How River Island created a transparent hiring process across 240 locations
Retail
28%
reduction in time to hire across all locations
240
locations and 7,000+ staff on one system
Single points
of failure eliminated
Executive summary
River Island is a family-owned UK fashion retailer with over 7,000 employees across 240 physical locations and a thriving online presence. Talent Acquisition Manager Hannah Clarke spent nearly 12 years at River Island and saw firsthand how technology could amplify the company's commitment to candidate experience. By replacing a clunky, manual system with Pinpoint, River Island reduced time to hire by 28%, built visibility across hundreds of hiring managers, and created a modern careers site that signals to candidates they're joining a company that's forward-thinking and adaptive.
Industry
Retail
About River Island
River Island is a family-owned fashion retailer with over seven decades of history on the UK high street. With 240 physical locations, a robust online store, and 7,000+ employees, the company is known for staying ahead of trends and creating memorable shopping experiences. The company values adaptability and growth, reflected in their culture and their approach to technology. Employees are affectionately called "Islanders" and share a passion for their work and innovation.
Why Pinpoint?
Hannah recognized that River Island's existing ATS wasn't built for modern recruitment. The system was clunky, reliant on manual processes and Outlook, and left the team vulnerable when someone went on sick leave. With no centralized visibility, it was difficult for hiring managers across 240 locations to stay in sync. Hannah wanted an ATS that could grow with River Island, handle their complexity, and create the kind of candidate experience that reflected the company's commitment to their people.
“We needed software that could be tailored to our complex recruitment process. Pinpoint was an up-and-coming product. We saw that it would adapt and grow in the same way we would.”
Hannah Clarke
Talent Acquisition Manager, River Island
Use Case
1
A beautifully branded careers experience
The challenge
River Island's old system wasn't designed for retail and didn't reflect the company's brand or values. Candidates had no compelling reason to apply, and the recruitment experience felt disconnected from what made Island culture special. Hannah wanted to use the new ATS as an opportunity to reposition River Island as a destination employer in retail.
The solution
Hannah transformed River Island's careers site into a beautiful, branded experience that tells the Island story. In-store QR codes direct prospective employees to the careers page where applications are quick and easy. The careers site showcases River Island values and employee stories, demonstrating how retail can be a path to meaningful careers for people who thrive in fast-paced environments. The modern platform itself sends a signal to candidates that this is a company worth working for.
Beautifully
branded careers site
In-store
QR codes directing candidates
Employee
stories showing real retail careers
There's always an opportunity to change and keep up with trends. If you like to be kept on your toes, it's a great place to have a career.
Hannah Clarke
Talent Acquisition Manager, River Island
Use Case
2
Efficient workflows and automation across retail locations
The challenge
River Island's hiring managers worked across 240 stores, many of them wearing multiple hats where recruitment was just a small part of their daily work. Store managers needed simple, intuitive tools that didn't require extensive training. Meanwhile, the TA team in head office needed to maintain consistency while supporting hundreds of hiring managers.
The solution
Hannah designed customized hiring workflows and templates in Pinpoint that pop up for frequently recurring roles, reducing the mental load on store managers. Unique hiring workflows support different role types, so the process adapts to whether someone's hiring for retail floor or head office. Automations handle routine tasks like onboarding workflows, freeing up the learning and development team to focus on strategy. All of this lives in one centralized platform, so hiring managers can see what's happening and the TA team has full visibility.
Less
complexity for managers with custom workflows
Automated
routine tasks
Centralized
system with no single points of failure
Automation is saving us a huge job.
Hannah Clarke
Talent Acquisition Manager, River Island
Use Case
3
Transparency and collaboration that connects everyone
The challenge
Before Pinpoint, one person on holiday or sick leave could crumble River Island's entire recruitment workflow. With no centralized visibility, team members had no idea what communication a candidate had received or where they stood in the process. This fragility was especially problematic for a company with 240 locations and hundreds of hiring managers.
The solution
Pinpoint's intuitive interface made it easy for hiring managers to adopt the new system and quickly understand how to use it. The platform's built-in transparency means that when someone is out, another team member can easily pick up where they left off. Pinpoint's customer success team also stepped in when additional support was needed, freeing the TA experts to focus on strategy rather than troubleshooting.
No
single point of failure
Complete
candidate visibility
Fast
manager adoption across retail
It's having that transparency; if someone's off, someone else can easily pick up. Nothing's getting missed. No candidates are being left to wait.
Hannah Clarke
Talent Acquisition Manager, River Island
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Love for Pinpoint
“I prefer Pinpoint over Workday and PeopleSoft because of the ease of use.”
“The fact that we survived hyperscaling from 600 employees to more than 1,300 in less than a year is the best testament to our success with Pinpoint.”
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“Pinpoint has completely changed how we work. We're more efficient, more consistent, and better equipped to give every candidate a great experience.”
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“We want to be the employer of choice, and having Pinpoint on board is going to help us achieve that.”
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“I love being able to text from Pinpoint because many of our candidates prefer it. The delivery receipts and history tab give me total visibility into the process.”
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“The communication before was not always perfect — there were a lot of mistakes along the way. Whereas now it's really a great experience for candidates.”
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4.8
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