The award-winning version of the chatbot is based on a pilot project that was started in April and has since been further enhanced. "In Germany, almost 90% of 14 to 60-year-olds use WhatsApp," says Mirjam Ferrari, VP Corporate HR Marketing and Recruiting at Deutsche Post DHL Group. "The idea behind our recruitment chatbot was to utilize this vast potential to provide a simple, fast and at the same time secure process for applications."

In first five months since its launch, thousands of people looking for information or wanting to apply have communicated with the WhatsApp chatbot, and 70% of the applications that were initiated were actually completed and sent. This shows that potential candidates tend to submit applications and do so far faster if they can use WhatsApp, their communication channel of choice.

The chatbot is linked to the landing page of the "Become one of us" campaign, which Deutsche Post DHL Group has been using to recruit new employees since July. Interested parties can use the WhatsApp chat to search for suitable jobs and send in applications. The self-learning chatbot can also answer applicants' questions. The automated process enables almost 80% of incoming questions to be answered right away. Feedback received from users has also been positive, with 93% saying they found the chatbot process easy to use and received helpful answers to the questions they asked. Applicants' data is, of course, protected at all times as the chats are secure thanks to end-to-end encryption.

Try it out for yourself: The chatbot can be reached at 0157 35990030, by scanning the QR code or via: www.werde-einer-von-uns.de. Simply start the chat with the word "Start".