Army and Air Force Exchange Service

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) recognized a need for an efficient and easy-to-use automated hiring system that would help increase the pool of qualified candidates while reducing the time it takes to hire. In early 2002, AAFES adopted Velocity Group’s QuickHire Automated Staffing System as part of an HR Transformation Project designed to achieve that goal.

The AAFES retail network currently includes over 10,500 facilities worldwide, the support of 25 separate businesses in 25 countries and in every state in the union. In order to meet the staffing needs of this global network, it was important to focus on some key elements.  AAFES needed to handle potential candidates from around the world and direct them to the appropriate exchange while encouraging an increase of applicant recruitment, especially from military families. Because exchanges are located on military bases, background checks for every candidate selected for employment were also necessary.  And finally, to expedite commencement of the employee on-boarding process, AAFES required a reduction of HR data entry for redundant elements.

Prior to project implementation, Velocity Group consultants worked closely with AAFES HR staff to map existing business processes and define requirements for the new system.  As a result of this process, Velocity Group added or modified several key features in the COTS system to meet AAFES’ specific needs: a geographic sort on vacancies, customized applicant units, a bi-directional integration gateway with BTi Employment Screening Service (3^rd party vendor for background checks), an integration with AAFES to pass data to the HR/Payroll integrated database, and the creation of PDF forms pre-filled with applicant data.

The implementation process for the new AAFES Automated Hiring System began in February 2002 and rollout of the system started in March 2002 at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX and Headquarters, Dallas, TX, followed by installation in other locations around the world.

Since going live with the Velocity Group automated staffing system, AAFES posted over 50,000 vacancies, received and processed more than 1,000,000 applications, and processed over 200,000 applicants through the background check integration gateway.  With the help of Velocity Group, AAFES reported that the average number of applicants to openings has more than doubled, more vacancies are processed faster with fewer HR personnel, the average time-to-hire ratio for each vacancy has decreased from 14 days to 8 days, and the on-boarding process time is more efficient with a reduction in the number of reported data-entry errors.  The same system is still in use today, providing AAFES with a robust and cost-effective medium for recruiting and staffing.