Using HubSpot in a staffing business: placement rate up 140% and faster management decisions | Migi Naname Ue Inc.

About the client
Miginanameue Inc.
HP： https://migi-nanameue.co.jp/
Industry: recruitment
Employees: 150
Products: Sales Hub, Marketing Hub

Miginanameue Inc. (founded September 2018, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) runs a range of staffing services, from career-change support for younger and early-career candidates through placement of experienced people and recruitment process outsourcing to career coaching.

Now in its eighth year with around 150 employees, it balances several business areas while expanding each, focusing in particular on recruitment and RPO for experienced hires.

Its strengths are staying close to candidates in their 20s as they build their careers, and designing matches that meet employers’ hiring needs head-on.

The problem: the spreadsheet stopped moving, and data became a drag on productivity

Miginanameue had been managing candidate, job, company and selection information in spreadsheets.
As the business grew, that data grew quickly, and as rows and formulas multiplied the files became slow, creating bottlenecks: not being able to reach the information you want, not being able to enter anything.

Duplicate entry became the norm, eating into the time career advisors should spend on interviews and matching.

With growth planned over the medium and long term, a foundation for capturing and analysing facts such as lead time was essential, and that foundation had stopped working.

Adopting HubSpot: designed first around being easy to use

As a fundamental solution for managing their data, Miginanameue were already considering HubSpot for its flexibility and ease of use.

While deciding which partner to work with, they were introduced to NowVillage Inc. by an acquaintance, and chose us for our understanding of the recruitment industry and our ability to design with day-to-day use in mind.

We listened to the problems and set two goals: automate non-core work as far as possible so the team can concentrate on what produces results, and manage data properly so that decisions are better.

We then normalised the complex data structure specific to recruitment – candidates, jobs, companies, selection – and built a database in HubSpot linking them, while making the way it is used explicit.

What we did

Building the database (objects designed for recruitment)
We designed the candidate, job, company and selection objects and defined the relationships between them, ensuring the data stays consistent.

Teaching workflows
Through automatic task assignment, reminders and follow-up, we minimised career advisors’ routine work, automating the non-core so they can focus on the core.

Teaching reporting
We designed dashboards, visibility of conversion and lead time, and KPI tracking, building a foundation for better decisions.

Phased rollout
To get it used quickly, we went small group, improve, roll out, tuning first and foremost for how it feels to use. That avoided the system being abandoned.

Rather than building a complex, everything-included system from the start, we began with a scope that does not burden the people using it.
In our regular sessions we worked through the points that could be done but would be too complex to run in practice, avoiding confusion.

Results: more time on core work, and a sharper view for the business

Through our phased support, Miginanameue saw results steadily and in the end achieved the following.

What HubSpot delivered
Using HubSpot as MA and CRM, managing candidates from registration to placement in one place
Placements per career advisor up 120%
Placement rate up 140%

Other results from implementation through adoption are below.

1. Adoption: minimal friction and a smooth transition
Led by the team leads, a trial with a first group and feedback before rolling out company-wide meant the system took hold without significant disruption. Designing from the point of view of the people using it kept the stress of migration to a minimum.

2. A foundation that produces the data they want, and faster decisions
With information managed properly, metrics that had been hard to obtain – lead time by selection stage and by job – can now be collected and seen accurately and in real time. The quality and speed of decisions have improved.

3. Conversations based on fact, and less management overhead
With a shared language in the data, friction from mismatched understanding between the team and managers has fallen. Discussion has shifted from I think this to what the data shows. Managers spend less time managing, and conversations are more productive.

4. Time for core work
With the bottlenecks in entry and search gone and tasks automated through workflows, career advisors have more time for the core work of interviews and matching.

A comment from Miginanameue Inc.

Mr Yokota, Director of Miginanameue Inc., said the following about the results.

“With spreadsheets, as the data grew the files became slow, and entering or reading information stalled. It was a significant source of stress for the team.
After adopting HubSpot that changed completely, and we can now see detailed metrics accurately, down to lead time by job. Conversation within the team has shifted from feel to fact, and the quality of discussion has risen.
From here we want to strengthen the link with Marketing Hub and take on further automation using APIs and AI, to make decisions faster both in management and on the ground.”

They also gave the following as the reason for choosing NowVillage Inc. as their partner.

“NowVillage’s support was kind and thorough throughout, and they clearly understood not only HubSpot but the structure of the business itself.
They kept following up after implementation, and together we built something the team keeps using.
The phased rollout, designed from the point of view of the people using it, kept disruption to a minimum and led to very smooth adoption.
I would recommend NowVillage Inc. with confidence to any company considering HubSpot.”

They taught us how to use it carefully too, and we can now add and customise properties ourselves. Migrating let us build the efficient way of working we had wanted.”

More than anything we provided, this came from Miginanameue’s leadership and the cooperation of their team.
Through this project we were reminded that a design the team can keep using, and a partner who understands the structure of the business, are the keys to getting the most from a tool.

As a HubSpot Platinum Partner, NowVillage Inc. works on trust, expertise and care, understanding each client’s business model and supporting the adoption of a HubSpot that is genuinely used and genuinely delivers.

If you
are struggling with data that has become too heavy
want an environment where people can focus on core work

or want to move on from managing in spreadsheets

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Talk to NowVillage