Pillar Purpose: Wistia

Meet Wistia, a video marketing software company. Their mission is to make business more human with video (just like Pillar aims to help organizations become more human with interviewing). We recently sat down for a Q&A with Taylor Roa, Wistia’s Director of Talent, to get a glimpse into why they started using Pillar and how Pillar’s interview intelligence platform has impacted their hiring for the better.
‍
How did the relationship with Pillar start?

Pillar reached out to us early on in the pandemic. At first, we were a little skeptical because recording interviews might make it look like we were trying to micromanage our team. However, that worry was no longer an issue once we considered how our sales team was using Gong. We started to think of Pillar as Gong, but for recruiting. After deciding to purchase Pillar, we onboarded our sales team first. We initially thought it would take us 4 months to roll Pillar out to every hiring team, but it ended up only taking us 6 weeks. Once the other teams heard about how the sales team was using Pillar, it spread like wildfire within Wistia and everyone wanted to get their hands on the platform.

At that time, what was the biggest challenge you were facing that convinced you to purchase Pillar? 

There were a few challenges that were top of mind:

1.) Shift from Face-to-Face to Virtual
We purchased Pillar early on in the pandemic, and during this time, everyone was transitioning to virtual interviewing. Because of this, we needed to quickly adapt to this new way of hiring to ensure we weren’t missing out on the opportunity to share our culture with prospective candidates.

2.) Training & Coaching Newer Interviewers
This is a challenge that we honestly just accepted previously, but now that we have Pillar, we’re able to train and develop new interviewers in a way that never existed before. With Pillar, we can share examples of really solid interviews with newer interviewers so they can improve upon their interview skills and in turn provide candidates with a better experience.

3.) Checking for Bias & Ensuring an Inclusive Interview Process
Pillar promotes structured interviews where each candidate is asked the same set of questions. This allows the interviewer to focus on the skills that are most relevant to the role and makes it much easier for us to avoid bias because every interview is comparable.
‍
What was the standout factor in Pillar that appealed to you?

We knew 2020 was a time for a serious pivot in hiring. Because of this, we were more open than ever to experiment with new tools. Pillar has been one of those experiments that has really paid off for us.
‍
What are the most important Pillar features for you and your team?

1.) Interview recordings and transcriptions
Being able to re-watch interviews after they happen is incredibly powerful. We know that bias starts to creep in in unexpected ways. For example, on a rainy day, interviewers are likely to be more negative. Cloudy memories can also impact assessments when done in hindsight because everyone is busy. Pillar helps us check ourselves (and each other) for bias, and it helps us stay true to what our candidates actually said regardless of outside factors like an interviewer having a hazy memory or being in a bad mood because of the weather.

2.) Highlight reels
We love being able to go back to interviews and grab certain moments where an interviewer or interviewee said something really awesome. This makes it easy for us to collaborate and advocate for certain candidates before coming to a final decision.

What are some of the big outcomes Pillar has helped you achieve at Wistia from a hiring perspective?

Wistia plans to grow faster than ever over the next year as we aim to make over 100 hires. Pillar has enabled us to hire with more certainty, ensuring that we bring the best people into our organization to grow alongside us. Pillar is a huge opportunity to check for bias, coach and develop our interviewers, and lean into the human element of hiring.

‍Bring Interview Intelligence Into Your Hiring Process
Center your hiring decisions on objective reality, rather than subjective opinions. Interview effectively and select the right candidates every time with Pillar. Ready to see how you can hire faster, better, and more equitably just like Wistia? Schedule a demo today at pillar.hr/get-a-demo.