When Executive Director Victoria Wellens passed away in March, the Wisconsin Humane Society suddenly had a hard and seeming impossible task to undertake — replacing the irreplaceable Wellens.

Wellens had led the shelter for 15 years with unparalleled expertise and dedication, setting new standards for animal care. Ellen Clark, the interim Executive Director, wanted to ensure that the process was well organized and efficient. Her goal was to minimize the impact of the search on a team still coping with the loss.

The Wisconsin Humane Society was quickly inundated by interested candidates with over 200 hundred candidates identifying themselves. For several weeks, Clark slogged away at scheduling and conducting phone interviews. Given the glacial pace of 30-40 minutes per candidate, Clark needed to find a better way to handle the screening process. Her concern was that the process didn’t eliminate viable candidates but could still give her some much needed efficiency.

With the implementation of VoiceScreener in September, Clark was able to double-time her screening efforts. She was able to reach out to more candidates, more quickly, ensuring that both she and the candidates felt good about the process.

In reflecting on the difference VoiceScreener made, Clark noted “it was a phenomenal time saver.” She particularly liked the ability to forward the interviews to team members and solicit their opinions.

“I like how fair the process was,” commented Clark. “Since each candidate was asked the exact same set of questions and we were able to get multiple reviewers, I felt like we were able to conduct a completely unbiased review of each candidate’s qualifications.”

For Clark, the most important facet of VoiceScreener was the freedom it gave both her and the interviewees. “I genuinely liked that the candidates could interview at their convenience and the our team was free to do the same. Given that I work remotely much of the time, this made a significant difference for me personally.”