How Hudson Talent Solutions helped Hershey improve hiring speed, candidate quality, and recruitment efficiency across North America and global markets.
The Hershey Company needed a recruitment partner that could keep pace with fast moving hiring demands across manufacturing, corporate, and professional roles. With operations spanning the U.S., Canada, and international markets, Hershey required a solution that could flex with demand, bring stronger local market insight, and support a wide range of hiring environments without disrupting existing HR operations.
Hudson Talent Solutions partnered with Hershey to provide a fully embedded RPO solution designed around speed, scalability, and candidate quality. By working as an extension of Hershey’s internal talent team, Hudson helped strengthen recruitment delivery across high-volume manufacturing, skilled trades, hourly, corporate, and professional hiring.
Key Results
- Approximately 1,500 projected hires annually
- Hiring volumes reaching up to 50 hires per week
- 30% cost savings compared to the previous provider
- 436 hires and 703 accepted offers during the most recent reporting period
- Time to first slate averaging 8–11 days
- Average time to offer acceptance of 27 days
- Multilingual hiring support across Spanish, French, and Portuguese
Situation
Hershey required a talent partner capable of supporting rapid, high-volume hiring across manufacturing, corporate, and professional functions throughout the U.S., Canada, and international markets.
The organization needed a scalable recruitment solution that could flex with demand, support diverse hiring environments, and integrate seamlessly into existing HR operations and technology.
At the time, Hershey was facing several recruitment challenges, including:
- High-volume hiring demands reaching up to 50 hires per week
- Class hiring initiatives requiring next-week turnaround
- Recruitment support across union and non-union facilities
- International hiring coordination across multiple regions
- Limited local market expertise from the incumbent provider
- Screening and assessment processes that were unintentionally eliminating qualified talent
- Rising recruitment costs with limited process flexibility
Journey to Success
Hudson Talent Solutions implemented a fully embedded recruitment partnership designed to scale with Hershey’s operational needs while improving speed, efficiency, and candidate experience.
Our team became an extension of Hershey’s internal talent function, providing end-to-end recruitment support across manufacturing, corporate, and professional hiring. The partnership was built to move quickly, but also thoughtfully, helping Hershey meet immediate hiring needs while creating a stronger, more flexible recruitment model for the long term.
The solution included:
- Deployment of a 20-person embedded recruitment team supporting the U.S.,
Canada, LATAM, EMEA, and Manila - Full time zone and multilingual hiring support, including Spanish, French, and
Portuguese - On-site and local recruiter presence to strengthen market expertise and candidate
engagement - Recruitment support across hourly manufacturing, skilled trades, corporate, and
professional roles - Seamless integration into Hershey’s existing HR technology ecosystem
- Rapid implementation, including staffing a 15-person team within 30 days
- Optimization of assessment and screening workflows to improve throughput and
candidate quality - Flexible support for class hiring and seasonal workforce demands
Behind the Scenes
High-volume hiring requires more than recruiter capacity. It requires local market understanding, process discipline, hiring manager alignent, and the ability to adapt quickly as workforce needs change.
By embedding specialized recruitment support directly into Hershey’s hiring operations, Hudson Talent Solutions helped create a more agile and efficient talent acquisition model. Our team brought the structure, scale, and market knowledge needed to support complex hiring needs across multiple regions, languages, role types, and facility environments.
The partnership delivered measurable business impact, including:
- Approximately 1,500 projected hires annually
- Hiring volumes of as many as 50 hires per week
- 30% cost savings compared to the previous provider
- 436 hires and 703 accepted offers during the most recent reporting period
- Time to first slate averaging 8–11 days
- Average time to offer acceptance of 27 days
- Improved candidate quality and stronger feedback across professional hiring functions
About the Client
The Hershey Company is a global consumer goods and manufacturing organization with operations spanning North America and international markets. The company was looking for a talent acquisition solution capable of supporting high-volume workforce demands while maintaining hiring quality, operational flexibility, and localized market expertise.
Solutions Provided
- Enterprise RPO
- Embedded Recruitment Teams
- High-Volume Manufacturing Recruitment
- Multi-Lingual Talent Support
- Global Talent Acquisition Support
- Skilled Trades & Hourly Hiring
- Recruitment Process Optimization
- Workforce Scalability Support
Frequently Asked Questions
What recruitment challenges was Hershey facing?
Hershey needed support for high-volume hiring across manufacturing, corporate, and professional roles, including class hiring, union and non-union facilities, multilingual recruitment needs, and international coordination across multiple regions.
How did Hudson Talent Solutions support Hershey’s hiring needs?
Hudson Talent Solutions deployed an embedded recruitment team that worked directly within Hershey’s hiring operations. The team provided end-to-end recruitment support, local market expertise, multilingual coverage, process optimization, and flexible support for high-volume and seasonal hiring needs.
What types of roles did Hudson support?
Hudson supported hourly manufacturing, skilled trades, corporate, and professional roles across North America and global markets.
What results did the partnership deliver?
The partnership supported approximately 1,500 projected hires annually, hiring volumes of up to 50 hires per week, 30% cost savings compared to the previous provider, 436 hires, 703 accepted offers, and an average time to first slate of 8–11 days.
Why is an embedded RPO model effective for high-volume manufacturing hiring?
An embedded RPO model gives organizations dedicated recruitment support that works as an extension of the internal talent acquisition team. For high-volume manufacturing environments, this helps improve speed, flexibility, local market reach, candidate quality, and cost efficiency.