Revamping PetSmart's Career Site: A Case Study on Enhanced Candidate Engagement

PetSmart is the largest specialty pet retailer in the world, operating over 1,650 stores in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and products, as well as pet-focused services such as dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart Doggie Day Camp, and pet adoption. PetSmart also offers a varied selection of animals for sale and adoption such as birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and several breeds of small animals like guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, mice, and more. The company is committed to creating meaningful moments for people and their pets.

PetSmart, the largest specialty pet retailer, was facing a challenge in connecting with its job candidates. The company wanted to understand its candidates better and communicate with them in a language they could relate to. The line between consumer and employer brands was blurring, and understanding both sides was becoming crucial for evaluating the employment brand. The Talent Acquisition (TA) team at PetSmart realized that they needed to evolve their communication methods with job seekers after talking to candidates and associates to understand how different people absorbed content.

To address this challenge, PetSmart collaborated with iCIMS partner Shaker Recruitment Marketing to revamp its career site and align it with the company's hiring goals. The Shaker team designed and developed the site with rich storytelling and authentic, personal content to showcase the organization’s unique culture and the genuine employee experience. The aim was to make content available in the way that candidates preferred to receive it. By adding these different types of content, the TA team was able to engage a more diverse set of candidates through the mediums they prefer to consume. This approach led to an increase in traffic to the career site and candidates doing more research before applying. Although the number of applicants per role decreased, those who did apply were found to be much more qualified, leading to faster hiring.

• The revamp of PetSmart's career site led to significant operational improvements. The company saw an increase in traffic to its career site, indicating a higher level of interest among potential job candidates. Candidates also started doing more research before applying, suggesting that they were more invested in the roles they were applying for. Although the number of applicants per role decreased, the quality of applicants improved significantly. Those who did apply were much more qualified, leading to faster hiring. This not only improved the efficiency of the hiring process but also ensured that the company was attracting the right talent.

• Boosted its engagement rate by over 60%

• Decreased its bounce rate by 8%

• Increased career site traffic month-over-month by an average of 8%