Unmatched ROI & a 60% Acceptance Rate; How VTS Built Their Teams

VTS, or View the Space, is changing commercial real estate (CRE) by innovating CRE’s modern operating system to help real estate professionals work smarter. More than 500 employees work in locations in the UK, Canada, and across the US, supporting the more than 45K users on their platform.

​​VTS is the commercial real estate industry’s only technology company that unifies owners, operators, brokers, and tenants in a single platform to capitalize on opportunities revealed in every square foot of their properties. In 2013, VTS revolutionized the commercial real estate industry’s leasing operations with what is now VTS Lease. Today, the VTS Platform is the largest first-party data source in the industry, transforming how strategic decisions are made and executed by CRE professionals across the globe.

In a volatile market, VTS needed a cost-effective solution to drive engineering talent into the pipeline quickly. But VTS found cold outreach for engineers, like so many TA and recruiting teams, to be challenging. It felt like “a shot in the dark.” They sought a tool to get “more granular than sending outreach and hoping [candidates would] be a good fit.”

As VTS’ former Director of Talent Acquisition Operations, VTS People Business Partner Erin Cronin needed a data-driven hiring solution that was easy to scale to their needs as they grew. While most product demos left her concerned about user adoption, the VTS team found the Hired platform to be easy to use and understand. Hired offered high-quality candidates in a simple platform, while helping them progress on DEI goals. 

VTS People Business Partner Erin Cronin explains, “We always talk about a trade-off between speed and making sure the talent pool is diverse. With a platform like Hired, we’re able to do both.”

VTS Senior Talent Acquisition Manager Louisa Petkov agreed, saying “We have the tried and true methods of recruitment and sourcing, which is usually LinkedIn.” She was delighted with Hired’s features, especially “the response rate, the quality of candidates, how we can filter through candidates, the keywords, and the different ways we can find diverse candidates.”

Louisa also appreciates the transparency of the Hired solution, including how much information is available to hiring managers, recruiters, and talent acquisition teams.

“There’s so much information up front, like understanding candidates’ preferences,” says Louisa. “By reading the profiles, you can create thoughtful and intentional outreach to matching talent. I see whether we’re aligned on compensation, hybrid/onsite/remote work, location, industry, and more.

It really helps to determine if we’re likely to be a good fit for each other. If their resume is attached, it’s even better. It helps me understand at a more granular level whether they’re a successful match, based on past projects and experiences.”

Louisa uses the Hired platform if not every day, or every other day. “Sometimes, if I get really efficient with the platform, I book calls for the whole week. This means I only have to spend a small amount of time sourcing, because the ROI is really there. I know if I spend 30 minutes on Hired, it’s going to be a useful 30 minutes. It’s a really efficient tool.”

A couple of years ago, VTS decided to open a new office in Toronto, Canada. Because it was a new market for VTS, it presented a challenge. 

“We never had a presence there, from an employee perspective,” says Erin. “It helped a lot to have Hired, where we have a corporate profile, and to get our message out there, to say, ‘hey, this is who VTS is, we’re opening our first office near you, and we’d love for you to join us.’ [Tapping into a new market can be tough but] it’s great to have a platform like Hired to use to find people who are actively looking for new roles.”

Louisa agreed, adding, “Definitely helping us expand into our Canadian market has been a really key way in which Hired has been a big partner for us.”

“They’re definitely very helpful,” says Erin. “It’s always good to chat with them about our goals and how they may have changed. If we’re working on a specific role or hard-to-find skill set, they’re great about suggesting new tactics and strategies. Overall, they’re super helpful for us as a team.”

“In terms of a recruiting solution, it’s some of the best customer service we’ve had. They’re really committed to our success on the platform and bring us new ideas and data. It’s helpful when they provide decks to share with internal stakeholders and teams, demonstrating the success we’ve had. Especially for me, to look at it from a numbers perspective.

If, for example, we have an internal sourcer who’s not actively using Hired, the data helps us communicate how they’re not taking advantage of it, and frankly, probably working a lot harder at sourcing than they need to be.”

Louisa sums it up: 

“First is the ROI on the time we invest because time is precious. In any job, but especially talent acquisition. You’re calling, managing the candidate experience, you’re on top of everything. The time you get back [from using Hired] is really valuable. 

Second, it’s the hands-on approach from our Customer Success Manager. The insights and attention is a big thing in [the success of our hiring processes.] If we have a top candidate from Hired, they help provide information into their interest level and how we might improve our standing with them. Those competitive insights are key. Plus, helping us stay on track with metrics like acceptance rates, for instance. We discuss if they dropped, why, and how might we improve it.”