to interview - we partner with them and solicit their input as to whom they think is the closest match for their open position.

I realize that when all is said and done the thing that matters most to candidates is whether they receive a call asking for additional information or to set up an in-person interview. That's the only real objective of why you took the time to complete the expression of interest in the first place. Unfortunately I can't guarantee that every candidate gets a phone call or an interview. Pinnacol, though a relatively small employer (600+ employees), still receives expressions of interest from thousands of candidates every year. Some position announcements generate hundreds of candidates for one vacancy.

Sometimes timing impacts whether you might get a call from us. You may be a strong candidate for one of our open positions but might have applied late in the process at a point where we have already identified a finalist. On our website we list the positions until the position is filled. That means the finalist has accepted our position, completed our pre-employment drug testing and background check and is otherwise ready to actually start work.

I get asked whether we 'save' candidate information for future openings. The short answer is "Yes!". Our system allows us to keep candidate records almost indefinitely. That said, the reality is that we only go back a short time if we have an opening occur to see who has recently applied. I might still have on file a candidate's expression of interest from two years ago, but realistically I'm going to start by looking at those who have applied in the last month or so. Thats one reason we encourage candidates to monitor our job openings and if they see something become available that they are interested in to re-submit an expression of interest for that specific opening. This also allows the candidate to update their information on what they are currently doing.

Pinnacol Assurance is becoming known as an 'employer of choice' which is a fancy way of saying people really want to work here. Why people want to work here is a reflection of how we treat our employees. While not every candidate may actually become a Pinnacol employee, we make an effort to treat all candidates with the same level of respect and care as if they were.