Bagging Fast Wins: Clemens’ Rapid HR Tech Deployment

Clemens Food Group has spent 130 years running one of the most vertically coordinated operations in U.S. food manufacturing, from feed milling and farming through processing, transportation, and delivery. Getting every stage right is simply the cost of doing business. So when the talent acquisition team set out to expand their Phenom platform, a six-month implementation timeline wasn't going to cut it.

Brandon Shepherd, Senior HR Manager at Clemens Food Group, shared how the company used Phenom's Value Acceleration Model (VAM) to deploy high-value hiring capabilities in as few as six weeks, and what it took to get there.

Watch the full session here, or explore the highlights below.

What Did Clemens’ Original Implementation Experience Reveal?

Clemens has been a Phenom customer since 2024. Their first deployment of Phenom Talent CRM and Phenom Career Site took between 26 and 30 weeks. The timeline wasn't the only challenge. Shepherd recalled that incomplete cross-functional alignment and questions that surfaced mid-implementation added friction that could have been avoided. "We didn't ask enough questions, and we didn't have enough front-loaded conversations," he said.

That experience also exposed an operational problem. Recruiters were juggling Phenom, an ATS, LinkedIn, and Indeed simultaneously, moving between systems to manage outreach, texting, email, and scheduling. "They were starting to get system fatigue," Shepherd noted.

The goal of the VAM deployment wasn't to add features. It was to consolidate the workflow and reduce the number of systems recruiters had to live in every day.

How Did Phenom's Value Acceleration Model Work in Practice?

VAM centers on modular deployments: selecting a defined, high-impact capability set and moving it from planning to live in a compressed window.

For Clemens, that meant two specific components. Phenom Automated Interview Scheduling via Webex integration and a bidirectional hiring status sync that keeps candidate updates aligned between Phenom and the ATS in real time. Both directly addressed the system fatigue problem. Once live, recruiters would work almost exclusively in Phenom rather than toggling between platforms.

The model requires heavy front-loading. Phenom builds in four to 10 weeks of readiness work before the deployment sprint begins and includes:

Alignment conversations with IT and HRIS
Integration mapping
System documentation
Stakeholder buy-in across functions

That preparation phase is what enables the speed. Without it, the accelerated deployment approach just moves the problems earlier rather than solving them.

Cross-functional communication and accountability were non-negotiables at Clemens. “We're not afraid to have a face-to-face conversation," Shepherd said. "We get things done." Weekly 30-minute syncs with the Phenom team kept milestones on track throughout. And when implementation issues did surface, they pushed through rather than pausing. That accountability mindset kept the project moving.

What Kind of Results Can Phenom’s VAM deliver?

Clemens completed the deployment in roughly nine weeks, compared to 26 to 30 weeks for their original implementation. With recruiters now working almost entirely inside Phenom, opening and closing a req in the ATS is the only task that happens outside the platform.

Phenom Intelligent Sourcing gave the team another edge, surfacing candidate contact information that wasn't visible on LinkedIn and opening up outreach that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Phenom Fit Score feedback, LinkedIn Projects integration, and a clearer view into hiring bottlenecks rounded out the early wins.

"The value comes from knowing the system, not just sitting here clicking around," Shepherd said.

What is Clemens Focusing on Next?

With scheduling and two-way integration live, the Clemens team is focused on activating Phenom Fit Score for better candidate matching, building landing pages connected to their social channels, and developing a more intentional employer value proposition strategy. Having recruiters fully in one system will also make it possible to run root cause analysis on hiring bottlenecks for the first time.

"Planning is key. Conversation and collaboration are key. Committing to it, holding people accountable, holding yourself accountable — that's what gets you there," Shepherd said.

VAM compresses the timeline for delivering something tangible, which makes change management easier rather than harder. The speed is real, but it's the upfront clarity that makes it possible.