FREE AI-powered Hiring Tool That Taps Into 1.5 Million Candidates Launches In NZ

Could AI be the shortcut from 'Vacant role' to 'Hired'?

A job ad goes up and two weeks pass. Hundreds of applications pour in; and you're still nowhere near hiring. Sound familiar? For small and mid-sized businesses - the hiring process can feel painfully slow and impossibly crowded. What’s more, the right candidate may already be out there, just not on your radar…

Now, powered by some pretty nifty tech, there's a shortcut.

Employment Hero has just launched EH Hiring, a free (for now) AI-powered hiring tool that taps into Employment Hero’s proprietary SmartMatch tech. For the first time, any employer - client or not - can access SmartMatch’s candidate-matching engine and get a ready-to-go shortlist of top talent - no ad fees; no subscription - just the fastest path from empty seat to first interview with the right candidates.

The hiring process is broken

“Hiring today often follows this path: Write a job ad; post it on a board; wait for applicants; get swamped by irrelevant CVs; hope the right one’s in there somewhere,” says David Holland, MD of ‘SmartMatch’ by Employment Hero “It takes six to eight weeks on average to go from writing the ad to onboarding the new hire and that’s if you’re lucky. Job boards still dominate the scene, but they offer no real insight into who will succeed in your business - just a sea of hopefuls,” he adds.

EH Hiring flips that model on its head. Instead of casting a wide net, it offers a curated shortlist of qualified candidates selected by AI from a database of 1.5 million jobseekers across NZ, Australia and beyond.

“We wanted to tap into technology for the shortest distance between the employer and the candidate,” says Holland.

Joined-up tech; not another ‘Tinder for jobs’

What makes SmartMatch tech (powering EH Hiring) different? “It’s not just matching keywords or job titles - it’s using real HR data and predictive AI to understand what success looks like in your business. When EH Hiring is integrated with our employee operating system which helps businesses manage end-to-end HR processes - we know who your people are, how long they’ve stayed, whether they were promoted or passed probation. That means when one resigns, we can instantly find someone with similar traits who’s likely to thrive in that role too,” explains Holland.

He adds “That’s something no job board can do. The AI also screens for key quality signals such as tenure, qualifications and career trajectory so you're not wasting time on job-hoppers or poor matches. It’s a smart, scalable way to de-risk hiring, especially when you don’t have a full HR team to lean on.”

A huge win for small businesses

Small business owners often wear many hats and recruitment usually isn’t their ‘day job’. A single job listing can generate hundreds of applications and sorting through these steals hours from already packed schedules.

“EH Hiring levels the playing field - whether you're a one-person startup or a growing team of 20, it enables you to tap into pre-screened, high-fit candidates without paying up front,” explains Holland.

Case in point: Kate Shuker, HR lead at consulting firm Eliot Sinclair, manages up to 14 roles at once across HR and marketing and says SmartMatch saves her four to five hours a week in peak periods because it puts the best-suited candidates at the top so she isn’t scrolling through hundreds of CVs.

The ‘front door’ to smarter hiring

EH Jobs is a mobile-first platform for Candidates designed for the way people actually look for work today - on their phones and on the move. It’s purpose-built for frontline industries including retail and hospitality, where speed and simplicity are critical.

“This is more than a job board. EH Jobs is the front door to a smarter hiring experience that works for both sides of the employment marketplace. Candidates who join via EH Jobs are automatically added to the SmartMatch candidate pool, where AI takes over to deliver precise, high-fit matches for open roles,” says Holland.

Employers trying EH Hiring aren’t just testing technology - they’re tapping into a living, growing network of high quality, real-time talent.

Why make it free?

“We believe we’ve created the biggest leap forward in recruitment since job boards first went digital and want everyone to benefit from it,” says Holland.

EH Hiring won’t be free forever, but for now, it’s a chance for any employer to test drive what recruitment could (and should) feel like: faster, more focused and built for real business needs.

Try it now, before the shortcut becomes standard.

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