Thalia, a leading German bookseller with over 350 stores, faced difficulties filling retail management roles due to a shortage of qualified candidates, especially in smaller towns and border regions. To overcome these challenges, Thalia partnered with GoodCall to proactively source top talent. In addition to retail roles, our focus included non-retail positions such as IT and Project Management Specialists. 

GoodCall assigned a dedicated full-time recruiter to manage the entire hiring process throughout the 2,5-year partnership. The recruiter was responsible for sourcing candidates, conducting prescreening interviews, coordinating communication with hiring managers, and providing weekly reports to adjust requirements based on the client’s needs and market conditions. 

After testing different channels, LinkedIn proved to be the most effective platform for finding qualified candidates. Our RPO expert achieved a good response rate by crafting personalized outreach messages that resonated well with potential candidates. 

Our search strategy went beyond traditional bookselling candidates to include professionals from related fields, such as libraries, archives, publishing, universities, and theaters. By widening our search, we successfully identified more suitable candidates, even in locations with a limited talent pool. 

We quickly understood the unique aspects of the German market and adjusted the recruitment process accordingly. Our RPO expert, fluent German speaker, adapted quickly to the local specifics and needs of the candidates. Thanks to this targeted approach, we reviewed over 17,000 profiles and reached out to nearly 11,000 candidates. From these, we presented more than 300 qualified professionals to the client across retail, IT, and project management roles.