Introduction
Sheehy Automotive is a dealer group with 27 locations across Virginia, Maryland, and DC. The company began as a small family owned dealership in 1966 and has since grown to more than $1.6 billion in sales per year.
Sheehy Automotive originally signed with Hireology in 2016 and after a brief partnership they moved their hiring process to ApplicantOne. However, the Sheehy team soon learned that ApplicantOne lacked key functionality — including reporting, in-app communications, payroll integrations, and more — resulting in a large drop off in applicant volume and increased time-to-hire.
Ultimately, the dealer group chose to move back to Hireology in 2021. Learn more about why they made this decision and how Hireology’s robust suite of hiring tools meets Sheehy Automotive’s unique recruiting needs.
The problem
After leaving Hireology for ApplicantOne, Sheehy Automotive found that despite having a positive relationship with their customer service representative, the platform simply couldn’t facilitate their complex, multi-location hiring needs. More specifically, Sheehy Automotive noticed that ApplicantOne:
- Did not offer reporting or ability to track key hiring metrics
- Lacked in-app communication for cross-team collaboration
- Could transfer applicants across jobs, but couldn’t notify or alert the team of these transfers
- Lacked candidate communication automation
- Did offer digital onboarding, but did not integrate directly with their payroll provider
- Lacked customizable career site functionality
Without robust reporting into sourcing effectiveness as well as a lack of customizable employment branding options, Sheehy noticed a drop off of applicants. Additionally, the lack of in-app communication and notification features as well as a direct integration with their payroll provider made it difficult for Sheehy Automotive to move as quickly as they’d like throughout the hiring process.
That’s when Sheehy Automotive decided to return to Hireology, which offers all of the functionality they needed and is built specifically for the unique needs of multi-location automotive dealerships.
“With 27 locations, we needed flexibility to represent our unique employment brand and out-of-the-box reporting to give us insight into locations hiring efforts, neither of which ApplicantOne was able to accommodate. Looking deeper, we saw that ApplicantOne would not offer us an all in one solution at the end of the day.”
— Shawn Lumpkin | Human Resources Director | Sheehy Auto Stores
The solution
After returning to Hireology, Sheehy Automotive was able to get their hiring engine running smoothly again. Hireology equips the dealer group with the tools they need to attract quality applicants, make hires fast, gain visibility across locations, and maximize the return on their investment.
Here’s a closer look at the features Sheehy Automotive loves the most:
Advanced career sites
Hireology’s customizable, intuitive career site tool allows Sheehy to build and manage their careers page with ease. They can share everything job seekers care about most —like benefits, culture core values, and career paths — and customize the branding and layout so that it’s aligned with their needs. They now use their career site as a home base for their overarching employment brand, allowing them to attract better quality candidates over time.
In-app tagging and cross-team communication
With 27 locations and a high volume of open roles, Sheehy Automotive needed a way to stay on top of their hiring processes across locations. With Hireology’s in-app tagging and cross-team collaboration tools — which their previous ATS lacked — they can easily communicate across teams, increase visibility from location to location, and streamline hiring.
In-app background check and drug screen management
Given their high volume of open roles, Sheehy Automotive group needed a faster turnaround for background checks, drug screens, and motor vehicle reports. While their previous ATS did offer the ability to manage this process in-app, Hireology’s integrations generate faster results — ultimately helping them reduce their overall time-to-hire.
“Hireology was not only able to deliver an attractive career site and meet our reporting needs, they offer integrated pre-employment background, MVR, and drug screenings with quick turnaround and are entrenched in industry-specific knowledge, which was a huge selling point for us.”
— Shawn Lumpkin | Human Resources Director | Sheehy Auto Stores
Payroll integration
Because ApplicantOne’s platform did not integrate with Sheehy Automotive’s trusted payroll provider ADP, the dealer group was forced to manually enter new hire information into their payroll system, which slowed them down and opened up the risk of error. Hireology integrates with several leading payroll and HRIS providers, including ADP, allowing for a seamless transition from candidate to employee for all new hires.
Talent relationship management
Sheehy’s second most effective recruitment channel is their existing talent pool of applicants, candidates, and referrals. They often draw from this database to identify candidates who might be a fit for new jobs different in the organization. Hireology enables them to move candidates into these different roles – something their old ATS couldn’t accommodate, costing them thousands of potential employees. Additionally, when there is not an immediate fit for the talent in their pipeline, Sheehy leaves the door open for future consideration by leveraging Hireology’s communication and automation tools to invite declined candidates to watch for new job opportunities.
Retail automotive expertise
While Sheehy was satisfied with the overall customer service provided by ApplicantOne, they did not receive the degree of automotive-specific support they were looking for. Hireology offers customer service based on more than 13 years of retail automotive experience and can offer personalized, tailored advice.
“When we get on the phone with [our Hireology rep] and go over our data, we know she just gets it. It’s good to know that the person who’s helping you understands the industry and our organization.”
— Shawn Lumpkin | Human Resources Director | Sheehy Auto Stores
The results
Empowered with Hireology’s technology, Sheehy is now equipped with the tools they need to manage their employment brand, oversee candidates across all 27 locations, maintain relationships with talent, and track key hiring metrics for process optimization over time. What’s more, they’ve been able to improve all aspects of their hiring process with the support of Hireology’s industry-specific knowledge.
By the numbers
- Average time to review applicants: 2.02 days
- Average time to hire: 7.92 days
- Applicant to candidate conversion rate: 16.5%
Looking to drive results like these?
Take a virtual platform tour today to see for yourself what Hireology can do for you!
