After more than a century as a foundational pillar in Canadian classrooms, Nelson Education is actively navigating a profound transformation, evolving from a traditional textbook publisher into a dynamic education technology company. This strategic shift, crucial for its long-term viability in an increasingly digital learning landscape, is underpinned by a complete overhaul of its talent acquisition strategy, now managed entirely in-house with the aid of the Workable platform, achieving an impressive average time to hire of just 29 days.
A Legacy of Learning: Nelson Education’s Enduring Presence
Nelson Education stands as one of Canada’s most recognizable and enduring names in the realm of learning. Founded nearly 115 years ago, the company has been an indelible fixture in Canadian K-12 classrooms for generations, deeply embedded in the nation’s educational fabric. For over a century, its textbooks and educational materials have shaped curricula and learning experiences from coast to coast, establishing a profound legacy built on reliability and academic rigor. This deep historical presence means Nelson’s brand is synonymous with education itself for millions of Canadians who passed through the school system.
However, the dawn of the 21st century brought with it an undeniable digital revolution that began to reshape every sector, including education. Recognizing this seismic shift, Nelson Education embarked on a deliberate and comprehensive pivot over the past decade towards education technology. This strategic reorientation was not merely an incremental update but a fundamental reimagining of its core business model. The company’s flagship digital product, Edwin, exemplifies this transformation. Conceived as a digital backpack for teachers and students, Edwin provides a rich ecosystem of curriculum-aligned resources, meticulously organized by grade, province, and subject. Students leverage it as an interactive learning tool, while educators seamlessly integrate it directly into their daily instruction, moving beyond the static pages of textbooks into a dynamic, interactive digital environment.
While Nelson continues to sell its traditional textbooks, a testament to its enduring commitment to diverse learning methods, its strategic focus and, critically, its workforce planning and recruiting strategy, now unequivocally reflect its ambition to become a full-service education technology organization. This ambitious transition demands a workforce with a dramatically different skill set – engineers, software developers, data scientists, UX/UI designers, digital marketing specialists, and customer success managers with a deep understanding of technology and digital platforms, alongside its traditional educational expertise. Guiding this pivotal recruiting effort is Samara York Cazes, Senior Manager of People and Engagement, who leads talent acquisition as part of a small yet highly capable HR team, overseeing critical functions such as performance management, learning and development, and broader HR operations across the entire organization. Her role is central to ensuring the company’s human capital strategy aligns perfectly with its forward-looking business objectives.
The Pre-Workable Era: Challenges of External Dependence
Before the advent of Workable and the strategic decision to build an internal talent acquisition function, Nelson Education’s approach to hiring presented significant challenges that were increasingly misaligned with its transformational goals. The recruiting function, as it is understood today, simply did not exist internally. Instead, the company relied entirely on external agencies for its staffing needs. This outsourced model meant there was no Applicant Tracking System (ATS) in place, no structured candidate pipeline to ensure consistency, and no standardized or consistent methodology to evaluate or advance candidates through the hiring process.
While these agencies occasionally delivered results, the arrangement came with inherent and substantial drawbacks. Financially, it was an expensive model, incurring significant agency fees that could otherwise be invested in internal growth or technology. Operationally, it removed direct control from Nelson Education, placing critical hiring decisions at arm’s length from the very people who possessed the deepest understanding of the company’s evolving strategic direction, unique culture, and specific talent needs. This disconnect often led to a less-than-ideal cultural fit for new hires and a slower, less agile response to urgent staffing requirements. The absence of an internal function also meant a lack of institutional knowledge building around recruitment best practices and candidate engagement, hindering the development of a strong employer brand.
As an internal source close to the transition noted, "Having a person who is in house, who really knows the culture of the company, who really understands the dynamics and structure in depth, is very valuable." This sentiment underscored the critical need for a talent acquisition leader who could genuinely embody and articulate Nelson’s values and vision, ensuring that every new hire was not just skilled but also culturally aligned with the company’s ambitious future.
The strategic decision to bring recruiting in-house was a direct consequence of this realization, coinciding fortuitously with the implementation of Workable. Nelson’s Vice President, drawing on positive direct experience with the platform from a previous role, initiated its adoption. When York Cazes joined the team and assumed ownership of the talent acquisition portfolio, Workable was already in place, ready to be fully configured and leveraged to its maximum potential. This timing proved instrumental, providing the nascent internal TA function with a powerful, purpose-built tool from its inception.
