PROJECT RESULTS
Phased onboarding to support new store openings
This delivery phase ran from late June to early September 2026, with nearly 300 candidates recommended in total, including 240+ valid recommendations and 70+ candidates attending interviews. Staff onboarded in batches to support talent allocation for the first store and subsequent locations.
HIRING CHALLENGE
High hiring volume, but candidates could not afford to wait
The client is a leading freshly made tea beverage chain entering a new city in East China. After preparing the first store, several subsequent stores also entered their hiring periods, requiring the frontline team to prepare enough staff within a similar timeframe.
The challenge was not only hiring volume. Local candidates had limited information about the brand's upcoming store opening, and some doubted whether the job posting was genuine. After passing the interview, candidates also had to complete off-site trial shifts and training, so the work location, meals, accommodation, and schedule all needed to be confirmed in advance.
The client used centralized in-person interviews rather than walk-in interviews. The team first needed to build a candidate pool and then organize attendance together. In the launch-period records, candidate waiting time once reached 15–20 days; for frontline job seekers hoping to secure work quickly, that gap was enough to make them pursue other opportunities.
Stores needed staff prepared in advance, while candidates needed to start work as soon as possible. The real priority was aligning the timelines for hiring, interviews, trial shifts, and store opening.
FIRST PHASE
First identify the bottlenecks in the existing hiring approach
From late June to mid-July, the team targeted beverage makers and tea beverage professionals on hiring platforms, conducted initial screening against the client's standards, and supported the first batch of centralized interviews. The first-batch interview pass rate was 50%.
The review revealed two types of issues. Experienced tea beverage candidates were frequently recommended repeatedly, so sourcing effort did not necessarily create new supply; other candidates passed initial screening but withdrew while waiting for interviews or after learning about the off-site trial arrangements.
The team therefore adjusted the workflow: confirm the client's interview schedule first, then arrange pipelining and outreach; clarify the role and off-site arrangements first, then assess whether a candidate was suitable for the current batch.
FOUR ADJUSTMENTS
Adjust pipelining and follow-up around interview milestones
Move the sourcing window closer to interview day
The team will shift from sourcing 15–20 days in advance to about 7 days before interviews. As a fixed interview cadence takes shape, follow-up will proceed according to specific milestones, compressing candidate waiting time to within 5 days. This adjusts the sourcing and progression cadence; it does not promise that every role can be delivered within 5 days.
Clarify key terms in the first conversation
Once contact details are exchanged, share information on salary, scheduling, accommodation, store address, promotion paths, and off-site trial shifts. After candidates clearly understand the terms and express interest, move them forward to interviews, reducing cases where they only later find the arrangement unacceptable.
Adjust target candidate groups based on actual feedback
To address repeated recommendations of experienced candidates, the team expanded its focus to candidates without tea beverage experience but with clear motivation. After each interview batch, it reviews screening and rejection reasons together with client feedback and updates the sourcing and recommendation criteria for the next round.
Replace “waiting for replies” with proactive follow-up
Send multiple reminders before interviews, continue confirming trial-shift arrangements after candidates pass, and stay in contact before and after the trial. Any change of mind or concerns about accommodation or off-site arrangements are promptly added back to the recruitment team’s follow-up list.
These are observations from different batches, not the overall interview pass rate, and cannot be attributed solely to any single tool.
DELIVERY PHASE
Establish a fixed interview cadence to keep candidates entering stores
From early August to early September, recruitment entered a sprint phase, and the client established weekly fixed interview arrangements. After the fixed cadence was formed, multiple batches of candidates passed interviews, and progression became more continuous.
The interview pass rate for later batches was about 80% higher than the first batch. After the first store opened on schedule, the team continued supporting staffing for subsequent stores, completing arrivals in batches to sustain new store openings.
These results reflect the combined effect of upfront communication, profile adjustments, and continuous follow-up. Even after candidates pass interviews, trial shifts and onboarding must continue so the approved list translates into actual store staffing.
EVIDENCE & LEARNINGS
Assessing delivery quality with consistent metrics
- Nearly 300 candidates recommended in total, with 240+ effective recommendations:Distinguish total outreach from effective recommendations to assess the candidate supply that can realistically move forward.
- 70+ candidates attended interviews, with an overall interview pass rate of nearly 80%:Upfront screening helps stores identify suitable candidates more efficiently.
- Staff arrivals completed in batches:Supporting talent allocation for the first store and subsequent stores.
- 14-day retention rate of about 90%, compared with the industry average of 50%:Continuously following up on post-onboarding adaptation to help employees stay in their roles.
AI sourcing was an initiative with clear boundaries
The project included AI sourcing exploration, but overall delivery was completed through collaboration between tools and the recruitment team; the full delivery is not attributed to a single tool.
For similar cross-location bulk hiring, the reusable approach is to arrange reserves around client interview milestones, communicate key requirements upfront, and continuously review why candidates in each batch attended interviews, passed, or withdrew. Once hiring pace aligns with store plans, the talent pool is more likely to convert into actual arrivals.
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