Case Study
Lisa, the HR Generalist at a midwestern manufacturing company, was having a hard time finding candidates to keep up with demand in their manufacturing plant. After trying everything she could think of—Monster, Career Builder, Indeed, the local unemployment website, a job fair, staffing agencies—she still wasn't getting the candidates she needed. Lisa says temp labor was never a path they wanted to go down, but “we were getting nowhere on our own.”
Her challenges didn’t end there. On the rare occasions that she did receive new applications, she often had trouble reaching them effectively. Recruiting, for Lisa, had become a “hurry up and wait” game: always quick to respond to new applicants, but then left waiting hours or days for a return phone call or email.
Low applicant volume
Unresponsive candidates
Interview ghosting
Reaching shop staff with timely info
Automated job post maintenance
Applicant sourcing from a variety of audiences
Automated applicant texting
Text message announcements to employees
One-to-one employee texting with HR
34% improvement in retention
Saved $200/month in advertising on Indeed
Sustained increase in applicant flow
Higher quality applicants
Interviews set & confirmed within 12 hours of application submission
As a part-time employee spending just three days a week managing HR for the entire company, Lisa barely had time to post jobs, maintain the postings, monitor incoming applications, and respond to candidates on one job board—let alone on all the major career sites.
Lisa says she got “very little response” from Career Builder, and found Monster to be “a waste of time.” Indeed was her most reliable applicant source before Team Engine, but they were spending an average of $200 per month to sponsor jobs for higher visibility and it still wasn’t delivering the volume of applicants she needed. She was also having no luck with the Michigan unemployment job board, and had no return on her participation in a job fair.
And in the rare event that an applicant did come through, she’d often have trouble getting in touch with them.
Applicants wouldn’t answer the message on Indeed, or they just wouldn’t show up for the interview.
Lisa
Human Resources Generalist
Backed up against the wall with needs from production, Lisa had no choice but to turn to temp labor.
Until she found Team Engine.
After making the switch, Lisa quickly discovered all that "busy work" she spent on repetitive tasks like posting jobs and attempting to reach candidates stole time she would otherwise spend engaging with candidates and nurturing them through the hiring funnel.
In just 5 months of using Team Engine, the company grew from 53 staff to 62—an average of 2 new hires per month. Prior to Team Engine, they were actually losing 3 employees per month.
Lisa credits the improvements to the time-saving automations built into the software at all junctures, but especially in applicant sourcing. Now, when she “turns on” a job in Team Engine, it’s automatically distributed to all the major job boards, many of which she was not previously posting on.
Even better, the system refreshes her active job postings every two weeks when there’s been movement from Lisa on new applicants. The means when she’s responding quickly to the applicants coming in, the software rewards her with frequently (and automatically) refreshed job postings, leading to higher visibility on the job boards. Because of this unique dynamic, Lisa no longer needs to sponsor jobs on Indeed and has been able to reduce her spend on Indeed from $200/month to $0/month.
The time saved from the elimination of "busy work" in the hiring funnel has since been redirected to personalized applicant engagement, while the software automation keeps the recruiting process firing on all cylinders around the clock. It's effectively transformed Lisa's weekly contributions from part-time to full-time—without adding any hours to her work schedule.
Finding candidates was only half the battle for Lisa. After she found qualified applicants, she had to get them in for an interview, which was easier said than done.
Lisa was taking a three-pronged approach to outreach: contacting applicants on the platform they applied through (e.g. Indeed or Facebook messenger), sending them an email, and calling—though she rarely (if ever) got a pickup on the call.
“People don’t want to talk to people who aren’t already in their contacts,” she said in frustration.
So she’d leave a voice message and then wait (sometimes for hours, other times for days or even weeks) to get a reply. Once she finally got a reply, she’d schedule an interview…only to often have the candidate ghost her, further stalling the process and wasting more of her valuable time.
Team Engine finally put an end to the “hurry up and wait” game Lisa had been enduring since they resumed hiring in early 2021. She suddenly had a steady flow of applicants coming in, and they were actually responding (in real time) to the software’s automated text messages.
When asked what she thinks made the difference, she cited the consistency in communication through the Team Engine automations. Lisa and the plant manager are now both monitoring for new applications in the software, and make a concentrated effort to review them quickly. As they advance candidates through the stages of the hiring funnel (for example, moving someone from “Interested” to “Interviewing”), the system sends automated messages to the applicant letting them know what’s coming next and when. Lisa and the plant manager make decisions; the software handles their communication.
Lisa says this isn’t dramatically different from their pre-Team Engine process—they always tried to review applications quickly—it’s just more streamlined, consistent, and faster now.
“And it’s always running in the background, which I really like,” Lisa said.
Before Team Engine, announcements about holiday closures, company-sponsored lunches, and open enrollment reminders were posted by the time clock or on bulletin boards around the facility. Lisa says that reaching the shop staff was a challenge.
Now, she says that texting with employees is her favorite part of using the software. Specifically, she loves the announcements feature, which allows her to broadcast a message to all employees, or to a group of employees—such as just to the shipping department, or 3rd shift production workers. It’s like sending a group text, except replies from employees only go to Lisa’s Team Engine inbox, not to all the other employees who also received her original message.
Texting through Team Engine has been better and more convenient for both me and for the employees. I’m really happy with that part of it. The employees like that they don’t have to come up to the front, or call me on the phone when they need to talk to me because nobody likes to call on the phone anymore.”
Lisa
Human Resources Generalist
At the end of the day, Lisa says they are “getting better candidates” and “have better retention with them.” In fact, she’s seen a 34% improvement in their retention rate since she started using Team Engine.
The software’s automated applicant sourcing and texting capabilities have helped her reach more people, screen them more efficiently, and hire better candidates overall. Text message announcements to keep the staff informed—in addition to having a private, direct line of communication to HR for every employee—has also boosted morale and increased job satisfaction overall.
The combination of bringing on “perfect fit” staff members, then empowering them to engage directly with leadership has been a winning solution for Lisa.
If you’re like Lisa was—under pressure to find the employees necessary to meet production’s demands—let us show you how our software’s hiring automations can source the volume of talent you need, and save you hours of time in the process. Sign up for a free, one-week trial of Team Engine with full access, no commitment, and no strings attached!
