As the expanding tech industry in the Seattle area searches for the appropriate candidates to fill more and more roles, one Kirkland-based start-up has turned to a creative solution – cooperating with other companies.

BitTitan, an IT change automation company specializing in data migration and onboarding, hosted an open house event last Thursday at their office on Lake Washington Boulevard Northeast for job-seekers as part of Seattle Startup Recruit Week. Eleven other companies also hosted similar open house events at their offices. The companies are part of a network comprised of 30 companies in the area in which they share resumes and help each other find the most appropriate person for the position they’re looking to fill.

For growing start-ups like BitTitan, the networking and open houses are essential as they look to fill dozens of open positions, according to CEO Geeman Yip. This year so far, they have already hired 40 new employees and are looking to fill another 20 positions by October. In 2014, their employees tripled to 77.

While the network allows recruiters from each company to share resumes, the open houses allow the recruiters and current employees to interact socially with potential candidates.

Human Resource Manager Darci Lee said it also gives them a chance to ask questions that normally wouldn’t come up during job interviews, and candidates get a feel for the company’s atmosphere.

“Culture is very important to us,” Yip said.

As part of the open house, they also feature coding challenges that gives candidates the chance to show their skill, with prizes offered for the winners.

The network first started about a year and a half ago, according to Lee, when she said she had trouble filling positions.

“I felt like there’s got to be a better way,” she said.

Traditionally, she said, companies collect resumes sent by candidates, but don’t share them with anyone else. What this means is that often companies receive applications from candidates who fit the qualifications for a role at another company, but either didn’t apply for the position or were unaware of it.

“We’re not trying to fill the same roles,” she said.

Lee said she first thought of the idea at a previous job. When she started at BitTitan she collaborated with an independent recruiter. The idea caught on with others, until the network was finally formed. Collaborating within the network every two weeks, Lee said, they are often able to discover candidates they might not have found otherwise.

“We really want to work together,” she said.

Yip said that finding qualified persons is essential as BitTitan continues to grow, because although the demand for their products is on the rise, they still can’t afford to hire someone who seems like a good fit but eventually turns out to not work well. By maintaining a high quality team, he added it will keep the workplace morale high.

“We are very picky,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of overhead.”

As the network has grown, Lee said, they have created established rules – one of which prohibits agency recruiting – to ensure that the collaboration is mutually beneficial.

“There’s a level of integrity that goes with it,” she said.