The result? Frustration with processes that relied on manual workarounds, making it hard to move quickly. The switch to a dedicated ATS helped citizenM improve its processes and simplify its complex, global hiring.
- Location: 36 hotels across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific + 2 Support offices in Voorschoten & New York.
- Industry: Hospitality, including real estate, hotel design, marketing etc in-house
- Headcount: 1000+, 600 hires last year, including 100 support office roles
- Talent team: 3 for support roles, 5 for hotels
- Goals: Improve efficiency, boost candidate experience, streamline the experience for deskless hiring managers
The power of a dedicated ATS: automation and integration
At the heart of citizenM’s success with Pinpoint is flexibility. The TA team can customize workflows for different hiring needs and ensure every candidate gets a consistent experience.
We realized that our needs had changed. We wanted one specific ATS that could make our life—support office, hotels, and all the hiring managers—easier.
A year after refining its processes and bringing them to life with Pinpoint, citizenM has:
- Reduced its time to hire, in some cases by as much as 65%
- Boosted its candidate experience to match that of its hotel guests
- Got hiring managers engaged in the hiring process, reducing time in interview stage
How citizenM slashed time to hire by over 65%
The old HIRS lacked functionality, so the TA team resorted to emails and spreadsheets. Communication with candidates and hiring managers was manual and inefficient.
With Pinpoint, they have the functionality to manage every step in the platform. By automating workflows and reducing admin, citizenM improved its hiring efficiency, reducing the risk of losing great candidates. For one role, time to hire dropped from 80 to 25 days in just six months.
Having everything within one flow hosted by Pinpoint—the career site, into the application, and how we manage the application internally all in one platform—has made everything very smooth.
Davide, for example, loves how he can set up a hiring team in Pinpoint and remove or bring someone in when needed. The new person immediately has access to all the information they need, but no more, making it both efficient and GDPR compliant.
This faster hiring process has brought time to hire in line with the industry median. And this has made citizenM a more competitive and compelling employer for hard-to-fill, high-volume roles.
How automation improved candidate experience
On a global scale from Los Angeles to Taipei to London and Paris we want to deliver a great brand experience that's consistent throughout all of the locations. That’s the challenge that we have in recruitment.
Candidates expect quick responses—but for TA teams juggling multiple roles, that’s easier said than done. With fewer manual steps and better workflows, citizenM now responds to applications faster and keeps candidates engaged—without adding more admin.
- Candidates get answers faster. The team now meets its promise to respond to applications within 2 weeks.
- Better applicant screening. Automated questions flag visa restrictions upfront, so candidates and recruiters don’t waste time on applications that won’t progress.
- Faster interview scheduling. Candidates choose their own slots, and hiring managers now take ownership of their schedules—reducing bottlenecks.
Automation has also streamlined how citizenM organizes its casting days—group assessments that ensure the right cultural and attitude fit for hotel staff (ambassadors). Previously, planning across 36 locations meant:
- Messaging candidates individually,
- Coordinating dates and times between multiple candidates and hotel hiring managers,
- Keeping everyone informed and trying to give candidates a good experience.
Now, the talent team automates parts like interview scheduling and sends email updates in bulk with helpful information, such as where to go and what to expect.
The communication before was not always perfect—there were a lot of mistakes along the way. Whereas now it's really a great experience for candidates.
How citizenM is extending the candidate experience through onboarding
Alongside the move to Pinpoint, citizenM is also switching its HRIS to HiBob. Like Pinpoint, HiBob lets the team:
- Automate workflows,
- Improve employee experience,
- And gather and analyze HR data in one place.
The added benefit is the seamless integration between the two platforms, which connects hiring, onboarding, and HR in one flow.
When we pass the baton to our HR colleagues, the candidate moves to HiBob smoothly—without even realizing they’ve switched systems.
This removes manual data entry, reduces errors, and delivers a better candidate experience as they move from pre-hire to post.
How citizenM is using data to keep getting better
With a year of recruitment data to benchmark against, the team wants to embed a culture of continuous improvement. Using Pinpoint’s reporting, they plan to:
- Pinpoint bottlenecks. Where can we speed things up?
- Optimize for efficiency. How do we remove manual steps?
- Use data to hire smarter. What trends should inform future decisions?
Davide, for example, already pulls reports that break down how applicants move through each hiring stage.
We know exactly how long each candidate spends in every stage—from application to recruiter call, from interview to contract. We can track it by department, by requisition, and benchmark performance over time.
With everything in Pinpoint, hiring teams at each hotel can also monitor and act on candidate feedback with the same precision as that from guests.
“They’re really interested in seeing how they’re doing compared to the other regions and are really keen on learning more about the data and the metrics. As a result, we’ve celebrated a lot of great reduction in time in stages,” says Emilie Ricordeau, Talent Scout (Hotels) at citizenM.
Scaling without losing what matters
citizenM is a global hotel brand—and that doesn’t mean losing efficiency, culture, or quality of hire.
We want the best of both worlds—Pinpoint for pre-hire, HiBob for post-hire. With these new tools, we’ve set a good foundation to scale our hiring while maintaining our culture and delivering a really great candidate and employee experience.
Looking to simplify your complex hiring?
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