How an E-Commerce Company Hired 5× Faster and Slashed Hiring Costs by 60% With Near

Our client has requested anonymity in this success story to safeguard their competitive advantage.

Our client, an e-commerce company specializing in health and beauty supplements, had been growing quickly, offering products that enhance healthy living. Despite having a dedicated team, they faced a challenge: growing their team with top talent without overstretching their resources.

Summary

• Challenge: The company struggled to hire for key roles due to budget constraints and difficulties finding committed candidates with the right skill set and language proficiency. They searched for qualified talent through Upwork and recruiting firms in the Philippines and Latin America (LatAm). However, they often found mismatches between resume promises and actual candidate fit.
• Why the company chose Near: Frustrated with previous outsourcing experiences, the company opted for Near after hearing about their tailored approach on a podcast. Near’s responsiveness to feedback and ability to deliver pre-vetted candidates set them apart.
• Role hired for: Bookkeeper.
• Solution: Leveraging Near’s streamlined recruitment approach, the client efficiently hired a perfect-fit bookkeeping assistant equipped with two years of QuickBooks expertise, fully ready to dive into the role—a clear win showcasing Near’s proven candidate vetting and commitment to client feedback.
• Results:
  • Cost savings: Hiring through Near reduced overhead costs by 60%, saving the company $26,000 annually.
  • Time efficiency: The recruitment timeline was cut by five times, greatly streamlining the hiring process and eliminating the need for additional part-time resume-sorting help.

Challenge

The company needed to quickly hire a few key roles to keep growing, but their budget was tight. They were skeptical about finding international candidates who spoke English well but decided to give it a shot anyway.

They tried Upwork and outsourcing firms in the Philippines and LatAm but couldn’t find the right candidates. They usually found a disconnect between the profiles presented on resumes and the actual candidates. Moreover, these candidates weren’t exclusively committing to this job. The company wasn’t just looking for skilled workers; they needed people who could fully commit to the role without juggling multiple part-time projects.

Going through so many applications to find someone with the right mix of experience, QuickBooks proficiency, and attention to detail was challenging.

Solution

When the company’s founder discovered Near through a podcast, they were intrigued and gave it a try. They were looking for someone with just the right amount of experience—enough to be competent but not so much that they’d be overqualified. It was crucial that the candidate could easily navigate the US market’s bookkeeping nuances.

Near stood out from other firms they’d tried. Instead of flooding them with resumes, Near listened closely to what they were looking for and provided pre-vetted candidates who closely matched their requirements. This process of refining candidates based on the company’s feedback made the search more effective.

The difference was clear. Unlike other recruiting firms whose candidates often tweaked their resumes to seem like a better fit, Near’s candidates were genuinely suitable for the position. This transparency saved the company’s operations manager a significant amount of time, allowing them to focus on interviews with candidates who were truly a potential fit.

Once a candidate comes from Near, we know they’re definitely worth looking at. This is generally not the case for all outsourcing companies.

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Within a month of starting their search with Near, the company found their ideal candidate—a bookkeeping assistant with two years of experience in QuickBooks, ready to commit full-time. The organization’s concerns over English proficiency were gone; the new hire spoke English well, integrating smoothly into the team.

Results

The partnership with Near brought the company tangible results:

• Cost savings: The company achieved significant savings with just one hire. They slashed their overhead costs by 60% compared with US-based talent, translating to $26,000 in annual savings.
• Time efficiency: The hiring process was five times faster than their traditional recruitment timeline. They also avoided the need to hire additional part-time help just to sort through resumes.

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