Lower Dauphin School District Uses Spark Hire to Improve Their Quality of Hires

Lower Dauphin is a public school district located in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Covering 90 square miles, the District is home to five neighborhood elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school.

The District has an enrollment of roughly 4,000 students and employs 550 staff members. Responsible for hiring across the district, the HR team was looking for a tool to help eliminate lengthy preliminary interviews and improve their quality of hires.

With these goals in mind, the HR department began exploring video interview platforms as an accessible, tech-forward solution. 

Better quality hires

Before implementing Spark Hire’s video interviews, Director of Human Resources, Angela Hepner, and her team conducted lengthy preliminary phone screens for each individual candidate. During the screenings, they kept finding themselves running into the same issue: they’d be five minutes into a 30+ minute interview and they’d already know the candidate wasn’t the right fit. They needed a solution that could provide thorough candidate insight in a fraction of the time they were spending on phone screens. 

Additionally, they were struggling to find high-quality candidates for every open position. By screening candidates via video, they aimed to save time while enticing more high-quality hires into their talent pool. “We wanted to feel like we were meeting the ‘best of the best’ candidates for each position. Using Spark Hire has helped us have more quality applicants in every interview process,” explains Hepner. 

Advancing the technology

Hepner and her team were initially impressed with Spark Hire’s intuitive, straightforward platform. “Our main goal was simple: find a tool that would be easy to use by all parties – hiring managers, candidates, and HR alike,” says Hepner. After a few minutes into their training with their Spark Hire representative, Hepner knew the software would be a hit across departments. 

Beyond its accessibility, the Spark Hire team is always eager to advance the technology. Hepner explains, “We really enjoyed knowing that if the tool did not have exactly what we needed, we could ask and the Spark Hire team could explore the option to further… our representatives have always been willing to help us better utilize the tool and improve our functionality with it.”

A more efficient hiring process

The Spark Hire platform has improved hiring metrics for the Lower Dauphin School District across the board. “We have 80% of our applicants complete the video interview through Spark Hire. It assists us by eliminating candidates who self-select not to move forward in our process once they see the type of questions we ask,” says Hepner.

Additionally, Spark Hire helps advance quality candidates for the next step within the interview process. “Our hiring managers previously had challenges in candidate selection because we would present such variable candidates,” says Hepner, adding, “Since we introduced Spark Hire, the hiring managers choose candidates much quicker because only the best of the best meet our video interviewing standards.”

Using the technology, they’ve been able to successfully speed up their hiring process while improving their quality of hires. 

“The best investment we’ve made”

With a consistently high volume of applicants for open roles each year, the Spark Hire platform has been a game-changer for the Lower Dauphin School District. Hepner recognized the improvement when she noticed how much more efficient and productive her team became. By ensuring they’re only meeting with top-quality candidates, Hepner’s team is no longer wasting hiring managers’ or candidates’ time. 

Hepner describes Spark Hire as “the best investment we’ve made.” She recommends the platform to anyone who is looking for a more streamlined and proactive approach to their hiring process.