City Wide Facility Solutions, a venerable third-generation, family-owned building services management company established in 1961, has dramatically streamlined its complex hiring operations across North America through a strategic partnership with Workable, a leading applicant tracking system (ATS). This collaboration has resulted in an impressive average time-to-fill of just 16 days, alongside a 100% applicant response rate, significantly enhancing efficiency and candidate experience across its expansive network of 110 locations in the United States and Canada. The integration of Workable has not only provided a centralized, scalable solution for a highly distributed model but has also become a critical enabler of City Wide’s continued growth and operational excellence.
A Legacy of Service Meets Modern Talent Acquisition Challenges
For over six decades, City Wide Facility Solutions has built a formidable reputation as a premier provider of comprehensive building services. Its unique business-to-business (B2B) model leverages a network of independent contractors to manage a vast array of services, from essential janitorial duties and meticulous landscaping to routine maintenance and specialized facility operations. This expansive service portfolio necessitates a robust and agile workforce, driving a consistent demand for talent across diverse functions and seniority levels.
The scale of City Wide’s operations presents unique challenges for its human resources and talent acquisition teams. With 110 franchise locations spanning two countries, the organization’s hiring needs are substantial and varied. Annually, the combined franchisee and franchisor entities undertake between 30 to 50 hires, encompassing a broad spectrum of roles. These positions range from critical operational roles such such as night managers, who ensure facilities are maintained around the clock, to strategic sales executives driving business growth, and even crucial C-suite leadership positions guiding the company’s long-term vision.
Managing such a high volume and diverse set of hiring requirements across a geographically dispersed network demanded a sophisticated and unified approach. Kelsey Herbig, a pivotal figure in City Wide’s talent acquisition strategy, recognized the imperative for a centralized, scalable applicant tracking system. The existing infrastructure, including a prior ATS solution like CareerPlug, while functional, lacked the modern capabilities, flexibility, and cost-efficiency required to support the intricate demands of City Wide’s rapidly expanding and highly distributed enterprise. The need was clear: a single, powerful platform capable of harmonizing recruitment efforts, standardizing processes, and empowering individual locations while maintaining overarching control and visibility.
The Strategic Imperative: Selecting the Right ATS Partner
Approximately five years ago, City Wide embarked on a critical search for a modern ATS that could meet its evolving needs. The evaluation process, spearheaded by Kelsey Herbig, was rigorous and comprehensive, involving a comparative analysis of several prominent industry solutions. Competitors under consideration included established players such as UKG, ADP, BambooHR, and JazzHR, each offering distinct features and pricing structures.
The deciding factor that ultimately distinguished Workable from its competitors was its unique pricing model and unparalleled structural flexibility. For an organization like City Wide, operating 110 distinct locations, many competing ATS solutions presented a significant financial hurdle through per-user fees, which would quickly escalate to prohibitive costs across such a vast network. Workable, however, offered a "one-stop shop" solution that allowed each location to have its own dedicated user space within a centralized platform, crucially, without incurring additional per-user charges for every single individual across the entire franchise system. This cost-effective and scalable architecture was precisely what City Wide required to manage its distributed hiring model efficiently.
Beyond the favorable pricing, Workable’s appeal was further solidified by its comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance every stage of the recruitment lifecycle. These included robust tools for job posting and syndication, applicant screening, interview scheduling, candidate communication, and reporting analytics. The platform’s intuitive interface and commitment to continuous innovation also played a significant role, promising an ATS that would not only meet current needs but also adapt to future challenges and opportunities in the competitive talent landscape.
Seamless Integration and Transformative Impact
The implementation of Workable across City Wide’s extensive franchise network was notably smooth and efficient. Kelsey Herbig attested to the ease of rollout and the effectiveness of the training provided, underscoring the platform’s user-friendliness. "It was pretty easy. The implementation was great. It was easy to train. Customer service with Workable has been great," she commented, highlighting the support infrastructure that underpinned the successful transition. This rapid adoption ensured that franchisees could quickly leverage the new system without significant disruption to their ongoing operations, a critical factor for a company that prioritizes uninterrupted service delivery.
The most immediate and tangible impact of Workable’s integration was a dramatic improvement in hiring efficiency. City Wide now boasts an average time-to-fill of just 16 days. To put this into perspective, industry benchmarks for time-to-fill typically range from 30 to 45 days for most roles, with more specialized positions often taking even longer. Workable’s ability to nearly halve this industry average provides City Wide with a significant competitive advantage, allowing the company to quickly secure top talent, minimize vacancies, and maintain optimal staffing levels across all its service areas. This speed ensures that City Wide can rapidly respond to client demands and growth opportunities without the bottleneck of prolonged recruitment cycles.
Workable’s functionality has effectively transformed City Wide’s daily recruitment workflows. The platform serves as a true "one-stop shop," consolidating all aspects of the hiring process into a single, cohesive system. This consolidation eliminates the need for disparate tools and manual data transfers, reducing administrative overhead and freeing up valuable time for recruiters and hiring managers. From initial job requisition to final offer and onboarding, every step is managed within Workable, creating a seamless and efficient journey.
Elevating Candidate Experience and Employer Brand
A core tenet of City Wide’s talent acquisition philosophy is maintaining a best-in-class candidate experience. In today’s competitive job market, timely and transparent communication is paramount to attracting and retaining high-quality candidates and safeguarding an organization’s employer brand. Workable has been instrumental in enabling City Wide to uphold its commitment to responding to 100% of all applicants.
