The Shoprite Group, South Africa’s largest private employer, has rolled out an advanced digital recruitment platform designed to connect people with jobs in their own communities. 

By matching candidates to stores close to their homes, it makes it easier to apply for jobs, cuts travel costs and reduces safety risks – while at the same time giving hiring managers faster ways to find the right people. 

In a country struggling with a severe unemployment crisis, the Shoprite Group is committed to economic growth and betterment through job creation. The Group created 8 723 new jobs this past financial year and is on track to sustain this trajectory. Innovative digital tools play an important supportive role in the Group’s drive to hire new talent and start long-term careers. 

Bringing jobs closer to home 

The Group’s internal target is to hire employees who live within 15 km of a store, but with the help of this new technology, the current average is just 7 km. It reduces the time and money employees spend travelling, strengthens retention, and helps ensure jobs are more accessible to people in the communities the Group serves. 

For applicants, the system streamlines the hiring process and makes interviews more accessible. For recruiters, it standardises assessments, accelerates screening and scheduling, and creates a local talent pool. 

Supporting small businesses through Next Capital 

The in-house system is the result of a multi-year project brought to life by a local, supported by Shoprite Next Capital, the Group’s enterprise and supplier development division.  
SMME, OTB Group (OTB), supported by Shoprite Next Capital, the Group’s enterprise and supplier development division.  
 

After identifying OTB as the preferred local tech partner, Shoprite Next Capital provided milestone-based funding to get the undertaking off the ground. This investment enabled OTB to expand its team, meet the Group’s deployment deadlines, and develop a scalable solution tailored to the retailer’s needs. 

“Our new recruitment platform addresses a critical need for greater job access. In developing this platform, the Shoprite Group specifically sought out a South African SMME to digitalise the hiring process for all our supermarkets. By actively supporting OTB in fulfilling this business need, we are expanding our efforts to assist small suppliers beyond our retail operations, and to help power our retail operations,” says Maude Modise, Enterprise and Government Relations Executive at the Shoprite Group. 

The project has already created at least six permanent jobs within OTB, while including hosting, security and support partners that have generated a further 12 indirect jobs. This is just one example of how the Group prioritises partnering with local suppliers. 

“As South Africa’s largest private employer, we recognise that our almost 170 000 employees are not the only people impacted by our retail operations. It is imperative that we continue being deliberate in our support of small businesses to help grow the economy, and, in this case, to develop a recruitment platform that enables us to provide jobs closer to home, in the very communities that we serve,” says Modise. 

• To localise and streamline its recruitment and job creation processes, the Shoprite Group has developed a centralised platform in partnership with a South African SMME.
• It simplifies applications and prioritises nearby jobs for applicants to reduce hiring time, improve matching, and bring recruitment closer to home.
• On average, new hires now live just 7 km from their workplace, which has significant benefits for job seekers and store managers.

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