Chipotle Mexican Grill is partnering with Paradox to use AI for its hiring process. The company said it expects the new technology to reduce the amount of time it takes to hire an employee for an in-restaurant position by as much as 75%.
“Paradox's conversational hiring system will enable the general managers in Chipotle's restaurants to spend less time on administrative tasks, including collecting basic information from candidates and scheduling interviews, and allow them to focus on their day-to-day operations and providing excellent hospitality for guests,” according to the press release.
Paradox is currently being introduced in a phased approach across more than 3,500 restaurant locations, with plans for completion this month. The recruiting system aims to decrease the time to hire, reduce job advertising costs, increase hiring for hard-to-fill roles and improve candidate experience, according to Chipotle.
Paradox's experience is led by a virtual “team member” that Chipotle named “Ava Cado.” “Ava will provide a frictionless hiring experience by chatting with candidates, answering their questions about Chipotle, collecting basic information, scheduling interviews for hiring managers and sending offers to candidates who are selected by managers,” said Chipotle. Ava can converse with candidates in English, Spanish, French and German.
"As we continue to move toward our long-term goal of operating 7,000 restaurants in North America, we are empowering our teams to recruit and hire talent that are excited by our vision to Cultivate a Better World and want to grow with us," said Ilene Eskenazi, chief human resources officer. "Paradox operates as if we've hired additional administrative support for all our restaurants, freeing up more time for managers to support team members and provide an exceptional guest experience. We're excited about the early improvements we're seeing."
7-Eleven has also implemented AI in its hiring process, said Rachel Allen, senior director of talent acquisition at 7-Eleven, during a NACS Show education session earlier this month.
The company is using a digital assistant named Rita (which stands for Recruiting Individuals Through Automation), which handles about 95% of the company’s front-end recruiting process.
“She is communicating with the candidates all the way up until they come in for an interview at our stores, and she schedules those interviews based on availability in set blocks that our store leaders have set,” she said.
The speed with which Rita can screen applicants alleviates what Allen said was one of the retailer’s biggest hiring hurdles: “We just couldn’t get to prospective employees in time. They went down the road and found another job instead.”
By using AI, Allen said 7-Eleven’s average hiring process time went from more than 10 days to less than three. “We’ve saved our store leaders over 40,000 hours a week in time—and of course, those hours also turn into dollars.”