The People team at Thumbtack are experts in attracting, engaging, supporting, developing, and engaging top talent. Five years ago, there were 100 Thumbtack employees evenly split between the San Francisco and Salt Lake City offices. Collecting and relaying insights from a large team posed a unique challenge.
“We were looking for a way to capture everybody's voice and really distill that signal from all the noise.”
— Justin Angsuwat, VP of People at Thumbtack
Thumbtack had a problem.
The team tried meetings, Slack conversations, and surveys, but Balloon was selected as the best fit to ensure that every employee was heard and represented in contributing their own insights. The People Team uses Balloon’s Insight Mobility platform for recruiting, candidate evaluation, planning, and strategy.
"For us, the orientation around maximizing efficiency and gathering everyone's voice was paramount,” said Angsuwat.
When the team initially embarked on the search for the company’s Director of Talent Acquisition, it received mixed results. In revising its approach, the team was seeking a way to quickly gather insights, build alignment, and improve its overall process.
"We were struggling to find a great leader for our recruiting team, and after four months of searching, we couldn't get agreement across the board from individuals on the panel," said Angsuwat. "We went back to the drawing board and started over with our pipeline."
Balloon had a solution.
Thumbtack's People team was leveraged to guarantee alignment in the candidate position, responsibilities, and fit prior to candidates being funneled through the hiring process. The next step involved starting the flight and inviting the team. The following flight was sent to the 35-person recruitment team:
- What skills, traits, and experiences are vital for the candidate to be successful in the role?
- What is your understanding of the position and responsibilities for the candidate?
- If we found a well-qualified candidate, why would that person take our offer?
- If we found a well-qualified candidate, why would that person walk away?
The team received 105 balloons (insights) and 576 pumps (votes) on its flight. The flight helped to facilitate a hyper-focused discussion in a much more efficient manner. It drove clear action steps and refinements to the position’s job description, search process, and more.
“It gave us a much more fruitful and engaging conversation as a team in terms of what we were looking for and how we could find somebody that embodied those most important characteristics for us,” one participant noted.
"Balloon has helped us continue to reduce bias and focus our discussions on the true heart of issues. It's not about who is most senior or who has the loudest voice. Instead, the best idea becomes the starting point of the discussion."
— Justin Angsuwat, VP of People at Thumbtack
The platform specifically encouraged the team’s introverted members to participate; some of the best ideas in the flight came from these employees.
“Balloon has helped us continue to reduce bias and focus our discussions on the true heart of issues. We saw the impact when we used the platform for topics like 360 review feedback and even criteria for a new leadership role," said Angsuwat. "With Balloon, it's not about who is most senior or who has the loudest voice. Instead, the best idea becomes the starting point of the discussion.”
With the help of Balloon, the Thumbtack team was able to increase the effectiveness of its feedback process and gain stronger alignment in the search for an ideal candidate. By creating a more inclusive environment that allowed the People team to amplify the voices of each team member, its leadership team was able to transform the process of executing their candidate experience.