Sequoia Living Cuts Time-to-Fill by 35% With Tenzo AI

Sequoia Living is using Tenzo AI to hire qualified talent faster, expand recruiting capacity, and give HR more time to focus on people.

• 35% reduction in time-to-fill

• 2x recruiter capacity and requisition load

• ~4 days to complete initial candidate screenings

“Tenzo has streamlined our initial candidate screening process, allowing our Human Resources team to focus more of their time on candidates moving through the process rather than on the process itself. This aligns with our commitment to employee engagement, which is at the core of Sequoia Living’s culture.”

— Martha Atwood, Chief Culture Officer, Sequoia Living

About Sequoia Living

Sequoia Living is one of California’s leading nonprofit organizations providing housing, health care, and services for older adults throughout the Bay Area. The organization creates stimulating, joyful living environments and provides services designed to enrich the lives of older adults from all economic backgrounds. Sequoia Living serves approximately 7,000 older adults through four Life Plan communities, three affordable housing communities, two senior center locations, and a range of community service programs. Recognized by U.S. News & World Report for the quality of care provided within its communities, Sequoia Living’s mission is supported by employees who share the organization’s commitment to service, compassion, and creating meaningful experiences for older adults.

Challenge

Finding Quality Talent in a Sea of Applications

For Sequoia Living, delivering an exceptional experience for older adults begins with hiring exceptional people. That’s why Chief Culture Officer and longtime people leader, Martha Atwood, and the Human Resources (HR) team are intentional about identifying candidates who not only have the skills and experience required for their roles, but share Sequoia Living’s compassionate, people-centered values. Finding those candidates, however, requires navigating a high volume of applications across multiple communities and positions.

Before qualified candidates could be presented to hiring managers, recruiters historically spent significant time manually reviewing and evaluating resumes, initiating email and text outreach, coordinating schedules, and conducting initial phone interviews. Because Sequoia Living’s communities and positions often have highly specific requirements around experience, credentials, scheduling availability, and other role-specific criteria, finding the strongest candidates within a large applicant pool was always a challenge.

As application volume increased, that process became a persistent bottleneck. Initial outreach and screening could take weeks, contributing to an average time-to-fill of more than a month. Longer hiring cycles could increase the risk of losing qualified candidates while vacancies placed additional pressure on existing employees and community operations. The hours HR spent on administrative recruiting activities also ate into their time for employee engagement, retention, and supporting Sequoia Living’s communities.

AI presented an opportunity to make the recruiting process more efficient. But the HR team knew that, to maintain the thoughtful, human-centered approach that defines Sequoia Living’s culture, they would have to roll it out very deliberately.

The team needed an AI solution that could augment, rather than replace, their work by:

• Screening and prioritizing applicants using role-specific criteria

• Conducting consistent, conversational initial interviews

• Engaging candidates quickly through phone and text

• Integrating seamlessly with Sequoia Living’s ATS, Jobvite

• Giving recruiters greater visibility into the strongest candidates

• Preserving human oversight throughout the hiring process

“Reviewing, evaluating, contacting, and interviewing applicants was taking an enormous amount of time. We wanted to see whether AI could help us streamline the process while still delivering the candidate experience we expect at Sequoia Living.”

— Martha Atwood, Chief Culture Officer, Sequoia Living

Solution

Quickly Identifying Qualified Talent With AI-Powered Screening and Interviews

Sequoia Living partnered with Tenzo AI to redesign the front end of its recruiting process. Implementation was collaborative and highly iterative. Tenzo AI worked closely with Sequoia Living’s HR team to integrate the platform with Jobvite and configure the technology around both organization-wide hiring standards and the specific requirements of individual positions.

“Getting started was easy because Tenzo worked alongside us throughout the process. We weren’t simply handed a technology platform; we were able to shape the process around the way we hire.”

