Jordyn SheltonCharles County is one of Maryland’s fastest-growing public school systems. With 37 schools serving over 27,000 students, the Office of Human Resources works to support the educational objectives of the district by strategically recruiting, hiring, and retaining a highly effective and diverse workforce.
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked Charles County Public Schools’ interest in video interviewing. Through lockdown, the team needed an alternative to in-person interviews. Hiring managers wanted a method of vetting candidates beyond the usual screening notes from the Human Resources team. With Spark Hire‘s video interviews, they were able to tackle their most pressing hiring challenges while achieving long-term results.
User-friendly functionality
With the pandemic putting an immediate halt on hiring processes across school districts, Human Resources Specialist, Kevin Howard, knew it was time to explore alternative hiring solutions to remain productive. This was the first time Charles County Public Schools explored virtual interviewing solutions, and they wanted a platform that was easy to manage and extremely user-friendly for both internal and external users. “As a large district, we knew we would be utilizing sharing features to solicit opinions from hiring managers,” explains Howard.
The team was immediately impressed with Spark Hire’s functionality, user-friendly platform, and customer service. “We picked Spark Hire for several reasons. Most notably was the ease of use of the platform, Spark Hire’s customer service, and the platform being the best value for the price,” says Howard.
Award-winning customer support
Implementing Spark Hire across the department was a seamless transition. “The support we received from the onboarding team provided our team with the necessary skills to easily master the platform,” says Howard, adding, “As questions arose, we reached out for support and we were always provided with timely and helpful responses.” Spark Hire’s award-winning customer support provided the team with thorough training throughout their onboarding process.
Fast, long-lasting results
The HR team noticed fast, long-lasting results as soon as they began using the platform. “Spark Hire has tremendously increased our ability to screen candidates, reduce turnaround time for hiring, and provided administrators greater flexibility during the interview process,” says Howard. Though they initially viewed the software as a temporary solution to a temporary challenge, the impact on their hiring metrics was undeniable. “Our team accepted the video interviewing platform immediately due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the team has embraced video interviewing as a process that we will continue to use moving forward,” explains Howard, adding, “The benefits of streamlining recruitment and hiring new staff is really what sold it to our team.”
Overall, Spark Hire helped Charles County establish a more efficient screening and hiring process. In addition, video interviews provide hiring managers the flexibility to view numerous interviews from different locations and times. Howard and his team recommend the software to anyone interested in creating a more modern, adaptable hiring strategy.
Spark Hire
