Case study

Delta’s Contingent Hiring Success

At a glance

Awarded as No. 1 in customer satisfaction among airlines in North America by J.D. Power in 2021, Delta Air Lines is the leading U.S. global airline, headquartered in the State of Georgia, USA.

In partnership since 2019, the AMS solution initially focused on sourcing full time roles for Delta Air Lines which expanded to include contingent talent in 2021. Today, AMS is responsible for all direct sourcing for Technical Operations (TechOps) for Delta Air Lines throughout the US.

The challenge

In early 2021, coming out of COVID, Delta's high-volume hiring needs in their TechOps division outpaced Delta's suppliers ability to build contractor pipeline in a fast and efficient manner to meet these needs. AMS was tasked with designing a plan to source contingent labor to supplement these requirements. Delta Air Lines was impressed with the quality of talent AMS delivered.

The solution

The partnership expanded to include contingent roles at the beginning of 2021. Delta Air Lines is supported by a dedicated, scalable team comprised of leadership, recruiters, sourcers, curators, administrators, performance management, market intelligence and business intelligence.

AMS uses a robust suite of tools and technologies to drive program efficiencies including talent pooling, soft and hard skill assessments, as well as automated interview scheduling for both virtual and face-to-face interviews.

The dedicated team fulfils all roles, full time and contingent, and follows a similar workflow regardless of worker type. For contingent hiring, AMS is responsible for direct sourcing and recruiting activities for TechOps up to the point of offer at which stage AMS engages with Delta Air Lines’ Managed Service Provider to conduct the required pre-employment and onboarding steps.

For full-time hires our team supports sourcing and recruiting, as well as the pre-employment chasing, start date confirmation through to onboarding.

The impact

AMS filled over 21,000 roles for Delta Air Lines in 2021 across 90 airports and corporate headquarters. Over 1,000 of those were contingent roles across TechOps (machinists, aircraft support technicians, maintenance technicians, painters and avionics) and Ground Support.

The AMS team now numbers 225 and supports all hiring needs including RPO, Resource Augmentation, Avature Technical Consulting, DE&I Consulting and Branded Direct Sourcing.

By having a dedicated team that supports both full time and contingent hiring needs, Delta Air Lines focuses on getting the best candidate for the role and is taking the steps to implement a total talent management solution.

1,095 contingent workers directly sourced in 2021
Developed and launched new career site displaying contingent opportunities
85% of resumes presented make it to interview stage
49% of candidates who interviewed receive an offer (In 2022 that increased to 85%.)
Exceeded contingent hiring target by 200% in 2021

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