Welcome to the 2025 Survale CandE Case Study series.
Each year, the CandE Benchmark Research Program collects case studies from participating CandE employers and CandE Winners.
This case study was from 7-Eleven, a 2025 Most Innovative Candidate Experience Improvement Award Winner. 7-Eleven is a globally recognized go-to convenience store for food, snacks, hot and cold beverages, gas and so much more.
If you’re interested in participating in the 2026 CandE Benchmark Research Program, you can learn more about it here.
1. What key recruiting processes and candidate experience improvements have you identified and completed in the past 6-12 months? (Be as specific as possible with examples for each.)
Over the past year, 7-Eleven has made significant strides in improving recruiting processes and the candidate experience:
- System Integration: Following the Speedway acquisition, one of 7-Eleven’s key challenges was integrating systems and aligning recruiting processes across brands. This also created an opportunity to leverage diverse strengths and best practices. A major milestone was consolidating our applicant tracking systems into Workday. Not only did this consolidate our recruiting processes, but it also reduced manual data entry by 30 hours weekly and improved reporting on internal mobility, candidate tracking, and hiring metrics.
- AI-Driven Recruiting: We’ve continued to enhance high-volume store-level recruiting with Paradox, our AI-driven tool, which also now supports automated scheduling for non-store roles via Workday. This year alone, Paradox streamlined hiring for over 56,000 candidates across the organization. We continue to optimize the platform based on feedback and performance data.
- Career Site Optimization: Our career site improvements led to a 5% quarter-over-quarter increase in Engaged User Apply Clicks, now at 48.26%, well above the 40.11% industry benchmark. On LinkedIn, consistent storytelling boosted engagement to 4.99%, with a 9% follower increase and 38% more page views, driving over 53,000 candidates to our site in Q2.
- Intern Program Expansion: Our 2024 intern program also saw strong results: 88.4% of 43 interns were eligible for full-time roles, with 32 offers extended and 26 accepted, an overall conversion rate of 60.5%. We expanded the program to 51 interns, improving outreach, school partnerships, and the experience through personalized touches and meaningful work.
2. How did you build support and commitment within your team and your leadership to make these improvements? (Be as specific as possible with examples.)
To better support our evolving business needs and enhance the candidate experience, 7-Eleven structured its Talent Acquisition team into three core pillars: Operations Management Recruiting, Non-Store Recruiting, and Talent Operations.
This strategic alignment enables greater clarity, improved efficiency, and a more unified approach to attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent. By clearly delineating responsibilities, our recruiting teams can focus on sourcing and candidate engagement, while our Talent Operations team drive the systems, processes, and programs. This structure fosters stronger synergy across the Talent functions. For example, our Talent Operations team has been able to deepen its focus on data and analytics. With new reports on hires, internal candidate mobility, time-to-offer, time-to-fill, and candidates in progress, this team provides recruiters with actionable insights to continuously improve the candidate journey. This data-driven approach ensures we’re not only attracting the right talent but also delivering a seamless experience throughout the hiring process.
Our Hiring Support Hotline has handled over 27,000 calls this year with an average wait time of 21 seconds. This allows us to connect quickly and closely with our Operations partners and recruiters to gather input. These insights play a vital role in refining our processes, enhancing the candidate experience, and driving better outcomes across our recruitment efforts.
Cross-functional collaboration is key to sustaining long-term support and commitment. By partnering across departments, we tap into diverse perspectives and build a more cohesive organization. For example, our Talent team recently worked with Learning & Development and IT to produce a new “7 or Eleven Questions” video, which earned an 8.69% LinkedIn engagement rate, well above the 2% benchmark. Our Employer Branding team also collaborates with Communications and Marketing to ensure consistent messaging, strengthening our brand. This results in a unified and consistent presence which is crucial to attracting top talent. By combining efforts across recruiting, operations, and management, our teams can specialize in their areas of expertise while collaborating closely to support both our people and our talent pipeline.
This structure has also enabled us to elevate previously side initiatives into key strategic projects. Notable examples include continued Paradox and system integrations, Employer Branding, University Relations, and Critical Needs Support. By balancing specialization with collaboration, we’re better positioned to meet the needs of the business today and anticipate the needs of tomorrow.
3. Which of these improvements do you think are the most unique and innovative and why? (Be as specific as possible with examples for each.)
As we continue to evolve our talent acquisition strategy, several recent innovations have significantly enhanced the way we attract, assess, and hire top talent. From seamless system integrations to cutting-edge AI-driven recruiting tools, these improvements are not only streamlining our processes but also elevating the candidate experience and reinforcing our commitment to internal growth.
- System Integrations: Integrating Paradox, Sterling, and HireVue into Workday has transformed our talent acquisition process by combining automation, security, and assessment into one seamless platform. Together, these integrations have created a faster, smarter, and more candidate-friendly hiring experience. By reducing manual tasks and enabling data-driven decisions, we’re building a more agile workforce and reinforcing 7-Eleven’s reputation as a place where careers thrive.
