Behind Amazon’s Winning Candidate Experience

Amazon Pharmacy was looking to facilitate an incredibly high volume hiring process while maintaining their company value of being customer (and candidate) obsessed. The workload quickly became unmanageable for their recruiters, and they began looking for ways to create an automated candidate communication system.

They wanted to create an automated system to support their recruiters as they adjusted to a new volume in order to keep pace with the growing demand for their services.

“At this time, Amazon Pharmacy’s main goal was automation.”

Zack Tucker, Amazon

 

The Challenges

They wanted to create a system that accomplished very specific criteria.

  • Amazon wanted to get to a place where one recruiter could handle upwards of 1000 candidates
  • They needed something that both provided scalability and a unique personal touch
  • Their recruiters needed a way to increase their response rate with candidates and keep more applicants in their pipeline longer
  • It was imperative that they give every single candidate an unprecedented experience

 

When hiring at scale like Amazon Pharmacy was, it can become increasingly difficult for the company’s recruiting team to maintain a personal relationship with each candidate.

A single recruiter could be responsible for over a thousand applicants in order to hire at the scale they needed to fulfill demand.

With that in mind, these recruiters were primarily reaching out via phone calls and emails. This left the process painstakingly slow and outdated. Top it off with the lack of personal attention each candidate was getting, and it left their best applicants feeling forgotten about!

These historic communication methods resulted in poor response rates and left the applicants without good instructions regarding what they needed to accomplish next.

It was no longer optional to revisit their recruiting tech stack! They needed something that would help automate and personalize their candidate experiences so their recruiters could work more efficiently.

 

The Solutions

Amazon Pharmacy’s formula for success:

  • Leveraging SMS to engage with candidates throughout the hiring and onboarding process
  • Automating the candidate journey for consistent, personalized nudges to keep them moving quickly through the process
  • Seamless ATS integration meant the team didn’t have to leave their ATS to make this all a reality

 

When Amazon Pharmacy integrated Grayscale into their ATS, Lever, it’s no surprise to use that they saw a positive impact within the first few days! It was now easier than ever to ensure candidates moved quickly and efficiently through the process without getting stuck with questions or getting confused and jumping ship.

“Automation from Grayscale is one of my team’s favorite features. With Grayscale’s help, I hired over a hundred and fifty people last winter on my own.”

 

So, what are the lasting impacts Amazon sees in their recruiting process?

  • Scalability. Now, Amazon Pharmacy can handle a ratio of 1000 candidates per recruiter thanks for the automated candidate communication provided by Grayscale.
  • Increased engagement. At each stage in the hiring process, Amazon has set up personalized, automated touchpoints via SMS. The automated messages keep candidates engaged and drive a 51% response rate and 6-minute response time on average.
  • Consistent candidate experiences. When hiring at scale it can be hard to ensure your candidates are experiencing a consistent, best-in-class experience. With templated communication, a seamless integration with their ATS, and robust automations, every applicant experiences an identical high-touch process.

 

Amazon notes that being accessible via SMS helps create an open communication channel allowing the candidates to connect with the team directly and quickly when they need assistance.

“Once we implemented Grayscale, our engagement numbers went way up. We saw the biggest change in the shape of our funnel, instead of a large initial drop-off, we see candidates regularly getting further into the process.”

 

One of Zach’s favorite features is the simple integration with their ATS making it easy to follow up with candidates who are falling behind in the process before they get too disengaged and ghost.

“Grayscale is so user-friendly. It has a very simple interface, and the responsiveness and customer service has been top-notch. It is definitely one of our best integrations.”

 

Bringing It All Together

Their seamless process in action:

  • Amazon Pharmacy created a human-first automated candidate communication system
  • Amazon Pharmacy improved their candidate experience and enhanced their candidate engagement scores
  • They found a long-term partner to help them scale their high-volume hiring systems

 

We all know that technology is impacting and transforming almost everything we know.

Why stick with outdated methods of communication? Leveraging a channel like texting can go a long way in revolutionizing your hiring process to ensure you don’t lose top talent due to process failures.

If you’re ready to attract and retain top talent in your pipeline, it could be time to chat with us about how we help create an unparalleled hiring experience. Get connected below.