Since its start in 2012, California startup Whisper – maker of an app that lets users send and receive messages anonymously – has grown from two employees to over 80.

And, considering that many of its new hires are concentrated in the highly competitive field of data science, Whisper had to learn quickly how to woo potential employees in order to get the top talent it needed.

“We really needed to establish ourselves as different,” says Michelle Hart, Whisper’s head of people operations. “One of those differentiators is providing an exemplary candidate experience, and showcasing the culture of the organization throughout the entire recruiting process.”

But Whisper didn’t become a well-oiled recruitment and hiring machine overnight. Here’s a look at the four biggest problems the startup had to address – and how Hart fixed them.

Problem #1: Low conversion rates

By casting a wide net, Whisper developed a big pipeline of potential candidates. But when it came to actually making hires, the company’s conversion rate was lower than industry standard.

The solution: Faster response times

Meeting with the recruitment and hiring team, Hart concluded that conversion was low because they were taking too long to respond to candidates. To address this, she established a new set of benchmarks for the team to follow:

1. Acknowledge receiving every resume within 24 hours
2. Follow up every on-site interview with a same-day phone call thanking the candidate for their time, giving them a clear timeline for a decision, and offering to answer any questions
3. Provide candidates with a final decision within 48 hours of their interview

And, says Hart, results were immediate. “That very quick, easy fix – just over-communication from myself, the hiring manager, and the talent acquisition manager – that has made a huge improvement.”

For three more candidate experience issues that Whisper had to address (and how they were fixed), read the full article here: How the world’s most popular anonymous social app fixed its candidate experience.
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