{"id":43309,"date":"2025-09-24T13:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T20:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/?post_type=case-study&#038;p=43309"},"modified":"2025-10-25T12:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T19:10:15","slug":"how-mcafee-cut-time-to-hire-by-over-20","status":"publish","type":"case-study","link":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/case-study\/how-mcafee-cut-time-to-hire-by-over-20\/","title":{"rendered":"How McAfee Cut Time to Hire by Over 20%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>McAfee is one of the world\u2019s leading cybersecurity brands\u2014protecting millions of users daily and driving innovation at a global scale. This work demands exceptional technical talent\u2014and the confidence to choose the very best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For <strong>Rodney Walden<\/strong>, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at McAfee, hiring the best candidates is not just part of the job\u2014it\u2019s his specialty. With deep experience in building agile, scalable hiring systems at enterprise tech organizations, Rodney was eager to bring operational rigor to McAfee\u2019s talent engine and drive impressive results.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Rodney was introduced to CoderPad by a peer from Apple (already leveraging the platform), he saw a powerful opportunity: a tool that could solve McAfee\u2019s technical hiring challenges and deliver unprecedented impact for the business. From that moment, Rodney became the driving force behind the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Challenge: Long Timelines, No Standards, and New Threats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before CoderPad, McAfee\u2019s technical hiring process was <strong>slow<\/strong> \u2014 recruiter screens followed by multiple technical interviews \u2013 each dependent on feedback from the last, feedback that took a long time to manually collect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But <strong>speed<\/strong> wasn\u2019t the only problem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>No consistency or standardization<\/strong> \u2014 Every role and hiring manager used different approaches, making it difficult to compare candidates fairly or ensure quality across the board.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AI misuse and cheating risks<\/strong> \u2014 With ChatGPT and similar tools emerging rapidly, candidates could leverage external help during interviews and assessments, and McAfee had <strong>no reliable way to detect it<\/strong>.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bottlenecks in decision-making<\/strong> \u2014 Averaging <strong>80\u201385 days<\/strong> from posting to acceptance, with sometimes only one finalist in many processes, McAfee often faced a \u201chire now or start over\u201d dilemma.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<figure class=\"single-testimonial single-testimonial--align-left\" itemprop=\"review\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Review\">\n    \n\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                <blockquote class=\"quote\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n            <p>By implementing CoderPad, we are <strong>able to assess at scale<\/strong> \u2013 we can greet the talent that applies and get them engaged in the process straight away. We <strong>validate their baseline capabilities quickly with CoderPad Screen<\/strong> and then are able to get them expedited through to live CoderPad interviews to help validate those skills even further and make faster decisions. <strong>This is the heart of the ROI.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n        <\/blockquote>\n        \n                    <figcaption class=\"attribution\" itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n                                    <span itemprop=\"name\">Rodney Walden<\/span>\n                                                    <span itemprop=\"jobTitle\">Head of Global Talent Acquisition<\/span>,                                                    <span itemprop=\"memberOf\">McAfee<\/span>\n                            <\/figcaption>\n        \n        <div class=\"hide\" itemprop=\"itemReviewed\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebApplication\">\n            <span itemprop=\"name\">CoderPad<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"applicationCategory\">code interview<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"operatingSystem\">all<\/span>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <p class=\"hidden\" itemprop=\"reviewRating\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Rating\">\n            <span itemprop=\"ratingValue\">5<\/span> stars\n        <\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Turning Point: Choosing CoderPad for Its Flexibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When evaluating hiring platforms, flexibility quickly became the make-or-break factor for McAfee. Their technical hiring needs were unusually diverse \u2014 spanning product engineers building core products, cybersecurity specialists with deep domain expertise, and internal technical roles supporting the broader organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most platforms struggled to support all three, offering generic, \u201ccanned\u201d assessments that didn\u2019t reflect McAfee\u2019s real-world requirements. CoderPad stood out by collaborating directly with McAfee\u2019s team to customize both asynchronous assessments and live interview formats to each role type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than forcing McAfee to fit into a prebuilt test, CoderPad enabled them to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Build <strong>role-specific question sets<\/strong> tailored to exact job requirements<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adjust difficulty levels and content focus based on hiring manager feedback<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Incorporate <strong>realistic, McAfee-specific scenarios<\/strong> to evaluate problem-solving<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Support multiple coding languages and frameworks to mirror production tools<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The process looked like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>0. Start small to move fast<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>We began with a small McAfee technical team to iterate quickly, ensuring the partnership could produce meaningful content in weeks, not months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Technical-to-technical ideation<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>Our technical experts sat down with McAfee\u2019s technical leaders in working sessions to understand the exact skills they wanted to surface \u2014 from foundational coding ability to cybersecurity