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HootSuite employees having a howl during work.

HootSuite to hire 100 hopefuls within months

More than 1,000 job seekers who recently turned up to a HootSuite open house in Vancouver may hear soon if…

By David Geselbracht , in Business , on October 17, 2013 Tags: , , , ,

HootSuite employees having a howl during work.
HootSuite promotes itself as a fun place to work. (Photo: HootSuite)

More than 1,000 job seekers who recently turned up to a HootSuite open house in Vancouver may hear soon if they’ve got one of the 100 job openings at the social-media analytics company.

“Our goal is to fill as many of the 100 roles within the next month and all 100 before the end of the year,” said communications manager Sandy Pell via email.

“We’re looking to hire people who are go-getters, people who hustle, and people who know what they want.”

It is the second time the social-media darling has held a job fair to add to its rapidly expanding workforce.

Last year, 600 people turned up. The competition got tougher this year, with more than 1,000 hopefuls attending the job fair on Oct. 8, dubbed #HootHire on Twitter.

That is on top of the 700 resumes a week the company gets through email.

Aspiring employees

Hundreds waited in line to drop off their resumes at HootSuite’s hiring event on Tuesday Oct. 8th 2013, at HootSuite headquarters in Mount Pleasant.
Hundreds waited in line to drop off their resumes at HootSuite in early October.

One of the aspiring candidates who went to the event was Maureen Hanlon, a graduate student in software development and design.

She liked the open house because it gave applicants like her a chance to speak directly with both employees in the company, who talked about their own path to getting hired by HootSuite, and with managers at the company.

“When you’re just emailing or uploading your CV, it’s very hard to have your personality come across and to show them your passion,” she said.

Hanlon even got to meet the head of the department she was applying to: customer service.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” she admitted.

Another applicant, Fatima Sumar, owns a wedding consulting business and is studying marketing at BCIT. She was startled at how many people showed up to the open house.

“I initially felt overwhelmed with how many people were there, but after meeting with the first HootSuite Owl I knew this is where I wanted to be.”

HootSuite used the owl term used to refer to the company’s employees.

A rapid rise

Founded in 2008 by CEO Ryan Holmes, HootSuite allows users to manage their various social-media networks, like Twitter and Facebook, with just one interface. The majority of users operate HootSuite for free, but corporations will pay up to $100,000 a month for the product.

HootSuite customers include 744 of the Fortune 1000 companies, including FOX, Virgin, PepsiCo, and Sony Music. It’s also used by the Obama administration.

Just two years ago, HootSuite had fewer than 40 employees. Now, it has over 400. The company started in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This year, it moved into a former police building in Mount Pleasant to house its growing staff.

HootSuite’s hiring event followed an announcement in August that it raised $165 million in venture capital from U.S. companies. It was the largest deal in Canadian capital investment history for a software company.