How the New York Public Library modernized recruitment for 92 locations
Nonprofit
Six-week
implementation with full legacy data migration
400+
hiring managers adopted with zero mandatory retraining
Mobile-enabled applications and scheduling
Executive summary
The New York Public Library serves a city and a mission, running 92 locations with 400 hiring managers and 2,700 open positions at any time. For 14 years they'd used a legacy ATS that was slow, expensive, and made candidates jump through hoops. Craig Senecal, Senior Director of Employee Experience, veted 150 ATS providers and chose Pinpoint for its flexibility and agility. With implementation in under six weeks and near-universal adoption from hiring managers, NYPL proved that even a century-old institution can move fast when the right system is in place.
Industry
Nonprofit
About the New York Public Library
NYPL is a century-old nonprofit serving millions of New Yorkers across 92 library locations. The organization does far more than lend books: it teaches children to read, helps formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into the community, and provides language and career services. With a small talent acquisition team (four people) managing recruiting across hundreds of locations and 400 hiring managers, they needed systems and processes that scaled.
Why Pinpoint?
Craig's team needed an ATS that could actually be configured for NYPL's unique structure and constraints. The legacy system was clunky, slow, and expensive. New features took a year to roll out and came with price tags attached. Craig ran a thorough vendor evaluation, vetting 150 providers and interviewing the top 15. Pinpoint stood out for its agile, flexible platform that could be tailored to NYPL's needs without the pain of traditional enterprise software.
“I have a passionate group of people who demand excellence, and the fact that they've picked it up and run with it and are very excited about it is the biggest surprise that I've had.”
Craig Senecal
Senior Director of Employee Experience, New York Public Library
Use Case
1
Migrating from legacy systems with minimal disruption
The challenge
NYPL had 14 years of candidate data in their old ATS. Switching systems meant moving that data without losing anything, retraining 400 hiring managers who were used to the old interface, and doing it fast enough that recruitment didn't grind to a halt. This was a massive migration for a nonprofit with limited IT resources.
The solution
Pinpoint's team worked tirelessly to migrate every record from the legacy system. Craig was involved in the implementation despite his self-described lack of digital skills ("I can barely use email sometimes"), but Pinpoint's support was there every step. Crucially, the system was flexible enough that Craig could configure it himself without needing a developer. Support was available around the clock, even matching Craig's timezone.
Zero
data loss during migration
Live
in under six weeks
Self-configured
with no IT support needed
I've never had that level of service with any other system I've worked with in the past.
Craig Senecal
Senior Director of Employee Experience, New York Public Library
Use Case
2
Giving hiring managers tools that actually fit their workflow
The challenge
NYPL had 400 hiring managers across 92 locations. Most of them logged into the ATS once or twice a year. The old system was confusing and required constant retraining. Getting them to actually use a new system and engage in the recruiting process was a significant risk.
The solution
Pinpoint was intuitive enough that hiring managers could pick it up without formal training. They could comment on candidates, add tags, score candidates, and have conversations with the recruitment team, all recorded in one place. For people who log in occasionally, that ease of use meant they didn't have to call the talent acquisition team to remember how to move a candidate through the process.
400+
hiring managers adopted with minimal training
Active
managers, fewer hand-offs
One
central record for all hiring
Use Case
3
Building critical integrations fast
The challenge
NYPL works with children and the public, which means they run over 1,000 background checks annually, some requiring in-person health screenings. The talent acquisition team needed a way to manage this critical compliance work efficiently alongside hiring. They wanted to use Checkr for background checks, but Pinpoint didn't have an integration.
The solution
Craig raised the need with his Customer Success Manager at Pinpoint. Less than a month later, Pinpoint had built a custom integration. Now candidates see real-time updates on their background check progress directly in Pinpoint. The TA team doesn't have to check multiple systems; everything is in one place. And more recently, Pinpoint has released its own Background Checks feature, removing the need for any third-party integration at all.
Streamlined
background checks for 1,000+ annual hires
Timely
candidate updates, no manual work
Single
source of truth for every candidate
Pinpoint sends updates to us as different parts of the background check clear. There's never really much need to go back to the Checkr dashboard—everything we need is seamlessly integrated into Pinpoint.
Craig Senecal
Senior Director of Employee Experience, New York Public Library
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Love for Pinpoint
“The scheduling feature in Pinpoint is phenomenal — it saves time that we're able to devote to other functions. Pinpoint has given us the opportunity to spend more time on higher-value work because the recruiting piece takes care of itself.”
testimonial
“Pinpoint strikes a balance between intuitive features ready to use out-of-the-box and customization options. The commercial and support teams are conscientious.”
“Weirdly, we get more thank-you emails from candidates who didn't get the job, but just want to say thank you for such a positive experience.”
testimonial
“Pinpoint stands out from many competitors due to its clean interface and strong focus on candidate experience. Compared to tools like Greenhouse or Workable, it's easier to learn and operate with minimal training.”
“Our organisation is around 3,000 and we recently made the move to Pinpoint Applicant Tracking System and haven't looked back!”
“Excellent self-scheduling tools for managing volume screening/interviews.”
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