Natural Options Cuts Hiring to 21 Days with Kabel

ByEsther Low Employer Success Stories

Natural Options Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian SME specialising in the distribution and marketing of nutraceutical food and supplements. Like many small businesses, growth depends on commercial performance, and that means having the right people in marketing and sales. But without a dedicated HR team, hiring often falls on team leaders. It’s a common SME challenge: you need fresh talent to scale fast, yet lack the resources to recruit efficiently.

For Natural Options, that responsibility landed on Douglas Lee, the company’s Business Lead. Already managing sales and operations, he also had to hire the right people. Instead of losing weeks to resumes and poor-fit candidates, Douglas turned to Kabel, and found a platform that made hiring structured, simple, and fast. Within weeks, he brought in 3 new hires while still focusing on growing the business.

Company Snapshot

Industry Nutraceuticals & Consumer Goods
Founded 2009
HQ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Team Size 10
Hiring Needs Growth Marketers & Sales Intern
Kabel Partner Since 2025

 

Hiring Context

  • Small, agile team focused on growth in nutraceuticals
  • Needed fresh blood to drive new marketing campaigns and sales activities
  • Hiring managed directly by the business lead, not HR
  • Early-career hires were key to experimentation and scaling revenue

“As a growing brand, we rely on interns and fresh grads to bring energy and new ideas. The challenge was how to hire them fast without an HR team.” – Douglas, Business Lead, Natural Options

2. The Challenge

Without HR support, Douglas had to manage recruitment himself on top of running the business. Traditional job boards only made things harder:

  • Low quality: Job boards brought in too many poor-fit or “spray and pray” applicants
  • Slow cycle times: Screening and shortlisting dragged on for weeks
  • Distraction from growth: Time spent on manual shortlisting slowed down business priorities

“Going through piles of poor-fit resumes was overwhelming and honestly, a waste of time. I needed to focus on the business, not spend a lot of time filtering resumes or chasing the wrong candidates.” – Douglas

3. The Solution

In June 2025, Natural Options joined Kabel’s pilot program to fill three roles:

  • Growth Marketer (Performance)
  • Sales Intern
  • Growth Marketer (Video)

What Kabel delivered:

  • AI-matched shortlists aligned to role requirements
  • Candidate unlocks only for qualified matches
  • Performance-based pricing tied to real outcomes
  • End-to-end hiring workflow from posting to outreach

“The platform was straightforward. I got recommended some candidates immediately, and could see skills and their projects upfront, which made shortlisting much easier.” – Douglas

4. The Results

All three roles were filled successfully within the pilot period, including a late-cycle addition.

Role Date of Job Posted Date of Letter of Offer Issued Time-to-Offer Hire
Growth Marketer 2 June 16 June 14 days Farah
Sales Intern 2 June 1 July 29 days Veershan
Growth Marketer (Video) 3 July 25 July 22 days Muhammad Bazil

 

“For someone who isn’t in HR, the process felt structured and simple. With the outreach and shortlisting, we could act fast and make hires without wasting time on resumes that don’t fit.” – Douglas

5. Summary

Natural Options proved that even without an HR department, team leads can hire effectively with Kabel.

By moving away from resume-based hiring, Douglas secured the right talent while saving time and money. Kabel provided:

  • 21-day average time-to-offer (~57% faster than traditional platform)
  • 100% hire accuracy from Kabel shortlist
  • Faster hiring cycles for critical roles
  • A structured process that any team lead can manage

“Kabel makes hiring simple and effective. I could focus on running the business while still building the team we need to grow.” – Douglas

For small and mid-sized companies, Kabel turns hiring from a headache into a structured, repeatable process, giving team leaders the confidence to bring in fresh talent when it matters most.

Reach out to learn how to hire 8x faster with Kabel, using smart matching and data-driven insights.

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