College of Western Idaho

The voice of the customer

“About 2-3 years ago it was very common to receive over 50 applications for Admin Assistant roles. In the last year, that has dropped to an average of 15-18 applicants. In the last year, we’ve found the need to extend closing dates by 30-45 days.”

Sara Avila, Human Resources, College of Western Idaho

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What wasn’t working

The College of Western Idaho (CWI) serves over 30,000 students annually as a top higher education provider in the Treasure Valley, Idaho. Since 2007, CWI has built its reputation on accessible, affordable education delivered by highly qualified staff. Hiring was carried out by local recruitment teams and hiring managers, fostering strong relationships between individual candidates and the college throughout the recruitment process.

However, the post-pandemic recruitment landscape hit CWI hard, and exposed gaps in their decentralized hiring model:

Record-low unemployment created a 2:1 job-to-jobseeker ratio; CWI candidates were usually engaged in other recruitment processes;
Disconnected internal processes slowed down time to offer meaning CWI frequently lost top candidates to competitors;
Decentralized hiring model hindered visibility into what was working and what could be improved.

The turning point

Sara Avila and the Core HR Team saw CWI needed to completely refresh their recruitment approach. They wanted to maintain the strong candidate relationships their decentralized teams excelled at creating while reducing time-to-hire, supporting hiring managers, screening candidates more efficiently and gaining meaningful data to shape the overarching HR strategy.

The shift began in three phases:

Process streamlining

Choosing and implementing PageUp ATS helped CWI reduce administrative burden and fast-track hiring decisions across all schools.
Data-informed strategy

CWI used PageUp’s enhanced reporting to compare performance against industry benchmarks and identify areas for attention.
Great candidate experience, end-to-end

Adding PageUp Onboarding helped CWI create seamless candidate journeys from application through to start date.

The solution in action

CWI transformed their talent acquisition without sacrificing the high-touch candidate experience they were known for with PageUp.

Key initiatives included:

Mobile-friendly application processes

Streamlined, mobile optimized application process reduced candidate drop-off.
Enhanced reporting implementation

In-depth analytics helped pinpoint successful sourcing channels and highlighted growth opportunities previously invisible to the team.
Hiring manager support as standard

Automated workflows reduced administrative burden on managers, allowing hiring teams to keep focused on building candidate relationships.
Industry benchmarking

Using PageUp’s intuitive reporting and industry benchmarking helped CWI assess their recruitment approach and shape their overarching HR strategy.
Seamless onboarding integration

Using PageUp’s automated ATS-to-onboarding workflows created a smooth, seamless process for new hires from offer acceptance to their first day.

The result

Reduced time-to-hire through streamlined processes and mobile-optimised application process.
Enhanced sourcing channel ROI through detailed analytics and performance tracking.
Decreased administrative burden on hiring managers.
Improved candidate-to-hire conversion rates in competitive market conditions.

Delivered excellent end-to-end candidate experience from application to onboarding.
Maintained strong candidate relationships while improving process efficiency.
Increased hiring manager confidence through better data visibility and support tools.
Created foundation for future HR strategy decisions based on provable metrics.

What surprised us the most

“Prior to PageUp we didn’t have the right system in place to gather metrics. We recently started to leverage the enhanced reporting feature to assist with recruitment strategy.”

Sara Avila, Human Resources, College of Western Idaho