DHL Express, a global leader in logistics, operates in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. With a constant need to hire across a wide range of operational roles, speed, consistency, and efficiency are essential to keeping the business running smoothly.

But in a high-volume environment like DHL’s, traditional recruitment processes were becoming harder to sustain. Candidate communication was still largely manual, recruiters were spending too much time on repetitive coordination, and demand fluctuated significantly during peak periods.

To solve this, DHL Express partnered with Carv to transform recruitment from a manual process into a scalable, AI-powered recruitment engine – one that could improve recruiter productivity, strengthen candidate experience, and support hiring at scale without increasing headcount.

The challenge

With thousands of applicants across different roles and locations, DHL Express needed a recruitment process that could move quickly while remaining scalable and consistent.

Before Carv, much of the coordination was still manual. DHL already used game-based assessments early in the process, which helped evaluate candidates efficiently at scale. But communication with candidates around the next steps was still largely handled via email. That created friction in the process.

Candidates would apply and then receive emails with instructions, such as completing the next assessment step. But many candidates did not read those emails carefully – or did not engage with them at all. As a result, recruiters often had to spend significant time reconnecting with candidates, explaining the process again, and chasing responses.

A large share of recruiter time went into repetitive tasks like calling candidates, asking the same screening questions, and coordinating schedules. These activities were necessary, but they pulled recruiters away from more strategic and human parts of the job.

This also affected the candidate experience. When communication is slow or unclear, candidates are more likely to disengage, drop out of the process, or accept another offer. In a competitive hiring market, those delays can have a direct impact on outcomes.

At DHL’s scale, even small inefficiencies create significant pressure. If the hiring process could not keep up, it risked slowing down operations, creating frustration for hiring teams, and weakening the employer brand.

Hiring more recruiters was not a realistic solution. Because demand changes significantly during peak periods, DHL needed a way to scale recruitment capacity without permanently scaling the team.

The solution

DHL Express implemented Carv’s agentic AI to automate and accelerate the early stages of the hiring process.

Together with Carv, DHL deployed AI agents across the funnel to support screening, candidate communication, routing, and interview scheduling. Rather than relying on rigid workflows or one-off automations, the goal was to create a more responsive and scalable recruitment engine.

Today, the process starts immediately when a candidate applies. Carv’s AI engages candidates right away, guides them through the next steps, asks screening questions, and keeps communication moving without delay.

The screening agent helps identify whether candidates meet the core requirements for the role. Instead of recruiters manually following up with every applicant, the process can now gather essential information much faster and more consistently.

Carv also supports candidate routing. If a candidate is not the best fit for the original role, the system can guide them toward other relevant opportunities, helping DHL retain strong candidates that might otherwise be lost.

Scheduling has also been automated, allowing candidates to book interviews directly without recruiters having to coordinate availability manually.

With this setup, DHL Express achieves:

• Immediate candidate engagement after application
• Automated screening and candidate communication at scale
• Interview scheduling without manual coordination
• More consistent candidate routing across roles and locations
• A faster, clearer candidate experience
• A scalable recruitment process that supports peak demand without increasing recruiter headcount

The results

The implementation of Carv’s agentic AI has had a major impact on DHL Express’s recruitment operation.

By automating repetitive coordination and communication tasks, recruiters now spend far less time on administrative work and far more time on meaningful conversations with candidates and hiring managers.

This has made recruitment significantly more scalable and efficient.

Overall, DHL Express has achieved:

• 26+ hours saved per recruiter per week
• 3x more hires per recruiter
• 33% increase in hire rate
• 1,000+ daily candidate conversations
• 30% reduction in turnover for operational roles

The speed of the process has improved dramatically as well. In some cases, candidates can now move from application to hire in just a few hours.

Beyond efficiency, DHL also improved candidate experience. Communication is now faster, clearer, and more accessible, helping reduce drop-off and keep candidates engaged throughout the process.

At the same time, more consistent screening and routing have strengthened candidate-to-role alignment, contributing to better hiring outcomes and improved retention.

By implementing Carv, DHL Express has not only improved recruiter productivity and candidate experience, but also built a scalable recruitment engine that can support business growth and peak hiring demand more effectively.