fafinder’s customer story
HireHive is easy to navigate in terms of reviewing applications. The platform gives visibility to the jobs.
The company grew from two to twenty employees.
fafinder is a customer service and engagement platform connecting independent retailers and boutique fans that began its journey in Launchpad, a startup incubator, followed by Wayra, a startup accelerator, both in Dublin.
What started with just two hires, has grown to a company with 20 employees who have secured funding and have big plans for the UK market.
Word of mouth amongst the start-up community and discussions about how other companies were recruiting brought fafinder to HireHive.
Hiring was not something that Sonya had done before – but she now admits that she really enjoys it and her passion for building the team is very evident. She feels practice makes perfect, that the more you do it, the better you get.
It can be quite daunting at first, particularly when you’re in a startup and every penny counts when you have to pay a wage. That’s a big deal every single time.
Having seen her fair share of job applications, Sonya has some advice for job seekers.
I think there are so many fundamental things that an applicant can do to better their chances of success. Attention to detail is so important. I actually got an application from a guy who misspelled his own name.
Including, and personalising a cover letter for each role you apply to is another piece of advice from Sonya. This shows you care enough about the role to do your research and aren’t just blasting out CV’s.
As the busy co-founder of a startup, it was important for Sonya to have recruiting software that integrated easily with her day to day.
At fafinder, Sonya finds that HireHive is really easy to navigate in terms of reviewing applications and she never had any problem with volume of applications.
I think sometimes it can be a bit frustrating to go through the trouble of posting a job and really nobody sees it. Certainly we got a lot of interest in the positions that we advertised.
In terms of the types of roles that they filled, it’s been everything from technology to sales to content.
Sonya and her co-founder, Brendan Courtney are in a good position as they have a wide reach socially through their social channels and have used LinkedIn for sourcing and have found people through social media, particularly Twitter.
One of the things they are proudest of in their company is the people who they've brought around them.
Having recently secured funding the focus now is on growth. Sonya and Brendan have big plans for fafinder and the emphasis is on building the brand and the team in the UK.
Source: @BrendanCourtney
While building the fafinder team, Sonya says that she has learnt a lot about human nature.
There’s this great quote that I heard at some talk which is “Presenting yourself without understanding your audience needs, is like sending a love letter starting with ‘To Whom it may concern.'” It’s so true, right? What does your audience want?
“HireHive makes the team a lot more productive. We’d be lost without it. Team Leaders can do it all themselves if needed or jump in at the right time and know exactly where everything is and what’s happening.”
Hilary Dempsey Head of HR at Life Credit union
