A Letter from Rachel Zuraw on Joining Ashby

When I left my last role, I had every intention of taking an extended break, spending the summer with my kids, and starting to look again in fall. But then, I saw this role at Ashby come up. It was the type of role I wanted at a place I wanted to work, and even before I exited my last role, I ended up applying. It was this specific job that pulled me back sooner than I expected, and I am delighted to share why.

First, let me set some context. 

I think about my career in two chapters (so far!). I spent the first 15 years or so of my career in systems, software, and product analytics, using data to drive different business outcomes at a handful of companies. About 10 years ago, I took that analytics lens into HR and started working in People Data Analytics, supporting both People Teams and TA teams.

This second chapter made me a daily product user and administrator of HR software, including different ATSs. A decade is long enough to form an opinion, and mine is that the HR software available to us has been deeply lacking. It’s either user friendly but administratively burdensome, or it is so overwhelming that some might consider it user-hostile software.

I had been hearing for years that what Ashby was building was different, but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to use it. Everyone I spoke with who had worked in Ashby said the same thing, that it really is the software those of us on the inside have been looking for. When I saw the job opening for this role, I was so excited to have the opportunity to not only work for a forward-looking HR Tech company but also to help shape the team and ultimately the product. What made me take the job comes down to three things:

1. Software Built for the People Using It

2. The People I Want to Work With

3. The Right Moment

1. Software Built for the People Using It

The tools I’ve used all get sold the same way. We’re told they’re infinitely customizable and able to do anything we need. And while that may be true, the catch is what it costs the administrator. The number of configuration combinations grows so large that it feels like you need a PhD in the software to make it do the one thing you want. 

And employees suffer too. The average employee logs into an HR system to look at a paystub and check their benefits. They don’t need a customizable home page. Most HR software loses sight of that end user, because it’s trying to be everything to everyone. 

Ashby is the opposite. Internally, we use the word “intentional” to describe how we operate, and that carries through to the product. The team is deliberate about what it puts in front of people and when. Getting to a pipeline view takes a single click, and it’s clear at a glance what is happening across a role. It’s built for the people who live in it every day, recruiters and hiring managers both. And it holds up on the administrative side as well. New features are shared with clear next steps, so you can tell both how you would use something and why you would want to. 

A small example from my first weeks: I turned on talent rediscovery (the feature that resurfaces past applicants who match a new opening) for one of my roles. Within a few clicks, it was obvious what I needed to do next, how it would work, and why. It surfaced a candidate who had applied to a former role who looked like a strong fit for this one. That is the kind of thing I wished the tools I used could do without the need for hours of configuration first.

2. The People I Want to Work With

I’m drawn to smart people. I want to work alongside colleagues who are bright, motivated, and talented, and that is what I’ve found at Ashby. The fact that these people are building a product in HR tech, the space I’ve worked in for the past ten years of my career, is a bonus on top. I get to bring a decade of being the end user to a team that already cares about the end user. 

3. The Right Moment

I know there is privilege in being able to say I was not planning to immediately take a new role. I know how hard the job market is for a lot of people right now. I share that piece because it says something about the opportunity and about Ashby. After a decade on the outside as a user and an administrator, I now get to be on the inside of a company at the center of a real shift in HR tech, in a moment where we get to decide how humans and technology can work together. The chance to be able to help shape the team as the company grows was not something I wanted to wait for.

What I’ll Be Focused On

Since joining, the most visible thing the People team has done is our company offsite in Cancún, the largest Ashby has ever held. All credit to Cassie, Hannah, and Emma for their incredible work on that. 

The less visible work is the part I expect will matter most over time. I’m leading the People team through a transition to better support the company’s rapid growth. We are reshaping the small and mighty People Ops team that has covered a bit of everything, into a more robust People department with expertise in different HR functional areas. 

The broader People and Talent organization settles into three parts: Talent Acquisition brings people in. The People team, which is my scope, covers the full arc of someone’s time at Ashby from onboarding, to growth and development, career paths, performance, leveling, and more. And finally, HR Systems and Operations runs underneath both as the foundation that supports and uplifts the work. 

The HR Business partners will keep working with leaders on how their organizations are structured, how people perform and grow, and how we hold a high talent bar as we scale. Alongside them, we are building dedicated functions for Total Rewards and for Events. The goal is to let people do the work they are excellent at instead of asking everyone to cover everything. 

Ashby is scaling fast, and the People team has to scale with it in a shape that will best fit us for this new phase of the company. I’m so happy to be here to help guide this work. And as I mentioned, we’re hiring. If this sounds like the kind of work you want to do, take a look at our open roles.