How BrightHR Hired 17 Junior Sales Reps With Earlywork Academy
Earlywork journey helping BrightHR hire 17 junior sales reps who are over-performing and staying in their roles.
Earlywork has been an absolute dream to work with. Within the last 3 months they have helped me hire 25% of my current workforce (team of 75 sales staff and growing). Earlywork has completely changed the game in this space.
The Challenge
BrightHR boasts one of the largest junior sales organisations in Australia.
After expanding to Australia in late 2020, the award-winning HR software saw exponential growth in the SMB market through their sales led growth motion.
When the decision came to double down on growth in Australia by hiring more junior sales reps, however, there were two problems:
One, consistent junior sales talent was hard to hire for off job boards or from recruiters alone.
Headcount growth in Australia since Sept 2022
And two, beyond hiring, BrightHR wanted to improve their junior sales rep retention.
Associate Sales Director, Callam Molloy, best describes why this is the case for many large sales organizations:
Majority of sales businesses lose people due to the inexperience within the industry and sales in general.
The BrightHR team were looking for something new.
A solution to partner with that would help them meet short-term targets, and future-proof long-term growth.
The Solution
In October of 2023, BrightHR hired Atharva Kale and Eric Gong.
After a few months in the role, they were ramping faster than the other reps in their cohorts.
Curious on where the talent came from, Callam did some digging and found that Atharva and Eric had graduated from a previous Earlywork Academy cohort.
After conversations with Earlywork, the team were happy to go ahead with a trial of an upcoming Earlywork Academy cohort as an integrated employer.
Unlike other hiring solutions, BrightHR received hiring support beyond a regular recruitment agency in two ways:
1) Early exposure to a graduating cohort
During an Earlywork Academy cohort, there are 3 guest presentations slots allocated to integrated employers to build their brand early.
Our cohorts run monthly with a pool of 25+ fellows to tap into with an educational experience.
Check out some of their clips below.
2) Seamless integration with the BrightHR interview process
After a cohort of 25+ graduates, our Employer Success Manager worked collaboratively with Mary, Tom and Callam to curate introductions 10+ high fit fellows.
The BrightHR team were able to view detailed profiles on each fellow and schedule them into a group interview at their office.
Check out an example of Gianluca’s fellow profile, one of the top performing Earlywork fellows at BrightHR:
The Results
Earlywork fellows hired after Atharva and Eric have continued the trend of a faster ramp time.
Check out Earlywork Fellows Gianluca Fazio (Second Left) & Omar Gomulwal (Left) attending a Sydney Swans game in the BrightHR box, a reward for over-achievers in a given month.
Beyond immediate hiring outcomes, BrightHR’s partnership with Earlywork has also yielded the following results.
Genuine employee love
As of September 2024, BrightHR has made 17 successful hires through Earlywork with an average rep retention of 90%.
Check out what Gianluca Fazio had to say about his experience at BrightHR so far:
I was set on a career in sales and wanted to pick the right company for me. If it wasn’t for Callam’s presentation during my (Earlywork Academy) cohort I would never have found BrightHR.
Today, it’s the perfect company for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Collaborating on bespoke employer brand initiatives
Almost a year after becoming an integrated employer, BrightHR wanted to trial a new employer brand initiative to build future talent pipeline.
In collaboration with the Earlywork team, the inaugural Bright Nite was delivered at the BrightHR office, featuring office tours and presentations with team members Tom Wilson & Patrick Mogan.
A select few fellows from our July 2024 cohort attended before graduating and were immediately hired when headcount became available again.
See some pictures below!
