info@talent-funnel.com
0330 4703 424Signature Group is a multi-site pubs & bars operator with over 20 locations across Scotland.
As the business continued to grow, the people team needed a more efficient and scalable way to manage hiring across venues, reduce manager admin time, and improve consistency throughout the hiring process.
Before implementing Talent Funnel, recruitment was heavily manual, with venue managers spending significant time managing applications, onboarding, and recruitment admin without a centralised system.
Today, Talent Funnel helps Signature Group standardise hiring workflows, automate onboarding processes, and reduce operational recruitment workload across the business.
Talent Funnel’s impact:
- Recruitment administration time reduced from 2 hours to 30 mins per hire
- 75% reduction in monthly Indeed spend
- Up to 45% faster hiring process (Average time to hire is reduced from 4–6 weeks down to 10–23 days, depending on role type.)
Joanne Brooks
Head of People
We wanted the ATS to almost pay for itself through savings in time and attraction spend.
Hiring Environment at Signature Group
Hiring across a multi-site hospitality operation creates operational complexity quickly – particularly when individual venues are managing high application volumes independently.
For Signature Group, recruitment was being handled across 20+ venues, with General Managers heavily involved in day-to-day hiring activity alongside running operations.
The business faced a common hospitality recruitment challenge: high application volumes for junior roles, but a far smaller pool of experienced candidates for specialist positions such as chefs.
Much of the recruitment process remained manual:
- CVs managed through inboxes
- Recruitment activity handled differently between venues
- Large volumes of applicants difficult to review consistently
- Significant manager time spent on admin and onboarding tasks
Recruitment processes were also fragmented operationally, with candidate CVs and applicant information stored across individual inboxes rather than within a structured recruitment platform.
At the same time, large application volumes from Indeed created another operational challenge. Venue managers were overwhelmed by the number of CVs coming through for each role, making it difficult to consistently review and shortlist candidates effectively alongside day-to-day operations.
“Managers were often forced to pick the top 10 applications in the inbox, rather than the top 10 candidates, simply because of the volume coming through.”
This meant strong candidates were often overlooked, while existing applicant data and talent pools weren’t being effectively reused across the business.
Operational Challenges Before Talent Funnel
Before implementing Talent Funnel, recruitment at Signature Group was highly manual and heavily dependent on venue managers managing hiring activity alongside operational responsibilities.
Without a centralised recruitment system, processes varied between venues and significant time was spent handling applications, onboarding administration, and candidate communication manually.
“We’ve gone from a manager spending half a day a week on recruitment to around half an hour a week.”
The business also lacked visibility into:
- which hiring channels were producing quality hires
- where bottlenecks existed in the hiring process
- how existing candidate data could be reused more effectively
As a result, recruitment activity often became reactive rather than strategic, with venues repeatedly starting from scratch for new vacancies while continuing to rely heavily on external advertising channels such as Indeed.
The business recognised the need for a more structured and scalable recruitment process that could improve efficiency while supporting long-term hiring performance across all sites.
Why Signature Group Chose Talent Funnel
As Signature Group evaluated ATS providers, the team initially focused on core functionality, ease of use, hospitality suitability, and integration capability.
A key requirement was ensuring the platform could support the way Signature Group operated across multiple venues, while also integrating with existing systems including Rotaready.
While reviewing providers, Signature Group also evaluated lower-cost alternatives. However, the decision ultimately came down to overall operational value rather than headline software cost alone.
“Cost would normally be one of the main deciding factors. Talent Funnel were more expensive, but we could clearly see the additional functionality and level of service being offered.”
Alongside functionality, the team placed significant value on implementation support and ongoing account management.
“The biggest differentiator for Talent Funnel is the service and support we receive.”
The buying process also included speaking directly with existing Talent Funnel customers to validate both the platform experience and the level of support provided post-implementation.
“We spoke to two of your customers and they were very, very complimentary about the service and support.”
For Signature Group, the decision was ultimately based on confidence that the platform would reduce operational workload, improve hiring consistency, and deliver long-term value across the business – not simply the lowest upfront cost.
How Talent Funnel Supports Their Hiring Process
Today, Talent Funnel supports recruitment activity in over 20 Signature Group locations, helping standardise hiring workflows while reducing manual administration for both managers and HR teams.
The platform is used to manage candidate pipelines, automate onboarding processes, centralise applicant data, and improve visibility across recruitment activity throughout the business.
One of the biggest operational improvements has been the reduction in manual onboarding administration.
“We really need to do very little once an offer is sent – the onboarding documentation all goes out automatically.”
The simplicity of the platform has also helped drive adoption across venue teams.
“It’s a very simple system to use in terms of moving through the different hiring stages.”
The people team also now has greater visibility into:
- source-of-hire performance
- hiring bottlenecks
- candidate pipeline activity
- talent pool opportunities across the business
As the business continues to evolve its hiring strategy, Signature Group is increasingly focused on making better use of existing candidate data and talent pools before relying on external advertising channels such as Indeed.
How Talent Funnel Supports Their Hiring Process
Since implementing Talent Funnel, Signature Group has significantly reduced the operational workload associated with recruitment across its venues.
The most immediate impact has been the reduction in manager admin time spent on hiring activity.
“We’ve gone from a manager spending half a day a week on recruitment to around half an hour a week.”
The business has also significantly reduced reliance on paid attraction channels such as Indeed. Monthly Indeed spend reduced by 75% in attraction spend while improving overall recruitment efficiency.
At the same time, Signature Group has improved hiring speed across the business through automation, centralised workflows, and better visibility into recruitment activity.
Average time to hire has reduced from approximately 4–6 weeks down to 10–23 days, depending on role type – representing an improvement of up to 45%.
Talent Funnel has also enabled the team to take a more data-informed approach to recruitment by improving visibility into:
- source-of-hire performance
- hiring bottlenecks
- candidate pipeline activity
- talent pool opportunities across the business
While external recruitment market pressures – particularly around sponsored advertising on Indeed – continue to evolve, Talent Funnel has provided Signature Group with a stronger operational foundation to manage hiring more efficiently across all sites.