expertise to collaboration and problem-solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Initial round of custom questions<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>From those sessions, we created an initial question set spanning both <strong>soft skills<\/strong> and <strong>technical skills unique to McAfee\u2019s environment<\/strong>, including asynchronous screens and live interview projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Second round of collaboration<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>We reviewed those questions together with McAfee in a second ideation session, aligning tightly on scope, difficulty, and hiring goals. This \u201cmessy middle\u201d collaboration was key: it ensured McAfee got the benefit of our guidance, while retaining ownership and input into the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. AI-assisted scaling<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>We used AI to scale up content creation, ensuring breadth and depth across technical areas. This reinforced a broader CoderPad advantage: <strong>AI is infused across our platform<\/strong> \u2014 this includes for content creation. The result: unlimited, specific questions!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Validation and enablement<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>We validated the content together and trained McAfee\u2019s team on how to customize and fine-tune questions themselves. Once they saw how easy it was, their leaders leaned in, refining and expanding the bank to make asynchronous assessments and live interview questions even stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This process produced:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A curated library of custom content \u2014 <strong>~100 multiple-choice <\/strong>screening questions and <strong>13+ custom interview questions <\/strong>\u2014 an incredible and robust starting point.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Higher-signal assessments and stronger selectivity.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <strong>better candidate experience<\/strong>. Candidates engaged with realistic, job-relevant scenarios rather than irrelevant or generic puzzles, building confidence in McAfee\u2019s hiring process from the first step.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Flexibility and collaboration together became the game-changer.<\/strong> McAfee didn\u2019t just adopt a tool; they co-built a system with CoderPad that could flex and evolve with their needs \u2014 whether that meant adding new AI-related skills, adapting to emerging security trends, or adjusting difficulty to meet the market.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"single-testimonial single-testimonial--align-left\" itemprop=\"review\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Review\">\n    \n\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                <blockquote class=\"quote\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n            <p>The biggest advantage of CoderPad for McAfee was really the amount of flexibility that the engineering and the product team offered us. <strong>There was a total willingness to flex to our unique environment and needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n        <\/blockquote>\n        \n                    <figcaption class=\"attribution\" itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n                                    <span itemprop=\"name\">Rodney Walden<\/span>\n                                                    <span itemprop=\"jobTitle\">Head of Global Talent Acquisition<\/span>,                                                    <span itemprop=\"memberOf\">McAfee<\/span>\n                            <\/figcaption>\n        \n        <div class=\"hide\" itemprop=\"itemReviewed\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebApplication\">\n            <span itemprop=\"name\">CoderPad<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"applicationCategory\">code interview<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"operatingSystem\">all<\/span>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <p class=\"hidden\" itemprop=\"reviewRating\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Rating\">\n            <span itemprop=\"ratingValue\">5<\/span> stars\n        <\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Immediate Impact: Better Hires, Faster Decisions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With CoderPad, McAfee can validate skills earlier and run parallel interviews instead of sequential ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Time to hire cut by ~22%<\/strong> \u2014 from 80\u201385 days to 66 days globally<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Assessment <strong>completion rates up from 50% to 85%<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finalist pools expanded from <strong>1 candidate to 4\u20136 highly qualified contenders<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hours<\/strong> required to screen candidates <strong>by the engineering team <\/strong>dramatically declined <strong><br><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This larger, stronger finalist pool made McAfee far more selective \u2014 able to compare top contenders head-to-head and hire only those who truly met the bar. With CoderPad, McAfee is getting <strong>BETTER<\/strong> hires locked in meaningfully <strong>FASTER.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"single-testimonial single-testimonial--align-left\" itemprop=\"review\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Review\">\n    \n\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                <blockquote class=\"quote\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n            <p><strong>Leadership here recognizes that with CoderPad, we are getting higher quality candidates in the door<\/strong> to evaluate. And as a result, are able to extend offers to better talent and <strong>make better hires<\/strong>. They see the benefit. And it\u2019s certainly made the relationship between Talent Acquisition and Engineering stronger.