After a successful round of funding, Later needed to grow its team quickly—but attracting qualified candidates turned out to be tougher than they imagined.

“I thought that once we had a product that had traction and was making money, that everything was going to be great.” -Ian MacKinnon, Co-Founder of Later

Even with a highly successful product, it was still difficult to attract qualified people. Part of the challenge is that many candidates still view working for a startup as a high-risk venture. Candidates wonder if a startup can pay them appropriately, or worry it will fold in the first year.

Many sought-after candidates also have the option of working at big companies for big salaries. In a competitive hiring landscape, what can a small startup like Later do to compete with the Amazons and Googles of the world?

Later knew that if they wanted to attract top talent, they needed to raise their profile in the market.

Later Made Employer Branding a Priority

By partnering with BLANKSLATE to create a strong employer brand, Later was quickly able to raise its profile in the Vancouver startup community. We helped Later define their core values, and roll out those values into their daily practices and processes. We also helped Later rewrite their job descriptions and ensured that every posting captured the startup’s unique brand of culture. Here’s how Later describes its company culture in all its job listings now:

“We are a hard-working, competitive, fun-loving band of miscreants. We have rubber duckies on our desks, KPI’s on our walls, and board games and beers tend to be broken out on Fridays.”

When Later started to put the same effort into its employer brand as it did with its external marketing, top talent took notice. Suddenly candidates were pre-selecting themselves for Later culture. The recruitment funnel changed from piles of random unsuitable candidates, to a select amount of highly-qualified people who fit Later’s culture to a T.