Case Study: VILLA Leverages Mobile Hiring Solution to Improve its Recruitment Process

PROBLEM: VILLA, an omnichannel retailer of fashion apparel, accessories and footwear, sought an easier way for its corporate recruiting team to manage its employee application process.

SOLUTION: Implemented an applicant tracking system and mobile hiring tool.

RESULTS: Since going live with its new applicant tracking system in July, VILLA has significantly reduced the time it takes to find applicants. In addition to time savings, VILLA has cut costs with the elimination of paper applications, including printing and storing those applications, as well as reducing the number of job boards it posts its positions on.

With the employee turnover rate typically high in the retail industry, particularly within brick-and-mortar stores, managing the process of finding and hiring qualified individuals is a challenge for many brands. It often proves time consuming and can be expensive. Such was the dilemma facing VILLA.

To help it streamline its hiring process, VILLA partnered with gatherDocs, a provider of mobile recruiting software. Specifically, VILLA is using gatherDocs' applicant tracking system to help it sort through thousands of job applications based on certain key criteria such as store location and a candidate's availability to work hourly.

"In order to be able to recruit more efficiently, we decided to go with gatherDocs," says Valerie Cazeau, corporate recruiter for VILLA. "gatherDocs was a big help in enabling us to post and review applications for certain positions, separate them, rate them, go back and analyze, and then email the resume or application to the hiring manager."

Something as simple as being able to filter a search by ZIP code to find applicants for the nearest retail location with an opening in their area has proven to be a huge time saver for VILLA, which has 70-plus brick-and-mortar locations in seven states. In addition to searches by ZIP code, a time availability function built into gatherDocs’ platform has proven useful for VILLA.

"We know a large chunk of the retail industry is part-time workers," notes Bruce Marable, gatherDocs’ co-founder and chief marketing officer. "Applicants can go in and say they're available to work on Monday from 10 to six, Tuesday three to five, Wednesday four to eight, etc. VILLA can then easily choose an applicant who wants to work at a specific store location at the times it needs them."

Increased Exposure
In addition to simplifying the applicant tracking process, VILLA has gained increased exposure for its job listings by partnering with gatherDocs — and ended up saving money in the process. VILLA used to post its job listings — for a fee — on job boards such as Indeed, Monster and LinkedIn. gatherDocs’ platform allows VILLA to easily syndicate and post its job openings to hourly job boards, including Indeed and SimplyHired.

"I'm happy to be able to put more positions on Indeed," says Cazeau. "We could have done this before, but we would have had to pay. You basically pay for how many people apply; per click you would pay a certain amount. With gatherDocs, we've been able to put postings on Indeed and have them last as long as we'd like. That's really been helpful in speeding up the process in filling positions."

Not only is VILLA gaining increased exposure for its job postings, but it's made it easier to apply for those jobs as well. With gatherDocs’ mobile hiring app, applicants can easily fill out VILLA's application on their phone. With most hourly store associates between the ages of 16 to 24, a demographic that spends a great deal of their time on their phones, this has proven to be a particularly useful feature.