Ascent Programs, a leading corporate organization overseeing a network of residential and wilderness treatment programs for teens and young adults across Utah, has successfully implemented a unified hiring infrastructure through Workable, revolutionizing its talent acquisition strategy. The strategic adoption of the applicant tracking system (ATS) has yielded substantial improvements across critical HR functions, including significant time savings, enhanced corporate visibility, robust standardization, and a marked increase in candidate quality, ultimately supporting an organization responsible for the well-being of a vulnerable population.
Ascent Programs: Nurturing Growth Amidst Operational Complexities
Ascent Programs stands as the corporate backbone for a vital network of therapeutic wilderness and residential treatment centers. These programs provide essential care for teens and young adults, focusing on healing, personal growth, and rehabilitation. With facilities like Three Peaks Ascent, its pioneering wilderness program, the organization manages a workforce exceeding 600 employees across six distinct sites. The nature of their mission — delivering sensitive, high-quality care — places an immense emphasis on recruiting and retaining exceptional talent.
The operational structure of Ascent Programs is inherently complex, demanding a delicate balance between local autonomy and corporate-level consistency. Jodi Levie, who oversees corporate HR operations and manages hiring for the central office, works in close collaboration with HR directors embedded within each program site. This distributed model, prior to the Workable integration, presented formidable challenges in achieving uniformity and strategic oversight in talent acquisition.
The spectrum of roles within Ascent Programs is broad and critical, ranging from administrative and admissions teams crucial for client intake, to highly specialized licensed therapists who maintain caseloads and deliver direct clinical care. Residential staff, who provide continuous, direct supervision and support to clients, represent the highest volume hiring need and, concurrently, the most significant turnover challenge due to the demanding nature of the work. Furthermore, specialized positions, such as certified teachers and therapists with specific licenses, introduce additional layers of complexity, particularly in a competitive talent market or when specific credentials are non-negotiable. The integrity of Ascent’s therapeutic environment and the safety of its clients hinge directly on the caliber and consistency of its hiring practices.
The Decentralized Quagmire: Hiring Before Workable
Prior to the strategic shift to Workable, Ascent Programs’ hiring ecosystem was characterized by complete decentralization and fragmentation. Each of the six program sites operated its talent acquisition independently. Individual HR directors managed their own job postings, predominantly utilizing separate Indeed accounts. This meant that the entire hiring lifecycle — from managing job advertisements, processing payments, coordinating interviews, to handling candidate communications — was a siloed responsibility. This fragmented approach resulted in a stark absence of shared infrastructure, unified data, or any meaningful corporate-level visibility into the organization’s overall hiring performance.
The consequences of this decentralized model were predictable and far-reaching. The hiring process was inherently slower and more laborious, as the full administrative burden of each recruitment fell squarely on a single individual. Interview questions and evaluation criteria varied significantly from one site to another, offering no guarantee of consistency or equity across programs. Collaboration between HR personnel and the clinical or operational teams — essential for defining role needs and assessing candidate fit — was limited and often inefficient. Perhaps most critically, when hiring difficulties emerged, whether localized to a specific program or affecting the entire organization, there was no foundational data available to accurately diagnose the root cause or formulate an informed, strategic response.
As Jodi Levie herself noted, “There was no visibility at the corporate level. We weren’t able to report on anything.” This severe lack of insight rendered it impossible for Ascent Programs to develop a data-driven talent acquisition strategy, a critical component for an organization poised for scalability and growth. Without aggregated metrics, differentiating between a localized process inefficiency and a broader market challenge was an exercise in guesswork, impeding the organization’s ability to respond strategically to staffing needs.
The Catalyst for Change: Seeking Visibility and Consistency
The imperative to adopt a unified hiring solution was primarily driven by two overarching strategic priorities: enhancing corporate visibility and ensuring accountability. The leadership team and the board of directors required a robust mechanism to present hiring performance not as anecdotal observations, but as concrete, data-backed insights. Simultaneously, the organization recognized the pressing need for a platform capable of instilling consistency across a hiring process that, by its very nature, spanned multiple independent program sites. The goal was to transform hiring from a series of isolated administrative tasks into a cohesive, strategically managed function.
The implementation journey commenced with a pilot program at Three Peaks Ascent, the wilderness treatment facility. The success and tangible benefits observed during this initial phase served as a compelling proof of concept, facilitating a gradual, organic expansion across the remaining five sites. For Jodi Levie and her dedicated team, the paramount criteria for the new system were ease of implementation and measurable organizational impact. Workable demonstrably delivered on both fronts, proving its value quickly.
