Chaffey Federal Credit Union has traditionally used Indeed and in-house interviews to recruit new hires.

That started to be time-consuming for the $212 million asset credit union in Upland, Calif., which found itself digging through piles of resumes.

After Chaffey’s chief operating officer interviewed nearly 50 people in the first nine months of 2021, the credit union searched for recruiting alternatives. This led to a conversation with Total Quality Consulting (TQC).

“I was approached by one of their founders at a conference,” says CEO Diane Kotlewski. “We were intrigued because it took a lot of the legwork away from us.”

TQC offers a flat-rate subscription model as opposed to paying per hire. Chaffey Federal approached it as an investment and outsourced recruiting to TQC in late 2021.

“Before they got started searching for candidates for us, they got to know us as a credit union, as well as each department they're searching for,” Kotlewski says. “They get to know the role.”

That approach led Chaffey Federal’s leaders to further examine its own culture and what they wanted that to look like.

“It got us thinking about how we define our culture,” she says. “Enthusiasm is the biggest thing we're looking for, but also commitment.”

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Therefore, the right hire for Chaffey Federal can be more about attitude than experience. Finding that person starts with TQC conducting an initial interview to determine if a candidate is a good fit.

The best candidates are passed on to Chaffey Federal, which decides whether to further interview each individual.

That process takes weeding through resumes out of Chaffey Federal’s hands and allows the credit union’s interviews to be roughly 30-minute, decision-making phone calls. In the first four months of the partnership, Chaffey Federal hired four employees TQC helped recruit.

“The candidates have been great,” Kotlewski says. “The way things are going right now I plan to continue it. Obviously, it depends on how the employment market looks in 12 months, but it's been a huge time-saver for us.”