Why WillowTree Switched To Willo From A Bigger Competitor To Help Screen 17,000+ Candidates Per Year
Key takeaways:
- WillowTree began the search for a new video interview platform after feeling frustrated with a competitor’s time-consuming tool.
- The team chose Willo because of its ease of use, employer branding features, and secure enterprise integrations.
- After implementing Willo, the WillowTree team could screen thousands of candidates without setup and execution headaches.
The problem
As a digital experience consultancy operating in the US, Canada, Brazil and Eastern Europe, WillowTree’s ability to source and screen amazing talent is critical to business growth.
Kayce Croy, the Talent Programs Coordinator for WillowTree, explained that the business hires university student interns, new graduates for full-time roles, and experienced hires joining in specialized roles.
Kayce assists in the hiring of both interns and new grads, and shared that the company receives over 17,000 applications per cycle across its North American offices in Charlottesville, VA, Durham, NC, Columbus, OH, and Vancouver, BC.
To screen thousands of candidates with a lean team, WillowTree was already using a large, well-known video interviewing platform. However, it was failing both the internal team and their candidates.
“The other platform was not user-friendly as a Coordinator trying to set up interviews,” said Kayce. “It was confusing because you had to go through several layers to set things up.”
Kayce also said the other video interview platform didn’t give candidates a great experience, either; WillowTree couldn’t customize their branding and there was limited support if a candidate had a question or problem.
The WillowTree team began searching for a new video interview platform and found everything they needed (and more) with Willo.
Why WillowTree chose Willo
WillowTree needed a platform that had three core benefits:
- Simple to set up and easy to use without significant training.
- Scalable to thousands of candidates at the click of a button.
- Integrate seamlessly and securely with their enterprise applicant tracking system.
Kate Wright, the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition for WillowTree, researched a few platforms. While many delivered a basic feature set, Kate said she chose Willo because it did a great job at all three key needs plus it offered a huge additional benefit:
“Not requiring candidates to create a log-in was perhaps the largest selling point for me.”
The action and impact
Kayce said the team was able to implement Willo incredibly quickly. From there, the benefits came immediately:
Ease of use: If candidates have questions, they can reach out to Willo’s support team. And after applicants submit videos, Kayce can easily generate private sharing links so WillowTree team members can review submissions without needing to make a Willo account.
Employer branding: Kayce liked how easy it was to customize the look and feel of Willo’s dashboard so candidates got a consistent employer brand experience.
Secure integrations: Kayce said all files were seamlessly and securely shared from Willo into their ATS, saving everyone time and headaches from manual copy-pasting.
All in, Kayce said Willo is night and day compared to the previous platform they were using.
“Willo is so much more user-friendly on the team side and on the candidate side,” said Kayce.
Next steps
Kayce and the WillowTree team are now able to screen thousands of candidates without going through the clunky layers of their previous platform. That’s not only led to time savings but also a better candidate experience for everyone.
With this increased time and reduced stress, Kayce said the team is looking at how else it can deliver a great, scalable candidate experience. One possibility is bringing Willo into their experienced hiring funnels, something the team is currently experimenting with.
“With Willo, I don’t have to worry; I know it’s good to go,” said Kayce. “I just put it in motion and it takes care of everything.”