Early adopters within the HR team almost immediately recognized the platform’s potential to significantly reduce their administrative workload, freeing up valuable time previously consumed by manual processes. As word of these efficiencies spread organically across the different program sites, adoption followed suit. This wasn’t a top-down mandate imposed on reluctant users; rather, it was driven by the clear, demonstrated value the platform offered. Levie recounted, “Some people get set in their ways, and they don’t like change. But as we talked about how much easier it was making our lives, it grew. Within a year, everyone was saying this is so much better.”
A crucial factor that accelerated widespread adoption was a deliberate strategic decision to extend hiring team access beyond the immediate HR department. By empowering more employees – particularly hiring managers and team leads – with direct visibility into candidate pipelines for their respective teams and a genuine voice in the selection process, Ascent cultivated a sense of ownership. This inclusive approach transformed platform adoption from feeling like an imposed policy into a tangible benefit, fostering greater engagement and commitment across the organization.
Transformative Outcomes: A Deep Dive into the Metrics
The transition to Workable has brought about a suite of transformative results, meticulously tracked and analyzed across Ascent Programs’ six sites. The "Quick Results" table provided a snapshot, but a deeper analysis reveals the profound impact on operations, compliance, and strategic decision-making.
1. Time Savings: Reclaiming Valuable Hours
Workable has delivered an estimated saving of 3 to 5 hours per hire. For an organization with over 600 employees and a continuous need for staffing, particularly in high-turnover residential roles, these individual savings accumulate rapidly into a substantial reduction in administrative burden. This efficiency gain translates into hundreds, if not thousands, of hours annually that HR professionals can redirect from manual coordination to more strategic initiatives, such as talent development, employee engagement, or proactive recruitment planning. The streamlined processes, including multi-board job distribution and automated candidate communication, have been instrumental in this efficiency surge.
2. Corporate Visibility: Data-Driven Decision Making at the Highest Levels
Before Workable, the absence of corporate-level reporting meant leadership and the board of directors were operating largely in the dark regarding talent acquisition performance. The new system has provided unprecedented visibility, offering data-driven hiring updates that are critical for strategic planning. Metrics such as time-to-hire, candidate source effectiveness, and pipeline conversion rates are now readily available. This data empowers the board to understand the health of the talent pipeline, assess recruitment challenges with factual backing, and make informed decisions about resource allocation and growth strategies. This shift has elevated HR from a purely administrative function to a strategic partner in organizational governance.
3. Standardization: Ensuring Equity and Mitigating Risk
One of the most significant shifts enabled by Workable is the move toward structured and consistent hiring practices across all six programs. Previously, there was no mechanism to guarantee that a therapist candidate at one facility was being evaluated against the same criteria as a therapist candidate at another. With Workable, Ascent has successfully implemented role-specific workflows and standardized interview question sets for every position type, from high-volume residential staff to complex clinical roles requiring multi-stage evaluations. Every candidate for the same role now navigates an identical process, answers the same core questions, and is assessed against uniform criteria.
The implications of this standardization extend far beyond mere efficiency. It substantially reduces the risk of inconsistency-driven compliance issues, which are particularly critical in a highly regulated sector like healthcare and treatment. More importantly, it ensures that all hiring decisions are made on a defensible and equitable basis. Levie emphasized, “Standardization was huge for us. We’re making sure we avoid any potential discrimination issues by asking the same questions for the same group of people – comparing apples to apples.” The flexibility to customize workflows by role, adding necessary steps for intricate clinical hires while maintaining streamlined processes for high-volume positions, has allowed Ascent to standardize without sacrificing the nuanced requirements of different roles.
4. Candidate Quality: Attracting and Identifying Top Talent
Hiring teams across all six programs consistently report a noticeable increase in the quality of applicants. This improvement is attributed to a combination of factors: broader job distribution through Workable’s multi-board posting capabilities, which expands the candidate pool, and more structured evaluation processes that effectively filter for fit earlier in the recruitment funnel. For an organization where the quality of staff directly impacts the well-being and therapeutic outcomes of vulnerable teens and young adults, attracting more qualified candidates is not just a HR win, but a direct enhancement to their core mission.
5. Scalability: A Foundation for Growth
The successful expansion of Workable from a single pilot program at Three Peaks Ascent to full adoption across all six sites within a year underscores the platform’s inherent scalability. This unified hiring infrastructure now seamlessly supports over 600 employees across the entire organization. As Ascent Programs continues its growth trajectory, Workable provides a robust and flexible foundation capable of absorbing increased hiring demand without compromising process integrity or efficiency. This scalability is crucial for future strategic expansions and the continued ability to serve more clients.
6. Adoption: Cultivating a Single Source of Truth
Achieving full platform adoption across all sites within a year is a testament to Workable’s intuitive design and its clear value proposition to end-users. HR directors and hiring managers, initially accustomed to disparate systems, are now operating from a single source of truth. This centralized approach eliminates data silos, reduces redundant efforts, and fosters greater collaboration and transparency across the organization’s HR functions. The organic spread of adoption, driven by user experience rather than mandate, speaks volumes about the platform’s ease of use and perceived benefits.
