[0:00] Steffanie Chaviano: Do you think first impressions are usually right?

[0:03] Rebecca Volpano: Wow, that is a feels simple but loaded question.

[0:07] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah, we're diving right in.

[0:08] Rebecca Volpano: Yeah.

[0:12] Steffanie Chaviano: I'm here with Rebecca Volpano. She leads tech globally at Cielo.

[0:19] Rebecca Volpano: Yep.

[0:20] Steffanie Chaviano: And she wears a lot of hats.

[0:22] Rebecca Volpano: That I do.

[0:25] Rebecca Volpano: Stephanie Chaviano, leading talent acquisition at Autism Learning Partners. What's going on with Autism Learning Partners? How are things going for you all?

[0:33] Steffanie Chaviano: Good. We have currently hiring anywhere between 5,000 to 6,000 behavior technicians a year. Behavioral technicians for us is our frontline staff entry level position, really entry level for our industry of ABA. But there are some requirements depending on just the region, Medicaid, state, et cetera. So there's a lot of nuance with that hiring. And we are constantly figuring out ways to improve how to bring on behavior technicians and meet the needs of our business. And on the flip side, we've got clinician hiring and then our support center and non-clinical hiring. So three very different personas of candidates that we're looking for and always just navigating what to do differently for each of them to really bring in great talent for our organization.

[1:32] Rebecca Volpano: And you use Paradox for all three of them, right?

[1:35] Steffanie Chaviano: We use Paradox for our clinical hiring, behavior technicians, and our clinicians, BCBAs. We've been a Paradox partner for four years. So excited and proud to be able to say that. We launched behavior technician side first. Then a couple of years in, we brought in the BCBA side, our professional clinician hiring. And fingers crossed, we're going to be able to bring support center and non-clinical into Paradox this year. It's a big project for us. We want to have it all in one place.

[2:05] Rebecca Volpano: Yeah, makes sense.

[2:07] Steffanie Chaviano: Tell me about you. What's going on with Cielo? What's new?

[2:10] Rebecca Volpano: Yeah, I mean all the things. So I'm leading technology globally for Cielo. We have just over 200 clients, again, spread out across the globe and across industry really. I would say our primary sectors are generally like healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing. Those tend to be some of our larger clients. And I help them with their technology stacks. So whether that's something that they're bringing with them or something that they need help selecting, it's my team's responsibility to understand their needs and figure out what components of an HR tech stack are going to make the most sense for them. So as you can imagine, it's a pretty busy time. There's a lot of change in the HR tech space. And so it's been really great to be able to help our clients navigate some of their problem statements and helping them find solutions.

[3:08] Steffanie Chaviano: Okay, so you have presumably rolled out Paradox and a lot of different clients. Talk to me about building that foundation. What's the next layer that kind of supplements that?

[3:19] Rebecca Volpano: It's a really good question. So we started just with automated scheduling. We were connecting it into another system of ours. We were leveraging Paradox for text-based scheduling and the automation it afforded us. And we blew our numbers out of the water. It was actually crazy how immensely it improved the way that we were scheduling. And so from there, it was kind of one of those moments where we thought, okay, how else can we use this? Where is this going to make an impact? So we've rolled out Paradox as an applicant tracking system for clients. We've rolled out events and campus. Something that I'm really excited about these days is the Paradox Dynamic Career Site. So we're learning how to roll that out to a client so that they can have Paradox sort of from end to end. So for us, that one text-based scheduling moment really proved out the solution for us. And it opened so many doors, built so much credibility with inside Cielo to really get us to the point where we can now deliver really any of the Paradox solutions for our clients.

[4:32] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah, I think when we were originally partnering with Paradox, for us, it was the intention was for the scheduling component. And I think we were maybe midway through implementation when we took a step back and realized that we could really take advantage of so much more. And it's why we ended up moving towards Paradox being our ATS. But that decision was not made until we were, like, I mean, literally in the middle of implementation. So that was fun. But it was a great decision and it's been incredible.

[5:03] Rebecca Volpano: So when you rolled out Paradox, were there any unexpected positive surprises, results that you got that you weren't expecting to get? I know you mentioned kind of going from scheduling to ATS. And I'm sure that that led to significant ROI in other areas. But anything that maybe you didn't plan on that stood out to you?

