Fair & efficient rail recruitment

The Problem

A trainload of challenges

London North Eastern Railway (LNER), a leader in UK rail travel, operates a vital link between London and Scotland. With a strong focus on innovation and diversity, LNER sought to uplift their recruitment processes to align with their organisational values and operational goals.

They wanted to move away from a resource-intensive process of CV screening & video interviews to a new way to hire that would bring consistency & transparency for candidates. Challenges included:

● A 5–7 week hiring process, leaving candidates waiting
● Underrepresentation of diverse candidates
● 400–600 applicants for each role reviewed manually
● A sub-par candidate experience

The Solution

The green light for smarter hiring

LNER’s partnership with Sapia.ai introduced a seamless, AI-powered chat interview platform that eliminated traditional hiring bottlenecks. The solution was rolled out in two phases, starting with on-train host roles.

What changed for candidates?

Candidates engage in a conversational chat interview that reflects LNER’s values. They receive detailed personality insights and actionable coaching tips, enhancing their overall experience.

The process removed CV uploads and video interviews, simplifying the application journey and prioritising candidate satisfaction.

What changed for LNER’s hiring team?

The hiring team benefits from pre-vetted shortlists of candidates automatically ranked based on role fit. Insights and scoring streamline candidate evaluation, while full compatibility with LNER’s ATS eArcu ensured seamless adoption of the new system.

The Outcome

Hiring back on track

LNER experienced immediate and measurable benefits. Time-to-hire was reduced from 7 weeks to 3 weeks, the recruitment team’s workload was significantly lowered, and candidate satisfaction and completion were high.

Diversity and inclusion saw a marked improvement, with a consistent 30% ethnic minority representation through all hiring stages. Demographics across the funnel reflected 32 to 37% representation across all categories, creating a level playing field and ensuring fairness through the shortlisting process.

Hiring managers reported shortlisting high-quality candidates aligned with the brand’s core values. LNER is expanding the use of Sapia.ai across other roles, including station staff and train drivers while refining its recruitment models to align with long-term talent development and retention goals.

“We wanted to level the playing field, and that’s what we seem to be doing… The hiring manager community in this space has been absolutely purring in terms of what they’ve been seeing coming through.” – Keith Herriot, HR Ops Manager, LNER

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