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Toll Group needed to move from a fragmented, country-led hiring model to a consistent, scalable global talent acquisition operation that could support business growth across more than twenty countries. With limited technology, high administrative burden, and heavy agency reliance, hiring lacked both strategic impact and reliable data. Partnering with AMS, Toll Group implemented a new applicant tracking system alongside a redesigned global hiring process and embedded recruiter model, supported by local onsite teams to ensure adoption and market relevance. AMS also delivered targeted consultancy across assessment, employer value proposition localisation, and attraction strategy, while rapidly supporting organisational change during the closure of the Songjiang shared services centre and the expansion of operations in Malaysia. The transformation enabled Toll Group to significantly reduce agency dependency, improve hiring productivity, build local talent pipelines, and establish a unified, data-driven TA model that balances global consistency with local engagement.
Toll Group is an Australian-based subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings with operations in freight forwarding, warehousing and logistics. Founded in 1888, Toll Group now employs c.16,000 people globally. Toll Group’s global Talent Acquisition (TA) operating model was country based, with inconsistent and varied processes. There was a lack of dedicated and focused technology which created needless administration.
Toll Group engaged with AMS in 2021 to support the implementation of a new applicant tracking system (ATS) which was developed into a solution where recruiters were deployed in key locations to support hiring in India, Singapore, China and Malaysia.
In most countries, the TA function in Toll Group was owned by the Human Resource (HR) department. Toll Group wanted to set up a separate TA team to create a more consistent hiring experience for both candidates and hiring managers, where recruiters would be talent partners. Historically, the hiring process at Toll Group was mostly administrative and not always supporting business growth.
A lack of built for purpose technology meant that the candidate and hiring manager experience was less than satisfactory, candidate sourcing channels were underutilised and internal mobility was limited. A reliable and accurate data source and the resulting reporting was also missing. AMS supported Toll Group with the implementation of a new ATS and a refreshed hiring process that can be implemented across all countries outside of Australia (22 in total).
A number of consultancy projects enhanced the partnership and included:
Shortly after entering the partnership, Toll Group shared that they would close their shared services centre in Songjiang, China and move business critical roles, to Penang, Malaysia. In partnership with Toll Group, AMS worked to restructure the Malaysia team to include 4 recruiters and 1 team leader over a 12-month period, in line with demand plan.
The AMS team also developed the attraction strategy for the market, and provided consultancy services around diagnostic review, assessment work and employee value proposition (EVP) localisation review. As a result, the closure of the Songjiang branch was completed within the stipulated timeframe that Toll Group set with no business impact.
To ensure that the various country offices adopted the embedded global hiring process (which applied to both white- and blue-collar employees), AMS deployed 360° onsite recruiters based in the local offices. This enabled closer alignment with the business and allowed the onsite recruiters to support them in the new hiring process.
With the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupting the supply of candidates, there was a greater need to build a talent pipeline. As a result, the AMS team promoted a referral scheme internally at Toll Group and partnered with local job centres and Government offices.
In addition, the AMS team leveraged Toll Group’s social media platforms as well as instant messenger platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp and WeChat to reach a relevant and wider audience.
Since 2021, the AMS and Toll Group partnership has accomplished the following:
For the China market, the AMS team implemented Ajinga – a mobile enabled recruitment platform that harnesses the power of WeChat – in order to attract candidates. This enabled Toll Group to:
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