Strategic Impact: Elevating HR to a Boardroom Function
Perhaps the most profoundly transformative shift for Ascent Programs has been the ability to generate meaningful reports. Where once there was a data void, the corporate HR team now diligently tracks key performance indicators such as time-to-hire, qualified candidate volume, and candidate source effectiveness across all six programs. This rich dataset is then leveraged to inform decisions at both operational and strategic levels.
The reporting features within Workable are, as Jodi Levie describes them, exceptionally user-friendly. Beyond basic metrics, the team has discovered immense value in the platform’s predictive reporting functionality. This advanced capability assists in identifying patterns within application flows, allowing HR to proactively address potential staffing challenges. For instance, if a specific site is struggling to fill a critical role, HR can now consult historical data to discern whether the difficulty stems from a temporary market dip, a systemic process issue, or another factor that warrants a more targeted intervention.
Levie articulates the significance: “We can now report to our board of directors. We can show them areas of improvement, areas that have improved, and explain why we’re having a challenge in a specific area. We have data to drive our strategies now.” This fundamental shift from relying on instinct and anecdotal evidence to making decisions based on verifiable data represents a monumental elevation of the HR function within Ascent Programs. It has transformed HR from primarily administrative support into a vital, strategic contributor directly influencing the organization’s operational stability and long-term growth.
Operational Efficiency and a Seamless Candidate Experience
For an organization like Ascent Programs, where staffing levels directly correlate with client capacity and the ability to deliver care, the agility to respond swiftly to hiring demand spikes is an absolute operational necessity. When new clients are anticipated, the need to hire qualified staff to match capacity becomes paramount. Workable provides the essential infrastructure to meet these demands rapidly, critically, without sacrificing the quality or integrity of the hiring process.
The platform’s efficiencies are manifold:
- Reduced Manual Effort: The estimated 3 to 5 hours saved per hire are a direct result of automating research, outreach, and coordination tasks.
- Expanded Reach: Multi-board job distribution ensures that open roles are broadcast across a wide array of platforms, reaching a broader and more diverse candidate pool without requiring manual posting on each individual site.
- Streamlined Communication: Features such as self-scheduling for interviews and integrated candidate texting have significantly streamlined and accelerated communication throughout the recruitment process.
- Future Automation: Ascent is actively working to expand its utilization of automated messaging workflows, aiming to introduce even greater consistency and speed into candidate interactions.
These operational enhancements have a direct impact on the quality of talent attracted. Hiring teams across all six programs consistently report encountering more qualified applicants. This positive trend is a direct outcome of both the broader distribution of job postings and the more structured evaluation processes that efficiently filter for suitable candidates earlier in the hiring funnel, ensuring better alignment with Ascent’s demanding requirements.
On the candidate side, the experience has become notably seamless. Applicants can initiate their journey through various channels—be it Indeed, direct traffic to the corporate careers page, or referral networks. Regardless of the entry point, their information is automatically routed and centralized within Workable. This eliminates the need for HR to manage multiple platforms or reconcile data across disparate systems, ensuring that all candidate information resides in one unified location. As Levie noted, “It’s great that it’s all in one place. Someone can apply from Indeed or another platform and it feeds right through to us. Candidates can do what they want, and we still get the information.” The application process itself has been devoid of friction, with candidates finding it intuitive and straightforward, leading to no significant complaints about the experience.
Looking Ahead: Continuous Improvement and Mission Alignment
As Three Peaks Ascent and its sister programs continue their expansion, Ascent Programs is committed to deliberately enhancing its utilization of Workable’s comprehensive capabilities. Future plans include a particular focus on leveraging automated messaging and AI screening functionalities to refine existing workflows, making them even more intentional and efficient. The objective is to maximize the return on the robust infrastructure already in place.
For an organization managing critical clinical hiring at scale, where the quality and suitability of every single hire directly impact the safety, well-being, and therapeutic outcomes of the teens and young adults they serve, this unwavering commitment to continuous improvement is not merely an operational choice; it is fundamental to their mission. The ethical imperative to provide the highest standard of care necessitates an equally high standard in talent acquisition.
Workable has provided Ascent Programs with an indispensable foundation: unparalleled visibility into hiring metrics, critical standardization of processes, and impressive speed in talent acquisition. Upon this solid foundation, the dedicated team at Ascent is actively constructing a hiring function that is genuinely strategic, agile, and robustly capable of serving both the organization’s ambitious growth objectives and its profound mission to heal and empower young lives. This strategic evolution ensures that Ascent Programs is well-equipped to navigate the complex landscape of talent acquisition in the therapeutic care sector, securing the human capital necessary to fulfill its vital purpose.
