How Keolis brought its time-to-hire down to 18 days with Tellent Recruitee

With a broad candidate audience, regional differences in the labor market, and a team spread across multiple locations, Keolis Belgium's recruitment team needed a flexible Applicant Tracking System (ATS). With Tellent Recruitee, the team now attracts the right candidate pools, collaborates more easily, and has significantly sped up its recruitment process.

About Keolis

Keolis is an international mobility company with a Belgian fleet of more than 2,500 vehicles and 2,900 employees. In Belgium, the focus is mainly on public transport by bus, complemented by taxi services. The recruitment team focuses primarily on hiring bus drivers and bus mechanics.

The recruitment team consists of three permanent recruiters and one part-time colleague. Each recruiter is responsible for their own region within Belgium, and the team works spread across different locations.

We spoke with Evelien Vandersmissen, Recruitment Manager at Keolis. She talks about the switch to Tellent Recruitee, which her team made two years ago. It turned out to be a good decision — since then, the team has had much more control over the recruitment process and collaborates far more efficiently.

The challenge: limited visibility, a diverse candidate pool, and regional differences

Before switching to Tellent Recruitee, Keolis used an ATS that didn't provide sufficient visibility into the recruitment process. The team couldn't clearly see how many candidates were coming in, where they stood in the process, or which vacancies were actually open and published.

On top of that, Keolis works with a broad candidate audience that requires a different approach each time: from bus drivers who need a category D driving license to bus mechanics who need a technical background.

The labor market itself adds another layer of complexity. In Flanders, the labor market is tight, making speed and efficiency especially important. In Wallonia, application volumes are higher, but the challenge lies more in selecting the right candidates.

The old ATS couldn't properly support the team through any of these situations. As a result, the team lacked an overview, and too many vacancies remained open, creating uncertainty within the team. For Evelien and her colleagues, it was clear: it was time for a new, professional, and transparent ATS.

The solution: an ATS that brings data and colleagues together

Evelien and her team drew up a clear wish list and set of requirements for the new ATS, with analytics and collaboration at the top.

After talking with several vendors, Tellent Recruitee came out on top — not just for its features but for the system's flexibility.

For Evelien, that flexibility felt like a major advantage. She does stress the importance of good preparation, though. Keolis first mapped out its ideal recruitment process, had it validated internally, and only then configured it in Tellent Recruitee to fit their needs.

How Keolis uses Tellent Recruitee day to day

As Recruitment Manager, Evelien herself relies heavily on the KPIs and analytics in the ATS. She actively uses these insights to steer the team and improve processes.

For recruiters, the biggest value lies in having a clear overview of the process:

"Recruiters have full visibility and can really take ownership of their candidates' journey," Evelien says. "They see what's coming in, have their task list, and can follow up on the entire process themselves — from interviews to evaluations."

That lets them act faster, follow up with candidates more efficiently, and keep the process moving — ideal for recruiting in Flanders, where the tight labor market demands quick action.

Pre-screening questions also help the team work faster and more precisely. In Wallonia, where the inflow of candidates is higher, these questions help filter out less suitable candidates more quickly.

Talent pools are also actively used — for example at job fairs, for open applications, or for (management) profiles that could become relevant again later. That way, candidates stay on the radar until a suitable vacancy opens up.

Better collaboration with hiring managers

Collaboration with hiring managers has become much more transparent since the switch. They now have visibility into the funnel themselves and can get involved earlier in the process, review CVs, and leave feedback.

That's especially helpful for specialist roles, where recruiters need subject-matter input from hiring managers.

To make sure everyone could work well with the system, Keolis actively brought hiring managers along in the change. During roadshows, the team explained why the switch was necessary and how the new process works.

As a result, hiring managers got up to speed quickly and saw the benefits right away. The recruitment team now also takes more work off their plate, so candidates can move smoothly and be well-prepared for onboarding.

Directors who monitor the system are also responding positively. In the past, the team would sometimes get questions when only a few candidates were presented to a hiring manager. Now it's immediately clear what's happening — how many candidates are being reviewed, rejected, or followed up on. That gives everyone visibility into the work happening behind the scenes.

A better experience for candidates

Candidates are seeing the benefits too. They're followed up with quickly and receive clear information. Thanks to email templates, everyone gets a timely, polished response to their application or interview.

"I can say with complete confidence that we get back to everyone and don't leave anyone hanging in the system unnecessarily," Evelien says.

The team also regularly gets positive feedback about how fast the process is.

Applying also remains easy and accessible, for example through platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn. Candidates appreciate that, and it lowers the barrier to responding.

The result: recruitment under control and time-to-hire under 18 days

Since the switch, Keolis has had much more control over recruitment. Aside from a few minor challenges, hiring is well under control. Time-to-hire is now even under 18 (!) days.

"That's fantastic," Evelien says. "Tellent Recruitee has really helped us work toward that KPI."

Candidates often get a response within two days, and usually complete the first part of the process within a week.

Thanks to evaluation scores in Tellent Recruitee, recruiters and hiring managers now get a clear, objective picture of candidates much faster. That helps the team make quicker, better people decisions.

With Tellent Recruitee's analytics, Keolis can also see much more clearly which channels deliver valuable candidates. The team now actively doubles down on what works and cuts what doesn't deliver.

Tellent Recruitee also helps improve the visibility of vacancies. Thanks to integrations with platforms like Indeed and VDAB, the team can easily post vacancies to multiple job boards, reaching the right audiences faster.

Looking ahead with confidence

Keolis is optimistic about the future with Tellent Recruitee. The team is particularly excited about the upcoming developments planned for analytics. It's also already testing Journeys for onboarding new employees and exploring other possibilities within the platform.

With Tellent Recruitee, Keolis hasn't just implemented a new ATS — it has also laid the foundation for a faster, more transparent, and better-informed recruitment process.

Everyone involved benefits from that: the recruitment team, candidates, hiring managers, and leadership alike.