[5:28] Steffanie Chaviano: Great question. A couple of things. One is I always share with people that when you are going to be rolling a new software out and it is incorporating automation, it is an apples to oranges change, right? There's nothing about it that during that time is probably going to feel very comfortable for your team. But the retention on our recruitment team since we've rolled it out is actually pretty incredible. We had some issues with retention prior and now primarily, you know, when we're dealing with retention, it's really people promoting. And so that has been for us when you're thinking about really bringing in talent, like quality talent, having a super solid recruiting team is pretty critical. So that was very unexpected, but in the best way. Obviously, there's so much time savings that came from our process — when we brought automation in, we actually have candidates apply, they answer knockout questions, if they answer them correctly, then they get invited to schedule time to speak to a recruiter. All of the form follow up, the sending and the follow up and the scheduling of the secondary interview, all of that is also automated within the system. And it's why I shared that for us, when we got into implementation and saw what was possible, it was like, this is too good to not roll all of that out. And we did not have any idea what kind of savings that would really save us. And they're spending that time now actually following up with really quality candidates, more time sourcing. It has absolutely improved our conversions, particularly at the top of the funnel once a recruiter is talking to that candidate. And that's really on our behavior technician side. On the clinician side, the savings have actually been far more than that because there's a lot of calendar management when it comes to interviewing. It's not just the recruiter and the candidate, it's recruiter, candidate, plus hiring manager. And there's so much variability within their calendar typically. And the compliance aspects of forms that need to be collected — all of that has just been 10 plus hours of savings a week for recruiters. And they've been able to shift that time into doing incredible things, really focused on bringing the right people for each individual rec to provide services to the kids. I mean, that is our mission. That's the whole goal. How can we make it better so that we're really hiring the right people to provide services to the kiddos that are coming to us?

[8:13] Rebecca Volpano: That's incredible that it's both administrative and experience driven. Like you're kind of winning on both sides.

[8:26] Steffanie Chaviano: So I know that, you know, when we're talking about rolling out Paradox, a lot of the conversation as always was previously centered around high volume. But I would love to hear and learn from you what your experience has been like with bringing in that business case, that use of Paradox or automation for more high touch recruiting.

[8:44] Rebecca Volpano: What we found is that if it works for high volume, it works across the organization. If it can really pound the pavement in a high volume scenario, there are pieces that we can pull out for really any type of hiring, including really hard to fill roles. And so one of the things that we found again, early on in our high volume test, was that this type of speed and access to information — that conversational piece would work really, really well in a clinical setting. We found for registered nurses, through even some of the administrative positions within a hospital setting, harder to fill roles when engineering was really a challenge. We found that by putting the conversational element in front of the candidate, we were able to capture a lot of that talent, because organizations that didn't have something that scaled in that way, or couldn't keep that candidate engaged in the same way that we could, they just couldn't retain the candidate through the process. And so we found that it was really successful when we applied it to other roles within the organization.

[9:54] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah, that's great to hear it from a non-ABA, like my industry, perspective, because that was a big push for us when we were, about two years ago, thinking about bringing the clinician roles into Paradox. It very much was, you know, yes, there might be aspects of the recruiting that might look a little bit different from a logistics perspective — who's interviewing, the calendar management, all of that. But like quickness to touching candidates, that's always been key, right?

[10:27] Rebecca Volpano: Yeah. Like you want to touch your candidates as quickly as possible.

[10:32] Steffanie Chaviano: And we have not found — and I'm knocking on all the wood — we have not found a decrease of engagement from our clinicians at the top of the process, even with the knockout questions we do have, because we have always historically seen a lot of unqualified applicants coming through our job postings. And that before was just such a manual process for us, to get on the phone or text people to figure out, like, do they actually have their license, are they certified, etc. So being able to have that automated has been such a gift for that team and the organization. And so it's interesting and great to hear that that's not just been our experience, but shared across other industries.

[11:11] Rebecca Volpano: Yeah. Because like, would you rather fill out a long complex form, or do you want to have a conversation about it?

[11:19] Steffanie Chaviano: Conversation.

[11:20] Rebecca Volpano: Yeah.

[11:20] Steffanie Chaviano: Always.

[11:21] Rebecca Volpano: Always. One thing that I'm curious to learn from you is how do we do a really great job of keeping those candidates engaged throughout the process?

[11:36] Steffanie Chaviano: So I think one thing for sure is expanding beyond just the initial recruiter scheduling with Paradox. So if you can keep the conversation going, it's really important that that candidate feels like this is the right place for them. They've made the right decision and that they're not falling through the cracks between those stage gates. So I think redeploying our talent in those areas has been highly critical, and we wouldn't have really had that time if we didn't have the system automating the other stuff.

[12:01] Rebecca Volpano: Right. Right. Could we talk a little bit more about the administrative lift that you've gotten from automating certain components? How is your team able to provide a better experience?

[12:14] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah. So previously we were receiving just a floodgate of resumes, and like I'd mentioned, the behavior technician position is technically entry level, but it really is entry level of our industry. It is not, you know, anyone can come and qualify for the role. So there are still some requirements, whether it's previous child care experience or some level of education. And when people apply, not everybody is applying with their most updated resume — if they're doing an Indeed quick apply, they're just submitting whatever resume is on there. And so the team would not necessarily take the resume at face value. The recruiter was calling candidates, just cold calling and asking them these questions, and oftentimes having to disposition someone after 30 seconds, one minute, two minutes of a conversation. So there's a lot of wasted time, and also just frustrating and annoying for recruiters to have to experience that. So the ability to automate the top end of our funnel and bring in knockout questions has been one of the reasons why I think retention is so great. They're talking to better quality candidates. That really has been just such a game changer for that team. One thing though that we still had a bit of a gap is that the majority of our candidates would see the job posting and think about how great it could be to work with an autistic kiddo and provide services and see the wins, right? But it's actually a pretty hard job. And a lot of people just don't understand the role. And so they were applying and not really understanding what they were getting into. So having a tool to also separately share the experience — like a realistic preview of what the role entails — was the next step. It was the cherry on top for us to just have real qualified candidates talking to recruiters, which is great, truly incredible.

