Expeditors – Lean Resources. Global Footprint. Robust Results.

After managing growth and recruiting with an internal Lotus Notes database, changes in their platform and needs led them to invest in a new TAS that would support their decentralized model. This included bringing consistency to the hiring process across 187 branches, many of which had no official recruiting role, as well as addressing the recognized lack of communication with candidates, especially those not ultimately considered for placement.

With the implementation of the SmartRecruiters platform, leveraging system templates and automation features, contact with the entire candidate pool is handled efficiently and easily tracked, leading to a much improved candidate experience. By spreading system knowledge across branch experts, the hiring process has been rapidly transformed to better support the organization without a significant increase in time or effort from managers or recruiters.

The Motivation for Change

Expeditors has a unique recruiting structure to support their workforce of 15,000 employees. Aside from about eight employees who consider themselves recruiters, the tasks that recruiters would normally handle are the responsibility of the department managers, and the task of filling open positions mostly rested on the shoulders of those who would manage the role.

Like many organizations that were formed through significant, rapid growth, much of the Expeditors technology platform was home-grown. Their recruiting tool was built in Lotus Notes, and while it allowed hiring managers to post jobs and retrieve resumes, it did little to support internal communication or collaboration. This led to an inefficient use of applicant talent, and the loss of quality candidates who were not selected for the specific role to which they had applied. With a number of technical roles to fill in the highly competitive Seattle market, missing out on talent was not a luxury they could afford. In addition, the organization was unable to easily process the printed resume flow from local job fairs, which was a key element of their attraction process.

In 2014, Expeditors made the decision to decommission their Lotus Notes system, and explore options for a new TAS. A partnership was formed between the Training and the Information Services (IS) teams that was focused on finding and implementing the best system for the Expeditors decentralized model. Their search began in earnest at the HR Technology Conference, working with both analysts and vendors to quickly narrow down the available options into a short list for consideration.

• Intuitive for hiring managers with minimal learning curve, especially for infrequent users.
• Clear ownership model for the recruiting process at global and/or local levels to fit the decentralized structure.
• Excellent candidate experience by design, without burdening hiring managers or their teams.
• Practical handling of large volumes of paper resumes gathered at job fairs, despite decentralized ownership.

The team selected SmartRecruiters and quickly set up the new platform, designing structure and content for implementation and long-term ownership and support.

Implementation Approach

• Each of the 187 branches identified a local expert to support hiring managers.
• Ten regional experts and one global administrator were appointed for high-level support and maintenance.
• Classroom training for experts was delivered during the pilot; on-demand job aids were created for a global rollout, enabling just-in-time support for hiring managers.
• One global administrator was the only full-time resource required; no major process changes increased demand on hiring managers.