Customer Stories 
Summary
In an effort to find a competitive edge in a crowded talent marketplace, CBRE harnessed Avature advancements in automation and data analytics to build a tech-savvy TA strategy for their teams in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
This digital vision delivered various game-changing results, which saw CBRE win silver for “Best Use of Recruitment Technology” at the Asia Recruitment Awards. Not only did they reduce hiring costs by 18 percent and time to fill by 12 percent, but they also strengthened quality of hire as well as the candidate and hiring manager experience. By automating manual processes, CBRE saved their recruiters time and allowed them to focus on value-added initiatives. Leveraging data analytics was invaluable in delivering greater diversity within the organization, as they saw a 10 percent increase in female applicants for leadership positions. The tools also facilitated better HR decisions to drive cost savings exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars.
About CBRE
CBRE is the world’s largest commercial real estate organization with a presence in over 100 countries. To support their ever-growing global network, they run numerous forward-thinking programs to engage with top talent.
A Vision for Recruitment Automation and Analytics
Driven by a vision to double the size of their workforce over a five-year span, CBRE embarked on an ambitious journey to leverage Avature ATS and CRM to bolster their APAC teams’ recruitment processes. Over the following years, their approach grew in complexity as they built a 360-degree platform to keep up with a constantly changing playing field. Among a myriad of benefits, improved reporting and candidate engagement were just some of the ways in which their boldness paid off.
The Avature rollout was an unmitigated success, significantly reducing recruiting costs and driving a major uptick in the quality of hire. CBRE’s business leaders recognized strategic areas where they could harness Avature advancements in analytics and automation, allowing them to keep pace with their growth projections.
The Benefits of Automating Recruitment Processes
One of CBRE’s main concerns was witnessing highly skilled TA professionals overwhelmed by time-consuming tasks, leaving them too straitjacketed to focus on key initiatives. CBRE identified numerous opportunities to use Avature to build an automated recruitment strategy, overcoming this challenge.
- Email & SMS Notifications: automating numerous candidate-facing communications and 100 percent of internal hand-offs. SMS reminders helped increase the interview completion rate by 30 percent.
- Reference Checking: by removing high-admin manual steps, such as coordinating with candidates and connecting with referees, CBRE saved their recruiters seven hours a week.
- Auto-populating Application Sourcing: by using the system to capture the source of each application automatically, CBRE not only saved their recruiters time but also improved the integrity of data.
The Power of Data Analytics in Recruitment
CBRE also empowered their TA teams with various tools to garner greater insight into the vast quantities of available data. With in-depth, Avature-powered dashboards, recruiters can immediately access critical information without needing weekly or monthly reports and enhancing productivity.
A forensic approach also facilitates better decision-making, often driving savings to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. When an online job board proposed a strategy to drive more people to their career portal, CBRE was able to hone in on data and recognize that while the volume of the projected traffic was high, the quality of candidates was subpar.
These advancements in recruitment analytics are even helping CBRE drive greater diversity within the organization. For example, one major initiative was to fill more leadership positions with women. CBRE gauged the success of these targeted campaigns by tracking demographics on the career site, highlighting a 10 percent increase in applications from women compared to the previous year. A similar analysis also helped recognize that millennials are responsible for almost half of the traffic to the CBRE career site, which allowed them to tailor the portal and better cater to this audience.
Getting TA Teams To Adopt Automation and Analytics
CBRE’s digital transformation didn’t happen overnight. They initially had to overcome pushback from TA teams who worked in more traditional ways.
To overcome this resistance and drive a broader adoption of Avature across APAC, CBRE kickstarted a 12-month roadmap, which took shape in a two-pronged strategy.
First, they forged vital relationships with senior figures in certain regions, motivating others to follow in their path. They also took time to speak with recruiters on the ground to better understand their reluctance to switch to Avature. One key sticking point came from teams in China who explained their preference for communicating with candidates via WeChat. CBRE was able to easily overcome this issue by using Avature to integrate this tool.
How Automation and Analytics Revamped CBRE’s TA Strategy
Driven by a tech-inspired vision and harnessing Avature’s advanced automation, CBRE produced the following notable results:
TA teams on the ground, now better equipped to use the available data to guide their real-time decisions, reinforced these impressive results. They were now better equipped to use the available data to make accurate, real-time decisions. Automating recruiting processes gave highly skilled HR professionals more time to focus on high-value activities.
Winning silver for “Best Use of Recruitment Technology” at the Asia Recruitment Awards was the cherry on top of CBRE’s digital journey.