[14:22] Rebecca Volpano: That's awesome. Yeah. So, fun question. Let's say you're going to go tomorrow to present to your CFO. What is that presentation going to look like?

[14:36] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah. Well, so for our CFO internally, we've definitely shared information around how we can automate more things on the recruiter's plate and free them up for those more high level activities. So really turning a recruiter into a talent partner and advisor on the process, and what that means for us in terms of client retention and our ability to hire people faster. I think there's nothing worse than having a job that's been open for a while, and then you finally get your eyes on it and you're like, if we only would have done this thing right out of the gate, we wouldn't be in this aged position. So that's what I would share for our CFO internally — proving out the business case for Paradox has always been how do we get our recruiters out of the tech, out of this administrative work, and really get them in front of our clients and our hiring managers and candidates, because that's where we know that they thrive. That's where we know they want to be.

[15:36] Rebecca Volpano: If I was going to be having this presentation that you've just sprung on me with the CFO.

[15:41] Steffanie Chaviano: Tomorrow.

[15:41] Rebecca Volpano: It's tomorrow. Oh my gosh, I have not prepared. But if I was having this conversation with a CFO or a CHRO at one of our clients, it would be about — when you have an open role, what is the cost on the table when you don't have that person in your business? So really the ROI of a filled position. It's easy sometimes when we're talking about clients that have revenue generating positions — I think about some in the insurance sector. If you don't have these individuals in role, this is what that's doing to your bottom line every single day, even top line. And so for those conversations, it's about — can we quantify the open roles that you have in your business, and not just the number of open roles, but can we quantify what not having that person in that day to day work actually means to your business? Does it mean that you can't get to as many of your clients? Or if we're talking in a clinical setting, you can't treat as many patients. We want to make sure that we're taking it down to that level and showing them exactly what this means to your organization when you have these roles sitting vacant, and that every day matters. So that's what I would prepare for my presentation.

[17:09] Steffanie Chaviano: That's tomorrow. I think that they'd be very impressed. So guess what?

[17:14] Rebecca Volpano: What?

[17:15] Steffanie Chaviano: You actually are giving a TED talk tomorrow.

[17:17] Rebecca Volpano: Okay. Time me up.

[17:19] Steffanie Chaviano: To the entire global TA community.

[17:22] Rebecca Volpano: Okay.

[17:22] Steffanie Chaviano: No pressure.

[17:23] Rebecca Volpano: Okay.

[17:23] Steffanie Chaviano: You're going to crush it.

[17:24] Rebecca Volpano: Thanks.

[17:26] Steffanie Chaviano: But curious, in that talk, how would you reach the various audiences hiring for different positions? What would be important, or what should be important, to them listening to your expertise on talent acquisition?

[17:43] Rebecca Volpano: Okay. So I mean, I think a couple of things. One thing that I've learned is you have to stay a learner in our space. You just have to constantly seek out information. There is so much that is changing and moving from one day to the next.

[18:03] Steffanie Chaviano: It's a little wild to think that we've had this implemented for four years already.

[18:09] Rebecca Volpano: That is crazy.

[18:09] Steffanie Chaviano: It's very crazy.

[18:12] Rebecca Volpano: And so I think just constantly learning about what is possible is critical. Do not let great get in the way of good, I think, is also very important. It does not need to be perfect. I think really allowing yourself to be very nimble, and not getting locked into one train of thought, one way of doing things — figuring out what the path to yes is.

[18:39] Steffanie Chaviano: I feel like there's a lot of taglines here. I mean, we're crushing the TED talk.

[18:45] Rebecca Volpano: But it's true. I think just figuring out what is the candidate experience that you want them to have when they come to your company.

[18:53] Steffanie Chaviano: So for me, Autism Learning Partners — just thinking about the little components to your candidate experience that are shared across any of the roles that you are currently recruiting for, and really bringing that to life. And then making tweaks as needed, either to general or individual journeys or workflows.

[19:16] Rebecca Volpano: That's absolutely possible, I think. And I'm speaking from experience — sometimes it can be scary to take that next step, because you can think of all the reasons why it might not work. But just really trying to figure out how to conceptualize it working, and then just trying it and knowing that you can pivot — I just feel like that's how we can be at the top of our game as leaders for our teams and for our organizations.

[19:47] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah, starting with the end in mind.

[19:49] Rebecca Volpano: Right.

[19:50] Steffanie Chaviano: Love it.

[19:51] Rebecca Volpano: Right.

[19:52] Steffanie Chaviano: Thanks, Rebecca.

[19:52] Rebecca Volpano: Thank you so much. This has been great. So much fun.

[19:55] Steffanie Chaviano: Yeah. I love that we were able to do this together.

[19:57] Rebecca Volpano: Me, too.