Building a data-driven hiring engine across 450+ stores

The Challenge

High volumes, manual screening & an inconsistent experience

As two of Australia’s most iconic and trusted brands, Kmart & Target receive ±300k applications annually. Demand surges ahead of peak trade, making it difficult to scale through the year. 

With such high volumes,  CV screening was no longer fit for purpose. The process was slow, manual, and inconsistent, delaying time to hire, fragmenting the candidate experience, and making it difficult to identify the right talent for entry-level roles.

These entry-level roles are critical for building the retailer’s future talent pipeline, and so the business looked for an efficient, scalable, and inclusive solution that would deliver a seamless candidate experience and align with strategic priorities.

The team was dealing with a number of challenges:

• A candidate experience misaligned with the consumer brand
• Using CVs made it difficult to differentiate between entry-level candidates
  High volumes and a manual screening process slowed time to hire 
• Needed a more inclusive and fair screening process

The Solution

A smart way to screen & assess retail candidates efficiently

Kmart and Target implemented Sapia.ai’s Chat Interview™ in July 2023, fully integrated into SAP SuccessFactors and deployed across all stores in just six weeks.

What candidates get
CVs, largely irrelevant for entry-level candidates, have been replaced with a 5-question AI interview, over chat. This structured interview uncovers the traits that make a top hire, shortlisting the best candidates on a criteria much smarter than simply availability or prior experience. 

Everyone receives a personality report after their AI interview, which 94% of candidates report as being useful – and ensures no candidate is ghosted. 

What the hiring team get

Hiring managers define the success criteria for each role, including the competencies and corresponding importance.

Within SAP SuccessFactors, the TA team quickly shortlist and progress the top candidates using a score based on each candidate’s soft skills, ensuring alignment with the role and culture. Each candidate has a corresponding insights report, making the next stage seamless and data-driven.

The Outcome

Fast, effective volume hiring that’s smarter than the status quo 

Using Sapia.ai, Kmart & Target are now able to seamlessly manage their high volumes of candidates, with a hiring process that is both efficient & effective.

Automating key elements of the hiring process has reduced time spent on screening, positively impacting time to hire and getting top candidates into stores faster than ever. Quality of hire has improved, with a clear link between Sapia.ai scores and on-the-job performance.

Using a blind screening method has elevated the brand’s inclusivity, with diversity hiring outcomes exceeding community representation benchmarks, ensuring that they are hiring a diverse cohort of candidates who represent the communities they operate in. 

Candidates love the ease and accessibility of the chat,  with 79.6% of chat interviews being completed within 24 hours. Their experience of the employer brand now better aligns with that of the consumer brand, ensuring advocacy for the loved Aussie brands.  

Tristram Gray, Chief People & Capability Officer, Kmart Group shared his experience of working with Sapia.ai on the Josh Bersin Podcast recently – listen here.

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