CampHire
In December 2023, CampHire founders Aaron Lyon and Esther Eisenhard needed a way to scale their agency specializing in seasonal staff recruitment for summer camps by the next season, starting April 1, 2024.
As Lyon explains, “After years of manually sharing candidate information via email, we decided to invest in a marketplace-style platform where users can self-serve, filter candidates, and make connections automatically. We both have other full-time jobs, so we needed something that didn’t require a human to do everything.”
To meet the April 1 launch deadline, CampHire sought a fast, cost-effective development solution. Lyon discovered no-code/Bubble and explored building the marketplace himself, but decided to partner with Airdev in January 2024 to ensure a timely launch.
The results?
- An automated 2-sided marketplace platform with custom candidate search filters and reservation and waitlist features for camps
- 30+ camp and 250+ candidate sign ups in just 1 month since launch
- 200 platform actions/week, including camps reserving, interviewing, releasing, and hiring candidates
The OBJEctive
The CampHire founders’ goal was to grow their business by offering a self-service client interface for camps looking to hire seasonal staff. But for this to happen, they needed to rapidly develop a high-quality platform that could handle hundreds of users on day 1.
“I initially considered hiring a developer to build from scratch, but found that costly and risky. Then I wondered if I could build it myself, similar to how I run my website on Squarespace. That’s when I discovered no-code. I thought this would be a good technology for us to build with. I signed up for Bubble, but realized that I wouldn’t be able to learn it fast enough to launch our product in 4 months. I needed a partner that could help me build fast.” - Lyon
The SOLUTION
Lyon came across Airdev and saw they had experience in similar projects to CampHire’s. But he first wanted to make sure no-code and Bubble were suitable for his marketplace.
“My first interaction with Airdev started with an exploratory call. I first needed to learn more about the technology. The sales representative did a good job of stepping back from Airdev entirely and just talking to me about why no-code and Bubble might be a good solution for us, including all the pros and cons along the way.” - Lyon
Following the conversation, Lyon concluded that no-code could get him the desired outcome quickly and cost-effectively. He also felt confident that Airdev would be a good partner to build with.
"I chose Airdev because I needed a team that could educate me throughout the process. They’ve worked on many different products, and I needed experts that know this technology inside and out. Plus, their template library was impressive. I was initially concerned about design limitations, but discovered they had hundreds to choose from.” - Lyon
Airdev’s Approach
In early January 2024, CampHire began working with Airdev. Airdev’s project manager collaborated closely with Lyon and his sister to develop detailed scoping documents, outlining all build features, logic, and timeline. This included providing strategic recommendations around the platform’s core feature, candidate reservations.
“Airdev’s project manager helped us refine the core reservation logic of the app. We had to figure out what it meant when a camp takes a candidate out of the hiring pool, including how long reservations last and what privileges they get. They also suggested adding a waitlist feature to keep the marketplace looking full and active. Airdev’s input was crucial in shaping many of the platform’s custom features – they were great strategic partners.” - Lyon
By ironing out all of the details early on, Airdev’s visual development team had a clear blueprint to quickly and accurately build CampHire’s marketplace in the way that they envisioned.
THE RESULT
With Airdev’s help, CampHire’s marketplace went live with immediate users on the set deadline of April 1. In just 1 month, they signed up 30 camps to recruit seasonal staff on the platform, and added over 250 pre-screened candidate profiles. So far, they’re seeing 200 platform actions per week, including camps reserving, interviewing, releasing, and hiring candidates.
“The app's launch has been a big success. For the first time in 5 years, my sister and I are hands-off, simply observing as camps sign up, pay, navigate, and hire staff independently. Previously, we spent hours nightly managing client interactions and candidate sharing. Now, it's 100% automated." - Lyon
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