Customer Story

Multinational Food Processor and Distributor Decreases Time to Hire by 30%

20%

reduction in employee turnover

95%

candidate satisfaction with hiring process

30%

decrease in time to hire
Multinational Food Processor and Distributor

Headquarters

Monterrey, ‎Mexico‎

Industry

Food & Beverage

Website

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Background

A multinational food processing and distribution company specializing in refrigerated foods, mainly lunch meats, cheeses, and yogurts, became a global leader in the food industry. The company has a broad portfolio of over 50 brands and owns 210 distribution centers and 70 production plants, employing over 45,000 people worldwide. The multinational corporation operates in 18 countries across Latin America, the United States, and Europe.

Challenges

With over 120 employment sites across Mexico, the talent acquisition team at the food distributor needed a more efficient recruitment process for frontline workers. Before discovering Emi, the HR teams were sourcing all job candidates offline through local newspapers and large physical banners displayed outside of job sites.

The food processing and distribution company’s recruiting team also faced the following issues:

  • Only 20% of candidates advanced after their first-round interview.
  • HR site leaders had to interview all candidates—even those who arrived at recruitment sites with no pre-screening or background information.
  • Recruitment specialists lost 60 hours per month due to a lack of structure and processes.
  • Candidates waited up to 3 hours before meeting with an interviewer due to a lack of coordination.
  • Disjointed hiring processes provided very little data or metrics to compare recruiting performance across job sites.
“Before finding Emi, the challenges we faced during the recruitment process were related to our business size, dispersed locations, and the need to standardize processes in order to find the right candidate profiles,” said the organization's talent acquisition manager.

Solution

To overcome these high-volume recruiting challenges, the distributor enlisted Emi to automate its existing hiring processes. This allowed the company to keep pace with a growing candidate demand for better hiring and recruitment processes while hiring a large number of employees for the right roles more efficiently.

For the organization, one of the most significant changes since partnering with Emi has been the freedom to focus on higher-value tasks and priorities. Because the talent acquisition team spent so much effort compensating for disorganized recruiting processes, they had little time or resources left for activities that contributed to strategic recruitment objectives.

“We've left the transactional activities to Emi, and we're now able to focus our resources on activities with greater value to the organization.”

The distributor now relies on Emi to streamline essential HR tasks like screening applications, scheduling interviews, and collecting new hire documents. Emi’s features pave the way for a streamlined recruitment process that helps the entire company save time, money, and effort.

Results

Designing a positive candidate experience

With Emi, the distributor’s regionally dispersed candidates now have access to a simple 24/7 virtual assistant that syncs with SMS, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. This expands communication channels so that applicants have access to the information they need when they need it.

In an offline capacity, the company leverages flyers and QR codes to attract potential candidates to careers with the organization. These options combine both physical and digital features to meet candidates where they are on the job hunt.

Removing roadblocks for job candidates

Before implementing Emi, the company’s applicants would often arrive at interview sites with very little preparation or screening. Not only was this a hassle for candidates—who had to wait up to three hours to be seen by a recruiter—it also created unnecessary stress for talent acquisition teams. 

Candidates are now screened with custom candidate profiles to help the hiring team find top talent faster. Candidates can also automatically schedule on-site interviews with the hiring manager without the back and forth through Emi. 

Emi’s applicant-friendly features ensure candidates no longer wait hours to meet with an interviewer. This reduces candidate frustration and enables the talent acquisition team to quickly make enticing offers to qualified candidates—accelerating hiring speed and improving hire quality.

Standardizing HR processes across all employment sites 

The food processor and distributor has been able to standardize and easily monitor the recruitment process across all its job sites throughout Mexico.

Using Emi’s recruitment automation platform, the talent acquisition team can connect their job boards, social media postings, and offline campaigns to funnel all candidates into the screening process. Recruiters can also automatically screen applicants who attend walk-in job fairs or arrive at job sites with QR codes in hand. This process reduces wasted time and allows recruiters to prioritize interviews with candidates most interested in and suitable for open roles.

Improving candidate satisfaction scores

Even in high-volume hiring organizations, it’s also important to create a positive candidate experience for each individual. A positive recruitment culture boosts employee retention and leads to more direct referrals in the future.

Using Emi’s virtual assistant, the company asks candidates to provide feedback on the recruitment process. This outlet allows candidates to be open and honest about their recruitment experiences. 

By measuring and tracking the candidate feedback and sentiment within Emi, the organization can ensure it stays focused on delivering a candidate-centric recruitment process. Emi helps the distributor create a candidate-friendly experience that sets the foundation for a healthy work relationship with features like form-less SMS applications, automated interview scheduling, and 24/7 access to answers.

Driving data-backed recruitment results 

The company’s talent acquisition team now has access to live analytics and metrics that weren’t previously in view. Insights into vital recruitment KPIs like source efficiency, candidate satisfaction, hiring cycle time, candidate churn, fill rate, and employee turnover help the HR leaders allocate resources based on real-time performance data.

Using Emi’s detailed analytic dashboards, the talent acquisition team can also compare hiring performance across its many plants and distribution centers. This helps HR shape its recruiting strategy for long-term growth.

Since implementing Emi, the food processor and distributor has been able to: 

  • Reduce employee turnover by 20%
  • Achieve an average candidate satisfaction score of 4.75/5
  • Shorten time to hire by 30%—from 12 to 8.53 days
“Without a doubt, we know that the applicant experience has improved, regardless of whether we're recruiting a plant operator, a self-service salesperson, a retail team member, or a warehouse employee.”

Ready to simplify and accelerate your high-volume recruiting efforts?

Emi helps companies like Walmart, Burger King, and Heineken more efficiently hire hourly frontline workers—and can help your organization too. Schedule your personalized demo to find out how.