I’m Anna, Recruitment Director at LevelUp. When I joined a little over a year ago, we had fewer than 100 employees. Today, we’ve grown to more than 150 and counting. That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from being intentional about how we find, evaluate, and support talent.
In this post, I want to share how my team approaches recruitment, what I’ve learned about talent acquisition in today’s market, and why the process we’ve built at LevelUp works both for our clients and for the candidates we connect with.
The Core of Recruitment Success
When it comes to recruitment success, many would point to compensation, employer branding, or a streamlined hiring process as the most critical factors. These are important, but for me, it comes down to one thing: practicality rooted in a human-centric approach.
This approach is about balancing business needs while understanding candidate motivations. So instead of asking “What does the business need?,” we should also ask, “What will make this opportunity practical and beneficial for the candidate?”
It’s about designing hiring strategies around the real needs and motivations of candidates and not just the company requirements. This is important because people are complex and unique in every way, yet what most share is the desire for growth and for work that makes sense in their lives.
How We Measure Success
There’s no single formula for measuring success in talent acquisition. Every role and every client has its own context. For me, the strongest indicators are output-based:
- Endorsements ready to be sent to the client. More than volume, the priority is preparing high-quality, well-matched candidates who are ready to move forward.
- Speed to fill the role. The faster we can connect the right candidate to the right opportunity, the more value we bring to the client.
At the same time, I don’t see talent acquisition ending when a candidate accepts an offer. A big part of success is what happens after: making sure people stay.
A Recruitment Process That Works
Clear and aligned job descriptions
We always start by working closely with the client to craft a job description that’s accurate and aligned with what they really need. This helps set the right expectations from the beginning.
Applicant tracking system
We use Lever to manage sourcing, interviews, and communication. It keeps the process organized and data-driven, so nothing gets lost along the way.
Active and passive sourcing
Some recruiters focus on screening active applicants, while others reach out to passive candidates and expand our network. By doing both, we make sure the talent pool is broad but still high quality.
Detailed screening
When we interview, we don’t just look at skills. We also get into the candidate’s preferences, goals, and motivations to see if the opportunity is a real fit for them.
Specialized input
For technical or complex roles, our operations managers or tech interviewers join the process. Their input helps narrow things down to the best candidates before moving forward.
Founder involvement
For some roles that are especially complex or important to a client, one of our founders will still step in at the final stage to review candidates. It’s an extra layer of care that helps make sure those key hires are set up for success. Now that we’ve grown, this kind of involvement is focused on select situations so we keep the process efficient while holding onto that personal touch.
Balancing Speed and Quality
One thing people often assume is that recruitment should be all about speed. Get someone in the seat as fast as possible, and that’s what saves money. But from my experience, that’s not true.
Yes, speed matters, but it’s never rushed. We take our time to make sure candidates feel confident and excited about the role before they even meet the client. That’s why clients tell us we’re saving them hours. By the time they interview someone, that person has already been vetted and prepped.
If you try to rush the process, you end up missing pieces of information. You risk hiring someone who’s not the right fit. And then what happens? You’re back in the recruitment cycle two or three months later, starting all over again. That costs more time and money than doing it properly the first time.
For us, it’s about making sure the person hired is the right person, someone who can stay in the role for the long term. Some of our offshore employees have been with the same client for years. That’s the kind of stability you get when you focus on fit.
The Role of Specialization
One strategy that has worked really well for us is creating different pathways to identify top talent. We don’t just rely on one method. Some team members focus on direct outreach, using creativity to craft Boolean strings and connect with candidates in the market. Others handle screening applications from active job seekers.
By combining these approaches, we broaden the talent pool while maintaining a high-quality pipeline. From there, strong interviewers step in. They’re knowledgeable about the role, quick to assess skills, and they also take the time to understand a candidate’s needs and aspirations.
This division of responsibilities allows each recruiter to give their full attention to one part of the process. The result is faster time-to-fill, higher-quality endorsements, and stronger retention because candidates are thoughtfully matched to the role and the client’s expectations.
Connecting on a Personal Level
Finding the right people starts by building genuine relationships. We reach out to both active and passive candidates and take the time to know them on a personal level, their preferences, salary expectations, and goals. At the same time, we work with the client’s requirements and objectives.
Just to make it simple, we attract top talent by making sure everything is delivered, from the candidate’s aspirations to the client’s expectations. We stay engaged through feedback and updates so candidates feel supported and confident about where they stand.
That’s how we make people happy in their roles, and that’s what leads to long-term placements.
Building Lasting Client Relationships
Clients are often very happy with our approach, especially how we tailor the recruitment process to their requirements and needs. Over the years, that’s helped us build a reputation for really understanding what clients are looking for.
We don’t treat them as one-off projects; we treat them as partners in the recruitment process. That hands-on approach, with our team deeply involved at every step, shows the level of care we put in. Clients really appreciate how committed and collaborative we are.
Recruitment as a Numbers Game
I can attest to this because I’ve been in the recruitment industry for quite some time now. Recruitment is often referred to as a numbers game, where at its core you create a large pool of candidates and narrow it down to the best fit for the role. The larger the pool, the higher the chance of success.
But what sets us apart at LevelUp is the personal touch. We form authentic relationships with candidates. The recruitment team is invested in finding the right match. It’s a collective effort from the start.
What Keeps Me Motivated
What makes this work fulfilling for me is the people. When a candidate signs an offer that fits their goals, that’s the happiest part. At the same time, the client gets someone who’s going to be a great addition to their team. That’s a win-win.
Behind the scenes at LevelUp, every day is busy. Sometimes people interrupt you while you’re in the middle of something and, sure, it can be a little annoying. But at the end of the day, we love each other and we keep going. That spirit of collaboration is what makes the work enjoyable and what helps us deliver results for our clients and candidates.
