Global food processing and distribution company reduces its time-to-hire by 30%

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

With more than 120 employment centers across Mexico, the food distributor's talent acquisition team needed a more efficient frontline hiring process. Before discovering Emi, the HR teams sourced all candidates offline, through local newspapers and large physical banners placed outside their centers.

The hiring team faced multiple problems: only 20% of candidates passed the first round of interviews; HR managers at each site had to interview all candidates without any pre-screening; recruitment specialists lost 60 hours per month due to lack of structure; candidates waited up to 3 hours before meeting an interviewer; and the processes provided very little data or metrics.

The distributor turned to Emi to automate its existing hiring processes and overcome these high-volume hiring challenges. This allowed the company to keep up with a growing demand for better hiring and selection processes from candidates.

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. The talent acquisition team was spending so much effort compensating for disorganized hiring processes that it had little time and resources left for activities that contributed to strategic objectives.

Now, the distributor relies on Emi to streamline essential HR tasks such as application screening, interview scheduling, and new employee document collection.

With Emi, the distributor's candidates now have access to a simple 24/7 virtual assistant that syncs with SMS, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Offline, the company uses flyers and QR codes to attract potential candidates to the organization.

Candidates are now screened using customized profiles to help the hiring team find the best talent more quickly. Candidates can also automatically schedule on-site interviews without the back-and-forth, through Emi.

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

Through Emi's virtual assistant, the company asks candidates for feedback on the recruitment process. By measuring and tracking feedback, the organization can ensure it stays focused on delivering a candidate-centered process.

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; and cut the time-to-hire by 30%, from 12 to 8.53 days.