How Cooper Norcross Health Interviewed 21,000+ Applicants with AI Agents and Sped Up Every Stage of Hiring

WATCH: Cooper Norcross Health’s Andrew Lampitt, Director of Clinical Recruitment, and Byron Hunter, VP of Talent Acquisition, join Take2 Co-Founder Yaniv Shimoni to walk through the impact of Cooper’s rollout of Take2’s AI agents.

The Challenge

At Cooper Norcross Health, small delays were adding up across the hiring process. Cooper’s Director of Clinical Recruitment, Andrew Lampitt, saw it firsthand as a candidate: while working as a trauma nurse, he spent two days playing phone tag with Cooper just to get a screening call. Delays like that happen at every handoff in healthcare hiring – the first call, the recruiter’s review, the hiring manager interview, the offer – and they stack up. Before Take2, it took 5.9 days to complete a screening call and 11.6 days to get from application to a hiring manager interview.

In four of Cooper’s highest-volume roles – Critical Care Tech, Medical Assistant, Patient Services Rep, Security Officer – recruiters were up against:

• More applicants than any recruiting team could reach. Those four roles alone drew 4,000+ applicants a month. Many were never reviewed by a recruiter, and days passed before others got a first call.

• Applicants who can’t take a call during business hours. Many of Cooper’s applicants work 8- to 12-hour and overnight shifts, so a 9-to-5 phone screen rarely fits their schedule.

• Not enough time to find the strongest candidates. Some roles draw 100 applicants in two days, far more than recruiters can review, so they work through what they can and look for the best candidates there.

“How many of those applicants are probably awesome candidates that we never even got to touch?”

– Andrew Lampitt, Director of Clinical Recruitment, Cooper Norcross Health

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The Solution

Why Take2

Cooper wanted to be thoughtful about how it brought AI into hiring. Its talent acquisition team looked for three things in a vendor: an AI interviewer trained for healthcare roles, results that show up inside its existing iCIMS workflow, and interview questions and scoring its own team could shape.

Take2’s AI agents won out – they handle manual recruiting work from sourcing to verifying licensure. They’re trained exclusively on healthcare roles and connect directly to the ATS a team already uses.

Co-created with Cooper’s recruiters
Cooper started with Take2’s AI Interviewer in four high-volume roles, clinical and non-clinical, from patient care techs to security officers. Cooper invited its recruiters to help shape the interview questions and scoring rubric from the start, including the certifications each role requires. Cooper’s VP of Talent Acquisition, Byron Hunter, counts its talent acquisition consultants as one of the program’s key stakeholders, along with the candidates.

“One of the biggest contributors to our success was involving recruiters from the beginning, gathering their feedback, and building their expertise into the screening design.”

– Byron Hunter, VP of Talent Acquisition, Cooper Norcross Health

Every applicant in those roles gets an AI interview invite within minutes of applying, 24/7. Completed interviews are scored against the rubric recruiters co-created, and the transcript, recording and scorecard go straight to the candidate’s iCIMS record, where the recruiter decides who moves forward. Candidates are told up front that they’re speaking with an AI interviewer, and Cooper’s AI governance committee greenlighted Take2 before launch.

Recruiters stayed involved in the co-creation after launch. They listened to interview recordings, flagged where they still needed more information from a candidate, and worked with Take2 to refine the questions so each interview gathered everything they needed without a follow-up call.

“In order to get folks to buy into something, you’ve got to make them part of the process.”

– Byron Hunter, VP of Talent Acquisition

Growing across the health system
Take2’s AI agents interviewed more than 21,000 applicants across Cooper’s first four roles in the first few months of the program, and because of its success, Cooper is expanding the AI Interviewer to 12 more roles across the health system.

See why healthcare’s leading talent acquisition teams recruit with Take2. Book a demo →

The Results

Every stage got faster. Screening calls that used to take 5.9 days to complete now happen within 48 minutes of an application on average. The speed carries through the rest of the cycle: candidates reach a hiring manager interview in 9.2 days instead of 11.6, 21% faster, and move from hiring manager interview to offer 30% faster. Cooper is making 12% more hires than in an equal period before Take2.

“Getting candidates in front of hiring managers more than two days sooner was a massive metric. And it happened without us lifting a finger, because the screening happens while we’re sleeping.”

– Andrew Lampitt, Director of Clinical Recruitment

Recruiters trust the scores because they helped build them. Every completed interview arrives in iCIMS scored against the rubric Cooper’s recruiters co-created, with the strongest candidates ranked at the top. The scoring reflects how they evaluate talent, so recruiters start with the candidates most likely to move forward.

“Every single one of those applicants that our recruiters speak with is at least qualified and has the hard skills.”

– Andrew Lampitt, Director of Clinical Recruitment

Each interview helps match candidates to other roles. A phone interview tells Cooper far more than a resume does, and that information isn’t limited to the role a candidate applied for. When an applicant’s experience lines up better with another opening, the interview asks whether they’d be interested in other roles at Cooper, so good candidates stay in Cooper’s pipeline.

Candidates interview on their own time. Someone who applies at 9 p.m. after a long shift can complete their screen that night. 56% of Cooper’s interviews happen outside business hours, and candidates rate the experience 4.8 out of 5.

“Over half of our screening calls by our Take2 AI agent happened outside of normal business hours while our team was sleeping.”

– Andrew Lampitt, Director of Clinical Recruitment

Why It Matters

Cooper is adding up to 745 beds to its flagship campus, so its hiring needs will keep growing. Its recruiting process is now set up to keep pace: candidates can interview within minutes of applying, day or night, recruiters start with the strongest candidates, and every stage from application to offer moves faster.

“It’s making our recruiters’ jobs a lot easier. That’s why we’re expanding.”

– Byron Hunter, VP of Talent Acquisition

Next, Cooper is looking at more of Take2’s agents, including the AI Sourcer, which brings past applicants in its ATS and CRM back into play and finds new candidates in clinician databases, and the AI Verifier, which verifies licensure and certifications.

Cooper’s advice for health systems getting started:

1. Start with high-volume roles where you’re getting buried.

2. Allow recruiters to shape the evaluations.

3. And you’ve got to partner with your vendor with trust.

– Byron Hunter, VP of Talent Acquisition

See how Take2’s AI agents can transform your recruiting operation. Book a demo →