Rally House has earned the prestigious Gold Award from the Brandon Hall Group in the “Best Use of AI for Talent Acquisition” category, spotlighting the company’s innovative use of AI in talent acquisition to drive high-volume hiring and elevate candidate experience during rapid growth.
Rally House, the specialty retail chain known for its local team apparel and sports merchandise, has achieved a remarkable milestone by winning the Gold Award for “Best Use of AI for Talent Acquisition” at the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards. This prestigious recognition celebrates Rally House’s innovative application of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming its recruitment strategy — achieving speed, scale, and personalization in one of the most competitive retail hiring environments.
The award highlights how Rally House successfully leveraged AI-powered recruiting tools, in partnership with Phenom, to optimize its talent acquisition pipeline during a period of rapid growth. The company used automation and predictive analytics to fill thousands of roles efficiently, scaling its workforce as it expanded from 140 to nearly 300 stores nationwide.
This Gold Award not only honors technological innovation but also underscores how AI, when applied thoughtfully, can elevate both candidate experience and organizational agility — two critical factors in modern HR strategy.
Transforming Talent Acquisition with AI-Driven Innovation
As Rally House embarked on an ambitious expansion plan across the U.S., the company faced a challenge common to high-growth retailers — the need to attract, evaluate, and hire large volumes of candidates quickly, without compromising quality or brand experience.
Traditional recruitment methods — job postings, manual screenings, and phone-based scheduling — could not scale fast enough to meet these demands. The company required a digital-first strategy that could automate high-volume hiring while maintaining the personal, community-driven values that define its brand.
To achieve this, Rally House collaborated with Phenom, a leading AI-powered talent experience platform, to introduce a comprehensive recruitment automation ecosystem. This ecosystem blended cutting-edge AI tools with human oversight, enabling recruiters to work smarter, not harder.
The solution integrated several key components, including:
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AI-powered chatbot screening for 24/7 candidate engagement.
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QR code-enabled mobile applications for walk-in and event-based recruiting.
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Predictive hiring campaigns aligned with store openings and seasonal sales peaks.
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Automated interview scheduling tools that synced directly with hiring teams’ calendars.
Together, these tools allowed Rally House to transform recruiting from a slow, reactive process into a fast, intelligent, and proactive system that met the demands of a rapidly expanding retail footprint.
Key Achievements and Measurable Impact
The measurable outcomes of Rally House’s AI-driven recruitment transformation were striking — both in terms of operational efficiency and business impact. Within just three months of implementation, the company recorded extraordinary results that demonstrated the tangible power of AI in HR.
1. Over 5,800 Interviews Scheduled Automatically
Through automation and AI-driven workflow orchestration, Rally House was able to schedule more than 5,800 interviews automatically within a single quarter. The time-to-interview — previously measured in days — was cut down to mere hours. Candidates could move from application to confirmed interview in a fraction of the time, significantly improving engagement and reducing drop-offs.
2. More than 10,000 Hours of Recruiter Time Saved
By automating repetitive administrative tasks such as screening and scheduling, Rally House’s AI system freed up over 10,000 hours of recruiter time. This is the equivalent of adding five full-time recruiters to the team — without the associated costs. Recruiters could now focus their efforts on meaningful candidate interactions, culture-fit assessments, and high-impact hiring decisions.
3. Nearly 8,000 Hires Completed in 2024
The company successfully onboarded 7,992 new employees in 2024 using the automated system, a record achievement that proved the scalability and dependability of the AI-powered model. This included hires across multiple states and seasonal recruitment drives aligned with sports events and holiday seasons.
4. 122% Cost Savings Achieved
Perhaps most impressively, Rally House achieved 122% cost savings compared to traditional hiring models. This was driven by reduced reliance on paid job advertising, improved candidate conversion rates, and optimized resource utilization. The new system made recruitment not only faster but also more cost-effective, supporting the company’s broader financial goals during expansion.
Why This Recognition Matters
Winning the Gold Award from the Brandon Hall Group carries special significance because it validates AI’s role as an enabler of strategic HR transformation — not just as a technological trend.
Rally House’s win stands out for several reasons:
1. Blending Human Touch with Automation
In an era where many companies struggle to balance personalization with efficiency, Rally House achieved both. The AI system handled the repetitive and time-consuming aspects of hiring, while human recruiters retained responsibility for candidate interaction and cultural evaluation. This approach ensured that automation enhanced — rather than replaced — human connection.
2. Redefining High-Volume Retail Recruiting
Retail hiring has historically been reactive and transactional, often driven by urgent staffing needs. Rally House flipped the script by introducing predictive hiring, using data to anticipate store-opening needs and event-based demand surges. This shifted talent acquisition from a reactive to a strategically proactive function.
3. Elevating Candidate Experience
The introduction of AI chatbots and mobile-friendly application flows significantly improved the candidate journey. Applicants could engage instantly through QR codes placed in-store or on event signage, complete initial screenings through conversational chatbots, and schedule interviews within minutes — all without waiting for human intervention.
