Widening the Hiring Lens to Recruit Stronger Teams

Recruiting Starts with Seeing the Person 

Recruiting has changed a lot over the last 30 years. Technology has evolved. Processes have gotten faster. Expectations have shifted. But the most important part of hiring? That hasn’t changed at all. At the end of the day, it’s still about people. 

At IST, we’ve always believed that if you get the people right, everything else follows. You can build great systems. You can invest in incredible technology. But if you don’t have people who care, who want to serve and want to make an impact… none of it works. 

That belief has guided how we hire from day one. Our recruiting philosophy is intentionally people-centered. It’s inclusive. It’s diverse. And it’s designed to make sure we don’t overlook great talent just because they don’t fit a perfect mold on paper. 

A big reason that philosophy has scaled alongside our company is the leadership of our Vice President of Recruiting, Sydney Ayers. Sydney has spent the last decade building and refining IST’s recruiting strategy with tremendous care and intention. Alongside her senior recruiters, she’s helped us grow without losing our heart. Between them, they bring more than 20 years of experience… and they’re also working mothers, which gives them a deep appreciation for balance, empathy, and real life. 

Sydney said it best on Episode 25 of the Outside-In Podcast: 

“IST is a service provider, so every single person that we bring on board, they have to be invested, they have to care. So, I think it is finding the right blend, of course, skillset for the position. It depends on what the role is, but the type of person who can extract happiness out of moments of their day when they make those contributions. So maybe dropping off a copy job and you tape that client's or that customer's favorite piece of candy to it, big smile that day, put it in the bank. If you're someone who can thrive on those types of interactions, which I think most of our teammates are, then it's a place where you can have a lot of fun.” - Vice President of Recruiting, Sydney Ayers on Episode 25 of the Outside-In Podcast, ‘Beyond Resumes: Connecting Candidates to Careers’ 



That mindset matters. Because service isn’t just what we do. It’s who we are. 

Using Technology… Without Losing the Human Touch 

We absolutely use technology where it helps us. But we’re very intentional about not chasing shortcuts that remove judgment, context, or conversation from the process. A resume can tell you what someone’s done. It rarely tells you who they are. 

Today, we have more than 1,600 frontline service specialists across the country. They all come from different backgrounds. Different paths. Different life stories. But they share one thing in common… they care. Every single week, we receive comments praising our teams for their reliability, their white-glove service, and their genuine human connection. That doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with how we hire. I’ve seen this firsthand over the years. Some of our strongest teammates didn’t look like “perfect” hires on paper. But they had heart. They had character. And they had a desire to serve. 

Sydney’s team reviews an incredible volume of applications every year… more than 135,000 in 2025 alone. That number keeps growing. Keeping one-to-one human interaction at the center of the process is critical. Technology helps manage volume, but we never auto-reject candidates based on keywords or non-linear work histories. One tool we use is optional video screening. And I’ve watched candidates stand out simply because they took a few minutes to introduce themselves and show us who they are. That matters. 

Broad Recruiting, Done with Intention 

Through programs like GEMS and PaYS, we’ve been able to connect with veterans and military spouses who are often overlooked in traditional recruiting models. These individuals bring resilience, adaptability, and perspective… qualities you can’t always measure on a resume. 

Through these programs alone, we’ve welcomed more than 30 teammates into IST across a wide range of roles, from part-time entry-level positions to full-time management, remote recruiting, and highly specialized eDiscovery work. Our hiring managers receive extensive coaching so they know how to ask the right questions. Not just about skills, but about story. Experience and capability matter, of course. But character is the common thread we always come back to. That’s how strong teams are built. And that’s how client trust is earned. 



So thank you… to our recruiting and operations teams for doing this work the right way. And thank you to every candidate who takes the time to show us who they are, not just what they’ve done.  Our passion to make an impact… to go above and beyond… is visible every day to our clients. And that’s what truly makes IST different.