Lethbridge School District reduces time to hire by 50% using Workable

The challenge: Small budget, big hiring expectations

Every year, Lethbridge School District hires approximately 300 support staff and 140 teachers. A popular local employer with a strong employer brand, it attracts hundreds of applications for every post. Despite this, its hiring budget is low with no dedicated recruiters on the team. It’s the principals and vice principals, already busy with other commitments, who tackle the task of candidate screening.

Rik Jesse was appointed Associate Superintendent of Lethbridge in March 2017. His first mandate was to modernize the department, using technology to make things more efficient.

“We were managing our recruitment by email and on paper,” says Rik. “Although everyone tried to stick to a process, it was kind of like the Wild West. Everyone was doing something different.”

Without a defined process it was impossible for HR Director, Rhonda Aos, to have a clear overview of hiring across the organization.

“Our principals aren’t HR professionals,” says Rhonda. “Hiring is just one of many things they have to do throughout the day. But it was becoming all-consuming. So everyone looked for their own shortcuts. This made it impossible for me to track where we were in the process.”

The volume of applications and siloed approach to recruiting workflow added even more pressure.

“We get on average 200 applications for each post,” says Rhonda. “Our hiring managers had to wait for all of these to come in before sifting. This was so disruptive in terms of workflow.”

The solution: A flexible hiring process that works for everyone

Lethbridge needed to find the right HR tech to tame its wild approach to hiring. Rik and Rhonda looked at almost every ATS available. Only Workable met their brief.

“We wanted a platform that was easy to deploy with fast, personalized customer care and support. It also had to be user-friendly—something our hiring managers and principals could pick up and use quickly. Workable met all of these requirements. And more.”

The “more” included a tool with built-in checks and reminders, and the right pricing options.

“We have 64 hiring managers spread across 24 different sites. Some vendors charge per user. This didn’t work for us. Having flexible pricing plans was another reason for choosing Workable.”

The outcome: Integrated workflow, faster hiring

Since using Workable, Lethbridge has centralized its hiring process.

“Workable gave us the opportunity to revisit the importance of process with our hiring managers,” says Rhonda. “The Workable pipeline is now at the heart of our process.”

Sifting applications used to be an overwhelming, disruptive task for hiring managers. Now it fits seamlessly into their daily workflow.

“With 200+ applications for each post, the process from screening to offer used to take at least two weeks,” says Rhonda. “Now, it’s all done within a week.”

And Workable’s mobile app helps to engage the hiring teams.

“Our principals and hiring managers now screen applications as soon as they come in; whether that’s in the office on their desktop or out and about on their mobile,” says Rhonda.

The future: More sourcing and a richer hiring toolkit

The hiring market Lethbridge operates in is becoming more competitive.

“We’ve never had a problem recruiting people,” says Rik. “Applicants tend to come to us. But it is getting more and more difficult to attract qualified applicants.”

Using Workable, the team is making the shift towards more passive outreach, using product integrations to stand out from the competition and provide a richer experience for candidates.

“We’re very impressed with Workable’s integrations, particularly the video interviewing platforms,” says Rik.”We plan to start using Spark Hire very soon. And we’re excited about how People Search can help us identify and reach out to prospects for specialized roles. We can build a more proactive hiring strategy all from within Workable.”