The Challenge

As a major supplier of automotive parts — and a company beloved by racing enthusiasts — this retailer is dedicated to answering the need for speed for its customers.

But in 2016, paper still dominated the company’s HR processes, limiting the company’s ability to hit the gas on talent attraction, conversion, and hiring. When the team was tasked with hiring hundreds of new employees to staff a new location, their Manager of IT Technology Services knew something had to change.

“We implemented Workday and got what used to be a 40-day process to finalize a hire down to 4 days,” he said. “That opened the business’s eyes to new ways of doing things with technology and digitalization.”

But the company also faced another roadblock: a lack of employer brand recognition that stood in the way of attracting high-quality candidates. “Our website was great at selling stuff — not so much at attracting talent,” he said. “We used to get flooded with applicants from Indeed who were fine, but we didn’t want just fine. We wanted amazing.”

To attract the volume and caliber of talent they needed, he knew they had to differentiate their story in the marketplace — and that the company’s own workforce was the best voice for that. “This is a fantastic place to work, and we have the 20-, 30- and 40-year employees to prove that,” their Manager of IT Technology Services said. “But getting that passion across to the job market was challenging.”

The Solution

Determined to find a partner to enhance the digital efficiencies set in motion by their new ATS, the company dedicated a team of leaders across their IT, HR, digital marketing, and communications departments to lead the charge. Priority No.1 was creating a more compelling, streamlined candidate experience with technology that could amplify the employee story to enhance brand recognition and their footprint in the talent market.

Phenom’s Intelligent Talent Experience platform — which unites AI and automation for an unrivaled experience — fit the bill and offered plenty of room to grow.

Their new Phenom Career Site with an easy to use, no-code CMS infuses the passion and authenticity it was missing with video and content capabilities to showcase employee testimonials. “We finally got the career site we’d envisioned — one that speaks to our vision, voice, and core values. It drew the right candidates in,” the company’s Manager of IT Technology Services said.

Using new insights gained through Phenom Talent Analytics, the company also streamlined the application process to improve the experience and increase conversions. “We dug into the metrics to uncover where applicants dropped off, and used those insights to fine-tune the process. This is a level of visibility we never had before,” he said, adding that candidate satisfaction with the site has increased. “We were able to get the process down to just 7 minutes. Before, we were flying blind.”

To optimize their career site even further, the company activated Phenom Chatbot. The AI-powered personal assistant navigates candidates quickly to relevant jobs and pages based on their skills, locations, interests, and more. “It gives us visibility into what candidates want,” he explained. “During Covid it was hybrid work. That led us to pivot toward a hybrid model for some positions, so we could attract more candidates.”

From a personalized candidate communication and campaigning perspective, their newly launched Phenom CRM will be invaluable. The team also enabled Phenom SMS and mobile apply, bridging a gap that had existed when it came to meeting candidates in the mobile environment. “Candidates today pick up their phones and text. It’s rapid-fire,” he noted.

The Results

Using the career site as a vehicle to tell their story, the company is hiring more quality talent faster.

“We can refresh the site regularly, and it really shows our employees’ passion, which is hard to put on a piece of paper,” their Manager of IT Technology Services said. “The career site lets us easily tell that story through pictures and testimonials. It sparks the connection that gets us to a phone screening or interview much quicker.”

Hiring managers report job candidates’ backgrounds more closely and match the skills required for job roles. HR is seeing consistently steady or improving employee retention numbers.

A stand-out example of the retailer’s increased efficiency and outreach? Post-implementation, they were able to staff for critical but harder to hire roles across their IT and accounting departments in just 2 weeks.

“We’re able to have business building growth spurts because we now have the data to show us the right target candidates and the right methods to attract them at the right time,” he said. “These are fantastic hires. They’re in the door — and they’re staying.”

• 65%

  Decreased time to fill (from 40+ days to as little as 2 weeks)

• Increased Efficiency

  With a seamless candidate experience and AI insights powering more precise outreach, the company is connecting with top talent faster.

• Increased Candidate Quality & Conversion

  Their AI-powered career site and chatbot are converting more right-fit candidates from application to interview.

• Increased Employee Retention

  Retention rates consistently remain above the industry benchmark.

The Future

What’s next to the starting line for the company? With their CRM up and running — capturing and tracking information from candidate interactions — the team looks forward to exploring how to leverage that data to fill niche roles. Launching a talent community on their career site is on the shortlist, too, to help recruiters better engage and nurture warm leads.

“We need to continue to recruit by conveying our energy, passion, and culture. When you put it out there, it pays off. That’s what gets the great candidates who will become engaged, long-term employees.”