<\/p>\n\n        <\/blockquote>\n        \n                    <figcaption class=\"attribution\" itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n                                    <span itemprop=\"name\">Rodney Walden<\/span>\n                                                    <span itemprop=\"jobTitle\">Head of Global Talent Acquisition<\/span>,                                                    <span itemprop=\"memberOf\">McAfee<\/span>\n                            <\/figcaption>\n        \n        <div class=\"hide\" itemprop=\"itemReviewed\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebApplication\">\n            <span itemprop=\"name\">CoderPad<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"applicationCategory\">code interview<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"operatingSystem\">all<\/span>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <p class=\"hidden\" itemprop=\"reviewRating\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Rating\">\n            <span itemprop=\"ratingValue\">5<\/span> stars\n        <\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ongoing Adaptability: Continuous Iteration with Live Dashboards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>That same flexibility is now central to how McAfee manages technical hiring. CoderPad\u2019s real-time analytics and benchmarking tools allow the team to monitor candidate performance, track completion times, and identify friction points at a glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assessment content is continually updated based on this data. Before every hiring cycle, McAfee reviews and refines test content to ensure it reflects the latest technical requirements and market conditions. If a role\u2019s needs shift, the process can be quickly adapted \u2014 whether that means rewriting questions, adjusting time limits, or altering the difficulty curve. CoderPad makes this fast and easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This \u201cmonitor \u2192 refine \u2192 test \u2192 repeat\u201d cycle ensures McAfee\u2019s assessments remain relevant, fair, and competitive, while preserving the ability to be more selective in choosing the best talent.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"single-testimonial single-testimonial--align-left\" itemprop=\"review\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Review\">\n    \n\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                <blockquote class=\"quote\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n            <p><strong>If you don\u2019t use a tool like CoderPad in today\u2019s day and age, you won\u2019t be successful.<\/strong> The market is changing too fast. You just can\u2019t afford to have static tests or canned interviews anymore.<\/p>\n\n        <\/blockquote>\n        \n                    <figcaption class=\"attribution\" itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n                                    <span itemprop=\"name\">Rodney Walden<\/span>\n                                                    <span itemprop=\"jobTitle\">Head of Global Talent Acquisition<\/span>,                                                    <span itemprop=\"memberOf\">McAfee<\/span>\n                            <\/figcaption>\n        \n        <div class=\"hide\" itemprop=\"itemReviewed\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebApplication\">\n            <span itemprop=\"name\">CoderPad<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"applicationCategory\">code interview<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"operatingSystem\">all<\/span>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <p class=\"hidden\" itemprop=\"reviewRating\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Rating\">\n            <span itemprop=\"ratingValue\">5<\/span> stars\n        <\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>CoderPad\u2019s ROI is Obvious&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>McAfee didn\u2019t just speed up hiring with CoderPad \u2014 they built a <strong>metrics-driven, outcome-focused process<\/strong> that is faster, smarter, more adaptable, and significantly more selective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By partnering deeply with Rodney\u2019s team \u2014 not just delivering content, but co-creating it \u2014 CoderPad helped McAfee measure, improve, and repeat success at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rodney\u2019s structured approach, combined with CoderPad\u2019s flexibility and partnership, made outcomes clear:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>~22% faster<\/strong> time-to-accept (<strong>80\u201385 days \u2192 66 days globally<\/strong>)<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>+35% increase<\/strong> in assessment completion rates<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>4\u20136x more finalists<\/strong> in the interview stage<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lower cost-per-hire<\/strong> and faster onboarding<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reusable candidate pipeline<\/strong> for future roles<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Higher selectivity = stronger hires<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<figure class=\"single-testimonial single-testimonial--align-left\" itemprop=\"review\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Review\">\n    \n\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                <blockquote class=\"quote\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n            <p>We now have new hires starting essentially a month or a month and a half sooner. <strong>For sure, the tool is paying for itself<\/strong> in that way alone. We are all very happy with CoderPad\u2019s business impact over here at McAfee.<\/p>\n\n        <\/blockquote>\n        \n                    <figcaption class=\"attribution\" itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n                                    <span itemprop=\"name\">Rodney Walden<\/span>\n                                                    <span itemprop=\"jobTitle\">Head of Global Talent Acquisition<\/span>,                                                    <span itemprop=\"memberOf\">McAfee<\/span>\n                            <\/figcaption>\n        \n        <div class=\"hide\" itemprop=\"itemReviewed\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/WebApplication\">\n            <span itemprop=\"name\">CoderPad<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"applicationCategory\">code interview<\/span>\n            <span itemprop=\"operatingSystem\">all<\/span>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <p class=\"hidden\" itemprop=\"reviewRating\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Rating\">\n            <span itemprop=\"ratingValue\">5<\/span> stars\n        <\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McAfee is one of the world\u2019s leading cybersecurity brands\u2014protecting millions of users daily and driving innovation at a global scale. This work demands exceptional technical talent\u2014and the confidence to choose the very best. For Rodney Walden, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at McAfee, hiring the best candidates is not just part of the job\u2014it\u2019s his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-43309","case-study","type-case-study","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study\/43309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case-study"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study\/43309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43314,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study\/43309\/revisions\/43314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}