AI was the top theme at SPARK Talent 2025. While more talent acquisition professionals are warming to the idea that AI can bring recruiting efficiency and cost savings to their jobs and organizations, proving this to the C-suite is often the challenge for HR leaders.
During a case study and Q&A session with attendees at SPARK TALENT, Debra Simmers, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at The Hershey Company, talked about the use of AI in talent acquisition. In response to an attendee’s question about how to influence executive buy-in for AI and supporting platforms, Simmers said:
Simmers also shared three lessons learned when The Hershey Company went live with its AI platform and her advice about strategy.
- Review your recruitment process for improvements.
“Map it out. It’s painful to map it out, but that’s the best place to start. And then look at the data associated with that. Does it take three weeks to get an interview on the calendar? Is it taking you 30 days to get to that short list and figure out what will help you improve on those gaps?” - Do lots of user testing, but speed ahead. “We did very small pilots. We tried to do it in critical groups, but we just didn’t have the time. …We took that time with the international rollout. So we did learn where we could have done better. [However], the speed [of launching] didn’t allow us time to second-guess ourselves, which, in retrospect, was good. …We just ripped the bandaid off and went. I would do that again rather than get stuck in analysis paralysis.”
- Don’t forget metrics. “Once you’ve made changes, take what metrics you found in the beginning. And look at where you are now and see where you’ve made those measurable impacts or where you still need to tweak further.”
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