Tigros is the leading supermarket chain across Lombardy and Piedmont: over 90 stores, more than 4,000 employees and fresh-food departments at the heart of thebrand. Sales assistants, deli and butcher counter staff, produce assistants, assistantstore managers: every year Tigros publishes more than 1,000 job ads, about 86 amonth.
Today all recruitment runs through StepsConnect. This is the story of how the HR team handles over 100,000 applications a year by letting the agents make first contact while keeping the decisions for itself.
TIGROS VOICES
"[Quote from Claudio Roseto on why they chose StepsConnect, to be requested.]"
"It's like headhunting in your own database."
BEFORE STEPSCONNECT
A rigid method and a database that was hard to search
Before StepsConnect, the way of working was more rigid. Active search in the database,30,000 people, was hard to use without a parameter for place of residence, and a filter like"butcher" returned thousands of profiles. For a team that looks for people near the store,finding the right person was a problem. Meanwhile the HR team grew and learned to workcollaboratively, with one shared goal: filling open positions.
I can't get thousands of results or hardly any. I need a shortlist."
WHY STEPSCONNECT
Flexibility, continuous updates , speed
These are the three words the Tigros team uses to sum up the choice. A platform that keeps evolving: every release adds new features or improves existing ones, and customers are involved in the learning, with the StepsConnect team guiding every new feature in the platform. The result is a tool that never stands still and lets the team move fast, from publishing job ads to searching the database.
SCALE
One method for over 90 stores
The HR team runs recruitment for over 90 stores with 7 accounts: over 1,000 job ads in 12 months, 78 templates that keep every ad consistent from Novara to Busto Arsizio, and a team that has grown over the years and works collaboratively to fill every position. Job ads are integrated with Indeed through Smart Apply, which has substantially increased application volumes. And because sponsored listings are managed directly from the ATS, the team saves a great deal of time and a great many emails.
7
86 a month
1 in 4
AUTOMATION
Screening questions do the first filtering
The 8 screening questions are built per template according to the role and integrated with Indeed Smart Apply: candidates answer directly on Indeed, before a recruiter even opens the CV, and the answers arrive in the platform already filtered. For some roles the team adds a
second step via WhatsApp: instead of calling, it sends the question by chat. A reply email
goes out automatically at every status change: no candidate is left without a reply, and everyone knows where they stand in the process. Sponsored listings are also managed from one place: from the ATS, on Indeed and the other channels, without switching tools.
Online job ad
sponsorship included
Screening questions
Indeed, even before the CV
instead of a phone call
Automatic reply
reply
Interview
SMART SEARCH
The database is the first search channel
It's the feature the team uses most. Every search starts from the database, not from the job ad: with Smart Search the team queries over 62,000 profiles with a natural-language question, "I'm looking for a butcher in Biella", and within 2 minutes knows whether the person is there, contacts them or starts a new search. For a chain that hires close to the store, it's the difference between an archive and a talent pool to draw from. Yesterday's applications become today's hires, good profiles for another department go straight to colleagues in their own job ads, and the over 7,800 people marked "to call back" are already the first list for the next opening.
62.000+
language
2 min
> 7.800
ready for the next opening
ORGANIZATION
A reply to every candidate within 2 days,even with over 13,000 applications a month
In September 2026 Tigros received over 13,000 applications in a single month. The team looks at all of them: it shifts sponsorship so that no job ad gets overloaded, uses the screening questions to narrow the field, and then decides. Everything happens from the candidate profile: feedback for the future, status changes, sharing with colleagues. Even so, the first status change comes after a median of 2 days, and more than 3 in 4 applications have a status assigned. People who don't find a position today don't disappear: over 7,800 people are marked "to call back", ready for the next department that opens. For applicants, this means being contacted quickly, always knowing where they stand and getting an answer even when it's no: an experience that improves how people see the Tigros brand, whether they become a colleague one day or a customer in the store.
2 days
77%
over 7.800
A TRUE STORY
Search opened at 10,closed at 4
One morning a search opens for a sales assistant. The recruiter doesn't start from scratch: before publishing, they query the database. Among the profiles, an application from a month earlier comes up, for a different store. It isn't just a CV: a colleague had already interviewed the candidate and left everything that was needed in the profile, assessment, availability, contact details. The candidate had been told they would be called back. A 5-minute phone call is enough to confirm they are still interested and available: hired, with no new interview. By 4 pm the position is filled. For Tigros it's a day of work saved; for that person, it's a company that promised to call back and did.
THE RESULTS
What changed for Tigros
+100.000
Applications in a single flow for over 90 stores, managed by the HR team with the support of automation.
8
Screening questions on Indeed before a recruiter opens the CV, with WhatsApp for the roles that need it
2 days
First reply to the candidate, even in months with more than 13,000 applications: attention that strengthens Tigros's image as an employer.
> 1.400
Hires with a median time-to-hire of 14 days.
over 62.00
Profiles searchable with Smart Search, and over 7,800 people to call back.
ADVICE FROM ELENA INGALLINA
For anyone handling large application volumes
Being organized is our strength: with the numbers we handle, if you don't work collaboratively you won't reach the goal. And reuse candidates: you need an effective archive system so you can reassess them later.
Sector
Large-scale retail
Stores
90+ in Lombardy and Piedmont
Employees
4.000+
Team
7 HR accounts
Modules
MOST SOUGHT-AFTER ROLES
Sales assistant
Deli counter staff
Produce assistant
Butcher counter staff
Assistant store manager
