Breakside Brewery

Case Study: Breakside Brewery

How Breakside Brewery Found Its Most Passionate Employees With Spark Hire Video Interviews

About Breakside Brewery

Breakside Brewery opened in 2010 in Northeast Portland as a restaurant and pub brewery. The brewery gained attention early on for its innovative, experimental and diverse beers. In 2013, Breakside expanded operations to Milwaukie, OR. Since then, Breakside has become known for their wide ranging portfolio of beers, including barrel-aged and sour beers like Bourbon Barrel-Aged Aztec, a strong amber ale with chocolate and chilies, and Passionfruit Sour a fruited berliner-weisse style beer.

Goals for Video Interviewing

As Breakside planned for expansion, management knew they would need an ever-growing number of employees. They were looking for a way to streamline their hiring process to find passionate employees and get back to focusing on what mattered: brewing and serving great beer.

Q&A with Director of Restaurant Operations, Dustin Gordon:

Q:

What inspired you to look into video interviewing?

A:

We knew the number of employees to staff our new flagship location was going to require an improved and streamlined process to help narrow down to the most qualified candidates.

Q:

Did Spark Hire replace a similar tool or is this the first time your team is using video interviewing?

A:

This was the first time we had used this type of technology.

Q:

What criteria did you have in mind for a video interviewing solution?

A:

We use an applicant tracking system, ApplicantPro, and wanted something that integrated with that platform.

Q:

Describe your selection process and what you found most attractive about Spark Hire when signing up.

A:

Our video interviewing solution had to integrate with ApplicantPro, demonstrate a knowledgeable sales team, and have a helpful customer success team at an affordable price.

Q:

What was getting started with Spark Hire like?

A:

Very easy. When we had questions, our Customer Success Hero and technical support were available to walk us through anything.

Q:

What are some of the results you’ve seen with Spark Hire?

A:

The easy things to list are time and money. Once implementing Spark Hire, we experienced HUGE savings. The one thing we realized a year later is: the first people to do their video interviews are our most engaged and passionate employees. They love our company and you could see it from their first Spark Hire video interview.

Q:

What was your team’s hiring process prior to using Spark Hire?

A:

Walk in with a resume and either sit down and do an interview or schedule one for later. Very old school and pretty common in our industry.

Q:

How does video interviewing fit into your hiring process?

A:

Because of the seamless integration between Spark Hire and the ATS we use, video interviewing became a very important part of our hiring process. Everyone on the team gets excited when we receive a notification that a new applicants’ video interview was available.

Q:

How do you get your team members to buy in to video interviewing?

A:

The appeal of getting to see applicants’ enthusiasm and getting a deeper understanding of them before their face-to-face interview sold them.

Q:

What is the biggest impact that video interviewing has on your hiring process?

A:

It allowed us to really focus in on certain technical job skills and personality-type questions.

Q:

What was your aha moment -- the moment you knew you loved Spark Hire?

A:

When the first video interview came in, I realized how much time Spark Hire was saving us in the interviewing process. Managers that weren't working that day still had the ability to view the interview. With face-to-face interviews, that absent manager would have missed out on the interview or we would have had to schedule it for a different time. I realized this issue had greatly prolonged our hiring process.

Q:

Why should other food and beverage companies look into video interviewing?

A:

Spark Hire saves you time, money, and is an easy process to manage.

Q:

What is your favorite aspect of video interviewing?

A:

Seeing people's personalities shine through. Sometimes in face-to-face interviews it’s hard for an applicant to really express themselves and give you a good snapshot of who they truly are. With the video interviews, we feel like we get to know them better in a more comfortable and familiar setting for them.

Q:

What are some things you love about Spark Hire?

A:

Spark Hire has helped us hear how much people really want to work for our company. It’s also been interesting watching cats knock cameras over, kids jumping on beds in the background, and the different settings people use for their interviews.

Q:

What are three words that describe your experience working with Spark Hire?

A:

Must Have Tech!

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