Cutting screening time by 80% for a high-end retail icon

David Jones, a premium department store known for curating luxury brands, struggled with inefficiencies in their hiring process.

The problem

A slow hiring process reducing the strategic value of recruiters

Recruiters spent 46% of their time on initial screenings and first interviews, limiting their focus on strategic hiring and slowing down the overall process. 

Additionally, the team wanted a way to find quality candidates without relying on CVs, as they knew that candidates were likely being rejected who may have great potential. 

Challenges included:

• An inefficient hiring process due to reliance on  manual CV screening 
• Recruiters were unable to act as strategic business partners due to a lack of capacity
• A candidate experience that didn’t live up to the premium consumer brand
• Quality candidates being overlooked based on their CV

The solution

Automated screening, interviewing & shortlisting with Sapia.ai

What candidates get

David Jones’ candidates now experience a seamless, user-friendly application process that allows them to reveal their potential beyond their CV. Every candidate is interviewed over chat, at their convenience, and the top candidates progress directly to a non-AI video interview.

Candidates receive personalised insights and tips from the interview, something 98% of applicants found positive. This care and insight empowers applicants, ensuring they feel valued and respected regardless of the outcome.

What the hiring team get

Recruiters no longer need to sift through CVs or conduct time-consuming first interviews. Sapia.ai assesses and scores candidates’ chat interviews for soft skills and cultural fit, providing recruiters with a ranked shortlist of the top candidates. The video interviews are reviewed asynchronously by recruiters and top candidates are progressed swiftly.

Interview scores and insights are available within their ATS PageUp, with each candidate’s soft skills profile integrated into the decision-making process.

The outcome

A recruitment team freed up to become strategic business partners

Before Sapia.ai, recruiters were spending 46% of their time on screening and first interviews. Using Sapia.ai to screen and shortlist all candidates has resulted in an 80% reduction in time spent on early-stage recruitment, saving 4,000 hours annually across the team of six, or the equivalent of 2.2 FTE.

Sapia.ai enabled the team to manage their seasonal hiring peak, where application volumes increase fivefold, without adding additional recruiters. Recruiters can now focus on strategic talent acquisition and relationship-building, ultimately improving the overall quality of hires.

The brand is proud to offer a hiring experience now fully aligned with the David Jones ethos, offering a personalised yet efficient experience for every applicant, and moving quality candidates forward that previously would have been overlooked due to limited experience or a CV that didn’t “stand out”.

“People are everything to our business. Customers come into our stores to interact with our people. It’s vitally important for us to find the people who belong with us, and Sapia.ai is the tool that supports us to make the right decisions.” – Ben Roberts, Head of Talent Acquisition, David Jones

Download the full story below.