How Macrobond Financial Built a Six Person Sales Team in Just 45 Days with meritt..
In this case study, Howard Rees (Chief Commercial Officer, Macrobond) shares how meritt’s AI-driven assessments, video screening, and adaptability saved countless hours while delivering better sales hires, faster.
Key takeaways:
✅ AI-powered screening streamlined 1,453 applications
✅ 351 candidates assessed effortlessly
✅ Reduced hiring time and improved candidate quality
✅ A seamless, time-saving recruitment process
✅ Culture-first hiring approach that built a high-performing team
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Hiring top-tier sales talent at scale is no easy feat, especially for high-growth companies expanding into new regions. Macrobond Financial, a Swedish fintech firm with global operations, faced exactly this challenge. With increasing sales targets and an urgent need to grow their team in the US, they turned to meritt. to streamline and accelerate their hiring process.
The Challenge
Macrobond Financial needed to hire fast while ensuring quality. Traditional recruitment methods were slow and inefficient, requiring extensive time investment to train recruiters, filter through candidates, and manage an inconsistent pipeline. With multiple geographies in play, they needed a recruitment solution that could adapt quickly.
The Results
meritt. delivered results that exceeded expectations:
- 1,453 applicants using AI-powered screening and assessment.
- 70 hours of screening time.
- Six high-quality hires made in just 45 days, helping macrobond hit their hiring targets effortlessly.
- A seamless process that eliminated time wasted on unsuitable candidates.
Heres what Howard Rees, CCO of Macrobond Financial had to Say
Saving Time Without Sacrificing Quality
“Dealing with traditional recruitment agencies is incredibly time-consuming. With meritt, I didn’t waste time on unqualified candidates, and the process felt like having an internal recruiter dedicated to our needs.”
AI-Powered Pre-Screening
“meritt’s AI helped filter out candidates that didn’t meet our criteria before we even started interviews. I didn’t meet a single candidate who was a poor fit.”
Agility & Adaptability
“Our hiring needs changed quickly, and meritt adjusted without hesitation—whether we expanded the search or narrowed it down to one city.”
Culture & Team Fit
“The candidates not only had strong sales ability but also fit culturally. The new hires in Austin, Texas, were already bonding as a team before they even started working together.”
AI Video Screening
“meritt’s video screening approach allowed us to assess soft skills and communication ability quickly, something you just can’t get from a CV.”
The Future of Sales Hiring
Macrobond’s success story proves that AI-driven recruitment is the future. In a competitive hiring landscape, businesses cannot afford inefficient processes or misaligned candidates. meritt’s technology and expertise ensure that companies get the right people, faster.
“We’ve built meritt. to take the guesswork out of hiring. By using AI to screen and assess thousands of candidates, we have been able to help the Macrobond financial team hire the right salespeople quickly and with confidence.” – Will Koning, CEO, meritt.
For sales leaders looking to scale their teams efficiently, prioritise quality over quantity, and reduce hiring friction, meritt is the ultimate solution.
“I’m thoroughly impressed with meritt and I would have no hesitation recommending you to anyone.” – Howard Rees, Chief Commercial Officer, Macrobond Financial
How to use AI to screen sales applicants at volume
When 1,400 applications land for six roles, the job is not reading them all - it is filtering fast without missing good people. AI is built for exactly this first pass.
Paste a batch of applications (CV text plus any screening answers) into Claude or ChatGPT with this:
You are a sales hiring assistant. For each candidate below, give a one-line verdict (strong / maybe / no) and a 1-5 score on curiosity, coachability, communication and grit, quoting one piece of evidence per candidate. Flag anyone whose claims look unverifiable. Do not reject anyone outright - just rank them so a human can review the top group first.
Use it to triage, then have a person review the "strong" and "maybe" piles. The productised, structured version of this is how meritt assesses - every applicant is scored the same way before they reach you, which is how Macrobond screened 1,453 applications and saved roughly 70 hours.
One thing we see at meritt: the teams that hire fastest are not the ones who read more CVs - they are the ones who decide faster, because every candidate is measured against the same bar.
How long does it take to hire a sales team with meritt?
It depends on the number of roles, but the speed comes from assessing every applicant up front. In the Macrobond case, meritt screened 1,453 applications and helped build a six-person sales team in 45 days, saving around 70 hours of screening time. The bottleneck shifts from finding people to choosing between strong ones.
How does AI-powered sales recruitment work?
Every applicant completes a short assessment scored against the behaviours that predict sales success - curiosity, coachability, communication and grit - alongside a video and CV review. AI handles the first-pass filtering at volume, so hiring managers only spend time on candidates who already clear the bar. A human still makes the final call.
Can you hire quality salespeople quickly, or is it a trade-off?
You do not have to trade one for the other if you assess for skill up front. Speed usually drops quality when teams rush unscreened CVs. Scoring every candidate against a fixed rubric first means a faster process and a higher bar at the same time - which is how Macrobond filled six roles in 45 days without lowering standards.
What makes a sales hire fit culturally, not just on paper?
Culture fit is not about hiring people who are similar - it is about shared standards and how someone works with a team. meritt assesses behaviour and values alongside sales ability, so candidates are matched on how they actually operate, not just a polished CV. Macrobond cited culture fit as a key reason the hires worked.
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