The Customer

• JB HiFi: Established in 1974 by John Barbuto with a simple philosophy—to offer a specialist range of hi‑fi and recorded music at the lowest prices—JB HiFi has grown into one of Australasia’s largest home entertainment retailers. Over decades, the brand expanded its offering to include leading computers, tablets, TVs, cameras, speakers, and more.
• The Good Guys: With roots dating back to 1952 and a re‐brand in 1998 under the “Pay Less Pay Cash” mantra, The Good Guys has long been a household name in consumer electronics and appliances. Acquired by JB HiFi in 2016, it now contributes to a powerful, united retail force under JB HiFi Limited.

The Challenge: Hiring volume quickly (and simply) without a recruitment team

High volume, seasonal recruitment keeps even the best recruiters on their toes. But it’s even more challenging when you’re not a recruitment professional across all the job req lingo and complicated tech stacks because your full time role is managing a retail store!

With JB HiFi Group’s decentralised recruitment model, each store manages its own hiring—powering up and down seasonally while recruiting up to 8,000 employees annually across Australia and New Zealand.

Challenges looked like:

1. Fragmented background screening: The previous process involved multiple providers for police, national criminal, reference, and work right checks, which was both time-consuming and cumbersome.
2. Seasonal surges: Retail’s peak periods like Christmas, Black Friday, and back‑to‑school required rapid scaling, often overwhelming the old-school manual process.
3. Complex user needs: Store managers, who are experts in retail rather than recruitment, needed a simple, intuitive system to trigger and track background checks without navigating a maze of technical jargon.

The Solution - Defrag background checks into one simple, nimble platform

Enter Checkmate. JB HiFi Group, led by Talent Acquisition Manager Jonathan Ponnusamy, integrated Checkmate into their ATS (Smart Recruiters) to streamline the background screening process so it looked like:

• One platform, multiple checks: Checkmate consolidated police, national criminal, reference, and work right verifications into a single, user‑friendly system.
• Automated and customisable: Store managers can easily trigger all background checks at the click of a button. Checkmate’s flexibility also allowed for customisation (for example, adjusting checks for candidates sourced via recruitment agencies) and enabled brand-specific communications for both JB HiFi and The Good Guys.
• Improved efficiency: With a single point of contact and user-friendly dashboard, team members save time and minimise errors now that they’re no longer juggling multiple providers or complex integrations.

“Checkmate has transformed our background screening process. It simplified our operations and provided a consistent, user‐friendly experience for our store managers and candidates alike,” explains Jonathan Ponnusamy, Talent Acquisition Manager at JB HiFi Group.

The Results: A big brand recruitment process that runs like a dream

Checkmate makes pre-employment screening easy for everyone (whether it’s your first time hiring or your fiftieth).

JB HiFi Group’s simplified screening process has created a consistent on-brand hiring experience for candidates and store managers. The customisable platform integrates directly into their ATS, providing simplicity and flexibility for retail store managers powering up for seasonal hiring surges and down for routine hiring needs. Candidates now receive one clear email containing all the necessary checks, reducing confusion and reinforcing JB HiFi Group’s reputation for genuine, personalised service. 

The future with Checkmate

With Checkmate, JB HiFi is not only streamlining its recruitment but also setting a new standard in retail hiring—a testament to the brand’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and genuine service.

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