This responsiveness created a frictionless and positive candidate experience, reinforcing Rally House’s reputation as an innovative and employee-centric retailer.
4. Setting a Benchmark for HR Technology Maturity
The award underscores that AI in recruiting has moved beyond experimentation. Rally House demonstrated measurable business outcomes — reduced time-to-hire, improved conversion rates, and substantial cost savings — proving that AI investments can directly drive organizational growth and ROI.
The Brandon Hall judges recognized Rally House for integrating technology and strategy in a way that aligns with both business performance and people experience.
Inside the Implementation: How Rally House Made AI Work
The success of Rally House’s talent acquisition transformation didn’t happen overnight. It resulted from thoughtful planning, strategic partnerships, and disciplined change management.
1. Proactive Mobile Recruiting Through QR Codes
The rollout began with a focus on accessibility. By placing QR codes at store locations and recruiting events, Rally House made it effortless for potential candidates to apply instantly using their smartphones. This simple yet effective feature transformed recruitment into an on-the-spot, mobile-first experience, capturing interest at the moment of engagement.
2. AI Chatbot for Initial Candidate Screening
Rally House deployed an AI-powered conversational chatbot that conducted initial candidate screenings. The chatbot could answer FAQs, evaluate basic qualifications, and gather key information before passing qualified candidates to human recruiters.
This approach ensured faster triage and a more efficient pipeline — particularly during peak hiring seasons when thousands of applicants entered the system simultaneously.
3. Predictive Hiring Campaigns
Timing is everything in retail, especially for a brand that thrives on sports seasons and regional events. Rally House used predictive data models to plan staffing campaigns around major sports seasons, playoff peaks, and even upcoming store openings.
This meant that hiring was no longer reactive. Instead, Rally House could staff new stores before construction finished — ensuring that talent was ready from day one of operations.
4. Automated Interview Scheduling
The automation suite also handled interview scheduling, syncing calendars across managers and candidates. This eliminated the back-and-forth emails that often delay hiring. Candidates could pick available time slots instantly, while hiring managers received automatic confirmations and reminders — streamlining the entire scheduling process.
5. Human Oversight and Cultural Alignment
While AI played a significant role, Rally House ensured that human recruiters maintained oversight throughout. The company implemented human-in-the-loop protocols to validate AI decisions, review candidate recommendations, and maintain cultural alignment. This ensured fairness, transparency, and consistency with the company’s values.
Broader Implications: AI’s Role in the Future of Retail Talent
Rally House’s success story serves as a powerful case study in how AI can transform not only HR operations but also the entire employee lifecycle.
The retail sector, characterized by seasonal demand, geographic expansion, and high turnover rates, stands to benefit immensely from intelligent automation. Rally House’s results demonstrate that with the right tools and oversight, companies can achieve both speed and personalization — two qualities once thought to be mutually exclusive in recruiting.
AI in talent acquisition is also paving the way for data-informed workforce planning, bias reduction, and real-time analytics. For instance, predictive insights can identify hiring bottlenecks before they occur, while intelligent matching can ensure candidates are placed in roles aligned with their strengths.
As AI technology continues to evolve, the Rally House model provides a roadmap for how mid-sized enterprises can deploy advanced HR technologies responsibly and effectively — achieving enterprise-level impact without losing their human touch.
Lessons for Other Organizations
Rally House’s award-winning initiative offers key lessons for other companies exploring AI in talent acquisition:
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Start with a clear use case: Identify specific bottlenecks — such as screening or scheduling — where AI can deliver measurable value.
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Balance automation with empathy: AI should empower recruiters, not replace them. Maintain human oversight for cultural and behavioral assessments.
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Integrate with business cycles: Align predictive hiring with product launches, store openings, or seasonal events for maximum impact.
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Measure outcomes, not activity: Focus on metrics that reflect business results — time-to-fill, cost per hire, and candidate satisfaction — rather than process volume.
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Invest in change management: Adoption is key. Provide training and support so that recruiters and hiring managers can trust and embrace the technology.
Conclusion
Rally House’s Gold Award win for “Best Use of AI for Talent Acquisition” at the Brandon Hall Group Awards is more than a recognition — it’s a validation of how human-centered AI can reshape the future of work.
Through innovation, strategy, and partnership with Phenom, Rally House has built a recruitment engine that combines scale, intelligence, and empathy — a rare trifecta in today’s talent landscape.
By saving thousands of hours, cutting costs, and enhancing candidate experience, the company has proven that AI is not just a tool for efficiency, but a strategic enabler for sustainable growth and competitive advantage.
As Rally House continues its national expansion, its AI-powered hiring model stands as a blueprint for organizations seeking to modernize recruitment — where technology amplifies human potential, and every hire becomes smarter, faster, and more meaningful.
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