Through Workable’s automated and scheduled communication features, City Wide can manage a high volume of applications without overwhelming its recruitment team. Personalized "thank you" or "no thank you" messages are automatically dispatched, ensuring that every applicant receives a professional and timely response. This consistent communication not only fosters goodwill among candidates, even those who are not selected, but also reinforces City Wide’s reputation as a considerate and professional employer. In an era where negative candidate experiences can quickly propagate through social media and professional networks, Workable helps City Wide proactively cultivate a positive brand image, which in turn aids in future recruitment efforts.
Beyond initial responses, Workable streamlines other crucial communication touchpoints, such as interview scheduling. The platform’s ability to send calendar invites directly to candidates and all members of the hiring team eliminates manual coordination, reduces scheduling errors, and accelerates the interview process. This automation extends to other backend tasks, including the generation and distribution of offer letters, the initiation of background checks, and the management of assessment processes – all handled directly within Workable. By centralizing these functions, City Wide significantly reduces administrative effort, mitigates the risk of human error, and ensures a consistent, compliant hiring process across all 110 locations.
Pioneering Sourcing with Indeed Talent Scout
City Wide Facility Solutions’ partnership with Workable extends to leveraging cutting-edge sourcing technologies. The company was selected as a beta partner for Indeed Talent Scout, an innovative feature integrated directly within Workable designed to enhance proactive candidate sourcing. The results of this pilot program were nothing short of immediate and impactful. Kelsey Herbig enthusiastically recounted, "I loved it. I hired an account manager in seven days off of it." This rapid success demonstrated the tool’s efficacy in quickly identifying and engaging qualified candidates for crucial roles.
Indeed Talent Scout proved particularly invaluable for addressing "hard-to-fill" roles, such as night managers. These positions often require specific schedules, a particular skill set, and attract a candidate demographic that may not be as active on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn. Herbig highlighted this critical distinction: "Night managers are the hardest job to fill… Talent Scout is awesome because those people aren’t on LinkedIn. They’re on Indeed." Indeed, as a job board, naturally attracts a broader and often different pool of candidates, including those actively seeking operational or field-based roles.
Talent Scout within Workable empowered City Wide to:
- Proactively Identify Candidates: Move beyond passive job postings to actively search for and discover suitable candidates who might not be applying directly.
- Targeted Outreach: Directly engage with passive or semi-passive candidates whose profiles match specific job requirements, increasing the likelihood of securing hard-to-find talent.
- Accelerated Placement: Significantly reduce the time it takes to fill critical roles by streamlining the sourcing and initial contact phases.
The success of the beta program firmly established Indeed Talent Scout as a permanent and indispensable component of Kelsey Herbig’s sourcing toolkit. Its ability to provide direct access to a vast pool of relevant candidates, particularly for roles that traditionally present sourcing challenges, ensures that City Wide can maintain optimal staffing levels across its diverse operational needs, directly contributing to service continuity and quality.
Broader Implications and Strategic Advantage
The comprehensive adoption of Workable by City Wide Facility Solutions carries significant broader implications for the company’s strategic growth and operational efficiency. The unified hiring system provides a competitive advantage by ensuring that all 110 locations, despite their geographical dispersion, adhere to consistent recruitment standards and leverage the same powerful tools. This standardization not only improves compliance but also allows for centralized reporting and analysis, providing invaluable insights into hiring trends, candidate pipelines, and overall recruitment performance.
For franchisees, Workable acts as a force multiplier. Instead of needing to invest in and manage their own disparate recruitment solutions, they are empowered with a robust, enterprise-grade ATS that is centrally managed and supported. This frees up franchisees to focus on their core business operations – delivering exceptional facility services – rather than expending resources on complex talent acquisition infrastructure. The cost savings associated with avoiding per-user fees across such a large network are substantial, allowing capital to be redirected towards growth initiatives, technology upgrades, or enhanced employee benefits.
The enhanced candidate experience, driven by 100% applicant response and streamlined communication, bolsters City Wide’s employer brand. In an increasingly candidate-driven market, a positive recruitment journey is crucial for attracting top-tier talent and differentiating the company from competitors. This strong brand reputation, coupled with efficient hiring processes, ensures a continuous pipeline of qualified candidates ready to contribute to City Wide’s mission.
Looking ahead, City Wide’s five-year partnership with Workable demonstrates a commitment to leveraging technology for sustained operational excellence. The flexibility and scalability of Workable mean that as City Wide continues to expand its footprint or diversify its service offerings, its talent acquisition infrastructure can seamlessly adapt to these new demands. The ability to integrate new sourcing tools like Indeed Talent Scout further positions City Wide at the forefront of talent acquisition innovation, ensuring it remains agile and competitive in a dynamic labor market.
An Unreserved Endorsement
When asked about recommending Workable to other companies, Kelsey Herbig’s response was unequivocal, demonstrating the depth of her satisfaction with the platform. "I actually have! So much so that I joke that I should get a referral bonus!" she quipped, a testament to the profound positive impact Workable has had on City Wide’s operations.
For companies operating in the facility services, building maintenance, or any industry characterized by distributed operations and complex hiring needs, Workable offers a compelling solution. Its core strengths – rapid implementation, intuitive user experience, robust automation, cost-effective scalability, and innovative sourcing capabilities – directly address the critical challenges faced by such organizations. City Wide Facility Solutions’ five-year journey with Workable stands as a powerful case study, illustrating how strategic technology adoption can streamline processes, elevate the candidate experience, and ultimately drive efficient and effective talent acquisition across a vast and diverse enterprise, solidifying its position as a leader in the building services industry across the U.S. and Canada.
