Quick Wins with AI-Enhanced Recruiting for a Growing AEC Firm

July 31, 2025

Challenge

A leading engineering firm was struggling to attract qualified candidates in a competitive hiring environment. Despite ongoing recruiting efforts, the firm was experiencing low visibility on job postings, limited applicant flow, and sluggish interview activity. Leadership recognized the need for innovation but lacked the internal capability to integrate advanced technologies like artificial intelligence into their existing talent acquisition workflows.

Solutions

Thrivence designed and implemented a custom AI-enhanced recruiting initiative pilot to address these pain points and achieve some quick wins. Key elements of the solution included:

Optimized Job Postings: Applied AI tools to rewrite and enhance job descriptions to better match search algorithms and candidate behavior.
Workflow Automation: Streamlined early-stage recruiting workflows to reduce time-to-review and surface the most qualified applicants faster.
Data-Driven Insights: Implemented tools to track and analyze performance metrics, enabling real-time adjustments to improve outcomes.
Pilot Deployment: The initiative was launched as a pilot to measure effectiveness without disrupting ongoing operations.

Results

The pilot delivered impressive gains across the recruiting pipeline in just 50 days:

132% increase in total applications
2,260% increase in candidate reviews
375% increase in interviews
5 new hires, leading to an estimated $560,000 in revenue potential

In addition to talent outcomes, the financial impact was substantial:

$72,000 in additional revenue from accelerated start times
$35,000 saved by avoiding agency recruiting fees
$5,000 in value through improved workflow efficiency
$112,000+ in direct financial value, excluding future gains from improved hiring decisions