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Why chatting with candidates alone wasn't enough

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80%

Of your time on candidates who truly fit

1 platform

One flow. From chat to assessment to planning.

0 min

Spent on admin and follow-up calls

The Challenge

Carrefour Belgium has more than 700 stores, 16,000 colleagues and 20,000 candidates per year. But the recruitment team shrank from 13 to 5 people, while demand kept growing. And the candidate pool was anything but homogenous: from store employees where candidate experience is everything, to management roles plagued by structural scarcity, to head office positions where speed without quality loss is the only option. One process for all those profiles at once. That was the challenge. Chat seemed like the solution. And it was, partly. Time-to-hire improved by 62%, candidate experience scored 82% approval and recruiters no longer felt like an administrative link in the chain. But without a human first screening step, retention dropped, no-shows climbed and the mismatch between profile, motivation and role grew wider. Speed without selection turned out to be only half a solution. Carrefour needed something that kept what worked and filled in what was missing.

Carrefour Belgium has more than 700 stores, 16,000 colleagues and 20,000 candidates per year. But the recruitment team shrank from 13 to 5 people, while demand kept growing. And the candidate pool was anything but homogenous: from store employees where candidate experience is everything, to management roles plagued by structural scarcity, to head office positions where speed without quality loss is the only option. One process for all those profiles at once. That was the challenge.

Chat seemed like the solution. And it was, partly. Time-to-hire improved by 62%, candidate experience scored 82% approval and recruiters no longer felt like an administrative link in the chain. But without a human first screening step, retention dropped, no-shows climbed and the mismatch between profile, motivation and role grew wider. Speed without selection turned out to be only half a solution. Carrefour needed something that kept what worked and filled in what was missing.

The Solution

Carrefour chose Selection Lab. Not because it added another system, but precisely because it became one system. Chat and assessments, fully integrated into a single seamless flow, connected directly to the existing ATS. Each profile now gets an approach that fits. The assessments are scientifically validated and range from traditional to game-based, matched to the role and level. Candidates move through one smooth flow, without switching between systems. That keeps unwanted drop-off low. And for recruiters, it meant a fundamental shift in how they spend their time.

Carrefour chose Selection Lab. Not because it added another system, but precisely because it became one system. Chat and assessments, fully integrated into a single seamless flow, connected directly to the existing ATS. Each profile now gets an approach that fits.

The assessments are scientifically validated and range from traditional to game-based, matched to the role and level. Candidates move through one smooth flow, without switching between systems. That keeps unwanted drop-off low. And for recruiters, it meant a fundamental shift in how they spend their time.

The Results

Where before 80% of their time went to candidates who ultimately weren't the right fit, it's now exactly the other way around. Recruiters are no longer a middleman, there's space again for what they actually chose this work for: people, matching and connection.

Together with Tristan, we hosted a webinar during DEMO WEEK BE 2026 about how Carrefour made this journey. Watch the demo below.

"Speed is essential in our sector, but it should never come at the expense of valuable, human contact. Thanks to Selection Lab, we found that balance."

Tristan de Wree

Manager Recruitment, Carrefour Belgium

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