Case Study: Udemy achieves 20% higher first-year retention and 40% faster time-to-fill with Searchlight

Udemy Uses Searchlight's Behavioral Data to Hire High Performers while Reducing Time to Fill by 40%

Udemy, the global destination for online learning, faced long hiring cycles and inconsistent signals about candidate fit as it scaled — their talent team’s average time to fill was 104 days and hiring managers struggled to predict on‑the‑job success. To improve hiring quality and speed while tripling their team, Udemy partnered with Searchlight and used Searchlight’s Predictive Talent Platform and behavioral data to augment recruiting and people analytics.

Searchlight provided structured behavioral and reference insights (delivered within 36 hours) that aligned hiring managers on success signals and increased decision confidence. As a result, Udemy decreased time to fill by 40%, increased first‑year retention by 20%, grew headcount 3X while maintaining quality, and boosted offer volume roughly 4.8x year‑over‑year — measurable gains attributed to Searchlight’s platform.

Udemy

Elizabeth Shober-Smith

VP of Talent Acquisition