Open Doors Academy (ODA) operates across seven sites in Cleveland, Ohio, serving scholars with academic enrichment and holistic support after school. Like many youth-serving programs, ODA faced a constant challenge: finding the right people to step into roles—fast—and stay.
Before Tandem, the team relied on temporary full- and part-time hires, with mixed results.
“It was really hit or miss depending on the candidate.”
– Brandon Sheil, Director
ODA partnered with Tandem to fill open roles across its multiple sites, with the hope of not just keeping programs running smoothly but also finding talent worth investing in long-term. Since then, they’ve brought on 11 vetted workers who have completed 366 shifts—and even better, three of them were hired permanently.
“We’ve hired three staff from Tandem, so I would say those went pretty well.”
The ability to discover strong, mission-aligned staff through short-term placements is central to Tandem’s model. We intentionally design the platform to make permanent hiring flexible and seamless—because we know long-term connections are the ultimate success story.
One of ODA’s standout Tandem workers, Erica, quickly made a lasting impression:
“Erica is doing incredible! She has a lot of energy, excitement, and passion for working with the scholars. We are thankful to have her helping to support us!”
Beyond staffing quality, ODA values the operational ease Tandem brings—from tracking timesheets to accessing staff documents for auditing purposes.
“Timesheets are easy. I like having access to staff documents for auditing as well.”
Brandon noted a clear improvement in candidate quality from ODA’s first year with Tandem to the second, further cementing Tandem as a partner that grows with their needs.
Today, Tandem continues to support Open Doors Academy as it empowers scholars across Cleveland—with reliable staff, future hires, and a platform that keeps everything moving behind the scenes.