Customer story

How Multiverse Uses Ashby to Recruit Top Talent with AI, Scheduling, and Powerful Data

Story from

Beth Davis

Customer Success

Multiverse is a new tech-first institution that combines work and learning to deliver equitable access to economic opportunity for everyone. This forward thinking is embedded in every function, particularly how they recruit colleagues to join the Multiverse team.

When Veronica Salcido joined the team to lead talent acquisition, she knew that amidst a changing TA landscape, shifting recruiter priorities, and emerging technology that she needed to leave behind the playbook she’d been using and instead build for the future of recruiting.

“When I first joined they asked, ‘when are you implementing [legacy provider]?’ That’s yesterday’s ATS; I’m looking for the next ATS that meets our needs and will grow with us. A big part of selecting Ashby was throwing out the ‘book’ of how I’ve done recruiting for almost two decades. If you’re still recruiting the same way and bringing in an old blueprint to new organizations, you’re probably not thriving.”
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

I caught up with Veronica to reflect on this decision made so early in her tenure at the company and how it’s played out in the time since.

Problem: A Broken Status Quo

In those first two decades of her career, Veronica experienced a number of challenges building and growing talent acquisition teams. Some notable ones:

Difficulty retaining coordinators: She found that relying on large coordination teams made it tough to retain talent who’s core role was about scheduling. Starting out her own career as a coordinator, Veronica knew there had to be a more fulfilling way to define these roles and structure her organization.
Reset in market stability: Quick shifts in TA have become the norm. Veronica wanted a culture of agility that allowed Multiverse to remain nimble and make changes without it feeling abrupt or reactive.
System-centric operations: Rather than being limited to the capabilities of the former ATS’s she had experiences with, Veronica wanted to design processes with the candidate in mind versus the tool in mind. In her own words -

“Traditionally we used to build with the system in mind; What can the system do? This was not candidate-centric, not user-centric. One of the things we really enjoy about Ashby is the customization that allows us to build with our end user in mind. We think about the candidate journey and where Ashby can help build for it. We feel very confident we can build the experience we want without worrying about the capabilities of the system."
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

Solution: A Lean, Powerful Tech Stack

Veronica’s first decision as the new head of TA was to select the ATS. She found Ashby culturally aligned around personalization, progressive features, and overall minimalist approach to a tech stack she desired in such a busy space.

“It’s the first ATS I’ve ever been impressed with. We were looking for an innovative partner that was looking to build the future of talent acquisition, not one stuck in the way things had been done 10, 20 years ago. And in switching to Ashby All-in-One I got rid of a lot of vendors we no longer needed, so that made me look absolutely brilliant to my finance team.”
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

Using Ashby since 2022, Veronica has had the tools to match the sophisticated approach her talent team has taken at Multiverse. This has come to life in a number of ways.

1. Quick Turnaround on AI Functionality

Ashby’s AI Tokens have enabled the Multiverse recruiting team to personalize their outreach at scale, which Veronica considers critical to attracting the top one percent of talent.

“Ashby has been able to continue to innovate with AI in ways that allows us to really customize our communication. The continued quick turnaround around AI features has been impressive and needed.”
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

Veronica’s early adoption of the AI functionality is yet another way she keeps her team evolving with changes in the space. In analyzing the use of the AI Tokens specifically across the Ashby customer base, our findings already reveal there’s a considerable (~46%) lift in reply rate for campaigns using AI personalization (35.3% vs 24.1%). More on this can be found in our Candidate Sourcing report.

2. Seamless Scheduling Functionality

Ashby’s built-in scheduling features massively reduced the level of administrative work required by the Multiverse team. This opened the possibilities of building a new age recruiting team and making the work of coordinators more purposeful and fulfilling with higher level strategic challenges.

“With Ashby Scheduling, we get to think really creatively about our recruiting function. We’re very, very intentional about our white glove service and where we’re going to have those important, human touch points. It also aligns with the mission of Multiverse and is the mindset of, let’s give people a meaningful career path that isn’t just scheduling. How do we in four to six months of them being in seat get them to hop, skip, or jump to a bigger recruiting challenge?”
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

3. Data Access the Execs Love

With multiple business units to support, the Multiverse talent team uses Ashby to build a custom recruiting process for each — such as having a process for hiring Sales Executives that is different from the process built for hiring engineers. The true magic from Veronica’s perspective is that even with deep customization, Ashby still allows access to automatic global metrics.

“Ashby is the first ATS where I can customize a lot of fields and still produce metrics — all without having to layer on another data visualization tool. A lot of the time, a lot of data doesn’t mean a lot of meaningful insights. I love that Ashby’s been built in a way where we can make decisions without sacrificing custom workflows or data integrity. I have so many quotes and emails from our senior leaders commenting on how our team is using more data than ever and loving our data-driven approach. And it’s because of Ashby.”
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

Impact: Remaining Steadfast in a Changing Environment

In reflecting on where her team is today, Veronica kept returning to the importance of being agile amidst all the changes in talent acquisition. Rather than a team that is constantly reacting to thrash or worrying about keeping everything in their control, she has one that plans for future change.

“Change is the only constant in TA right now, but if we can have really nice operational efficiency, we can quickly shift gears and it doesn’t feel like we’re on a roller coaster. Instead it feels like we built a really smart, strategic team that can shift and change with the business. That’s how we become a critical and valuable asset. We see the resets in the market as opportunities to examine efficiency and be creative. In summary, Ashby has given me and my team the opportunity to look absolutely brilliant.”
— Veronica Salcido, Head of Global Talent at Multiverse

Futureproof Your Organization with Hiring Excellence

Veronica visualizes her recruiting strategy as building a house. From a strong, multi-layered foundation to strong scaffolding, her vision for talent acquisition matched our Hiring Excellence Framework so strongly that she spoke to her excellence journey at the annual Ashby Keynote. Hear it all in her own words.