— Martha Atwood, Chief Culture Officer, Sequoia Living

Together, the teams established the criteria Tenzo AI would use to evaluate applicants. For each role, recruiters defined resume-screening criteria, interview questions, scoring rubrics, qualification thresholds, and the parameters Tenzo’s AI recruiting agent, Morgan, would use during initial candidate outreach and screening. This allows Sequoia Living to incorporate the nuances of individual positions into the screening process while maintaining recruiter oversight.

From Application to Conversation in Minutes

Today, Tenzo AI reviews applications the moment they enter the recruiting process, so recruiters don’t have to manually work through every resume. When an applicant meets the established screening criteria, Morgan initiates outreach by phone or text within minutes. Candidates can respond at their convenience, while Morgan conducts the initial screening interview using questions established by Sequoia Living’s recruiting team. As a result, Sequoia Living completes the initial screening process for a requisition in approximately four days, ensuring qualified candidates hear from the organization sooner.

Creating a Candidate Experience That Still Feels Human

Crucially, Tenzo AI’s efficiency never comes at the expense of the candidate experience. Morgan communicates with candidates conversationally, carefully interpreting their intent and adapting the interview as the conversation develops. Candidates are informed that they’re interacting with AI and told they can complete the initial interview at a time that works for them. The result is a recruiting process that combines the speed and consistency of automation with Sequoia Living’s trademark people-first touchpoints.

“Tenzo is helping us shift the way people think about AI in the hiring process. It can make the process more efficient while still creating a positive experience for candidates.”

— Martha Atwood, Chief Culture Officer, Sequoia Living

Giving Recruiters a Clearer Starting Point

Once Tenzo AI completes the screening process, candidate information flows directly into Jobvite. From there, recruiters can quickly see which candidates most closely align with the criteria established for the position. Tenzo AI’s records include interview information, transcripts, summaries, and prioritized lists of candidates. This gives recruiters all the context they need to determine who should move forward. AI may provide the insights, but it’s still Sequoia Living’s humans who make the hiring decisions.

“Tenzo has completely transformed our initial vetting process. It gives Sequoia Living’s Human Resources and Recruiting team better information, faster, so they can focus their time and expertise where it matters most.”

— Martha Atwood, Chief Culture Officer, Sequoia Living

Results

Twice the Recruiting Capacity, Without Doubling the Team

With Tenzo AI, Sequoia Living achieved far more than faster screening. By automating many of the repetitive activities at the beginning of the recruiting process, the nonprofit has dramatically increased the number of open positions its recruiting team can effectively manage.

Since implementing Tenzo AI, Sequoia Living has unlocked:

• Over 50% Reduction in Time-to-Fill

  • Average time-to-fill has decreased from more than a month to approximately 17 days, allowing hiring managers to connect with qualified candidates sooner.

• 2x Recruiting Capacity

  • Recruiters can now manage a higher requisition volume without doubling the size of the recruiting team.

• ~4 Days to Complete Initial Screening

  • Candidate screenings that previously took weeks can now be completed within approximately four days.

• Faster Candidate Engagement

  • Qualified applicants receive outreach within minutes of applying, reducing the time between application and first contact and improving the candidate experience.

More Time for the Work That Requires People

For Sequoia Living, perhaps the most important result is what the HR team can do with the bandwidth they get back. Recruiters now spend less time on repetitive administrative tasks and more time building relationships with candidates, partnering with hiring managers, and moving the strongest talent through the hiring process.

More broadly, increased recruiting efficiency gives HR greater capacity to focus on employee engagement, retention, organizational culture, and supporting the employees and communities at the heart of Sequoia Living’s mission. The partnership also continues to evolve. Sequoia Living and Tenzo AI regularly refine screening criteria, interview questions, scoring logic, and candidate conversations based on what the recruiting team learns. That way, the recruiting process gets faster and more effective with every iteration.

“Tenzo has enabled us to improve the candidate experience while significantly scaling our hiring capacity. It gives our recruiters the ability to focus their time where human judgment and connection matter most, while giving the broader Human Resources team more capacity to focus on our employees and communities.”

— Martha Atwood, Chief Culture Officer, Sequoia Living