To get to the point: At SAP, recruiting skilled workers is a complex undertaking. Between 20,000 and 25,000 new employees are hired in a total of 160 countries every year. This creates a complicated landscape in which optimized workflows, clear communication and scaling options are essential.
“Last year we were in the process of planning to optimize our talent search technologies when the situation changed completely,” says Eric Goldstein, Global Head of Talent Discovery at SAP. “We took over SmartRecruiters in September, which meant we had to reschedule within a short space of time.”
With SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors, companies can manage all phases of the hiring process from recruiting to onboarding with AI-powered recruiting capabilities. This allows them to reduce their time spent on hiring, improve the applicant process, and support their workforce planning with comprehensive analytics.
With the solution, SAP benefits from more stringent and precise processes for recruiting skilled workers on a global level. On the one hand, this makes it possible to hire better qualified employees, but on the other hand it also improves the applicant experience, which Eric Goldstein believes is the “biggest game changer”.
SAP runs SAP
SAP uses its own software to control its global processes and is therefore its most important reference customer. By using its own applications for its 100,000 employees worldwide, SAP can test and optimize its products in concrete scenarios and demonstrate their performance.
Optimize the hiring process with intelligent functions
SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors helps optimize processes, ensures greater transparency and enables greater personalization. Applicants, hiring managers and recruiters benefit from better experiences and processes. “There were times when we only focused on the recruiter experience. Then at some point it was time to focus on the applicants. With SmartRecruiters we are now seeing that the experience is improving for everyone involved in the recruiting process,” explains Ilka Sagner-David, Global Head of Talent Discovery Solutions and Innovations at SAP.
The perspective of the applicants
70 percent of applicants consciously take the time to apply for a job, explains Eric Goldstein. He emphasizes how important it is that companies honor this commitment by making the process appealing and easy for applicants. With SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors as the foundation, all pre-qualified applicants can schedule interviews, receive personalized and constructive feedback following those interviews, and interact with SmartRecruiters' integrated AI agents 24/7.
“In our opinion, it's not enough to just respond with polite, automated rejections. Applicants need to receive constructive, actionable feedback – and that's exactly what we'll be able to offer them at SAP,” explains Eric Goldstein.
The perspective of the hiring managers
With SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors, hiring managers can identify suitable candidates more accurately and consistently, reducing time spent on hiring while hiring better-qualified talent. With interview questions built using AI that focus on skills, managers can have more relevant and structured conversations. Greater transparency with regard to the discussion participants also enables better coordination throughout the entire evaluation process. Additionally, AI-powered feedback collection makes it easier for SAP interviewing executives to gain timely, consistent insights so hiring teams can more confidently make informed decisions.
The recruiter’s perspective
Recruiters often spend a lot of time on manual tasks such as outreach, prospecting, and candidate selection. This makes it almost impossible for them to take on the role of a trustworthy advisor. With SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors, recruiters benefit from an automated search for potential internal and external applicants, personalized contact and the prioritization of applicants. This leaves you more time for value-adding tasks such as consulting and relationship management.
“Recruiters are given the opportunity to focus on cultivating relationships with candidates and hiring managers, thereby better leveraging feedback on how well the selection committee measures competency levels,” says Eric Goldstein.
Optimize the application process with AI
SmartRecruiters Winston for SAP SuccessFactors is an AI agent that supports applicants throughout the entire application process and is intended to help ensure that the advantages listed above are successfully realized. At SAP Sapphire in Orlando, Karl Baert, Global Head of People Solutions at SAP, demonstrated how Winston can simplify the application experience.
In the demo, he took on the role of a candidate applying for an open position at SAP and demonstrated how he could communicate with Winston in natural language. He completed his application by uploading his resume and verifying personal information in an interview with Winston. “All of this information can be compiled extremely quickly. My application was completed after just a few questions,” explains Karl Baert. “During the process, various information will also be reviewed as we want to ensure that the data we collect is of the required quality.”
Winston also collects feedback from applicants. “It is important to measure the quality of an agent and analyze how it is used. This really needs to be actively monitored. This is the only way to ensure that the information provided by the agent is correct,” continues Karl Baert.
“The implementation of SmartRecruiters creates the conditions for integrating AI into our processes,” explains Ilka Sagner-David. “However, we should not only aim to quickly transfer everything to the new solution, but also ensure that AI can be easily used in use cases where it makes sense.”
What happens next?
Currently, SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors is being implemented in SAP's HR systems for user testing in two phases. The global productive launch is expected to take place in September.
With the company-wide deployment of SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors, SAP is not only introducing new technology, but is also providing a glimpse into the hiring process of the future, which will be smarter, more humane and more connected. By combining AI, better experiences and rigorous business processes, SAP is transforming the way it hires new employees. At the same time, it also shows what modern hiring processes can look like in companies around the world.
