Case Study: Pinterest

Social Media Community

2014
Joined
400+
Candidates
2 days
Average Reimbursement Time

Pinterest Case Study

Why Pinterest Uses Expense Management Software to Reimburse Job Candidates

Pinterest was growing out of its method of reimbursing expenses for candidates interviewing with the company. It was 2014, and the Pinterest team hadn’t yet onboarded to an expense management software for candidate reimbursements.

This was especially becoming a pain point when interviewing job candidates. Staying on top of spreadsheets and receipts from job candidates was a challenge. As a result, reimbursements were taking an average of 40 days.

Pinterest needed a modern recruiting experience that reflected their brand. Improving the process of reimbursing candidates needed to be smoother, easier, and faster.

“When you’re recruiting world class candidates, you want to present them with your brand from top to bottom,” said Scott Clark, Controller at Pinterest.

Here’s more on how Pinterest improved their process of reimbursing interview expenses.

But First… Why Reimburse Candidates’ Interview Expenses?

Candidates may pay a variety of reimbursable expenses when interviewing for a job. Flights, hotels, lunch or coffee outings — candidates may pay for these items and more, to interview at your company. Reimbursing their costs goes a long way to building a great candidate experience.

A few best practices that improve your candidate reimbursement experience:

Pinterest Needed to Reimburse Interview Expenses Quickly and Easily

When relying on spreadsheets and receipts from candidates, Pinterest found it challenging to gather all the information needed to reimburse interview expenses. This was a frustrating process for the candidate, as well as Pinterest’s Human Resources and Finance teams.

Implementing Expense Reimbursement Software

Pinterest wanted to create a first impression for candidates that reflected the experience of working at a world-class technology company.

The right expense management software can help here. A solution should speed up the submission and reimbursement of expenses. This requires a good user experience for creating and approving expenses. Look for features and automations like:

(Our free guide shares the full list of features to look for when choosing an expense management solution.)

Pinterest’s search for a modern expense management solution ended with Abacus. The Pinterest team switched to Abacus in 2014.

Since then, more than 3,000 candidates have submitted their expenses through Abacus’s modern, easy-to-use (but with all the controls) technology. Pinterest is able to review and approve expenses in real time, helping candidates receive their reimbursements in an average of 2 business days. As Controller Scott Clark raved, “replacing old school Excel reports with a solution like Abacus helps our brand come through in the candidate experience.”

Want to learn more about Abacus?