The Workable Advantage: Customization, Control, and Efficiency
For Samara York Cazes, the introduction of Workable marked a significant upgrade from her previous experiences with applicant tracking systems. She had previously utilized BambooHR, an all-in-one HR and ATS system, which served its purpose but was not a dedicated platform tailored specifically for talent acquisition. Workable, in contrast, presented an entirely different and far more specialized experience.
York Cazes quickly recognized the transformative capabilities of the platform. "My world was expanded when I realized the setup of the pipeline and how you could set up different pipelines for different roles, all the automations," she recounted. "I found all of that to be really easy to use and to figure out and learn." This ease of adoption was crucial, enabling her to operate the platform at a professional level within a remarkably short period—just a week or two. This rapid proficiency was essential for a small HR team tasked with managing the comprehensive hiring needs of an entire organization undergoing a major business transformation.
The combination of deep customization capabilities and genuine user-friendliness made Workable the ideal fit for Nelson Education. It allowed York Cazes to design bespoke recruitment workflows for the diverse range of roles required by an EdTech company, from highly specialized software engineers to customer support specialists. This flexibility, coupled with an intuitive interface, ensured that the platform could adapt to Nelson’s evolving needs without imposing additional burdens on a lean HR department. York Cazes emphatically stated, "It’s so customizable and user friendly. I would recommend it to anyone in a small to mid-size organization." Her endorsement highlights Workable’s capacity to empower smaller teams to achieve enterprise-level recruitment efficiency and sophistication.
Transforming the Hiring Landscape: Workable’s Impact at Nelson
Workable has fundamentally reshaped every aspect of Nelson Education’s hiring process, delivering tangible improvements in efficiency, candidate experience, and strategic alignment.
1. Unprecedented Visibility and Streamlined Pipeline Management: One of the most immediate and impactful changes York Cazes observed was the ability to gain complete, real-time visibility into the status of every candidate for every active role. Workable’s jobs view provides a clear, concise overview of each search, delineating pipeline stages and the precise number of candidates at each step. This transparency eliminated the previous opaque and inconsistent process. "The quick overview of where candidates are all the time is incredibly helpful," York Cazes explained. "It kind of sounds obvious because it’s so straightforward, but just having that view makes sure that no candidate gets forgotten about or left behind." This ensures accountability and maintains momentum throughout the recruitment cycle, critical for meeting tight hiring targets.
2. Automation-Driven Candidate Experience: York Cazes, a self-proclaimed technology enthusiast, has meticulously constructed an automation architecture within Workable that maximizes efficiency while elevating the candidate experience. Her philosophy is deliberate and empathetic: "If we assume they will thank us, we make sure to thank them." This principle is woven into every automated touchpoint. When an application is submitted, an automated action is triggered. As candidates progress through various stages of the pipeline, personalized emails are automatically dispatched, providing updates and setting expectations. After a first-round interview, candidates receive an automated thank-you note with clear next steps. A second-round interview elicits a similar message, often with additional context. Even rejection notifications are carefully templated in three versions, tailored to reflect how far a candidate advanced, ensuring the message always acknowledges their investment of time and effort.
This proactive and consistent communication strategy has not gone unnoticed by applicants. York Cazes regularly receives feedback from candidates expressing appreciation for the ease of the application process and the consistent, timely communication they receive. The customizable careers site, powered by Workable, further contributes to this positive experience. York Cazes leveraged its flexibility to remove the traditional cover letter requirement entirely, a decision she views as an immediate signal to candidates about the kind of streamlined, candidate-friendly experience they can expect when engaging with Nelson Education.
3. Seamless Offer Management: The final stages of the hiring process, which can often be fraught with administrative friction, have been significantly streamlined by managing offer letters entirely within Workable. This integrated functionality has eliminated the disjointed handoffs and scattered communications that once characterized this critical phase. "Having that entire functionality in Workable has made it way more organized and less scattered and just more seamless for us and for the candidate receiving the offer," York Cazes stated. The ability to manage offers, approvals, and electronic signatures within a single system ensures a smooth, professional conclusion to the recruitment journey, making the final step feel like a natural continuation rather than an abrupt shift to a different process or platform.
4. Tailored Recruitment Across Diverse Functions: Nelson Education’s transformation necessitates hiring across a broad spectrum of roles, from highly technical positions like software engineers and QA analysts to vital functions in marketing, finance, and customer support. Each of these roles demands a distinct evaluation lens and recruitment approach. Workable’s flexibility allows York Cazes to build thorough, role-specific application questions and customized scorecards for each position. Hiring managers are seamlessly tagged into candidate profiles, enabling them to leave detailed comments and complete evaluations directly within the platform. Most managers engage reliably, and some even utilize the platform to schedule their own interviews, further distributing the administrative load. The widespread adoption by hiring managers speaks volumes: "The fact that they’ve never complained about it is probably the leading indicator," York Cazes quipped, underscoring the platform’s intuitive design and positive user experience.
