Why Villa Valencia Switched from Indeed to Workstream
"Workstream helps me be involved in the hiring of all our new employees without requiring hours of tedious work"
Nate Sorensen, Healthcare Administrator at Villa Valencia Healthcare Center
Villa Valencia is a skilled nursing home facility in Laguna Hills, California. Unlike other nursing facilities, they specialize in short-term and rehab for patients who have undergone surgery or have IVs and require care before discharge. These patients stay at the facility for 15 to 30 days.
To ensure that they have the capacity and manpower to run the facility, Villa Valencia requires at least a hundred employees, and are constantly hiring. However, they were facing difficulties in finding candidates, due to a mismatch of skills and the lack of talent because of COVID-19.
Only a month into their usage of Workstream, they have managed to gain access to over 2,500+ job boards, while increasing their screening efficiency and reducing no-show rates. What was their approach to changing their recruitment processes, to achieve such results in a short amount of time?
Lack of Applicants
Villa Valencia was experiencing a shortage of applicants, and yet, they were only posting manually on Indeed. This was in addition to the issues posed by COVID-19, where many skilled workers became limited to working a single job instead of two. They were also unable to get the right people on board due to a mismatch in skills and personality. A lack of applicants was a major problem for them, especially since they required at least five new hires a month.
Inability to Personally Manage the Entire Interview Process
Nate Sorense, the administrator in the Villa Valencia recruiting team firmly believed that every new hire "needs to be a star player and somebody that's going to really add value to the company". To ensure this, he had to play an active role in the recruiting process. Unfortunately, he was limited by the many other tasks at hand and could not always be part of all the interviews.
Inefficiencies in Scheduling
Villa Valencia also encountered inefficiencies in the sourcing and screening of hourly workers (up to 15 hours) and scheduling interviews, as well as a large number of no-shows. Their applicant conversion rate was also low, especially relative to the amount of time spent on screening and scheduling.
Difficulties in Responding Immediately to New Applicants
The job market was extremely competitive, and considering the state of the economy, job seekers often committed to employers who responded most quickly. As application timings are unpredictable, it is possible that these applications may come at a time where the hiring team is unable to reply immediately. They would then lose out on such candidates, who might have already moved on and got another job offer during this time.
Access to Multiple Job Boards
With Workstream's Job Board Integrations, Villa Valencia is now able to post to over 2,500+ job boards at once. These other job boards include Indeed, Glassdoor, Facebook and even supporting text-to-apply and scan-to-apply features, which makes it exponentially more convenient for applicants to send in their applications. There is also no need to log into specific job boards to view the applications available, as they are all visible through Workstream.
Although they were previously only utilizing Indeed, they are now granted access to many applicants (and talent pool) across the different boards, without having to give up on Indeed. Most of their applicants are still coming from Indeed, but Workstream has simplified the process, allowing them to manage all applicants across the different job boards, while still retaining features such as sponsored job posts, specialized campaigns. This is greatly beneficial in addressing their lack of applicants.
It only took them four days to hire their first candidates with Workstream and were delighted to be able to convert their applicants to new hires in such a short period. They were also pleased with the number of applicants after switching to Workstream.
Centralized Dashboard
A centralized dashboard allows Nate Sorense to be more involved in the interview and hiring process, as he is now able to manage all applications seamlessly on one platform. By allowing hiring managers to set smart screening questions that automatically reject applicants who do not select a specified option, Workstream has also helped the team in the screening process. They are now able to sift out candidates who are not able to commit to an immediate role or are not interested in taking night shifts, for example.
The Workstream interface is also user-friendly, with continuous customer support provided by the Customer Success team, which has allowed Nate and his team to be acquainted with the software. They are now able to complete most of their tasks through the mobile application and receive notifications and reminders on application updates.
Automated Scheduling
Referencing their issues in immediately responding to new applicants, the Automated Scheduling feature in Workstream sends out automated responses which Nate Sorense has personally customized, such as 'hey thank you for applying'. It then prompts them to fill out questions and other information required by the hiring team. This provides a touchpoint and puts the Villa Valencia team ahead of the competition as they are able to respond immediately to an application.
Furthermore, the Workstream mobile application also allows them to be notified upon receiving messages from candidates who have applied or confirmed an appointment. They will then be able to quickly reply to these candidates, helping them to win the hearts of the applicants, as they feel engaged with the company.
Integrated calendars also mean time saved in the coordination of interview dates, as applicants are now able to select their preferred slots based on the hiring manager's availability listed on their calendar. The hiring managers are then alerted when a new interview timing has been scheduled. This process eliminates the back and forth in scheduling interview dates and timings.
This has also significantly reduced the no-show rates, as applicants are sent SMS reminders before their interview dates, and are also given the option of rescheduling should something crop up at the last minute. As a result, hiring managers are able to better allocate their time, and make changes in their schedule instead of waiting for a candidate who might not even turn up.
Nate Sorensen chose workflow for the ease of use, specific product features (primarily the applicant tracking system, automated scheduling, and screening), as well as the pricing. After only a month with Workstream, Villa Valencia has seen a drastic reduction of no-show rates by 55% and an 85% reduction in the time to post jobs and screen applicants.
They have also managed to improve their conversion rate and automate their hiring process. Through Workstream, they can hire quality candidates and meet their hiring requirements, even during a global pandemic.
Inspired by their success? Reach out to Workstream for a free demo today!