Our people are what make Levi Strauss & Co. such a special place to work. But hiring them hasn’t always been logistically easy. The administrative load — manually scheduling interviews, sending reminders and follow-ups — had gotten in the way of the work that actually matters: connecting with people and finding more Originals to join our team.
Andy is changing that.
Our new AI-powered candidate experience agent, Andy, lives on our Work With Us page on LeviStrauss.com and is designed to make the hiring process faster, more responsive and more human-focused. Prospective candidates can chat with Andy to explore open roles, get answers to common questions, apply directly in their chat and receive timely reminders throughout the application process.
On our side, Andy schedules interviews automatically by working directly with our hiring teams’ Outlook calendars, eliminating the manual coordination that used to eat up hours of recruiters’ and hiring managers’ weeks. Our teams are still involved in every step of the process — our stance is that AI does not replace human judgment in hiring — and all final hiring decisions are made by the hiring manager. They just now have more time to do that, thanks to AI helping them move more efficiently.
But Andy is more than a fancy scheduling and automation tool. It’s an example of what we can do when we take a step back and think about how we can rewire the way we work.
“Before kicking off this project, our teams sat down and thought about what was foundational to our work in recruiting,” explained Karthik Varatharaj, Chief Talent, Diversity & Inclusion Officer. “The universal answer was human connection: building relationships with candidates and assessing fit so we can bring the right people into LS&Co. Once we knew that, we asked ourselves what was keeping us from doing that work, and if there was a technical solution that could help.”
That question eventually led them to build Andy. By handling the routine administrative work, our hiring teams are now able to focus on building those human connections — something AI can never do. This is especially important for our retail teams, who were having to take time away from helping our fans on the store floor to schedule interviews.
Early results for Andy are promising. Andy launched for U.S. and Canada corporate and distribution center roles in August and for retail stores in September, and in just a few months, Andy has scheduled nearly 1,500 interviews. Interviews are being scheduled in under one hour, and candidates are completing interviews in an average of two days for retail roles and four days for corporate and distribution center roles. Andy has also answered more than 2,000 questions from candidates, giving candidates real-time support and greater transparency throughout the hiring process. On our side, our store managers are spending less time on recruiting tasks and more time coaching their teams and helping shoppers.
“One of the biggest benefits is having Andy handle the logistics of scheduling interviews. Instead of spending time going back and forth with candidates trying to find a time that works, Andy takes care of that for me. This has saved me a significant amount of time and allows me to focus more on what matters most, which is connecting with candidates, interviewing and finding the right people for my store team,” said Sandra Mestanza, senior store manager for our Levi’s® Ontario West store. “I’ve also found that the process feels more seamless for candidates. Andy helps keep the communication and scheduling moving quickly, which creates a more efficient and positive experience from the very beginning.”
“Candidates get a response quickly instead of waiting on a store manager to find a free moment between shifts,” added Andrew McFarlane, senior store manager for our Levi’s® Market Street store in San Francisco. “Faster hiring means we’re staffed for the shifts we actually need covered. That shows up directly in how the store runs and how the team feels on the floor”
And this is just the beginning. Andy will be expanding globally in 2027, with teams applying learnings from this fall’s rollout to ensure an even more seamless experience.
“This project is a great example of what’s possible when our teams lean into innovation with intention,” said Karthik. “They didn’t just roll out a tool — they reimagined a process and made it better for both our folks and candidates. I’m incredibly proud of the team that brought this to life and can’t wait to see what they do next.”
Do you think you’d be a great Original to join our LS&Co. team, or know someone who would be? Head to our Work With Us page and let Andy take it from there.
