How an Oil & Gas Start-Up Cut Recruitment Time by 60% and Saved $42K

Digital Wildcatters, a community platform for the next generation of energy professionals, has been at the forefront of reshaping how the world perceives and harnesses energy resources. Their main focus is enabling professionals to stay on top of the latest trends, expand their networks, and advance their careers in the energy industry. 

In 2023, Digital Wildcatters marked a significant milestone with their groundbreaking initiatives and a successful seed-plus funding round, which raised $2.5 million. However, this rapid expansion also gave rise to substantial challenges in sourcing talent to propel their innovative projects forward. 

Summary

• Problem: Digital Wildcatters needed to expand their team but faced some obstacles due to high salary demands and mismatched job expectations in the US job market. They were determined to explore alternative hiring solutions that would enable them to bypass those challenges.
• Challenge: They needed a partner capable of sourcing top-tier talent within a tight budget and aligning with their hiring needs. Specifically, they required a flexible sales specialist who would be willing to accept a role without fixed responsibilities like an account executive and wouldn’t demand a six-figure salary. 
• Roles Hired: Outbound Sales Specialist
• Why Digital Wildcatters Chose Near: Following a strong endorsement, Digital Wildcatters’ CEO reached out to Near. They valued Near’s streamlined and supportive approach to remote hiring. Furthermore, Near’s pre-vetted candidates and introductory videos provided a thorough first impression, simplifying the interview process and instilling confidence in our candidate selection early on.
• Solution: Leveraging Near’s proven streamlined hiring process, Digital Wildcatters made the perfect hire in three weeks without overspending.
• Results: Partnering with Near led to substantial cost savings, swift hiring, and improved team productivity. Specifically, Digital Wildcatters:
  • Reduced time to hire from six months to 26 days
  • Cut recruiting time by 60% (sourcing, filtering, and screening)
  • Reduced overhead costs by 70% compared with US hires

Problem

Digital Wildcatters was struggling to find skilled employees to expand their team without breaking the bank. As a fast-growing start-up, they needed to find the right people to keep up with their growth. Their entire team was based out of the US, but a tight hiring budget made it tough to hire the talent they needed without sacrificing quality or ability.

They were experiencing project delays and realized they had to prioritize which positions they were going to fill first.

Prioritizing which roles to fill

Since Digital Wildcatters’ existing sales team was consumed by meetings and lacked the bandwidth to work on prospecting and client engagement, they decided to focus on hiring sales support. 

Given the fast-paced nature of their sales team, the new hire would have to be okay with not having fixed responsibilities like an account executive or SDR would. Moving forward, this must-have requirement would only make the search for US-based talent even tougher. 

The Challenge (Finding a Remote Hiring Partner That Fits Their Needs)

With a compact, versatile team, Digital Wildcatters are thoughtful about adding new sales teammates. Even though they refocused on their need to hire an Outbound Sales Specialist, it was still difficult to hire locally in the US due to:

• The high salary demands
• The unwillingness to adapt to the flexible needs of the position

These difficulties they were facing when navigating the US talent pool raised a question in their minds: What if they explored hiring remote talent from a foreign country?

Although this new strategy looked great on paper, Digital Wildcatters soon discovered that finding the right fit in a talent market unfamiliar to them was a challenge. 

Digital Wildcatters were on the hunt for top-notch talent possessing a complex mix of soft and hard skills. However, finding this specific skill set without having any sourcing experience in this talent market was almost impossible. So, they decided to seek help from an external hiring partner.

Why Digital Wildcatters Chose Near

Digital Wildcatters got connected with Near through a mutual connection who knew about Near’s expertise in nearshore hiring. The connection’s strong recommendation plus a great initial call with the Near team created a great impression of the company for Digital Wildcatters.

In the end, Digital Wildcatters chose Near because it allowed them to shape the hiring process as needed. They wanted to customize both the screening and onboarding experiences for their new remote employee, ensuring a smooth integration into their team’s way of working. Near was open to this flexibility right from the start, making this collaboration a no-brainer.

Solution

The Digital Wildcatters team was delighted with their experience with Near. Sydney, Digital Wildcatters’ VP of Business Ops, highlighted Near’s seamless and efficient process, which consistently delivered qualified candidates and saved them a ton of time.

Near took the headache out of it for us and made the process so seamless from start to finish.

Sydney Archer

VP Business Ops at Digital Wildcatters

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Near delivered not only a strong list of suitable candidates but also the exact talent that Digital Wildcatter was looking for. One person stood out as the perfect fit, as he:

• Had three years of experience working in sales support, two of them in a completely remote setting
• Had a great English level, which was key for this client-facing position
• Specialized in customized outreach, sales development, and B2B marketing
• Demonstrated a proactive approach and created a positive environment during his interviews with the hiring manager

Digital Wildcatters hired this candidate shortly after meeting him. And it didn’t take long for them to realize they had made the perfect choice.

He was able to integrate with the team effortlessly despite working remotely from a different country. Moreover, his proactive attitude, multitasking abilities, and problem-solving skills truly enhanced the efficiency of Digital Wildcatters’ sales team. 

Results

From the get-go, Digital Wildcatters’ new hire brought value to the table. He immediately increased the number of sales meetings being booked to the point where they had too many meetings for their team to handle and they had to tell him to slow down.

Digital Wildcatters actively involved him in company events, even flying him in for key gatherings and conferences, which fostered a stronger sense of teamwork and enhanced collaboration across geographical boundaries.

Digital Wildcatters' journey showcases how effective hiring partnerships and the seamless inclusion of remote hires can drive results in no time. Digital Wildcatters’ collaboration with Near not only resolved their hiring challenges but also laid the groundwork for a united, globally distributed team. 

We trusted you guys to bring us people, and you delivered.

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ROI

The partnership between Digital Wildcatters and Near resulted in significant tangible outcomes:

• Hiring in Latin America (LatAm) gave Digital Wildcatters substantial savings amounting to $42k (or 70%) in just one hire, significantly reducing hiring costs compared with hiring similar US-based talent.
• Near reduced Digital Wildcatters’ typical hiring timeline of four to six months to just 26 days.
• The time Digital Wildcatters’ team spent trying to fill a role decreased by 60%.

Takeaways

Digital Wildcatters’ partnership with Near showcased the potential for start-ups to secure top-tier, specialized talent while overcoming financial constraints. Beyond mere cost savings, the collaboration highlighted the efficiency of sourcing high-quality talent through Near:

• Scaling Sales Efforts by Hiring LatAm Talent: The Outbound Sales Specialist’s rapid adaptation, adept task management, and significant influence on sales metrics were examples of the advantages of employing top remote talent from LatAm.
• Easily Accessing an Untapped Talent Pool: By leveraging Near’s expertise in nearshore hiring, Digital Wildcatters was able to easily tap into a rich pool of specialized and flexible talent in LatAm. 
• Significant ROI: Partnering with Near resulted in substantial cost savings, reduced hiring times, and a significant increase in sales productivity, showcasing the tangible benefits of the collaboration.

Are you a part of an organization looking to explore remote hiring? If you want to learn more about hiring top talent without breaking the bank, book a complimentary consultation.

To learn more about Digital Wildcatters, visit Digital Wildcatters’ website.

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