Case Studies > Drought in California Leads to Flood of Applicants

Drought in California Leads to Flood of Applicants

Customer Company Size

SME

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Jobvite Hire

Tech Stack

Cloud Technology
Analytics
Behavioral Psychology

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Utilities
Software

Applicable Functions

Human Resources
Business Operation

Use Cases

Digital Twin
Predictive Replenishment
Remote Asset Management

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
System Integration
Training

About The Customer

WaterSmart is a company that’s been fueled by a passion for conservation since its very beginning. Interested in learning more about their personal water use, founders Peter Yolles and Rob Steiner reached out to utility companies looking for a way to measure water consumption. Despite promises to provide that information, the water suppliers never delivered. Yolles and Steiner decided to take matters into their own hands and create a platform for curious consumers to track — and ultimately, reduce — their water usage. Since then, WaterSmart has developed a program that uses analytics, behavioral psychology and cloud technology and has saved users over 1.7 billion gallons of water — a number that grows steadily each day.

The Challenge

With business tripling in 2014, the need to more rapidly grow the team to address water resource stress around the country became an urgent priority for WaterSmart Software. The company’s small but nimble hiring team had to find a way to more rapidly identify and recruit new team members in order to support them in their mission to change the way the world uses water. Interest in water conservation has skyrocketed in recent years, especially in the drought-stricken state of California where WaterSmart is based. As the drought stretched on and people began hunting for solutions, WaterSmart increasingly found itself in the media spotlight. As a result, environmentally conscious job seekers began to pour in by the dozens. This would pose a significant challenge to any company, let alone one with only a handful of employees. With so many interested candidates, WaterSmart’s manual applicant tracking system (ATS) — which consisted of compiling candidate information in a Microsoft Word document — was rendered nearly useless. With the urgency of growing demand for WaterSmart solutions, the company needed a recruiting solution that could help sift through the deluge of applicants in order to fill open positions quickly and efficiently.

The Solution

Jobvite Hire’s centralized platform, social media features and streamlined, collaborative workflow empowered WaterSmart employees to work closely together to scale the recruiting function and meet the company’s growth goals. First and foremost, Jobvite served as the complete, centralized recruiting platform that WaterSmart had never had before. Previously, there was no one place to store candidate information. Employees use Jobvite as a centralized repository for employee information — which has proved useful in some unexpected ways. On several occasions, a candidate who isn’t a great fit for a particular role turns out to be ideal for another; in those cases, their application and interview history can be easily handed off to a new hiring manager, which has led to several hires in different positions than what candidates originally applied for. Jobvite’s social media features provided an easy, intuitive way for employees to share open positions within their networks, allowing them to find their inner recruiter. Jobvite even allows you to search your network for specific job requirements and matching job titles, which really allows you to hone in on a specific audience. Jobvite’s collaborative workflow allows multiple people to process applications and communicate with each other, ensuring that the entire team is in sync. Everyone can easily track applicant statuses through the pipeline and jump in at any time to leave notes on specific candidates.

Operational Impact

WaterSmart grew from about 12 full-time employees to 25, hired numerous interns and developed a plan to expand their staff even more, all with a reduced time-to-hire.
Jobvite has directly helped WaterSmart mature, encouraging team members to work together to source talent, comment on applications and engage in the recruitment process as a whole.
Jobvite’s centralized repository for employee information has proved useful in unexpected ways, such as finding candidates who are a better fit for different roles than they originally applied for.
Jobvite’s social media features provided an easy, intuitive way for employees to share open positions within their networks, allowing them to find their inner recruiter.
Jobvite’s collaborative workflow allows multiple people to process applications and communicate with each other, ensuring that the entire team is in sync.

Quantitative Benefit