5. Commitment to Inclusive Reach: As a company whose core mission is rooted in education and access, Nelson Education extends its commitment to inclusivity into its talent acquisition practices. Through Workable’s extensive distribution network, Nelson actively posts job opportunities to Indigenous job boards and platforms specifically focused on candidates with disabilities. This proactive approach ensures that reaching underrepresented candidate pools is not an afterthought but an integral and foundational part of how York Cazes approaches every search. This initiative aligns perfectly with Nelson’s educational mission, expanding access to opportunities and fostering a diverse workforce that reflects the rich tapestry of Canadian society.
6. Data-Driven Decision Making and Accountability: A cornerstone of any modern, effective talent acquisition function is robust reporting and analytics. York Cazes meticulously tracks key metrics such as time to hire, time to fill, and candidate source data through Workable’s comprehensive reporting tools. These reports are designed to be accessible, highly useful, and genuinely easy to interpret, providing actionable insights. Maintaining an average time to hire at or below the internal target of 29 days is a concrete, measurable goal, and Workable’s reporting capabilities are instrumental in confirming whether the function is consistently meeting this objective. This data-driven approach supports strategic planning, identifies areas for improvement, and ensures accountability across the entire talent acquisition function.
Business Impact: A Model of Efficiency and Strategic Alignment
The cumulative impact of these strategic changes, powered by Workable, has been transformative for Nelson Education. The company, now undergoing one of the most consequential business transformations in its history, successfully manages an impressive volume of approximately 135 hires per year with a remarkably small HR team. This is achieved while maintaining an average time to hire of just 29 days, significantly outperforming many industry benchmarks, especially for an organization in active transition.
The transition from a fully outsourced agency recruiting model to a sophisticated internal talent acquisition function has provided Nelson Education with invaluable control and strategic alignment. Hiring is now led by someone who possesses an intimate understanding of Nelson’s unique culture, its evolving organizational structure, and its ambitious strategic direction. This internal expertise ensures that every hire contributes meaningfully to the company’s digital pivot.
The extensive use of automation has liberated countless hours that were previously consumed by manual candidate communication, interview scheduling, and offer management. This reclaimed time allows the HR team to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as talent development, employee engagement, and further optimizing the recruitment process. The integration of offer letters directly within Workable has eradicated friction at the crucial final stage, ensuring a smooth and positive conclusion to the candidate journey.
Crucially, every candidate, regardless of whether they ultimately receive an offer, now navigates a recruitment process that reflects the same care, professionalism, and consistent communication that Nelson Education applies to its educational products. This not only enhances the employer brand but also leaves a lasting positive impression, even on unsuccessful candidates, which can be vital for future talent pools and brand reputation.
Broader Implications and Future Outlook
Nelson Education’s successful internalisation and optimization of its talent acquisition function with Workable offers a compelling case study for other traditional industries undergoing digital transformation. In an increasingly competitive talent market, particularly for technology roles, the ability to hire quickly, efficiently, and with a deep understanding of internal culture is a distinct competitive advantage. The average time to hire of 29 days is significantly faster than the industry average, which often hovers around 30-45 days for professional roles, and even longer for specialized tech positions. This speed enables Nelson to secure top talent before competitors, reducing critical vacancies and accelerating its digital product development cycles.
The commitment to inclusive hiring, actively seeking candidates from underrepresented pools, further strengthens Nelson’s position as a socially responsible and forward-thinking organization. This commitment not only enriches the company’s internal diversity but also resonates with its core mission of providing accessible education, extending that ethos to its employment practices.
The leadership at Nelson Education undoubtedly views this transformation in talent acquisition as a critical enabler for its continued success. By building an agile, efficient, and strategically aligned internal recruiting machine, Nelson is not merely adapting to the future of education but actively shaping it. This strategic pivot, powered by smart technology and dedicated leadership, positions Nelson Education to remain a leading force in Canadian learning for generations to come, albeit in a dramatically new, digital form. The journey from textbook publisher to EdTech leader is a complex one, but with a robust talent acquisition strategy firmly in place, Nelson Education is well-equipped to navigate the evolving landscape and secure the human capital necessary for its innovative future.
