The Economy is On Demand. Is Your Hiring?

The on demand economy is huge, and growing. Organizations like Amazon, Uber, and Netflix have set the stage for large-scale disruption across industries, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

What it Takes to Remain Competitive

Organizations with a more traditional commercial structure are doing everything they can to stay competitive. For example, in an attempt to keep pace with Amazon, Walmart recently implemented free two day shipping for more than two million items. But like any enterprise, the on demand economy requires employees to drive front-line expansion. Uber and Lyft need drivers to meet the growing demand for their services. Amazon needs warehouse pickers to ship orders quickly. And the number of customer service representatives need to expand with Netflix’ growing user base. In industries impacted by the growing on demand economy, traditional hiring methods just aren’t agile enough to scale up or down with demand. For example, if you run a rapidly expanding grocery delivery service, you need to identify shoppers quickly or risk starving customers. A 13 day hiring time just won’t cut it.

On Demand Hiring for Groceries On Demand

Shipt, a rapidly expanding grocery delivery service, had a 13 day hiring time before moving to a more agile "on demand" hiring model. Here's what their hiring process looked like prior to the transition: As you can see, interview scheduling was a huge chokepoint that cut recruiter productivity and bloated the hiring process. For a service that needed to scale on demand, 3.8 interviews per hour was far too few. This is what their process looks like now: On demand interviews are structured, so all candidates answer the exact same questions. This not only enables consistent decision-making, it also reduces the likelihood of bias entering the screening process. Shipt now averages a hiring time of 3 days - and in some cases, shoppers can start the same day they apply.

More than Speedy Decisions

It goes without saying that hiring speed isn't everything. Since shoppers are expected to interact with customers (representing Shipt in the process), identifying the most amiable and friendly individuals is crucial for Shipt's long term success. As Jason Creel, Shipt's Director of Recruiting and Launch, explains:

"With HireVue’s video interviews, we are able to get a good feel for the Shoppers we hire. We confidently send them to shop for our members and deliver groceries to their home. We can ensure they represent our brand, provide a positive experience, and are good at problem solving and time management. Leveraging digital video reassures us that we’ve hired the best talent to serve our members well." - Jason Creel, Director of Recruiting and Launch, Shipt

Truly On Demand

The on demand experience wouldn't be on demand without full mobile optimization - and this is the real secret to Shipt's speed and agility. More than 60% of candidates took their interviews via smartphone, and 35% completed them outside of business hours. A truly agile hiring process.

Shipt has grown by 300% since incorporating HireVue into its hiring process.

Read the full case study here.