How The Muse Helped Knot Standard Hire Over 1/3 of Their Workforce

Knot Standard has a lean human resources and talent acquisition team, with less than five employees operating across both functions. In order to recruit efficiently and effectively, Knot Standard knew they needed a resource that would allow them to tackle multiple hiring challenges at once. First, they needed to create employer brand content that captures the real experiences of their employees. Then, they wanted to focus on improving how they communicate with candidates throughout the entire hiring process in order to stay competitive.

Knot Standard partnered with The Muse in 2014 with the goal of building employer brand awareness among their target talent audience and attracting more informed, qualified candidates.

“The Muse is very attentive to how we wanted to portray our company and they actually mold their layout to your needs.”

— Samari Majerus, Talent & Recruiting Lead at Knot Standard

Improved Candidate Communications
When candidates apply for a role at Knot Standard, they get an automated email confirming that their application has been received and directing them to Knot Standard’s company profile on The Muse. Knot Standard is able to customize the email content based on what’s the most relevant to the applicant with the help of The Muse’s candidate experience offering.

Candidate Screening
During the initial phone screen, candidates are prompted to provide feedback on the content, which helps uncover the candidates who are truly passionate about Knot Standard’s mission versus those who applied without doing their due diligence. This strategy ultimately saves Knot Standard’s recruiting team valuable time because they’re able to determine earlier on in the hiring process whether someone is the right fit and has a clear understanding of what the company does.

Validated Employee Stories
Knot Standard was one of the first partners to pilot BrandBuilder, The Muse’s story capture tool that helps companies connect the dots between employer brand and employee experience. From this process, Knot Standard gained validated employee stories to add to their company profile and give candidates even more information to use in their decision-making process.

Fresh Employer Brand Content 
Most recently, Knot Standard did a reshoot with The Muse to capture updated content for the company profile, including:

• New team and office photos
• Four new employee video testimonials
• Expanded office pages that showcase the difference between their HQ in NYC and their 10 unique showrooms

Knot Standard has been able to build a bespoke employer brand and source quality new hires who have been exposed to their company through The Muse.

• Over 1/3 of Knot Standard’s inbound hires come from The Muse, making it the largest source of hires behind employee referrals.
• Approximately 17% of Knot Standard’s existing employee base came through The Muse, accounting for roughly 20 of their ~100 team members.
• In 2019, about 75% of potential candidates had looked at Knot Standard’s profile on The Muse before coming in for an interview. Those candidates are consistently more informed about the company’s culture, mission, and values, which helps recruiters identify the best-fit applicants to move forward in the hiring process.