Amazon Pharmacy's Automated Candidate Communication System: A Case Study

Amazon Pharmacy is a branch of the multinational technology company Amazon that focuses on the delivery of prescription medications. They are committed to providing a customer and candidate obsessed experience, valuing personal touch and efficient communication in their hiring process. With a high demand for their services, they needed to hire at a large scale, which led to a high volume of candidates that their recruiters had to manage. This necessitated the need for an automated candidate communication system that could handle the large volume of candidates while maintaining a personal touch and increasing response rates.

Amazon Pharmacy was faced with the challenge of managing 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 needed a system that could handle upwards of 1000 candidates per recruiter, provide scalability and a unique personal touch, increase their response rate with candidates, and keep more applicants in their pipeline longer. The traditional methods of communication, such as phone calls and emails, were slow, outdated, and impersonal, leading to poor response rates and a lack of clear instructions for the applicants.

Amazon Pharmacy's solution was to integrate Grayscale into their Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Lever. This allowed them to leverage SMS to engage with candidates throughout the hiring and onboarding process, automate the candidate journey for consistent, personalized nudges to keep them moving quickly through the process, and ensure seamless ATS integration. The integration of Grayscale into their ATS made it easier to ensure candidates moved quickly and efficiently through the process without getting stuck with questions or getting confused. The system also allowed for personalized, automated touchpoints via SMS at each stage in the hiring process, ensuring a consistent, best-in-class experience for every applicant.

• The integration of Grayscale into Amazon Pharmacy's ATS resulted in a more efficient and personalized candidate experience. The use of SMS for communication created an open channel for candidates to connect with the team directly and quickly when they needed assistance. The automated candidate journey ensured consistent, personalized nudges to keep candidates moving quickly through the process. The seamless integration with their ATS made it easy to follow up with candidates who were falling behind in the process before they got too disengaged and ghosted. Overall, the system improved their candidate experience and enhanced their candidate engagement scores, helping them scale their high-volume hiring systems.

• Scalability: The system can handle a ratio of 1000 candidates per recruiter.

• Increased engagement: The automated messages keep candidates engaged and drive a 51% response rate and 6-minute response time on average.

• Consistent candidate experiences: Every applicant experiences an identical high-touch process.