How StartX reduced their time-to-hire by 25%

HEADQUARTERS
California – USA
INDUSTRY
Entrepreneurship
PRODUCTS USED

Automated Scheduling

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Automated Reference Checking

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Live Video Interviewing

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Skills Testing

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StartX Customer Story Hero Image
25% REDUCED TIME-TO-HIRE
Since 2014 STARTX HAS USED VIDCRUITER
1 person STARTX’S RECRUITMENT TEAM SIZE

StartX + VidCruiter

StartX has been working with VidCruiter since 2014 to create a more streamlined hiring strategy. We spoke with Amanda Dawson, People Operations Manager at StartX, to learn how upgrading to VidCruiter’s end-to-end recruitment suite in 2019 has helped them to centralize their hiring and automate manual tasks for an even more efficient hiring process.

About StartX

StartX is a non-profit startup accelerator and founder community focused on developing the missions of high-performing, high-potential entrepreneurs with connections to Standford University. Its community is made up of serial entrepreneurs, industry experts, tenured Stanford professors, and well-funded growth-stage startups. StartX provides startups with access to community mentorship, education, and resources, without taking equity from founders.

1800+

Serial entrepreneurs, industry experts, and tenured Stanford professors

700+

Well-funded growth-stage startups

The Challenge

A hiring process that needed finessing to save time and improve workflows

StartX has used components of the VidCruiter platform since 2014 to hire full-time teammates, interns, and fellows at Stanford University, and in 2019 decided to explore how the platform’s additional capabilities could assist their hiring workflow. “I thought that we could make better use of the system and I could get some time back as my role was expanding,” Amanda told us. “Finessing our hiring process would not only benefit me and the team but also benefit the candidates too.”

At the time, StartX was interviewing primarily in-person but occasionally used video conferencing solutions when needed. “If we needed to connect with a candidate virtually, we’d have to use Zoom, set it up, and add it to the calendar link. It was a whole set of steps,” Amanda shared. Additionally, many workflows that could be automated were manual, such as figuring out availability for interviews and reaching out to references. For Amanda, who is a one-woman hiring team, this meant her much-needed time was being lost to low-value, admin tasks.

Within the hiring process, the team wanted more visibility into applicants, “We are a small team and by the time a candidate is hired, they’ve met nearly everyone. The whole team needs to be able to see the profile and add notes, ratings, etc.” Also, Amanda explained that they needed an easier way to review and compare interviews, “We operate a rolling interview process, so I would say it’s very important to document ratings. We are comparing not just at one time, but looking back to past applicants as well.”

The Solution

VidCruiter’s end-to-end recruitment suite for a streamlined workflow

Amanda and her team worked with VidCruiter to update their hiring process. Ultimately, StartX started using additional features such as automated scheduling, automated reference checking, and live video interviewing with structured interviewing.

Amanda explained their new process: “We have an application process where I do a resume screen or a profile screen. Then, a first video interview, which makes use of automated scheduling and built-in rating. This is followed by an “at home” assignment (a task aligned to the specific role). Next, we hold a second round interview that’s more focused on the particular role and then a final meet-the-team, where around four to eight people in the team are meeting with a candidate.” StartX also uses VidCruiter to automatically collect references within the platform without the manual work.

Amanda Dawson, People Operations Manager, StartX
Amanda Dawson People Operations Manager, StartX
“The customer service is so great at VidCruiter. I’d ask a question and it takes about 30 seconds for a response. It’s really helpful in keeping things moving in my day-to-day”

The Results

A structured, centralized hiring process with significant time savings

Amanda shared that the workflow automation and features like automated scheduling and reference checking have saved her significant time. This allowed her to focus on other, more important tasks, rather than focusing solely on logistics. “I save on the “back end” time, whether it’s reference checks or scheduling. And so that opens up time for me to do other things like sourcing calls. Amanda also mentioned how VidCruiter’s customer service and fast response times helped to keep the processes moving along, whenever the team had questions.

Using VidCruiter as an end-to-end recruiting solution, StartX sees the benefits of having a centralized location for every hiring touchpoint. “I think having all information in one profile along with the scorecards is super helpful. There’s so much more centralized documentation, from storing reference checks in the candidate’s profile versus in Google Drive, to having recordings of the interviews right there on the profile.”

Some additional benefits came from using the tools too, such as being able to connect with applicants from any location. Amanda explained how using live interviewing, and the candidate’s familiarity with video interviewing in part due to COVID-19 has led to a wider range of applicants. “We continue to do a lot of remote interviews and people continue to work remotely. The pandemic has led to a lot more international or non-California based applicants, which is great for us, and we can absolutely accommodate those things.” Also, within the live interviewing platform, StartX uses the built-in question bank and rating guides to assist with fair evaluations. “We really like that you can take notes and see the interview screen at the same time.”

As a final point, Amanda mentioned the ability to showcase StartX’s values within the hiring process by adding custom imagery and branding to the careers pages. “We stand out because of our focus on who founders are, and people in the community versus the competition. So for our candidates, seeing pictures of our diverse community and female founders throughout the application process, I think just reinforces those values and how we’re different from other accelerator-style organizations.”

Quote “At least 25% of the logistics of the hiring process is saved per candidate. So that’s a really big return. That’s valuable time back for a small team.” AMANDA DAWSON, PEOPLE OPERATIONS MANAGER, STARTX

StartX + VidCruiter: A successful partnership

Accelerate Time to Hire Illustration

End-to-end hiring solution

Automated workflows Illustration

Automated workflows

Centralized documentation Illustration

Centralized documentation

Significant Time Saved Illustration

Significant time savings

Sean Fahey, VidCruiter CEO & Founder
Sean Fahey VidCruiter CEO & Founder
When StartX signed up back in 2014, VidCruiter was still a fairly young company. We were so excited – having an organization so entrenched in Silicon Valley, the very nerve center of the technology industry itself, choose to buy recruiting software from us, just went to prove that VidCruiter was building a great product.
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