Germain Motor Company, a Columbus, Ohio-based dealership group founded in 1947 has been on a growth tear, adding stores in Pennsylvania earlier this year and more locations in Kentucky soon. Although, with expansion comes complexity. Emily Santagata, who joined the company in 2003 and now leads corporate recruiting, shares how Hireology powers their day-to-day hiring as they scale into new markets.
As the group grows, Emily’s team balances corporate oversight with local speed—standardizing what matters while staying flexible for each rooftop’s needs.
Why Germain Chose Hireology For Automotive Dealership Hiring
Hireology gives Emily centralized control without slowing down the team in the field— her corporate team can set the greater strategy while managers engage candidates quickly.
- Centralized control, local flexibility: Emily posts jobs and manages budgets centrally, then supports managers as needed—from applicant review and phone screens to occasional in‑person interviews.
- Streamlined checks and handoffs: Managers often ask Emily to initiate background checks; once cleared, she advances candidates and onboards them—keeping oversight tight end‑to‑end and avoiding delays that can be costly.
Action Center Streamlines Multi-Location Recruiting
Emily utilizes Action Center as her team’s command center as she leads corporate recruiting. One dashboard gives her an at-a-glance look at roles with unreviewed applicants and stalled steps. Speed is paramount to connect with top talent and keep team’s fully staffed. Emily can jump in early and protect their budget, their team’s time, and ensure they capture top automotive talent.
For Germain Auto Group, Hireology’s Action Center data surfaced opportunities to improve both speed and candidate experience. When Emily dug into her Insights this spring, time-to-review showed ~33 days. The culprit? Reopening requisitions with older applicants still attached—a workflow that skewed the clock and created a poor candidate experience. She changed the job closing/reopening flow and corrected the metric.
With clear visibility into unreviewed applicants by job and location, Emily can nudge managers, reallocate spend, and prevent waste.
“It truly has made my job so much easier…I think it’s great, and I’m thrilled that this is a part of Hireology.”
– Emily Santagata, Corporate Recruiting Leader
In Practice: Key Workflows That Speed Up Dealership Hiring
- Corporate‑first adoption: Germain Motor Company’s central oversight ensures data quality and genuine follow‑through throughout the business and at each location.
- Flexible, SMS‑first workflows: SMS is strongly encouraged for the fastest candidate response, and the Germain Motor Company team leverages this channel to ensure top talent quickly secures an interview.
- One simplified interview flow for consistency and fairness: A single template is flexible to fits rooftops of all sizes—from 40 employees to 170 employees.
Attract And Convert Dealership Talent
In an established market like Columbus, employer brand recognition helps applications flow. In newer markets such as Pennsylvania, the team leans into awareness-building and clarity.
- Transparent job posts: Each role showcases clear pay rates along with the schedule options or hours. When candidates read the description, they get all the details they need, and are interested to learn more.
- Smart distribution: Jobs flow to Indeed via Hireology to maximize reach and the branded careers page is an always-on hiring hub available to applicants.
“When I first started to use Action Center, I think our time to review was 33 days… [We changed our job closing/reopening flow to fix this and improved candidate experience].”
– Emily Santagata, Corporate Recruiting Leader
Germain Auto Group Hiring Results
The Germain Auto Group has achieved significant progress in refining its hiring process, guided by a data-driven approach that has fixed reopening workflows and enhanced the overall candidate experience. By tightening budget control and boosting accountability, the team can now redirect spending more efficiently, minimizing wasted resources.
Looking forward, Germain plans to gain deeper insight into their return on investment through upcoming turnover analyses and cost-to-hire pilot projects.
Leveraging Hireology, a platform tailored specifically for multi-location auto dealers, the group benefits from centralized oversight that maintains corporate standards without hindering the speed of local teams. The system’s SMS-first workflows and unified interview templates help managers stay focused on the best candidates, while the Action Center highlights bottlenecks, safeguards the budget, and paves the way for even more accurate hiring metrics in the future.
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