Speeding up the line: How AI is solving frontline staffing challenges

Recruiting for frontline roles is one of the most critical and challenging tasks across many industries. With high turnover rates, the constant demand for new talent, and the urgency to maintain customer satisfaction, frontline recruitment has become a priority and a struggle for retail, fast food, and distribution businesses.

Joshua Secrest, Vice-President of Marketing and Client Advocacy at Paradox, shares with HRM Asia his insights on how AI is reshaping the recruitment process, particularly in high-volume hiring. Drawing from his extensive experience, including being Head of Global Talent Acquisition at McDonald’s, where the fast-food restaurant hires nearly two million people annually, Secrest offers his perspective on overcoming recruitment challenges through AI-driven solutions.

The challenge of high-volume frontline hiring

Frontline recruitment is critical across industries like quick-service restaurants (QSRs), retail, logistics, hospitality, and healthcare, where staffing gaps impact service quality, productivity, customer satisfaction and ultimately, revenue. “For QSR, understaffed restaurants can lose US$300 to US$1,200 in revenue each day,” Secrest highlighted.

The challenge is exacerbated by the pressure managers face. Secrest pointed out that “managers in frontline roles—whether in retail or food service—are juggling multiple responsibilities from operations to customer service, and recruitment often takes a backseat to other pressing business priorities.”

Moreover, in a highly competitive hiring market, candidates often apply to multiple jobs at once — more than 15, according to Indeed — with 54% submitting applications outside of business hours, based on Paradox data. This creates a time crunch, where businesses have little flexibility to engage with candidates quickly enough to secure top talent.

Secrest emphasised that slow hiring is not just an operational inefficiency but a costly one. Understaffing strains existing employees, leading to burnout and higher turnover. Prolonged hiring cycles also drive up job advertisement and recruitment costs and weaken the employer brand by frustrating candidates, making it harder to attract top talent.

“The longer a business takes to hire, the greater the financial strain,” said Secrest. “Understaffing leads to many problems, including lost revenue, decreased productivity, and higher turnover—each of which compounds the other.”

How AI is revolutionising frontline recruitment

AI is making significant strides in alleviating the burden of high-volume recruitment. Secrest noted that AI-driven tools are now helping to reduce the time to hire from 14-21 days to just 2-3 days in many cases. “AI doesn’t just speed up the process; it streamlines it, taking over much of the manual work involved in recruiting,” he explained.

For example, Paradox’s AI-powered assistant, Olivia, automates up to 90% of the hiring process, including screening, interview scheduling, and answering candidates’ questions 24/7. This automation helps businesses scale their hiring efforts and reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks while ensuring quality candidates are identified quickly.

Moreover, AI improves the candidate experience by making the application process faster, more transparent, and more engaging. Candidates can apply in as little as two minutes, with no login required, and receive instant feedback on their qualifications. This quick turnaround increases candidate satisfaction, with many companies reporting 90-95% satisfaction rates from applicants.

The impact of AI on high-volume recruitment is already evident in several major companies. McDonald’s, for instance, has reduced the time from application to interview scheduling from three days to just three minutes, and time-to-hire, from 21 days to just three, according to Secrest. In turn, each restaurant manager at McDonald’s has saved up to five hours per week—time that can be redirected towards improving operations and customer service.

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Similarly, companies like 7-Eleven have seen significant improvements after adopting AI-driven recruitment tools. Hiring over 112,000 employees annually, store leaders previously struggled to balance recruitment with daily operations. By implementing “Rita”, a conversational AI recruitment assistant, 7-Eleven transformed its hiring approach. The AI assistant streamlined the recruitment process by handling initial screenings and interview scheduling, reducing the time-to-hire from over 10 days to under three, saving store leaders approximately 40,000 hours weekly and millions of dollars in operational costs.

According to Rachel Allen, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at 7-Eleven, AI has also enhanced the candidate experience. Today, 85% of applicants are scheduled for an interview within an hour of applying. “Rita meets our candidates where they’re at. It feels like they’re just texting a person,” Allen said.

For organisations looking to integrate AI into their hiring process, Secrest advises a tailored approach. He explained that not all roles require the same level of automation or AI support. For example, frontline crew members benefit from the automation of resume screening and interview scheduling, while managerial positions may require more nuanced assessments, such as behavioural tests.

“AI should be flexible enough to adapt to different hiring needs across job profiles,” Secrest concluded. Organisations can maximise the benefits of AI without overwhelming their existing systems by focusing on specific areas of need—whether it is application processing, interview scheduling, or candidate engagement. Ultimately, Secrest emphasised that AI is not just about hiring faster—it is about hiring smarter. Companies that leverage AI can reduce hiring costs, improve candidate engagement, and ensure the right people are in the right roles at the right time. As frontline staffing remains a critical challenge, AI-driven recruitment will be the key to staying ahead.