COTA Health (Cota)

Slashes Time-to-Hire by Over 50% and Achieves 3% Vacancy Rate with Scout Talent

COTA Health is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals with mental health and cognitive challenges to live well within their Toronto communities. Its ability to deliver on this vital mission hinges directly on the quality and availability of its compassionate staff.

However, inefficient manual recruitment hindered its ability to fill roles effectively. Rachel Stanford, Senior Director of People & Culture, recognized that transforming its talent acquisition was not just an operational improvement, but essential for the organization’s continued impact and success.

COTA-Health-Scout-Talent-Case-Study

Products

:RECRUIT

Scout Talent: Recruit
Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM

:ONBOARD

Scout Talent: Onboard
Digital contract, Candidate Acceptance and Onboarding Workflows.

AI Screen

Facts

icon / selectionCreated with Sketch.

Vacancy rate decreased by 84.21%
(from 19% to 3%)

10/10
Likelihood to Recommend

50% Reduction in
Time-to-Hire

Cota-Health-Case Study

The Challenge

Prior to partnering with Scout Talent, COTA Health relied entirely on manual methods:

  • Inefficient Spreadsheets: Tracking candidates and managing the process was extremely time-consuming and prone to errors.
  • Lengthy Recruitment Cycles: The average time-to-hire stretched to 6.5 weeks, leading to candidate drop-off and delays in filling vital roles.
  • Critically High Vacancy Rates: At one point, the organization grappled with vacancy rates approaching 19%, severely impacting operations.
  • Communication Bottlenecks: Emailing resumes and updates between recruiters and hiring managers was inefficient, and information frequently got lost.
  • Cumbersome Onboarding: Managing new hire documents via email attachments was problematic due to size limits, firewall issues, and difficulty tracking completion.

The Solution

In October 2022, COTA Health partnered with Scout Talent, where they found a solution for streamlining their manual tasks. :Recruit, our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) addressed these challenges head-on. The transition was smooth, and the platform quickly delivered value:

✓ Streamlined Workflows: Provided a centralized, user-friendly platform replacing cumbersome spreadsheets. Automated key steps, improving communication and efficiency between the 2 core recruiters and approximately 30 hiring managers.

✓ AI Screen Feature: Leveraged our AI Suite to provide quick candidate summaries, saving significant review time for hiring managers and highlighting strengths.

✓ Efficient Onboarding Module: Transformed the onboarding process using our :Onboard module by allowing all documents to be sent and received securely through the dashboard.

✓ Robust Reporting: Enabled easy access to crucial recruitment data, facilitating better reporting to the CEO and Board.

The Results

Since implementing with Scout Talent, COTA Health’s recruitment function yielded dramatic and measurable improvements:

  • 50% Reduction in Time-to-Hire
    By replacing manual processes with Scout Talent’s AI-powered Applicant Tracking System, they significantly streamlined workflows, reducing administrative burden and freeing up valuable time for recruiters and hiring managers. COTA Health reduced their average time-to-hire from 6.5 weeks to just 3.
  • Achieved and Maintained an Impressively low 3% Vacancy Rate
    COTA Health’s vacancy rate decreased by 84.21%, achieving a significant improvement from previous highs.
  • Improved the Onboarding Experience
    Using our module :Onboard, COTA Health improved the onboarding process for new hires, making it seamless and efficient.

Testimonial

“It really has streamlined our recruitment. We went from about 6 and a half weeks to 3 weeks to recruit.”

Rachel Stanford
Senior Director, People & Culture, COTA Health