How Workwolf used Packfinder to make their hiring process faster.
Overview
The organization is a Canadian non-profit that helps donors make gifts to their preferred charities. They have about 40 main partners and several hundred associate partners that they work with—most of which are churches and Christian schools. The organization has several field staff members called financial advisors who meet with donors in their homes or online and, to keep up with the needs of their clients, reached out to Workwolf to successfully and more effectively hire for this role.
“That always is part of the work, right? You get, you know, 50 to 100 resumes and you have to open each one up and look through them […] It all takes time and Mark took care of all of that […] I was thoroughly impressed that you guys managed to find someone in such a short period of time”
Maynard Wiersma, Executive Director at Christian Stewardship Services
Aproach
The company, Maynard Wiersma reports, had been having difficulty finding a candidate to fill this particular role, since it is a travelling role that also requires a good understanding of financial products, including retirement and insurance products, and the tax implications of making charitable donations. The role had been so difficult to hire for, in fact, that the organization had been looking to fill the role—following a previous staff member’s retirement in June 2021—on and off for the better part of two years.
Eventually, a client in finance suggested the organization use Workwolf to help with hiring for this position after using Workwolf himself.
Wiersma was sold on Workwolf when he learned about the Concierge Service Package, which guarantees a hire within 30 days*. And after seeing the costs and outcomes promised with this package, including handholding until hire and one-on-one training with Workwolf experts to get the most out of all the Business platform has to offer, the team decided the package was well worth the price. This includes setting up job postings to attract the right kinds of candidates, verifying candidates with credential checks, onboarding successful candidates, and establishing effective work practices so as to ensure the hiring process is done as effectively and swiftly as possible.
Wiersma explains the organization had a “good amount of back and forth about what [they] were looking for and what type of person [they] were looking to hire” which they found “very helpful.”
“A lot of questions were asked that we really hadn’t considered before, and so that was very, very helpful. And then basically Mark [Ferencvari, Workwolf’s product operations manager] took it from there and I’ve been super pleased with it. He’d reach out to me every once in a while that he had another prospect and I think he only sent me about 7 or 8, which was another thing that I really appreciated.”
While the organization has had many hiring cycles over its years of operation, it has previously never used—nor even thought about using—psychometric assessments for improving its hiring practices. And indeed, as Maynard Wiersma recognized, personalities have a huge impact on how well a worker fits into their position and the organization, and thus, how long they stay with the company and how effectively they perform in that role.
This is where COO Stephen Brennan stepped in to help the organization measure its existing top performers and establish benchmarks to which a top-ranking candidate should match.
Mark then compared the Packfinder results of top-ranking candidates and the established benchmarks and even Wiersma could see “that they would fit in with the team” almost immediately.
Results
Soon after comparing the organization’s benchmarks to their top candidates—two of whom made it to the final interview stages of the hiring process—(interviewee here) decided on one worker who is now well into his first weeks with the company. By the end of the month, Maynard Wiersma states the worker should be entirely independent and fully trained, but in the meantime, he notes, the worker is “very keen and […] seems to fit in well.”
When asked whether he would recommend Workwolf to others, Maynard Wiersma emphatically says, “Oh absolutely. I would recommend it. We’ve had a wonderful experience […] I’m the one that Mark connected to the most and really appreciated Mark’s help on everything. […] We had a good rapport between the two of us and the work itself was excellent. Like I said, it’s an incredibly hard position to fill, so I was very impressed that you guys were able to find somebody this quickly.
667
days this organization was looking to fill the role
30
days Workwolf spent to find the right candidate
2999
The cost per hire
Conclusion
Hiring for a very unique and specific position can often leave companies stranded without workers to fill open positions for years—so long as they don’t fall victim to mis-hiring out of desperation, that is. Following less than 30 days of effective and one-on-one training with Workwolf experts, however, Christian Stewardship Services has successfully filled a role they had once attempted to fill for the better part of two years. Executive Director Maynard Wiersma attests this success is largely in part thanks to the dedication and support of Workwolf experts like Mark Ferencvari, Workwolf’s product operations manager.
