Transforming high-volume hiring with AI: Lessons from AdventHealth’s pilot program
In today’s competitive recruitment landscape, organizations handling high applicant volumes often find themselves asking: “How can we improve efficiency without sacrificing candidate experience or quality of hire?”
AdventHealth, one of the nation’s largest faith-based integrated health systems, recently explored this question through a strategic partnership with the hiring technology leader, Hirevue.
During a webinar titled Transforming High Volume Hiring with AI Interviewer: Lessons from Scaling 10,000+ Candidate Interviews, Keisha Malivert, Executive Director of Workforce Strategy at AdventHealth, and Dina Taylor, Hirevue’s Chief Evangelist, shared key insights that every talent acquisition leader should know.
The problem and opportunity
Malivert opened the session by describing AdventHealth’s unique challenges in attracting and retaining talent. With approximately 25,000 clinical and non-clinical hires annually and thousands of daily applicants, recruiters faced bottlenecks in manual screening processes. This repetitive and time-consuming work limited their ability to respond to candidates quickly, leaving hiring managers requesting faster turnaround while applicants voiced frustration over lack of communication.
Given the critical role staffing plays in delivering patient care and supporting team morale, AdventHealth recognized the need for transformational solutions. Partnering with Hirevue, they sought to optimize their recruitment workflow with AI based screening technology, aiming to improve speed, recruiter efficiency, and candidate satisfaction.
Strategic adoption: Partnership, not just technology
AdventHealth approached the adoption of Hirevue’s AI interviewer solution with care, emphasizing thoughtful validation and deep collaboration. AI Interviewer offers dynamic, two-way voice conversations, ensuring every applicant has an opportunity to be heard and evaluated.
Malivert shared that instead of viewing vendors as mere solution providers, her team sought true partners who could share ownership of their recruitment challenges:
"We’re not wanting just to come directly with what we think is the solution. We actually want to carry, and have you feel the onus of the problem alongside us."
Hirevue delivered on this request, providing consultative support that enabled AdventHealth to tailor AI for their specific needs, such as conversational screening for clinical roles.
Internal buy-in and governance
Given the rapid adoption of AI in recruitment, Keisha emphasized the importance of validating its value before scaling:
AI is a very, very popular theme... but we weren’t necessarily just open to it blindly. What we’re open to is understanding what is the true problem we’re trying to solve, and what can it actually do to benefit us and why.
To ensure compliance and transparency, AdventHealth leveraged its robust AI governance framework, involving their Chief AI Officer and legal teams in the approval process. Recruiters were brought into the conversation early to dispel concerns such as job replacement fears, and their feedback was integrated during pilot discussions.
Starting small: The pilot program
Rather than diving in headfirst, AdventHealth launched a controlled pilot with Hirevue’s AI interviewer focused on nursing roles—a high-priority job family with significant market need. Within 90 days, the pilot yielded measurable results, building the evidence necessary for scaling AI adoption organization-wide.
"We wanted to treat this as, like, evidence... not to skip governance as we think about scaling, but really using the data to tell us, is this something we do want to continue—or do we want to pivot?"
Metrics that matter
AdventHealth tracked a variety of leading and lagging indicators during the pilot program, focusing not just on efficiencies but also on the candidate and hiring manager experience. Results from the pilot included:
- Speed: Applicants moved 79% faster from application to manager review, exceeding their 70% target.
- Adoption: Over 54% of applicants, particularly nurses, opted into the AI screening process, surpassing expectations.
- Efficiency: Recruiters saved over $40,000 in screening time, eliminating approximately eight hours per hire.
- Flexibility: AI interviewers enabled after-hours engagement, with 41% of candidates completing their interviews outside regular business hours.
Candidate-centric design
AdventHealth prioritized the candidate experience throughout this process. Applicants could opt out of AI interviews at any time and were guaranteed human follow-up regardless of their decision. Additionally, the AI interviewer facilitated faster job alignment, rerouting applicants to positions more closely suited to their skills and career goals.
Keisha reflected on the positive feedback received:
Those are actual verbatim words that we saw in our candidate experience survey, of those that opted in, is the peace of mind that they have been given. They are being considered.
AI that complements—not replaces—humans
A key takeaway from AdventHealth’s experience was that AI should complement—not replace—human intervention. Recruiters still played a vital role in advancing candidates post-screening, ensuring quality control and a personal touch remained central to their workflows:
"This technology is supposed to complement our candidate experience not replace our recruiters by any means."
Unexpected challenges
Every innovation comes with new challenges, and AdventHealth discovered theirs during the pilot. With screening volumes dramatically increased, hiring managers struggled to keep up with interviews. The team quickly adapted, dedicating resources to support interview coordination and training managers on improved workflows.
Advice for other organizations integrating AI
Malivert offered actionable advice for organizations tackling similar high-volume recruitment challenges:
- Start small: Pilots allow you to validate technology in controlled environments without risking widespread disruption.
- Emphasize communication: Early and frequent communication with key stakeholders (recruiters, managers) ensures smoother change management.
- Partner strategically: Seek vendors who will share accountability for your challenges, beyond simply selling solutions.
- Balance speed and quality: Don’t prioritize efficiency at the expense of candidate quality or experience.
“Lean in with courage... start somewhere. A pilot is as good as the people that resist it.”
Final thoughts: The future of AI in hiring
AdventHealth’s journey with Hirevue’s AI interviewer is a compelling example of how innovation can transform recruitment—and extend beyond mere efficiency to deliver real value in candidate experience and staffing outcomes.
By focusing on thoughtful validation, robust governance, and humanizing technology, Malivert and her team are paving the way for scalable and ethical AI adoption across the talent landscape.
As Dina Taylor concluded in the webinar:
"There’s this interesting kind of opportunity to leverage technology… to humanize the experience… It’s meant to enhance it, not necessarily do anything else."
Whether you’re in healthcare or another high-volume recruiting environment, AdventHealth’s story reminds us of the power—and responsibility—that comes with leveraging AI to reimagine hiring. Starting small, measuring impact, and keeping people central to the process are key principles that all organizations can benefit from as they prepare to scale recruitment technologies.
If you’re curious to learn more or have questions, reach out to Hirevue’s team for additional insights or to discuss how AI can support your recruitment goals.