- AI-Driven Recruiting: Looking at Paradox specifically, our recruiting AI, Rita, engages candidates, screens for qualifications, and schedules interviews, all in under 10 minutes, without requiring manager involvement. Post-interview, hiring managers can quickly disposition candidates or generate consistent offer letters. Building on this success, we’re expanding Paradox to serve as an internal job board across our stores, making it easier for team members to explore new roles. We’re also piloting Traitify at 691 stores. This mobile-friendly, image-based assessment helps Store Leaders better understand candidate traits linked to success. Early results show a 95% completion rate and a 6–7% reduction in interview no-shows.
These innovations combine automation, personalization, and strategic growth to create a faster, smarter, and more candidate-friendly experience.
4. How do you know that your changes are making a difference and what data or evidence validates the innovative improvements you made? (Be as specific as possible with examples for each based on your people, your processes, and your technologies, and include any candidate quotes that validate the improvements made.)
At 7-Eleven, our Talent Acquisition team is making a real difference by putting the candidate experience at the center of how we hire. Through process improvements and tools like Paradox, we’ve made the hiring journey faster, more consistent, and easier to navigate. This efficiency has reduced time-to-fill by over 50% and saved Store Leaders an estimated 40,000 hours weekly. Our offer acceptance rate is 96%, up from 94% in 2024, and our store-level Application Completed to Hire time has dropped to 3.72 days YTD, down from 4.90 last year.
These efforts are not just making a difference for recruiters and hiring managers, but most importantly, for candidates. Candidate experience improvements have led to 56,192 (January-July) hires, showing the real impact of a more streamlined, candidate-focused approach.
To support this, we’ve introduced practical resources like interview guides and launched micro-training sessions for recruiters, giving them quick, targeted learning to improve hiring decisions and move candidates through Workday more efficiently.
One of the most meaningful ways we’re making a difference is by championing internal mobility, helping our own people grow and advance their careers within 7-Eleven. With 13% of roles currently filled internally, we aim to reach 30% by the end of 2026, reinforcing our commitment to internal growth and career development. At the same time, we continue to embrace external candidates who bring fresh ideas and diverse experiences to our teams. By focusing on clarity, fairness, and accessibility at every step, we’re building a hiring experience that reflects who we are as a company and the kind of culture we want to grow.
Survale candidate feedback validates ease of use, clarity, and positive interview experiences, with comments like:
- “I have never applied for a position so easily.”
- “This was the most streamlined application process I’ve ever been a part of.”
- “I love the chat ai feature it makes my life simple”
- “This experience has been one of the simplest and most direct way to apply for a job I may have ever witnessed”
- “Clear and concise interview process. It’s transparent, and straight-forward. It hits all the main points for what the role entails and I like that a decision is made by the end of the second interview. Other recruiters and companies can learn from their efficient process!”
- “Probably the most relaxing and enjoyable interview I’ve ever had.”
- “Honestly one of the best interview experiences I have had, Everything was super professional.”
- “My experience was absolutely amazing and communicative during the whole process. This was the most streamlined application process I’ve ever been a part of. It created a sense of security and urgency which is important for prospective applicants ensuring they feel valued.”
5. Do you use any of your candidate experience benchmark data to quantify and demonstrate financial, referral, and/or employer branding business impacts and report to your leadership team, your recruiting team, and/or your hiring managers? If yes, how? (Be as specific as possible with examples.)
Yes, we actively use candidate experience benchmark data to quantify business impacts and communicate results across our leadership, recruiting teams, and hiring managers. This data informs strategic decisions and demonstrates tangible outcomes in several key areas:
1. Financial Impact
- Time Savings: Paradox has streamlined hiring for over 56,000 candidates this year, saving Store Leaders an estimated 40,000 hours weekly. This translates into significant labor cost savings and allows leaders to focus more on operations and team development.
- Efficiency Gains: Our store-level Application Completed to Hire time dropped to 3.72 days YTD, down from 4.90 last year, accelerating onboarding and reducing vacancy-related revenue loss
2. Employer Branding
- Career Site Performance: Improvements led to a 5% quarter-over-quarter increase in Engaged User Apply Clicks, which rose to 48.26%, well above the 40.11% industry benchmark, indicating a more compelling and user-friendly experience.
- LinkedIn Engagement: Consistent storytelling and branding efforts led to a 4.99% engagement rate, a 9% follower increase, and 38% more page views, driving over 53,000 candidates to our site in Q2 alone.
- Video Content Impact: Our “7 or Eleven Questions” video, developed in collaboration with L&D and IT, earned an 8.69% LinkedIn engagement rate, far exceeding the 2% benchmark, reinforcing our brand and culture.
3. Reporting & Continuous Improvement
- Our Talent Operations team provides regular reports on hires, internal mobility, time-to-offer, and candidate progress. These insights are shared with recruiters and hiring managers to refine strategies and improve outcomes.
- Survale: Implementing feedback helped us improve our Net Promoter Score (NPS) from 18.6 (EOY 2024) to 27.0 (YTD 2025), reflecting a more positive candidate experience. Survey data and comments are also shared with Recruiting and Leadership to identify key areas of opportunity and leverage continuous process improvements.
By leveraging benchmark data across financial, branding, and reporting metrics, we’re not only improving outcomes but also reinforcing our reputation as a top employer and strategic partner to the business.
