N
ick Van Horn has a powerful partner in his company ’ s ongoing quest to bring in the right people at the right time . NOW Courier ’ s Director of Talent Management uses AI to find , screen , onboard and support the people they need to continue the company ’ s dramatic growth .
NOW Courier has a delivery network that provides logistics services throughout the Midwest . They provide specialized medical , routed , and dedicated deliveries , small parcel distribution , on-demand pickups and deliveries , box truck deliveries , and DDU and ecommerce support . Van Horn has overseen the company ’ s employees and contractors for eight years and considers AI one of his more powerful tools .
“ AI has transformed the talent acquisition space ,” he says . “ Finding top talent is becoming more challenging . AI plays a crucial role in our talent acquisition strategies , aiding in sourcing , recruiting , evaluating , and communicating with candidates , regardless of their interest in joining us as employees or independent contractors . It also streamlines the process from sourcing to onboarding talent , creating efficiency . The technology offers a strategic edge . In the near future , sooner than we might anticipate , adopting AI will become a critical necessity for businesses , affecting every aspect of the talent lifecycle . Companies that delay in adopting this technology will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage .”
AI and the Recruiting
Like many other courier companies , NOW Courier used to spend a lot of time and person-power on recruiting . “ For decades , the traditional method
involved performing tasks manually .,” he says .” The conventional recruitment process involved a sequence of steps : crafting a job description , posting it on job boards , collecting resumes , and conducting interviews . This approach could take numerous weeks , sometimes months , to locate the ideal candidate for a position . The process was tedious and required a considerable amount of time and effort .”
Van Horn compares how they are doing things now with how they were done only a few years ago : “ We utilize a fleet of around 300 independent contractors . Several years ago , I was with a company with a similar workforce and recruitment demands . That company maintained a talent acquisition team of about seven members . Due to the substantial energy required in traditional recruitment , organizations needed sizable teams to achieve their recruitment objectives . Currently , two employees besides me are responsible for talent acquisition at NOW Courier . We support a total workforce of approximately 375 , including both independent contractors and employees . Without AI capabilities , this company would require significantly more personnel to reach the same performance metrics .”
NOW Courier uses AI tools right at the beginning of the talent acquisition process . “ It starts with sourcing ,” Van Horn says . “ Our applicant tracking system uses AI to proactively seek candidates based on the specifications we establish in our job postings , such as education , competency , or experience . Instead of manually reviewing individual candidates like before , this process is automated through the AI system . It maintains its own database , scraping data from various sites and integrating it into the system , where the AI then engages with this pool of candidates .”
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